For the second year in a row I embarked on another memorable adventure in Europe this time with my parents and grandma. We began to plan our trip around Christmas time, with intentions to visit Andres in Sweden, Gabriel in Brussels, and our cousin Kathy Bell in London. We also agreed to finish our trip in Athens, Greece for several days of nice weather. I was our logistics coordinator and began buying plane tickets and planning the trip weeks in advance. After 4 days back in the states I finally have some free time to reflect on the incredible trip that it was. I can honestly say that it went according to plan, was a total success, and yet another experience of a lifetime!
Stockholm, Sweden
We left for Chicago on a Tuesday afternoon, where we had to park our car in the long-term lot of the O'hare Parking lot. This was our first hurdle of the trip, trying to find this parking lot in the massive airport. Once we found the parking lot, we caught a shuttle and a train to get to the airport. Once we checked in and went thru security clearance, we had an expensive gyro dinner. We flew out at 9:10pm thru Norwegian airlines. It was an 8 hour trip without water! However luckily they had movie screens available, and I watched the Shape of Water.
We arrived at London around 10am local time on Weds (around 4am in the states).We were very thirsty and tired from the trip, and then had to wait a good hour in line at the Customs Check. We had a nice lunch in the Gatwick airport of sandwiches, chili soup, and coffee. We then caught our flight to Stockholm around 5pm and landed at the Arlanda Airport around 8pm. After some searching and asking we were able to find the train-line and buy 4 tickets to take us to our first Bed-N-Breakfast rental. We got off at the 3rd stop from the Airport, the Norrviken train station in the suburb of Sollentuna. We were quite surprised to see Andres there at the station waiting for us. From there on he showed us to our BnB. It was about a 5 minute walk from the train station, slightly uphill, of which we also made a stop at a nearby grocery store. We had good sandwiches for dinner and went to bed shortly after. Everyone was very tired after nearly 18 hours of traveling.
The next morning on Thursday I helped my mom make breakfast and we began to plan the day. My mom insisted on going to IKEA, which was somewhat disappointing but I knew we would have to compromise on this trip. We also made plans to visit the Vasa Museum on the island of Djurgarden, where a sunken ship from the 1628 was put on display. The ship was quite a sight to behold, restored to it's former glory. It is renown for it's epic failure of sinking on it's maiden voyage. The walk to the island was a long one and especially daunting on my mom, who had just sprained her ankle a few days before, however it gave us a great opportunity to explore the downtown area of Stockholm. The weather was quite cold that afternoon in the high 20s especially along the bay.
Andres was our guide for the most part throughout Sweden, and helped navigate the subways, including a tricky bus transfer to get us to IKEA. This famous Swedish furniture shop seemed like a waste of time, however it provided us with a very tasty and affordable lunch. We all got the Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and jam. It was quite good! On the way home we bought some beer, wine, and hot dogs for dinner. That night we stayed up drinking, talking, and watching movies.
On our second day in Stockholm, we decided to visit Old Town, known as Gamla Stan. We checked out of our BnB around 11am and dropped off all our baggage in locker spaces at the Stockholm Central Station. We then began to explore the old town area which had much of Sweden's more historical and cultural buildings. We saw several landmarks around the island such as the City Hall and the Royal Palace. However the highlight came when we found a cafe named Sundberg's Konditori. It was a famed cafe established in 1785 where the royal court would often visit. The food there was also quite enjoyable where we each ordered a tasty shrimp sauce and potatoes. My mom and Andres got some pastries, one of which was a Budapest Roll that my mom said was the best pastry she had ever had. We all left quite satisfied with this incredible discovery in Stockholm.
We then bought some souvenirs, and got back to the Central Station around 3 in the afternoon, gathered our luggage, and then caught the train to Arlanda Airport. At the airport I got a tuna fish sandwich, which was definitely not worth the 10 dollars I spent. I remember this airport was quite memorable for it's glass smoking room, where people would stand and smoke in this tight confined space. We left around 8pm and arrived in London Gatwick around 11pm. We caught the train from Gatwick to St. Albans City, where our cousin Kathy lived. The train ride was also quite memorable as it was a Friday night and there were some drunken British girls, speaking very vulgarly. We finally got off the train around 1:30am, where Kathy picked us up and showed us to her house and our rooms. We had to get straight to bed, as we had another big day awaiting us.
