One of my new favorite cities in the world

I arrived to Gare de Lyon train station last Thursday afternoon. When I left the station with my backpacks in tow and began walking around the city I was in awe of how much it felt like I had been here before. The familiar architecture, the central river, the numerous bridges and some of the most recognizable tourist attractions in the world, were the things I soaked in within my first hour in the city of Paris.

It was remarkable how having never been to Paris or even looked at it on a map I knew so many things about it. I felt like a tour guide.

The river
"Over there is the windy, one-way road that runs parallel to the river. It's the road Liam Neeson drove on in Taken to rescue his daughter where he eventually jumped off of...that bridge over there!"

The Louvre
"Does anyone else feel like we just stepped into the filming for The Da Vinci Code? I swear I can hear Tom Hanks and Jean Reno."

The Love-Lock Bridges
"Well the reason people put locks on these bridges is to lock away things of importance to them. In Now You See Me, Mark Ruffalo's character talks about how we all have secret hopes, dreams and loves in life. He referenced how there's no better way to share something with everything, yet no one, than to lock your thoughts away in a lock and toss the key to the bottom of the river where tens of thousands of people have done the same thing. It shows how we're connected, yet so different."

Random street rat
"See that massive rat running across the sidewalk up there? Yea, Pixar wasn't joking."

Notre Dame
"We should go to the top of the bell tower and maybe the Hunchback is still there..."

(Fine, a tour guide of recent pop culture that references Paris, but a tour guide all the same.)

And, of course, the Eiffel Tower which needs no quote to represent its jaw-dropping architecture and wonder because quite simply, there are no words to describe how amazing it is to see in person.

You have either visited the Eiffel Tower or you haven't. Period. And if you fall into the second category all I can say is it never seems real. It's a picture, reference, aura you see and hear about so often that you never think you will have the privilege to experience it with your own eyes.

Walking through the streets and along the river was a unique feeling on its own. Every large building is exactly like every post card, picture and movie has ever made it seem. It was the first city I have ever visited where I felt as though I was transported into a story book. Even when I replay the memories from that weekend I hear stereotypical Paris music in my head; and now I'm sure you can hear it too.

Aside from being the most expensive city in Europe (an argument can be made for London but I believe it's only because they're on the pound; plus they're not part of the EU so they're like Puerto Rico to the US) this city was an absolute treat - literally. The wine was sweet, the crêpes with Nutella were out of this world, and water is always free (something you really appreciate when you live in Spain).

To summarize it all I can only think of one thing.

Paris, yes, is "The City of Lights" and "The City of Love." The lights aspect I don't think anyone can argue, however, I always had a problem with it being called "The City of Love" because of everything I had heard about the way the French behave in a pretentious manner.

Having spent almost three days in Paris I can confidently say it was not given this name because you meet your wife here or meet lovely people, but because you yourself fall in love with the city.

"Vacation" abroad

The last three weeks have been full of adventures. From fine-tuning my knowledge of the city of Madrid to the point where I feel like I've lived here for years, to traveling the last three weekends I have  had an amazing first month in Spain.

My trip to Gibraltar and Africa was a unique experience because that was the first time my roommates and I had planned a trip in Europe. It was a lot of last minute planning and deciding what to do as we went but it worked out well and it was certainly a memorable experience. The monkeys on the Rock of Gibraltar were definitely the highlight that weekend.

A little over a week ago we traveled to Valencia, a city with a flair of old and new near the coast of Spain. There were calm waves on the beach and we got a good feel for the city when we rented bikes and biked about 15kms in two days. The Arts and Sciences Center was an experience unlike any other. It featured some of the most jaw-dropping architecture I have ever seen and there was so much to do it took us an entire day to explore.

Now Barcelona on the other hand has much more to do. Simple concept: bigger city, more touristy, thus, more to do. Highlights: climbing to the top of Park Guell, FC Barcelona game (more about this later), Sagrada Familia, the Chapel, the nightlife, La Rambla, the beach, and the IceBar. All-around excellent time in Barcelona. Minus a few quirks here and there in which I preferred the Madrid-style (i.e. the Metro) it was great!

As for the fútbol game...

To keep it simple, America does soccer an injustice. It is a beautiful sport that is made into an art form in Europe (Especially in Spain) and the insane, fanatic style of the crowd made it the experience of a lifetime. If you ever travel to Spain and are even a modest sports fan do yourself a favor and go watch Real Madrid or FC Barcelona play. Plain and simple.

Part of the motivation for staying within Spain (minus Gibraltar and Africa) for the first month was to get our feet wet. Learn the best ways to travel before having to ride trains for extended periods of time and clear customs. Also, I had a personal experiment to conduct on my own: Valencia v. Barcelona.

I had seen and heard amazing things from both cities leading up to my visits and I must say I was impressed with both in a different way. Having spent time in Valencia, Barcelona and Madrid I can safely say Valencia is like an offspring of Madrid and Barcelona - you get a little bit of everything.

Valencia was great for its history, contrast of old/new city, and a lovely golden, fine sand beach.

Barcelona, while I prefer it to Valencia, did not live up to the hype everyone had built for it. The best analogy I can give to describe the over-hype of Barcelona would be to think of a movie everyone said is "A MUST SEE!"..."It's the funniest movie you'll ever see"..."It will blow your mind"..."I can't believe you haven't seen it yet!" When you finally see this movie your expectations were SO HIGH there was no possible way it could ever compete. (Hangover and Avatar are great examples of this for me.)

Now, that's not to say the movie (or Barcelona in this case) wasn't fantastic, because I really enjoyed my time there. However, it did not live up to the expectations everyone had set for me.

In conclusion, if you ever visit Spain and have to choose between a day trip, or two days, in Valencia or Barcelona, go with the latter; assuming you can tolerate the pompous and ridiculousness that is Catalan. (You'll have to excuse me, my Madrid bias is showing).

We are headed to Paris and London this weekend so I will have more to come after those trips.

Good luck to everyone in the States, you know, not having a functioning government and all. If it makes you feel any better, next time you think about how poor our unemployment rate, our economy, or the differences that exist within our country remember it could be worse.

Spain's current unemployment rate is in the high teens (near 50% if you only look at the 18-25 demographic), their economy believe it or not rivals ours for disgustingly-horrible-ness (so bad it needed a new word), and hey, half their country wants to secede and start a new nation (that's not something to be proud of Cataloñans).