The world's best food countries (that have some nice landmarks too):
France
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| Very jet lagged on the first morning, we woke up at 5 am and went to see all the sights at sunrise, including the Eiffel Tower |
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| The Arc de Triomphe |
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| La Basilique du Sacré Cœur (The Basilica of the Sacred Heart) |
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| We went back to the Eiffel Tower after it opened for the day; this is the view from the top. |
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| Hall of Mirrors, Versailles |
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| Versailles Gardens |
Spain
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| Amazing food (especially seafood) EVERYWHERE |
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| And dessert |
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| San Sebastian |
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| Convenient outside escalators in Bilbao |
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| Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao |
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| The last picture I took on my phone before accidentally leaving it at this restaurant in Bilbao. Luckily, the restaurant found my phone and even though we had left the city already, they shipped it to our next destination! |
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| Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona |
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| Montserrat, mountaintop monastery near Barcelona |
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| Alcazar Gardens, Seville, where Dorne (in Game of Thrones) was filmed! |
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| Alcazar |
One of the most memorable parts of our trip, that I don't seem to have any pictures of, was our last stop: Madrid. One of my classmates put me in touch with his brother, a local tour guide in Madrid, who gave us a walking tour of the city. Afterwards, we chatted over drinks, and since he has traveled to almost 100 countries, he gave us some possible itineraries for our honeymoon as well as some recommendations on where to go for the rest of the day. He got us reservations for dinner at Botin, the oldest restaurant in the world, because he knew the owner, and that night made our entire trip unforgettable. When we walked in, Andy noticed that our names were highlighted, had a bunch of stars next to it, and even some notes scribbled in the margins. The owner's son came over to introduce himself, took us to our table, and gave us some tapas on the house. The food was delicious, as it has been everywhere in France and Spain, but the service and treatment were just unparalleled.
My friend and his brother, their dad, and the owner of the restaurant used to be in the same traditional singing group, called the Tunas. A group of them sing in the restaurant every night around midnight. That night, the group sang a couple songs to the entire floor and then came specifically to our table and said, "We heard you are a friend of one of ours, so we would like to play some songs for you." They asked me if I wanted a happy song or a romantic one, but when I responded "a happy song," they didn't like my answer. "Are you sure?" one of them asked. "Fine; first we will sing you a happy song and then we will sing you a romantic song." And then they serenaded us! To top it off, when we left the restaurant, the owner gave us a ceramic jar that they usually put sangria in as a gift to take home with us.