Manchester, England
That Saturday morning we woke up around 7:00am at Kathy's house to prepare for what was to be the biggest day of the trip. We were then quite surprised when out of nowhere Gabriel appeared, who had told us he would not be joining us in England. We were very glad to have him with us, and I joined him on the train ride to Manchester, while everyone else drove with Kathy and her husband Brandon. Before we boarded the train, Gabriel showed m
e King's Cross Station, which was home to the famous Harry Potter 9 and 3 quarters platform. The train ride to Picadilly Station in Manchester was also quite memorable, just listening to the British passengers talk.
We arrived to the city of Manchester at around 12pm, and stopped in on an English Pub to have a few drinks. This was also a memorable experience and after 2 drinks a piece of which I bought for Gabriel, I had quite a good buzz going. We then caught an Uber to Old Trafford. Seeing the stadium with my own eyes was yet another awe-inspiring moment. Gabriel bought me a souvenier scarf since I did not have any British pounds. We then met with Mom, Dad, Kathy, and the others who showed us to our VIP lounge within the stadium. We were treated like royalty at this suite, with a 5 course meal and all we could drink. We also got a private tour of the stadium grounds. This was a dream come true experience to witness my favorite English futbol club thru VIP status.
I sat next to a British family, where an older blind guy had just turned 80 years old and was celebrating it with his daughter, son-in law, and friend. They were quite generous and talkative with me. I drank beer, ordered the shrimp for appetizer and steak and potatoes for dinner. I helped my family make some gambling predictions for the game, none of which turned out. However that did not take away from the incredible atmosphere at kick-off.
The stadium was filled to a brim, 75,000 in attendance and in full voice, which I did not expect against a smaller club of Swansea City. The first to score was Lukaku, and the second was Sanchez both in the 1st half. In the second half Swansea picked up the attack however David De Gea made several amazing saves. I sat next to my dad for most the game, watching every second of it. The score ended at a 2-0 victory for Manchester United.
However when the game was finished, it turned out Ofelia had gotten sick and thrown up in the suite. This was no doubt a cause of not pacing herself and drinking too fast. However she got the royal medical treatment at Old Trafford and had close to 10 medics working on her. It turned out to be quite a funny situation to see the over-reaction that came from her drunken mistake. We all eventually were escorted to the medical rooms within the stadium, which all but completed this full tour of Old Trafford. I joked that the only thing we were missing to see were the locker rooms. By around 5pm, Gabriel and I caught the train back to London. We had to stand for the first 20 minutes of the train ride since it was filled to it's max. Once I finally got a seat I remember listening with great interest to a dad and his two college sons talk intensively about the game for nearly 2 hours. We finally arrived back to Kathy's house around 10pm. I had some bagels, took a shower, and went to bed.
London, England
On Easter Sunday we once again got up early for yet another busy and memorable day, this time to explore the great city of London. Kathy's husband, Brandon was our tour guide as we navigated the city's efficient metro lines to get where we had to go. The first stop on our day in London was the Easter Mass service at the Westminster Cathedral. This experience was almost as good as the Manchester United match, and without question the greatest mass service I had ever witnessed. This was because of the London choir that sang heavenly hymns and chants in Latin for long duration. I joked that they should have charged us to experience this mass service. To add to the extravagant setting was the fact that the cardinal of bishop was presiding over the mass. The service lasted nearly 2 hours and did not drag whatsoever. After wards we took our picture with the cardinal right outside the steps of the cathedral.
By afternoon we began to walk and explore the landmarks. The first once just outside of the Westminster Cathedral was the famed Westminster Abbey, which was originally built as a Catholic Church in the year 960 and later became an Abbey that housed the coronation of every English monarch since 1066. I was quite quite impressed to see the sculptures of the 10 martyrs of the 20th century, which included the American civil rights activist Martin Luther King at it's center. After this we walked to the Thames River to see the Parliament building and the iconic Big Ben tower, which was unfortunately under renovation and behind scaffolding.
After this we got back on the train to visit Buckingham Palace, where the monarchy resided. This site wasn't quite as awe-inspiring as the Parliament or the Abbey yet still had it's royal appeal and we got to see the famous British guards standing firm at the gates. We then walked to a nearby bar called the Phoenix, where I bought Kathy, Brandon, and myself a beer. Andres and I ordered a traditional British meal of sausage and potatoes known as Bangers and Mash. My parents got the typical British meal of Fish and Chips, which seemed like a classier version of Long Johns Silver. We then bought some souvenirs and made our way to Tower Hill.
