Mazie

Steps: 36,027. London —> Brussels —> Bruges. Weather: Approaching perfect- Really sunny and warm! Somehow it was 70 degrees and I was still wearing pants and a jacket though :).

• 4:45 Wake up. It’s only easy to wake up before your alarm when your alarm is set for 5AM it seems.
• 5:00 Get up, get ready
• 5:17 Ready to go! Faith walks me down to the lobby and we say goodbye :(
• 5:30 Walk to Blackfriars station.
• 5:49 Thameslink Luton train to St. Pancras
• 6:00 At St. Pancras! As per Faith’s instructions, I walked straight forward and the Eurostar was literally right there. Going through security and passport control honestly felt like the airport but even more intense.
• 6:20 Cleared security and in the waiting area. I was pretty sure I didn’t need to get here as early as they said I did but they seemed pretty insistent…
• 6:38 Board train! Car 5, seat 25 (Time change. +1 hour)
• 9:25 First stop in Lille, France.
• 10:15 Arrive in Brussels. I may have accidentally fallen asleep listening to the Noah Kahan album and had no idea everyone was getting off the train until suddenly I was awake and the guy next to me was just gone. Thank goodness for whatever voice in the back of my head nudged me awake at that moment!
• 10:20 Cut my fingernails in the train station cuz it was bugging me.
• 10:30 I ended up walking like a half hour out of my way to three different luggage storage places that Google Maps was lying to me about. I was so confident every time until they all ended up being abandoned buildings or sketchy looking grocery stores.
• 11:15 Found a (really nice and actually perfect) hotel with luggage lockers that worked out beautifully. It was really close to the train station and I managed to shove both my suitcase and backpack into the same locker, barely!
• 11:30 Finally able to walk into central Brussels (approx 30 mins). The transition to the tourist area was VERY clear- one block there was no one and the next was packed with people. Very interesting.
• 12:00 Liege waffle from Obe. Plain- just powdered sugar on there, as it was meant to be. It was delicious.
• 12:20 Discover Grand Place, the central most square in Brussels which is just absolutely dazzling.
• 12:45 Belgian waffle (they called it a Brussels waffle) from Maison Dandoy. Powdered sugar. I think I preferred the Liege style, but I enjoyed this one more than I thought I would.
• 1:00 Walk around, stumble upon St. Michael & St. Gudula’s Cathedral which was breathtaking.
• 2:00 Explore the Royal Quarter and the Royal Park. Buy bus tickets for later today cuz not having them was stressing me out.
• 2:30 Back to the Grand Place square for a free walking tour! I am really glad I did this- our tour guide was great, I learned a ton about Brussels and chocolate, saw some niche spots I wouldn’t have known to go to, got recommendations that I actually used, and made some new friends (kinda… never mind the fact I didn’t talk to anyone).
• 4:45 Walk to MOK STUDIO- The coffee shop and “sound experience” Daddy was so captivated with. I took a selfie with the sign but due to construction directly outside and not wanting coffee and perceived awkwardness I didn’t actually go in.
• 5:15 Wolf Food Sharing Hall for an early dinner. I got hummus and pita from a Greek place and it was very good. The ambience was perfect- cool and classy but totally fine to be there alone
• 6:00 Chocolate Time!
  • Stop 1, La Belgique Gourmande: Incredibly disappointing. I paid $7.50 for FOUR TINY CHOCOLATES, two of which were actually fruit jellies that the tour guide recommended but I thought they were horrible so I didn’t even eat them. Rookies mistake- the store looked on the cheaper side… NEVER ASSUME!!
  • Stop 2, Leonidas: Another recommendation from my tour guide and complete redemption from Stop 1. This time I paid $1.75 for two really delicious hazelnut bonbons. The one I tried first was so unique- pillowy, fluffy hazelnut. I’ve never had anything like it and I think I will be getting it again!
  • Stop 3, Neuhaus: Also great. Faith and I had actually gotten free chocolate from this place in Bath by signing up for their loyalty program and I was able to get more free chocolate by signing up with a different email! Decided to save for later.
