 SPAIN Barcelona The beginning of my last leg started with an overnight train from Milan to Barcelona, Spain, a 15-hour ride. I was eagerly looking forward to visiting the land where my family ancestors had come from many generations back... I wanted to see a couple of important cities in Spain, Barcelona, and Madrid. It was a long and disrupted journey as we had to change trains somewhere in the middle of the night when we first arrived in Spain, for at that time the width of the railroad of Spain was slightly wider than the French... (Not sure if it is still the same now) Anyhow, we arrived in Barcelona in the morning, and I headed towards a nice Youth Hostel near Las Ramblas, a famous promenade/boulevard which runs through the heart of the city centre street for about 1 km and is lined with beautiful trees. 'Las Ramblas' is quite a lively pedestrian-only street with lots of activities and street performers, food stalls and outdoor cafes and some artists, creating some paintings or drawings and various kinds of art on the spot. After leaving my stuff at the Youth Hostel I was ready to spend the day in the Spanish for Gothic Quarter... I was hungry so I walked into a bar/café to see if I could get something to eat... I remember this well because there were some people in the bar speaking Catalan, no one spoke Spanish in that place, even though we were in Spain, Catalonia has its own language, I knew that, but it caught me by surprise first thing in the morning... The bartender looked at me and said something in Catalan, and I said in Spanish, Sorry I don't understand...to which he rapidly responded in Spanish and said, "Ah, are you, Mexican?" Yes, I said, how did you know? "I can tell by the accent, manito"...he replied, using that term we sometimes use in Mexico to call someone a friend... He smiled and said, "Is this your first time in Barcelona? What can I get you?" I said, I'd like to eat something for breakfast, I looked around and I could see people drinking coffee and brandy! I was looking at them in disbelief, I'd never seen that first thing in the morning... then he said, "I can get you a nice sandwich, would you like that?" Yes, please, then he asked... "Would you like a carajillo? (Pronounced cara-hiyo) I said, what's that? then he said, "It is coffee with a bit of Brandy in it, have you tried it before?" I said, never, then he said, "well as it is your first time, I'll get you one and it is on the house!"... Some other people walked in, and he said to them as he fixed me a carajillo, "Hey, look, we have a visitor from Mexico, he's having his first carajillo!" Everyone was all smiles and they all welcomed me to Barcelona, they all seemed to know each other well, they must've been regulars to this bar, and they all ordered carajillos to drink with me...It was quite nice, extremely delicious, and rather sweet, and the touch of brandy made it hit my head right away and definitely woke my senses up... My toasted sandwich was also delicious, made with fresh ham and, unbeknown to me, I had just experienced a typical morning in Spain, which for many is their everyday ritual... I spent the rest of the day walking through the Ramblas and admiring some of the sensational architecture of the Gothic quarter, so colourful, so quirky, so gothic, so unusual, all of which made Barcelona a unique place in the world... Then, the next day, I went to see the unfinished 'La Sagrada Familia Basilica', an amazing piece of art itself... designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi...wow, I was blown away! Here's a bit of info on this place: It has been under construction since 1882...Gaudi died in June 1926 after being struck by a tram and was buried in the church crypt. Work on the basilica is about 70 per cent complete (at the time I'm writing this, November 2021). Now there is a new license to carry on with the construction of this magnificent place, New Zealand architect Mark Burry was the senior architect and researcher at the church from 1979 to 2016 and has been commissioned to carry out this task. Burry decided to employ the same drafting technology to solve Sagrada Familia's thorniest engineering challenges on computers before casting them in concrete, iron, and stone. For such an old construction project, today's Sagrada Familia is remarkably high-tech (learn more). Because of these technological and engineering advances, the current chief architect of the Sagrada Familia, Jordi Faulí, is confident that Gaudi’s grandiose structure — including the tallest church spire in the world at 566 feet (173 meters) — will finally be completed in 2026, the 100th anniversary of Gaudi’s death. After this wonderful visit to Barcelona, it was time to go to Madrid...  Madrid I had truly no idea what it would be like, but I knew there was a museum I wanted to visit, the Prado Museum. I got there on October 15 in the evening and got all set at the Youth Hostel... The next day, October 16...it was my 21st birthday... There was no one there to sing me happy birthday to you, no one knew it was my birthday but me... It was my very first birthday away from home and it was just...another day... If I had been in Mexico, I would've been woken up with the 'Mañanitas', a Mexican song we sing for someone's birthday...my Mum or Dad would normally play a record by Pedro Infante, a popular Mexican singer from my parent's generation. Every year they played that first thing in the morning to all in our family, whose birthday was that day... Mum would go up to my room or I'd come down the stairs and there were usually a present or two... and mum would always ask me, "what would you like for dinner?"