We decided to skip seeing St. Paul Cathedral since everyone was getting tired, however the Tower Hill was the ultimate sight of the day. We first saw the famed Tower of London, one of England's oldest and most iconic buildings dating back to 1078. It served as a prison for nearly a thousand years to many famous historical figures such as Anne Boleyn. To this day it is used as home to the United Kingdom's Crowned Jewels. We then saw the monumental sight of the Tower Bridge, which looked like something out of a fantasy. The bridge was constructed around 1894 with it's iconic towers and elements similar to that of it's nearby landmark the Tower of London. This site was perhaps my favorite one in London.
We got back to Kathy and Brandon's house around 7pm and decided to get Chinese for dinner. I joined Brandon on the car ride to pick it up. The food wasn't near as good as American Chinese food, but still wasn't terrible either. That night I had a few beers with dad, Kathy, and Brandon before going to bed. The next morning, Kathy gave us a ride to the Heathrow Airport to catch our flight to Brussels. We flew out around 11am and arrived to Brussels around 2pm on Monday afternoon.
Brussels, Belgium
This was my second time at Brussels, and probably my 4th or 5th time at their international airport. Andres and I got quite familiar with the train tickets last year and I lead the group to buy our tickets at the Kiosk. It was suppose to be a simple 15 minute ride to the Central Station, and yet it all went wrong. When we arrived to the platform I was a bit unsure whether it was the correct train, and when I got onboard with Andres to verify the doors suddenly closed. Mom, Dad, and Ofelia w
ere left on the platform and Andres and I were stuck on the train. We had no choice but to seperate from the group which made me concerned since Andres and I were the guides.
To further complicate things, Andres and I completely missed our stop at the Central Station in Brussels and rode almost an hour north to the city of Ghent. This was an unfortunate situation however we made the best of it by stopping at a cafe to get some coffee and pastries. We later bought new tickets to return to Brussels, and eventually reunited with the group by 5pm. Luckily Mom, Dad, and Ofelia managed to catch the next train to Brussels and meet up with Gabriel. When we arrived to Gabriel's place everyone was well rested and we laughed off the slight bump which could have become a major problem.
That evening was a rainy one, yet Gabriel gave us a great tour of the historical district. My parents were quite amazing by the Grand Place square, as I was last year. I'll never forget this plaza was where Andres and I had our first European encounter at a cafe. We later had dinner at the same place we went to last year, Leon's. I ordered the mussels, shrimp, and pasta and bought Gabriel several more beers that I owed him. That night Mom, dad, and Ofelia stayed at a BnB while Andres and I stayed at Gabriel's place.
The next morning, Gabriel left early for Athens, while I got to sleep in. By around 11am, everyone else checked out of the BnB and we regrouped at Gabriel's apartment. We had another few hours to kill before heading back to the airport so decided to explore some more of Brussels. Dad and I carried some plastic bottles filled with red wine to drink as we walked through the busy streets We found a nice Belgian Waffle stand, and I got one with the works, chocolate, strawberries, bananas, and whip cream. Ofelia and Mom loaded up on the souvenirs, while Dad was quite impressed with the street musicians. There was a brass quartet that attracted quite a crowd, and my Dad was convinced these were young musical doctors. On our way back we found a bakery, and mom bought some baguettes. We had some hamburgers at Gabriel's apartment and drank some wine before heading to the airport.
The 3 hour plane trip to Athens was quite a drag, as it was very warm onboard and we did not have any water. We were however quite surprised when they gave us a complimentary meal and some drinks, unlike the other airlines did. When we arrived at Athens, around 12:30am, Gabriel had arranged for two taxis to pick us up. I rode with dad, and I remember the taxi driver drove extremely fast along a Toll-road highway. We all arrived to the BnB around 1am, and Gabriel met us to show us our rooms on the 5th floor. We were all extremely tied and went to bed shortly after we were settled in.