  • Stop 4, Japanese ice cream. I had seen people with this ice cream earlier and it was the definition of creamy, dreamy, all of the above… Couldn’t not try it
• 6:40 Another tour guide recommendation to visit the rooftop of the beer museum. Quick stop but great views.
• 7:00 Treat Stop 5, Aux Mervellieux de Fred: It was the smell of this one that drew me in. They were baking some sort of sweet bread and something about that smell was magnetic. It was really good- basically a sweet bun with pockets of sugar. But yikes five sweets stops!
• 7:07 Realize that I need to be on my way back to the train station for my 8:29pm train to Bruges.
• 7:30 Quick stop at the Palace of Justice. I had seen it on my walk into town but had to make an official stop because it is just so grand and majestic and beautiful! Also great city skyline/sunset views if you climb to the top.
• 7:35 MAJOR freakout about my train to Bruges. I went to verify my ticket details but the Omio website kept saying it “couldn’t fins any trains” between Brussels and Bruges until tomorrow morning. My first thought was that they canceled my train and didn’t bother to let me know, but I decided to cross my fingers and pray tickets had just sold out and the train would still go on like normal. Nevertheless my journey back to grab my luggage was NOT a peaceful one.
• 7:52 Arrive at the hotel to pick up my luggage.
• 7:59 At the train station. My train is listed on the Departures screen- thank goodness!
• 8:05 Found my gate and suddenly have 25 extra minutes. Whoops!
• 8:15 Call Ellie
• 8:29 Board the train. Ellie joins me virtually :)
• 9:25 Arrive in Bruges. Decide to lug my backpack and suitcase through 33 minutes of windy cobblestone streets because there were so many positive reasons to do so and only one reason, being the cobblestone streets, not to do so. Only one taxi driver leaned out of his cab to ask me if I wanted a ride :). I was a little put off when the first thing I walked through was a small fair that looked like something straight out of literally any small midwest town, complete with carnaval games, cheap prizes, and fried food. Definitely not the vibe I was imagining! But as soon as I got into the city itself I was hit with the quaint fairytale town I was picturing. It was one of those moments where the place actually meets (exceeds?) expectations, and I was literally overflowing with excitement and gratitude to get to spend time here. It is truly one of the most special places I have ever been!
• 10:10 Arrive at St. Christopher’s Inn: The Bauhaus. Met a lady who was also from Minneapolis!
• 10:20 Check in. 12 bunk mixed dorm, Room 41, in the building next door. I was glad to not have to stay directly above the bar. I unloaded my backpack onto my bed and shoved my suitcase awkwardly into a corner, then brushed my teeth and got ready for bed. My unwillingness to let any of my things touch anything in the bathroom meant that I had to open and close the door to the room like 5 times…. and I was zipping and unzipping my suitcase like I had a quota I need to meet.. Really sorry everybody else!
• 11:00 Warm and cozy in my bed. Faith’s dorm was such a wonderful backpackers vibe but it felt great to have a bit more space! However I did accidentally get sidetracked on my phone for an hour.
• 12:00 Lock in on buying my bus tickets to Paris for Saturday. This would have been done weeks ago (and I would’ve paid a lot less money) if I wasn’t traveling alone because the other person would probably have been more on top of it, but what are you going to do. It was really, really good I did it now though because there were only two seats left on the afternoon bus. I had another massive freak out when the website told me there had been an error and my ticket was available at a new price, but it was only 1 Euro more- phew!
• 1:00 Lock in on booking a walking tour for tomorrow. There were so many that all looked great! It was surprising how many of the “free” tours included chocolate/waffle tastings.
• 1:40 Decide it was better to go to sleep than keep pretending to lock in on tasks while I was really just freaking out about everything (the bus and walking tour were the most urgent anyways). Goodnight!

Steps: 23,598. London. Weather: Sunny, nicer than yesterday, but still a bit brisk.

