12 Days, 6 Cities - Madrid

In conversation with our waiter from the night before, he asked us how we liked Barcelona. Ma and Pa said they loved it but that we had to fly to Madrid the next day. His reply? "Pfft, Barcelona eeez much bettair than Madreed! You weeel see!" This could be just inter-city rivalry except that before going to Madrid, a lot of my Spanish friends, even the ones who lived there (hi Ruben!), said that compared to the rest of our itinerary, Madrid only needed one day to look around. 

Well, things didn't get off to a good start. With all our luggage, we decided to take a cab from the airport to the city. I don't speak Spanish and that's my fault, but this made talking to our taxi driver a bit of a problem when we got stuck in a MOTHERLOVER traffic jam. Our driver spoke to a policeman in rapidfire Spanish and then he promptly turned in another direction while saying to me, "Lo siento, ...something something, ....impossible...something something, ...impossible....something...Metro, something....lo siento." Luckily hanging around Spanish people for the last year and a bit has meant I've osmotically absorbed the language and figured out that for some reason, the streets leading up to our hotel were closed and given that it was impossible for us to drive there, he was going to drop us off at a metro station. We managed to get to the hotel eventually but it's kinda stressful trying to read a map of a city you don't know while having your parents behind you asking "Where do we go now? Where do we go nao?!" Exhausted, we ended up going to a restaurant around the corner from our hotel that we picked at random.

Funnily enough that night, Ma and I found it difficult to sleep. This was probably due to Pa's chainsore-style snoring so we decided to head down to the streets and join the crowds of young Spaniards still out at the jolly time of 5am. I think it was a real eye-opener for her. Needless to say, we were feeling pretty exhausted when we got up the next morning for breakfast, but after a yoghurt and zumo de naranja, I pointed Ma and Pa in the direction of the Palacio Real while I headed off to the Prado!

Palacio de Comunicaciones at Plaza de Cibeles. Pretty!

Fuente de Cibeles

It was a beautiful (hot) day for walking down the Paseo del Prado!

One of the great art collections of the world, The Prado!

Really. It's an amazing collection. Derived from the former Royal Collection, it is naturally filled with art from painters associated with the Spanish royalty such as Titian, Rubens, Velasquez, Goya, it's also got a great Flemish collection including Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, a reflection of Spain's former rule over the Netherlands. In fact, it was so good that I was kinda holding off eating in order to see as much as I could until I had a stomach ache and actually thought *Omg, I need to eat or I'm going to faint* and headed towards the museum cafe. One thing I discovered is that while I may not be able to speak Spanish, I can speak Spanish food. I had a bocadillo (sandwich), some zumo de naranja (orange juice), and tarte tartin (tarte tartin). I also learned that black bread is not pane negra - after laughing at me, the waitress told me it's pane integrale. I will forever remember this!

What happens next, I think people with sensitive stomachs should not read.

After downing the (quite delicious) lunch, I went back into the collection. Before long, I started feeling a tummy ache which I chalked to waiting too long before eating. I consulted my maps and headed towards a toilet where I promptly lost my lunch - an extremely uncommon experience for me, and I'm glad the vomit was ejected into a toilet and not in the gallery proper. So while I can now say that I have vomited in such an illustrious location, I decided it was best that I head back to the hotel....where I found Ma. Turns out she had also vomited en route to the Palace and headed back while giving Pa instructions to buy plain bread. She then gave me some pills for the upset stomach and the headache that had popped up in me....which I then ejected not long later. And then after eating some bread to get nutrients in me, that also came up. Needless to say, after a bad night in which I basically kept down neither solids nor liquids, I was wondering how we'd fly to Paris. A plus side is that because I didn't sleep well, we made it to the airport quite easily - no traffic jams and it turned out that the ride only takes 30 minutes! Also, I managed to keep down water at the airport and 50:50 apple juice - water on the plane. 

So with my thoughts of Madrid a combination of wonderful art and vicious food poisoning, next stop - Paris!

12 Days, 6 Cities - Barcelona

After Vienna, we were flying to Barcelona. We had booked a pretty cheap direct flight on Iberia...except Iberia rang me a fortnight before to say that our flight was cancelled. But we could take the same flight two days later or a take a flight on the same day via Madrid. I chose the Madrid option but of course this meant that we would be flying earlier and arriving later than originally planned. *sigh*

But I ate this sandwich in Madrid airport for lunch.

After we made it to the hotel and settled in, we walked around Diagonal, La Rambla de Catalunya, and Passeig de Gracia.

Heheheheh

The weather made me feel like I was home! We even saw parrots!

Ma's first sangria...She loved it! I thought it was alright.

Antonio Gaudi's Casa Batllo!

The first floor windows that look like bones

And Casa Mila!

The next day, we went out to see THE Barcelona thing, La Sagrada Familia. I really love that this church has been under construction continuously since 1882. I'll admit, I always kinda thought that Gaudi was overrated but walking through the basilica, I was converted. And you might wonder, why is it taking over 130 years to build a church? Well, it's pretty damn impressive and I can believe it's been a bit of a puzzle on figuring out how to complete various aspects of construction.

Cranes at work!

Some of the unconventional facade decorations. 

The Passion Facade which retells the entire Easter story. 

The interior. It's breathtaking in person!

Really!!!

A model showing what the completed building would eventually look like.

Man at work! It was pretty amusing to be looking at something and then hear drilling.

The Nativity Facade

Some of the Gothic Revival details, which are admittedly overwhelmed by the Art Nouveau details.

The construction site office :D

Despite being impressed by the fact that this church didn't look like every other church, Ma and Pa got a bit "Can we leave now?" and we headed off to somewhere else I was really hanging out to seeing - The Seaside!

Looking up La Rambla...

and at the Columbus monument.