... As my Birthday treat... so, I'd ask for whatever I felt like, it might have been bean soup, and meatballs or chicken taquitos... Anyway, that 21st birthday nothing like that took place...but to be frank I was not too sad that day, I had already been prepared and had decided what I was going to do to celebrate, and it was going to be my most unusual and totally 'unlike me' day... I was going to spend the day in a museum! What!?, I must be going crazy! It was a special day and it had to be spent in a unique way and the Prado Museum was that and more! I genuinely surprised myself… I could've even shouted to myself...Surprise!! I must admit, it was a magnificent day... I walked into the museum knowing I was going to see the magnificent works by Velazquez, Goya, El Greco, Rubens, and many others, I invite you to view here some of the highlights of this museum... https://vimeo.com/648140614/f7462756b3 At this stage, this museum was the fourth 'major museum' I was visiting during this year abroad and I had learned through experience how to behave in a museum and had learned how to pause to appreciate some of the works...however, I still struggled to be standing still too long at each of the most impressive paintings...I was still a bit impatient... I remember thinking...I've spent my birthday in a museum, I must be growing up... The next day I went to see the Royal Palace and some other sights, and I was ready to head back up north, to Holland, however, there was one more stop I wanted to make... Bruges, in Belgium.  Bruges, Belgium So, once again saving on accommodation with another overnight train, I travelled up to Brussels and then onto Bruges... A 15-hour journey, which was quite uneventful, so I was able to rest just fine... Bruges...wow! It is distinguished by its canals, cobbled streets and medieval buildings from the 13th and 14th-century... It feels like you are walking back in time, and it is hard to believe this town still exists...During WW2, it was occupied by the Germans and spared complete destruction, I believe... It is an incredibly beautiful town, and I wanted to try a couple of their traditional treats, their Belgium Waffles, and their famous Trappist beer…It is a type of beer brewed inside the walls of a functioning monastery by – or under the supervision of – monks. I chose to spend my money on Belgium Waffles! However, I came across a couple from Mexico while I was walking through the beautiful town, I heard them talking in that uniquely ‘Mexican way’ of talking so I knew they were from my hometown...and I said hello to them in Spanish, and said… Mexicans? and they said, "yes, we are, and you?” Yup, same here, we got talking and then they said they were going to go into a PUB to try the Trappist beer, and said, “want to come along?” …I said, sorry I'm skinned can't afford that... "No problem," they said, "we are in celebration mode, it is our honeymoon, "we'll shout you a beer, let's go!" Cool, thanks so much I said, and we went into a great looking traditional Belgium PUB... The beer we tried was rather unique, a Trappist draft beer with grenadine, it was a bit sweet and was a bit high in alcohol, I think about 21%, and I hadn't eaten anything, I hadn't even had my waffles! I felt a bit drunk pretty quickly and as we walked out of the bar, I said goodbye and thank you to my Mexican friends, and even though we said, 'let's catch up some time when we get back to Mexico', as you do in most cases when you meet someone from back home, we have never met again... It is funny how I kept coming across good Samaritans along my journey and in fact, I've come across so many of them all along throughout my life...lucky me... After that I had something to eat and had my waffles, I don't remember how good or not they were... I was still a bit drunk...and having something sweet after drinking is not exactly a clever idea… The next day I headed back to Amsterdam and Zaandam...it was October the 18th, exactly the last day of validity of my InterRail pass...and the end of my Europe Grand Tour... It was time to collect the rest of my stuff from Zaandam and say my last goodbye to Arthur and Inge, who generously opened their door one last time for me that night... I'm back I said, they were expecting me...I walked in, and we stayed talking until quite late that night about my trip, and my experiences. Arthur got pretty excited about my story and said he would do a similar tour himself in the near future... The next day we said our last ‘goodbyes’ and I headed back to Amsterdam. I stayed there for a couple of days before travelling back to London by bus where a few days later I'd be catching my plane to the USA... and then back to Mexico... The end of my journey was approaching... 
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