• 9:45 Wake up
• 10:10 Buy rush tickets for Avenue Q tonight!
• 10:25 Leave. Walk to take the Jubilee Line from the Southwark station to Stratford.
• 11:00 Walk to City Bouldering
• 11:15 Check in, rent shoes
• 11:30 Murat shows up and start climbing! I didn’t truly understand HOW BAD I would be after not climbing for 4 months
• 1:15 Lunch at the Pie Crust Thai restaurant across the street- climbing and Thai food is Faith’s favorite combo! I tried her favorite dish, basically beef fried rice, and my only complaint was the spice was just like 3% too much.
• 3:00 Overground to Angel, walk to Murat’s house to get Merlin and take him for a walk! Merlin is so cute :) We walked through Islington and Angel, along a pretty canal, and through a few parks.
• 3:30 Stop for frozen yogurt. I got mine with strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries
• 5:40 Back to Murat’s. I leave to meander back to Central London
• 7:30 My first West End show (I think?)! Avenue Q at the Shaftesbury Theatre- basically a grown-up Sesame Street. Very quirky, very funny
• 9:45 Walk back to Faith’s dorm. Slightly chilly, but beautiful views along the river!
• 10:30 Back. Say my last goodbye to Murat!
• 11:00 Make Mina’s mac&cheese and edamame while (again) watching Taskmaster
• 11:50 Shower
• 12:30 Pack for real! After leaving my shampoo and conditioner with Faith and throwing out some recycling and old pastries I had been carrying with me, I realized that I am able to perfectly shove everything into my backpack and suitcase given that I exercise proper care.
• 1:40 Goodnight!

Steps: 18,775. Bath, London. Weather: Brisk (or I just dressed too cold). Rained a tiny bit, cloudy, I was cold.

• 5:50 Alarm
• 6:15 Leave
• 6:20 Blackfriars station: District line to Earl’s Court.
• 6:50 Our FlixBus to Bath was conveniently right outside of the station. We had extra time so walked to a TESCO Express for breakfast. I got a banana and Faith got an apple.
• 7:15 Board the bus. Oh my it was actually an amazing three hour bus ride! I listened to The Great Divide album and slept. The entire time I was half-asleep and thinking to myself: Wow, I’m so tired but wow, it feels so incredible to sleep!
• 10:25 Arrive in Bath
• 11:00 Station Cafe for a slice of (delicious) carrot cake and to plan!
• 11:30 Bath Theatre Royal, the Roman Baths (the big thing to do in Bath), and the Bath Abbey. Then walked to St. John the Evangelist’s Church and St. Michael’s Church.
• 12:45 Lunch at the cheapest good looking restaurant we could find. It was actually a really cute pasta place but they were full so we had to sit at a brewery next door to eat, which meant buying drinks. I got Ginger Ale
• 1:15 Pasta! I got the Pomodoro: Red sauce, pesto, Parmesan, and really cool looking noodles
• 2:00 The Circus, the Royal Crescent (where an apartment costs $3 million), and the Botanical Gardens!
• 3:15 Walk back into town and thus begins our era of winning free samples: Shortbread biscuits, tea, chocolate covered espresso beans, and a lot of fudge. We even went into a chocolate store where we got two free fancy chocolates just by signing up for their newsletter!
• 4:15 Head back to the bus stop and board the bus
• 4:30 Take off! The bus ride back was nice cuz we got to sit together and I wrote all of the London trip logs so far!
• 8:00 Arrive back in London
• 8:15 Quick grocery store stop at Oseyo to pick up ramen for dinner
• 8:30 Tube back to Blackfriars station and Faith’s dorm.
• 9:00 Make ramen and the rest of the dumplings for dinner while watching Taskmaster- very funny, would recommend!
• 9:30 Clean up, reorganize my suitcase a bit, send some emails
• 1:00 Lights out