Athens, Greece
That night I slept quite well, and was very happy to see that our BnB had a coffee maker. The view on our balcony was incredible, and we could see the mountains and a slight view of the Acropolis. The weather was much warmer, in the mid 70s, than what we had experienced in Sweden, England, and Belgium. The city buildings reminded me of Latin America with the balconies and plants. That morning we planned to head straight to the iconic Parthenon, which was up a mountain. It was about a 20 minute walk when we got to the mountain and saw the site up close. Ofelia bought our tickets to see the site. It was quite surreal to see this ancient building of stone pillars that was constructed in 447 BC still standing strong.
After we spent time admiring the Parthenon and other temples of the Acropolis, we begin a long descent down a hill. For lunch we were in search of gyros and I quickly discovered that many Greek locals were offended when I asked if they served them. We finally found a restaurant away from the tourist area, where I ordered some chicken and rice (which was quite bland). However the pita bread, greek salad, and cucumber sauce made up for this. Dad and Andres got fish, while mom got a deluxe octopus seafood platter. I had a Greek beer known as an Alpha, and we all exchanged our food with one another to make for a satisfying lunch. Afterwards we continued to explore the marketplace and bought souvenirs.
The journey home was a bit of a drag as mom was clearly in pain from all the walking up and down hills we had done. Yet she soldiered on and maintained great spirit throughout it all. We finally made it up by around 5pm, and Andres and I volunteers to pick up dinner which was to be another adventure. We first had to stop at a pharamcy to get cough medicine for mom. Then we stopped at a very small groc
ery store in the neighborhood, where the owner was an old lady who did not speak any English. We managed to buy a case of beer, some wine, sausage, olives, and toilet paper. The final phase of our mission was to find a food stand to bring dinner home for everyone. Andres did an excellent job of taking the lead on this task and we found a nice commercial gyro place, and good food for everyone. The gyros were okay yet I didn't think they were as good as the ones we had here. That night dad and I sat on the balcony drinking wine and talking philosophy.
The next morning I volunteered to get pastries for everyone at a nearby bakery. I got some sweet bread, baklava, chocolate filled croissants, and a complimentary muffin from the cute cashier. That afternoon Gabriel, dad, and myself decided to some more exploring while the others rested. We walked to another site we wanted to see, the Panathenaic Stadium. This was the site of the first modern day Olympics built for the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens. The stadium was a great experience and as a track athlete I felt quite inspired by the site. We listened to an audio guide, took lots of pictures, and I bought a poster at the souvenir shop. We th
en walked back to the BnB to have sandwiches with the others for lunch.
That evening all of us returned to the market square to buy more souvenirs. I was especially inspired by the Greek trickets, more than the other 3 countries, and bought more stuff there than anywhere else. I was able to barter with the sellers and come down by several Euros on each of my purchase. Mom and Ofelia also bought lots of souveneirs for the children back in the states. Andres and I bought some freshly squeezed juice for everybody as we relaxed in the town square.
That evening Gabriel took us out to a nice Greek restaurant where we sat outside and celebrated Andres' birthday. We once again ordered salad, pita bread, and cucumber sauce for appetizers, and I got another Alpha beer. I ordered some sausage and rice for dinner which was quite satisfying. After the tasty dinner we walked to the same bakery in our neighborhood to get dessert. It was here that I gave my dad my phone to take pictures, and later forgot that he had it. I panicked and quickly returned to the restaurant with Andres thinking I had left it there, yet later Gabriel called us to tell me dad had it. That night we relaxed at the BnB, sang happy birthday to Andres, had several drinks, and talked about music.
On our last day on Friday, I once again joined Gabriel for an early hike through the city. This time we did some good mountain hiking to see the Philopappos Monument, which we could see from the balcony of our BnB. This monument was built around 100 AD, as a tomb for a prince. When we reached the top, what was even more impressive than the monument was the open view we had of the Acropolis mountain and the city of Athens. It was a good hike with Gabriel and we didn't have to spend a dime to see it. We then walked back and regrouped with the others at the BnB.
At this point we had to see goodbye to Andres who was leaving early on his return flight to Stockholm. The rest of us however were not leaving until later in the night so we decided to visit the marketplace one last time. We once again took the subway to the city center and did some more shopping and eventually found a nice restaurant outdoors amidst the pedestrian traffic. I ordered another beer, some beef steak, and rice which wasn't too bad. All-in-all I would say the Greek food was the best food we had on our trip. That evening we said goodbye to Gabriel, and ordered a Uber to take us to the airport. Luckily we were all able to fit in the small Uber ride, and not have to request a 2nd one.
