Day 33 – (Lyon) The Au Pair Life

(Para leer en español presiona continue reading)
(Click on continue reading to see photos)

After about 7 hours on the bus, I finally made it to Lyon! A new -unexpected- destination to add to my travel list 🙂

My sweet  sweet friend, who works as Au Pair in Lyon, came to the bus station to pick me up and we then went to her host family’s house, which is GORGEOUS! Remember Beauty and the Beast? Remember the little french villa kinda town where she lived? Yep, the town where my friend lives is basically the same. Just look at the photos! Also, her host family is super nice and the kids love her, which was kind of surprising to me just because my friend was never the crazy-about-kids kinda of girl, but she’s such a great Au Pair! Continuing on, first things first: GET ME A TICKET TO GO BACK TO BARCELONA!

Day 32 – Lyon weekend trip has me roaring!

(Para leer en español presiona continue reading)
(Click on continue reading to see photos)

The wheels on the bus go round and round all the way to Lyoooon! This will be a quick entry because nothing much really happened today… other than absolute stress while planning my weekend trip to Lyon, France to see my childhood friend again. Haha!

I went to work per usual in the morning, we had our usual 11 a.m. coffee break that I enjoy so much, and I went back to the apartment at 2 p.m. to settle my plans. I already have my bus ticket to get to Lyon, France, but I was unable to purchase the one to get back because my card is not working! (This was part of the reason why I ended up not going to London).

Day 14 – À BIENTÔT Paris y qué bueno verte Barcelona!

(Para leer en español ir abajo)

Last day in París! I thought I would be able to wake up early and do a lot more, but I was really tired, so I woke up super late and went out to get a kebab/gyro from the Jewish quarter. I decided to simply enjoy the few things I was able to do in the last few hours. I ate my kebab in a little plaza, watching french kids playing.

Afterwards, I truly wanted to ride a bike in Paris. So I finally rented one from the Velib service, but it took me forever to do it! I don’t know why I couldn’t get some of the bikes out of the station. The clock was ticking, but I just couldn’t leave without riding a bike in Paris! So I kept trying and ended up riding the bike for less than 15 min. haha, just around the Pompidou Center :p. At about 2 p.m., I rode the metro back to the apartment to get my bags, left a little note to my host, and rushed back to the metro to get to the Denfert-Rochereau station to catch the Orlybus to the airport. When I got to the airport, I went through security pretty quickly, and then had about 1 hour free… hehe. I shouldn’t worry so much about getting to the airport so early when flying within the European Union, but most importantly I shouldn’t freak out so much hehe. I had a pretty good flight with Vueling again, flying window seat (I always ask if there’s an empty window seat. The two times they’ve said yes 🙂 ), and got to Barcelona at about 8 p.m. When I got home, I found my Spanish host family plus some of their friends watching the results of the election. It was fun to arrive to a loud and friendly home 🙂

Thank you Paris for giving me unforgettable days and thank you Barcelona for the always warm welcomes! 

Day 13 – (PARIS) I’m in the Parisian clouds ♥

(Para leer en español ir abajo)

There is no monument in Paris that doesn’t have a story of some sort. You have either seen it in your history books, in art, in movies, and even in music! Today, I decided to start my day by exploring some places I had seen in special movies. First stop was Moulin Rouge, which is definitely more impressive in the movie than in real life. Although I might not have been blown away by it because I went during the day. I bet a show inside the theater would be amazing. Then, I kept walking around Montmartre to find the famous Café des 2 where Amelie Poulain from the movie Amelie worked at. I continued walking, enjoying the beautiful views of Paris from the top of the hill, eating a yummy Tomato and Cheese Fougasse I got from a pâtisserie, and finally got to Sacré-Cœur, which was absolutely breathtaking! Plus, the views from the city were amazing. I went inside the church and walked around. I wanted to get a Paris medal that was being sold inside the church, but I didn’t have any coins, so I went outside again, got some strawberries for 3 euros, ate them, and went back inside just to get the medal hehe.

Day 12 – (PARIS) I think hours are longer in Paris

(Para leer en español ir abajo)

I woke up today determined to go see the Eiffel Tower, but first, as the big planner as I am, I needed to plan my day, or at least have an idea of where I was going and what I wanted to do, because I hate trusting on the “free wifi around the city” myth. I decided to get the Paris Visite 2 day pass to move around the city using the Metro as much as I needed, and I decided to explore the city by myself; no tour. I marked as favorites on google maps the places I wanted to see and made sure I had downloaded the map. I was ready to explore Paris!

First stop, Trocadéro metro station to get the amazing, breathtaking view of the her… LA TOUR EIFFEL! I took a loooot of pictures and, again, asked strangers to take some pictures of me, but I mostly used the famous selfie stick. I kept walking towards the Eiffel Tower, taking more pictures, people-watching, and craving everything I saw in the Pâtisseries (bakeries). I sat down by the Champ de Mars for a bit, ate some of my Nerds candy (I, Débora Castro, am a Nerds addict), and then went to the nearest metro station, got lost after taking the wrong train, and then finally got to the neighborhood where Musée d’Orsay is located. I bought a Jambon Beurre (Cheese and Ham Baguette) and a giant macaron. I sat on the steps by the museum and had lunch while listening to french street musicians 🙂 I went into the museum, got a reduced fare for being under 25 (YES!), explore the AMAZING art work, and rested for a while after realizing my phone had died 😦 I decided to just walk around and see what I could find. I ended up walking by the Seine River, walking through the Tuileries Garden (which I loved!), seeing the smaller Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, and finally took pictures at the famous Pyramide du Louvre (I didn’t have enough time to go into the museum and see the Mona Lisa; next time!). But that wasn’t it!