Steps: 28,405 London Weather: Nice, warm, sunny

• 9:15 Wake up
• 9:45 Leave
• 9:55 Lemon muffins from M&S grocery store for breakfast
• 10:15 Visit the Sky Garden building! Super cool panoramic views of London with plants and a balcony.
• 11:00 Wander over to St. Paul’s Cathedral and admire it from the outside because they charge ridiculous admission
• 11:30 Franco Manca’s pizza! This place was highly recommended to me by Ellie and Faith also really likes it, so we had to go. We were their first customers of the day and the pizza was really good!
• 12:30 Natural History Museum. It would’ve been worth it even just to see the building itself- WOW! And the museum was very well done. They even had an exhibit explaining the ecology of Pokemon- genius.
• 3:00 Faith and I buy the most adorable giraffes from the gift shop, then she zooms off to study
• 3:30 V&A museum. The highlight was definitely the Cast Rooms- they blew my mind a little bit. They even had a David statue!
• 5:00 Back to the Natural History Museum to check out the Pokemon exhibit and some Earth exhibits again
• 5:50 Wander over to Harrods department store. Wander sponsored by the new Noah Kahan album!
• 6:15 Walk around Harrods. See loads of very fancy brands, perfume, insanely expensive food (one REGULAR croissant for the equivalent of $10 and relatively small bottles of honey available for $200-$950). Stop at the Jellycat store here which I honestly liked better than the Selfridges one because they had more variety. I think I just spend a long time at Jellycat stores :)
• 7:10 Begin walk back. Pass Buckingham Palace at sunset, Big Ben, and the London Eye on the way.
• 8:15 Stopped at M&S for a small bag of veggies and an orange
• 8:45 Back to Faith’s dorm
• 9:30 Make dinner! Chicken and vegetable dumplings 😋. Ran into Yaniv in the kitchen AGAIN
• 11:00 Finish cleaning up, laundry
• 11:30 Get ready for bed. Goodnight!

Steps: 43,594. London. Weather: Relatively warm, sunny.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY AND TASAHRA🥳🥳🥳!!!!!

• 11:45 Wake up (there was a SEVERE lack of sleep going on so this was acceptable)
• 12:55 Leave Faith’s dorm and walk to the West End Theater so she can see Paddington the musical! (She reported it a 9.7/10 and said I would love it).
• 1:00 I set off on my own adventure
  • Wandered a little market
  • Saw some marathon people who had just finished the race (I had no idea it was London Marathon day!)
  • Went BACK to Joy Bao Bao for another Bao bun because it just sounded really good
  • Selfridges department store for the Jellycat Fish and Chips experience. I didn’t actually buy anything but spent over an hour there fake shopping, watching other people place their orders for fuzzy takeout Jellycat food, and generally growing my admiration for the brand.
  • Call mommy for her birthday!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
  • Walk Hyde park
  • Wander the Notting Hill area
  • Realize I need to head back
  • Walk back the entire length of Hyde park again- should’ve checked out a bike or something because this took a really long time
  • Buckingham Palace! There was still marathon infrastructure all around, but it was cool to see.
  • Attempt to take the Underground back to Bankside (took me two tries to enter the station and two tries to get on the right train)
• 9:10 Back to Faith’s dorm! Mac&cheese for dinner. Met one of Faith’s acquaintances, Yaniv, in the kitchen
• 10:00 Met up with Yaniv for a nighttime walk to Blackfriars Bridge and St. Paul’s Cathedral.
• 11:00 Back. Edamame and sleep tea
• 12:00 Sleep