On this final return stage of our trip we began to run into a series of small problems. First was the large duffel bag, which we referred to as Big Bertha, that was too heavy to be checked in, and we had to pay double for an overweight item. Then when we arrived at London-Heathrow and claimed our bags, we left mom's chocolate by the baggage belt. I had to thus return to the belt by going thru security which was not an easy task. After this we had to arrange a train to take us to the Gatwick airport which was where were to fly out tomorrow. However we later discovered that it would be perhaps a bit more efficient to just take a taxi. The taxi ride cost us maybe 50$ more than the train 4 train tickets put together, however at least we did not have to haul Big Bertha around. We arrived to our hotel by Gatwick airport around 11pm. I ordered everyone some Dominos pizza from the receptionist desk.
In the morning we ate at the hotel breakfast buffet and then got to relax for a while before heading to the airport. We once again had to pay a double rate for Big Bertha on Norwegian Airlines. Our 8 hour flight back to the states left at 4pm, and I watched 3 and half movies (Murder on the Orient Express, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Blade Runner 2049, and Goodbye Christopher Robin). When we arrived in Chicago around 7pm local time, we once again had another problem when we could not find where we parked our car. My dad and I spent a good 20 minutes searching the parking lot in the brutal cold weather of Chicago. Finally we realized it was at a different bus stop on the far corner of the parking lot. We got the car and picked up Mom, Ofelia, and our baggage and we're finally on our way home. The drive was a long and tedius one, as we were all extremely tired .We got some McDonalds and Taco Bell for dinner and all took turns driving. We made it home by around 2am and the trip was finally complete. It was a total success and an experience of a lifetime.
Stockholm, Sweden
We arrived at London around 10am local time on Weds (around 4am in the states).We were very thirsty and tired from the trip, and then had to wait a good hour in line at the Customs Check. We had a nice lunch in the Gatwick airport of sandwiches, chili soup, and coffee. We then caught our flight to Stockholm around 5pm and landed at the Arlanda Airport around 8pm. After some searching and asking we were able to find the train-line and buy 4 tickets to take us to our first Bed-N-Breakfast rental. We got off at the 3rd stop from the Airport, the Norrviken train station in the suburb of Sollentuna. We were quite surprised to see Andres there at the station waiting for us. From there on he showed us to our BnB. It was about a 5 minute walk from the train station, slightly uphill, of which we also made a stop at a nearby grocery store. We had good sandwiches for dinner and went to bed shortly after. Everyone was very tired after nearly 18 hours of traveling.
The next morning on Thursday I helped my mom make breakfast and we began to plan the day. My mom insisted on going to IKEA, which was somewhat disappointing but I knew we would have to compromise on this trip. We also made plans to visit the Vasa Museum on the island of Djurgarden, where a sunken ship from the 1628 was put on display. The ship was quite a sight to behold, restored to it's former glory. It is renown for it's epic failure of sinking on it's maiden voyage. The walk to the island was a long one and especially daunting on my mom, who had just sprained her ankle a few days before, however it gave us a great opportunity to explore the downtown area of Stockholm. The weather was quite cold that afternoon in the high 20s especially along the bay.Andres was our guide for the most part throughout Sweden, and helped navigate the subways, including a tricky bus transfer to get us to IKEA. This famous Swedish furniture shop seemed like a waste of time, however it provided us with a very tasty and affordable lunch. We all got the Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and jam. It was quite good! On the way home we bought some beer, wine, and hot dogs for dinner. That night we stayed up drinking, talking, and watching movies.
On our second day in Stockholm, we decided to visit Old Town, known as Gamla Stan. We checked out of our BnB around 11am and dropped off all our baggage in locker spaces at the Stockholm Central Station. We then began to explore the old town area which had much of Sweden's more historical and cultural buildings. We saw several landmarks around the island such as the City Hall and the Royal Palace. However the highlight came when we found a cafe named Sundberg's Konditori. It was a famed cafe established in 1785 where the royal court would often visit. The food there was also quite enjoyable where we each ordered a tasty shrimp sauce and potatoes. My mom and Andres got some pastries, one of which was a Budapest Roll that my mom said was the best pastry she had ever had. We all left quite satisfied with this incredible discovery in Stockholm.We then bought some souvenirs, and got back to the Central Station around 3 in the afternoon, gathered our luggage, and then caught the train to Arlanda Airport. At the airport I got a tuna fish sandwich, which was definitely not worth the 10 dollars I spent. I remember this airport was quite memorable for it's glass smoking room, where people would stand and smoke in this tight confined space. We left around 8pm and arrived in London Gatwick around 11pm. We caught the train from Gatwick to St. Albans City, where our cousin Kathy lived. The train ride was also quite memorable as it was a Friday night and there were some drunken British girls, speaking very vulgarly. We finally got off the train around 1:30am, where Kathy picked us up and showed us to her house and our rooms. We had to get straight to bed, as we had another big day awaiting us.
