First Ever Europe Visit, Summer of 2017

Trip Anecdotes In Madrid Where is th e Bed? Our first accommodation in Madrid was at the Funway Academic Resort, a student residence recommended by Vaughan for its affordability and proximity to the head office location from where our tour bus would depart. The modern space, decoration and cleanliness were noted, even though the place was deserted. Our room was tiny, yet functional. However, where was the bed?  Could it be the love seat that turns into a hid-a-bed? No, impossible. Suddenly, I spot a switch on the wall, push it and we hear the bed coming down from the ceiling and almost hitting the top of our heads.  We moved quickly to the corner and laughed. –How interesting – we thought. That night we slept well because we were very tired, but it was impossible to get around the tiny space when the bed was down, even to go to the washroom. The next morning, while Nadia was sleeping, I dared to push the button up to allow me to move.  She of...

Our one-day in Paris was frustrating and exhilarating at the same time.  We arrived hours after we had attended the wedding in Toulouse and were beyond exhausted, to the point that we could not keep our eyes open. After arriving at our hotel near the Charles de Gaulles airport, we crashed, and slept for two hours before we could move again. Thanks to a few sips of strong coffee I bought at the bar we were able to shake the slumber off our eyes and make our way to Paris’ Tour Eiffel by bus and train. We did not realize that the Charles de Gaulle airport is not in Paris, and that the drive would eat up another one and a half hour of our day. Nonetheless, we arrived in Paris around 5:00pm. It was cold and rainy, but that did not stop us from walking from Notre Dame to The Eiffel Tower. This icon did not really come to life until we stood in front of it. The massive four-legged iron giant left us speechless. We were proud to climb up by foot, 700 steps to the second level, where...

We arrived in Toulouse via AirFrance and got settled into our Airbnb in the late afternoon. We quickly realized we had left the Spanish Olé environment and entered the more demurred, distant and impersonal French entourage. Luckily, our Airbnb was lovely, small, compact, clean and comfortable, almost like a dollhouse. Our visit to Toulouse was solely motivated to attend Maja and Julien's wedding. At the planning stage travelling to Toulouse seemed simple. We really wanted to attend the wedding of a good friend, and given Toulouse's proximity to Barcelona we felt that it made sense to travel the extra miles. We really failed to foresee that this would imply crossing social, cultural, political and geographical boundaries, which in real life seemed like a lot to undertake given our extensive touring in Spain. Our time in Toulouse was low key, as we needed to recover from the roller coaster of experiences in Spain. Nonetheless, we managed to walk around to explore the are...