Oh god, that grey sky over the harbour made me want to cry!

Looking towards Montjuic. I'll visit you next time when I get more time!

We noticed that there was actually FISH in the harbour! I wouldn't eat them though, that water was pretty scungy. 

After lunch of pintxos and a crepe for dessert, we walked to la Barceloneta to see...

the beach!

Mmmm....the sky came out and me not wearing a swimsuit.

I got to wade around in the shallows...

but I really wanted to swim :(

After enjoying a drink by the seaside and enjoying the salty air, we headed back up La Rambla to La Boqueria for some foodie goodness!

We decided that Xavi would be a good source of fruit :P

JAMOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Big tourist smiles! We so happy in Barcelona!

Ma and Pa were pretty tired after all the walking and the hot weather. We decided to try to and go to a restaurant near our hotel and with the help of TripAdvisor, decided to go to Maitea Taberna, a pintxos place near our hotel. A good sign - when I asked the hotel concierge to book us a table (just in case), he said it was a good restaurant! YEAH!!! And it was a good restaurant! All the photos are on Ma's camera and trust me, while it maybe wasn't up to La Cuchara, it was great and the Parentals really enjoyed it. They also really enjoyed the jug of sangria I ordered for them to drink. This got them pretty *happy* and made them (particularly Ma) overcome their shyness towards speaking to the locals in English. Our waiter was pretty amused and he said he looked forward to seeing them the next day for lunch!

Ma and Pa were actually pretty drunk (Pa said he wanted us to board a bus that would take us back to the beach right at that moment! and Ma said her vision was swirling), and I decided the best course of action was to get them back to the hotel and tuck them in. Unfortunately for me, it was still only around 10:30pm so I decided to go out and try to catch the last of that night's Euros match. 

And that's how I ended the night by drinking this gin and tonic while debating with three Spanish and one Italian waiters about who was going to win the Euros. 

Next stop - Madrid!

12 Days, 6 Cities - Vienna

Next stop on our holiday was the Imperial capital down the Danube, Wien (aka Vienna). I'll admit it, I was pretty relieved to be in a city where I could read and understand the various signs and could speak the local language. In fact, I checked into our hotel speaking German! Then Ma asked me what language I was speaking. When I said German, she said, "They speak German in Austria?!" She's so suess!

After checking in, we decided to ride the u-bahn and have a look at some of the Altstadt and Danube.

The Stephansdom at Stephansplatz!

Ooh, gothic!

Believe it or not, the Danube was actually quite blue in colour! Definitely more blue than it was in Budapest. 

Pretty!

Ma and Pa looking the wrong way.

That night, we had dinner at Figlmueller - a place where Pooey not only ate at a few years ago, but a place that was recommended by Markus who lists Wiener Schnitzel as one of his favourite meals! Funny side story. It was pretty hot and we weren't looking our best. Standing directly in front of us in the queue were three girls from Hong Kong. I don't speak Cantonese but I knew they were talking about us - this was confirmed to me by Ma who said they thought we came from Mainland China. What an insult! When the waiter came to ascertain table numbers, he asked in English, if we were a table of six. I then said in German, "O nein, wir drei sind zusammen (We three are together)" while indicating to Ma and Pa. Ma said the girls' faces had this reaction

Hehehe

Anyway, onto what we had for dinner!

Cordon Bleu and salad for me!

More fish for Pa

And Ma had the famous schnitzel - it's almost as wide as she is!

The next morning we got up and made our way to Schoenbrunn, the summer palace of the Austro-Hungarian Habsburgs emperors. And as with such an illustrious history, it has plenty of impressive vistas to keep bored Emperors and Empresses, various court hangers-ons, and future generations of tourists amused.

Looking large and regal.

And looking away over the cour d'honneur

In the backyard of the palace, looking towards the Gloriette. 

The formal Great Parterre

The Neptune Fountain

Looking back from the fountain to the Palace

Ma declined to climb the hill up to the Gloriette so I took lots of pictures to give her the experience!

Halfway up!

Some portalook - time for a quicki? :P

Closer...

Pa takes a rest closer up

But we've got a great view of the Palace from here! Trying to be regal in my giant hat.

Pa gets cheesey!

We made it up there! 

And were rewarded by a view of, not only the Palace, 

but of the city as a whole. 

The Gloriette itself is kinda pretty. There's a very expensive cafe up there. 

A view into the gardens is also up there!

The gardens are really dense

We then took the audiotour through the palace itself. It's really pretty but you know, after a while all these royal palaces become interchangeable. We had some sandwiches in the garden for lunch and afterwards I went to head off to the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Ma and Pa were kinda tired and not willing to walk through a few floors of one of the best collections of Europe. Seriously. I'd put it up there with the Louvre and National Gallery. 

Photography of the works is not allowed but here's the afternoon tea of Erbeertorte and Gruener Veltliner. 

After a few hours in the gallery, I made my way back to our hotel where Ma and Pa were resting. It turned out that while I was making my way through the Titian, Rubens, and Velasquez, they decided to get onto a random tram and ride it, hoping that it would take them past some of the sites of Vienna. It did, but it also took them to...well, I can only describe it was *Ghetto Vienna*...but they found a Viet restaurant that they said was pretty good. It was decided that we'd have dinner there since our next two stops were in Spain and we wouldn't be eating Asian food there.

Kang kong!

Ummm, I think this was lemongrass chicken. 

Bun cha gio. Interesting wrappers but the nuoc mam pre-poured onto it. That was kinda weird.

My Bun Bo Hue was also kinda strange. Ma said it was *Northern style*

Ma noted while we were eating that something was strange. There were no flies buzzing around despite the door to the restaurant was WIDE OPEN!!! Truly, it was AMAZING!!!! 

And after this, we went back to pack for our next stop - Barcelona!!!