Manchester, England
That Saturday morning we woke up around 7:00am at Kathy's house to prepare for what was to be the biggest day of the trip. We were then quite surprised when out of nowhere Gabriel appeared, who had told us he would not be joining us in England. We were very glad to have him with us, and I joined him on the train ride to Manchester, while everyone else drove with Kathy and her husband Brandon. Before we boarded the train, Gabriel showed me King's Cross Station, which was home to the famous Harry Potter 9 and 3 quarters platform. The train ride to Picadilly Station in Manchester was also quite memorable, just listening to the British passengers talk.
We arrived to the city of Manchester at around 12pm, and stopped in on an English Pub to have a few drinks. This was also a memorable experience and after 2 drinks a piece of which I bought for Gabriel, I had quite a good buzz going. We then caught an Uber to Old Trafford. Seeing the stadium with my own eyes was yet another awe-inspiring moment. Gabriel bought me a souvenier scarf since I did not have any British pounds. We then met with Mom, Dad, Kathy, and the others who showed us to our VIP lounge within the stadium. We were treated like royalty at this suite, with a 5 course meal and all we could drink. We also got a private tour of the stadium grounds. This was a dream come true experience to witness my favorite English futbol club thru VIP status.
I sat next to a British family, where an older blind guy had just turned 80 years old and was celebrating it with his daughter, son-in law, and friend. They were quite generous and talkative with me. I drank beer, ordered the shrimp for appetizer and steak and potatoes for dinner. I helped my family make some gambling predictions for the game, none of which turned out. However that did not take away from the incredible atmosphere at kick-off.The stadium was filled to a brim, 75,000 in attendance and in full voice, which I did not expect against a smaller club of Swansea City. The first to score was Lukaku, and the second was Sanchez both in the 1st half. In the second half Swansea picked up the attack however David De Gea made several amazing saves. I sat next to my dad for most the game, watching every second of it. The score ended at a 2-0 victory for Manchester United.
However when the game was finished, it turned out Ofelia had gotten sick and thrown up in the suite. This was no doubt a cause of not pacing herself and drinking too fast. However she got the royal medical treatment at Old Trafford and had close to 10 medics working on her. It turned out to be quite a funny situation to see the over-reaction that came from her drunken mistake. We all eventually were escorted to the medical rooms within the stadium, which all but completed this full tour of Old Trafford. I joked that the only thing we were missing to see were the locker rooms. By around 5pm, Gabriel and I caught the train back to London. We had to stand for the first 20 minutes of the train ride since it was filled to it's max. Once I finally got a seat I remember listening with great interest to a dad and his two college sons talk intensively about the game for nearly 2 hours. We finally arrived back to Kathy's house around 10pm. I had some bagels, took a shower, and went to bed.
London, England
By afternoon we began to walk and explore the landmarks. The first once just outside of the Westminster Cathedral was the famed Westminster Abbey, which was originally built as a Catholic Church in the year 960 and later became an Abbey that housed the coronation of every English monarch since 1066. I was quite quite impressed to see the sculptures of the 10 martyrs of the 20th century, which included the American civil rights activist Martin Luther King at it's center. After this we walked to the Thames River to see the Parliament building and the iconic Big Ben tower, which was unfortunately under renovation and behind scaffolding.
After this we got back on the train to visit Buckingham Palace, where the monarchy resided. This site wasn't quite as awe-inspiring as the Parliament or the Abbey yet still had it's royal appeal and we got to see the famous British guards standing firm at the gates. We then walked to a nearby bar called the Phoenix, where I bought Kathy, Brandon, and myself a beer. Andres and I ordered a traditional British meal of sausage and potatoes known as Bangers and Mash. My parents got the typical British meal of Fish and Chips, which seemed like a classier version of Long Johns Silver. We then bought some souvenirs and made our way to Tower Hill.
We got back to Kathy and Brandon's house around 7pm and decided to get Chinese for dinner. I joined Brandon on the car ride to pick it up. The food wasn't near as good as American Chinese food, but still wasn't terrible either. That night I had a few beers with dad, Kathy, and Brandon before going to bed. The next morning, Kathy gave us a ride to the Heathrow Airport to catch our flight to Brussels. We flew out around 11am and arrived to Brussels around 2pm on Monday afternoon.
Brussels, Belgium
This was my second time at Brussels, and probably my 4th or 5th time at their international airport. Andres and I got quite familiar with the train tickets last year and I lead the group to buy our tickets at the Kiosk. It was suppose to be a simple 15 minute ride to the Central Station, and yet it all went wrong. When we arrived to the platform I was a bit unsure whether it was the correct train, and when I got onboard with Andres to verify the doors suddenly closed. Mom, Dad, and Ofelia were left on the platform and Andres and I were stuck on the train. We had no choice but to seperate from the group which made me concerned since Andres and I were the guides.
To further complicate things, Andres and I completely missed our stop at the Central Station in Brussels and rode almost an hour north to the city of Ghent. This was an unfortunate situation however we made the best of it by stopping at a cafe to get some coffee and pastries. We later bought new tickets to return to Brussels, and eventually reunited with the group by 5pm. Luckily Mom, Dad, and Ofelia managed to catch the next train to Brussels and meet up with Gabriel. When we arrived to Gabriel's place everyone was well rested and we laughed off the slight bump which could have become a major problem.
That evening was a rainy one, yet Gabriel gave us a great tour of the historical district. My parents were quite amazing by the Grand Place square, as I was last year. I'll never forget this plaza was where Andres and I had our first European encounter at a cafe. We later had dinner at the same place we went to last year, Leon's. I ordered the mussels, shrimp, and pasta and bought Gabriel several more beers that I owed him. That night Mom, dad, and Ofelia stayed at a BnB while Andres and I stayed at Gabriel's place.
The next morning, Gabriel left early for Athens, while I got to sleep in. By around 11am, everyone else checked out of the BnB and we regrouped at Gabriel's apartment. We had another few hours to kill before heading back to the airport so decided to explore some more of Brussels. Dad and I carried some plastic bottles filled with red wine to drink as we walked through the busy streets We found a nice Belgian Waffle stand, and I got one with the works, chocolate, strawberries, bananas, and whip cream. Ofelia and Mom loaded up on the souvenirs, while Dad was quite impressed with the street musicians. There was a brass quartet that attracted quite a crowd, and my Dad was convinced these were young musical doctors. On our way back we found a bakery, and mom bought some baguettes. We had some hamburgers at Gabriel's apartment and drank some wine before heading to the airport.The 3 hour plane trip to Athens was quite a drag, as it was very warm onboard and we did not have any water. We were however quite surprised when they gave us a complimentary meal and some drinks, unlike the other airlines did. When we arrived at Athens, around 12:30am, Gabriel had arranged for two taxis to pick us up. I rode with dad, and I remember the taxi driver drove extremely fast along a Toll-road highway. We all arrived to the BnB around 1am, and Gabriel met us to show us our rooms on the 5th floor. We were all extremely tied and went to bed shortly after we were settled in.
Athens, Greece
That night I slept quite well, and was very happy to see that our BnB had a coffee maker. The view on our balcony was incredible, and we could see the mountains and a slight view of the Acropolis. The weather was much warmer, in the mid 70s, than what we had experienced in Sweden, England, and Belgium. The city buildings reminded me of Latin America with the balconies and plants. That morning we planned to head straight to the iconic Parthenon, which was up a mountain. It was about a 20 minute walk when we got to the mountain and saw the site up close. Ofelia bought our tickets to see the site. It was quite surreal to see this ancient building of stone pillars that was constructed in 447 BC still standing strong.After we spent time admiring the Parthenon and other temples of the Acropolis, we begin a long descent down a hill. For lunch we were in search of gyros and I quickly discovered that many Greek locals were offended when I asked if they served them. We finally found a restaurant away from the tourist area, where I ordered some chicken and rice (which was quite bland). However the pita bread, greek salad, and cucumber sauce made up for this. Dad and Andres got fish, while mom got a deluxe octopus seafood platter. I had a Greek beer known as an Alpha, and we all exchanged our food with one another to make for a satisfying lunch. Afterwards we continued to explore the marketplace and bought souvenirs.
ery store in the neighborhood, where the owner was an old lady who did not speak any English. We managed to buy a case of beer, some wine, sausage, olives, and toilet paper. The final phase of our mission was to find a food stand to bring dinner home for everyone. Andres did an excellent job of taking the lead on this task and we found a nice commercial gyro place, and good food for everyone. The gyros were okay yet I didn't think they were as good as the ones we had here. That night dad and I sat on the balcony drinking wine and talking philosophy.
The next morning I volunteered to get pastries for everyone at a nearby bakery. I got some sweet bread, baklava, chocolate filled croissants, and a complimentary muffin from the cute cashier. That afternoon Gabriel, dad, and myself decided to some more exploring while the others rested. We walked to another site we wanted to see, the Panathenaic Stadium. This was the site of the first modern day Olympics built for the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens. The stadium was a great experience and as a track athlete I felt quite inspired by the site. We listened to an audio guide, took lots of pictures, and I bought a poster at the souvenir shop. We then walked back to the BnB to have sandwiches with the others for lunch.
That evening all of us returned to the market square to buy more souvenirs. I was especially inspired by the Greek trickets, more than the other 3 countries, and bought more stuff there than anywhere else. I was able to barter with the sellers and come down by several Euros on each of my purchase. Mom and Ofelia also bought lots of souveneirs for the children back in the states. Andres and I bought some freshly squeezed juice for everybody as we relaxed in the town square.
On our last day on Friday, I once again joined Gabriel for an early hike through the city. This time we did some good mountain hiking to see the Philopappos Monument, which we could see from the balcony of our BnB. This monument was built around 100 AD, as a tomb for a prince. When we reached the top, what was even more impressive than the monument was the open view we had of the Acropolis mountain and the city of Athens. It was a good hike with Gabriel and we didn't have to spend a dime to see it. We then walked back and regrouped with the others at the BnB.
At this point we had to see goodbye to Andres who was leaving early on his return flight to Stockholm. The rest of us however were not leaving until later in the night so we decided to visit the marketplace one last time. We once again took the subway to the city center and did some more shopping and eventually found a nice restaurant outdoors amidst the pedestrian traffic. I ordered another beer, some beef steak, and rice which wasn't too bad. All-in-all I would say the Greek food was the best food we had on our trip. That evening we said goodbye to Gabriel, and ordered a Uber to take us to the airport. Luckily we were all able to fit in the small Uber ride, and not have to request a 2nd one.
On this final return stage of our trip we began to run into a series of small problems. First was the large duffel bag, which we referred to as Big Bertha, that was too heavy to be checked in, and we had to pay double for an overweight item. Then when we arrived at London-Heathrow and claimed our bags, we left mom's chocolate by the baggage belt. I had to thus return to the belt by going thru security which was not an easy task. After this we had to arrange a train to take us to the Gatwick airport which was where were to fly out tomorrow. However we later discovered that it would be perhaps a bit more efficient to just take a taxi. The taxi ride cost us maybe 50$ more than the train 4 train tickets put together, however at least we did not have to haul Big Bertha around. We arrived to our hotel by Gatwick airport around 11pm. I ordered everyone some Dominos pizza from the receptionist desk.In the morning we ate at the hotel breakfast buffet and then got to relax for a while before heading to the airport. We once again had to pay a double rate for Big Bertha on Norwegian Airlines. Our 8 hour flight back to the states left at 4pm, and I watched 3 and half movies (Murder on the Orient Express, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Blade Runner 2049, and Goodbye Christopher Robin). When we arrived in Chicago around 7pm local time, we once again had another problem when we could not find where we parked our car. My dad and I spent a good 20 minutes searching the parking lot in the brutal cold weather of Chicago. Finally we realized it was at a different bus stop on the far corner of the parking lot. We got the car and picked up Mom, Ofelia, and our baggage and we're finally on our way home. The drive was a long and tedius one, as we were all extremely tired .We got some McDonalds and Taco Bell for dinner and all took turns driving. We made it home by around 2am and the trip was finally complete. It was a total success and an experience of a lifetime.
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