Steps: 24,463 BCN —> London Weather: Pleasant, warm enough, sunny

• 12:00AM Final movie in the living room with Natalie 😢. We attempted to watch Players but both got so tired that we fell asleep on the couch and then retired to our rooms.
• 2:00AM Brush and floss my teeth to wake myself up a bit
• 2:30AM Begin packing
• 3:00AM Mini freak out session because my suitcase won’t close and I’m realizing I have way more stuff than I thought I did.
• 4:30AM After a lot of thinking through and rearranging (and taking full advantage of the space in my backpack), I manage to zip my suitcase.
• 5:00AM Goodnight!
• 8:15 Good morning!
• 9:00 Finished getting ready and packing. Natalie comes in and we have a last moment sitting on my bed together.
• 9:15 Cristina comes in and we enjoy each other’s company for one last time.
• 9:30 Final, tearful goodbye with Cristina. She assures me that “no es un adios, es un hasta luego” and that my keys would be right there waiting for me the next time I came to visit. Natalie walks me to my metro stop where we have an even more tragic and tearful goodbye and a lot of commuters stare at us. I really didn’t want her to walk away…🥺
• 10:00 Board the L7 for the last time. I didn’t realize this would be my last time feeling and breathing in the Barcelona air. Switch to the L5 at Provenca. Switch to the L9S at Collserolla. Get off at the Airport T1.
• 11:15 Arrive at the airport. It is SO freaking hot and I am wearing like five sweaters to save room in my suitcase.
• 11:40 Check my bag, through security!
• 11:50 Head to Boldu for one last Praline Bolduman donut.
• 11:55 Passport and immigration control to access gate D. This took a bit longer than I had anticipated…. I ended up being fine on time but for the sake of my own stress I probably should’ve skipped the donut excursion.
• 12:05 At my gate!
• 12:25 Board the plane
• 12:55 Take off! The lady sitting next to me lowkey stole my window seat by spilling water on it and trading, so I had the middle.
• 2:30 Land in London-Gatwick!!! Here officially begins my solo Europe adventure :)
• 3:00 Baggage claim, figure out Thameslink train to the London Bridge station, where Faith and Murat pick me up and drive me to her dorm.
• 4:00 “Move in” to Faith’s room!
• 5:30 We leave for a tour of Central London/LSE/Big Ben
• 6:30 Nerds Gummy Clusters (the American ones are better), Primark to try and find an all black clubbing outfit.
• 8:30 Chicken bao bun for dinner from Joy Bao Bao. Wander back to Bankside (Faith’s dorm). 9:45 Quick change and get ready
• 10:15 Take the Central/District train to the E1 club. Meet Murat there and he gives me a funny cat hat that makes me very popular.
• 11:15 In the club! This club is so different from all the Barcelona clubs, and I like it so much more! LOUD music (earplugs 100% necessary the entire time), DJ beats with heavy bass, dark warehouse vibes with flashing lights. It was actually a pretty good time until I started falling asleep while standing up- literally (I had my eyes closed and let myself go until I started toppling to one side and woke myself up).
• 3:15 Leave. Faith and I call an Uber back, which is so worth avoiding the hour long freezing cold walk.
• 4:00 Back to Faith’s dorm, asleep immediately.

Here is the update the world has been waiting on the edge of its seat for! The Azores Islands!!!!! I am going to stay true to the bullet point trip log form because it’s more fun to write this way and I’m less likely to ramble on about like the wind for five paragraphs :) Also, before I let the bullets flow, let me just say that it is AMAZING here and I love it so much and I so see myself living here and I am so inspired and renewed and joyous every time I look outside and Chris and Pavel and Stephanie YOU ARE THE BEST. Fyi, it is Day 2 right now (oop, now its Day 3) but I am starting this log on Thursday because Thursday was a fun day and I want to write about it and I didn’t sleep that night so my Friday was basically my Thursday too!

Thursday, April 14th

• 9:00 Wake up
• 9:35 Leave the house
• 9:41 Metro –> Get off at Povenca
• 9:51 Walk to Learnlife. Do internship! Second-to-last-day. Had no idea I was supposed to be leading Adri’s Math for Science and Business until I walked in two minutes before class started…
• 5:00 Bye Learnlife! Walk over to Parc de la Ciutadella. Stop to buy chocolates and olive oil for my Azores hosts. Speeeeeedwalk for real
• 5:45 Arrive at Ciutadella 15 minutes late. This was a program activity and it was really fun! We walked around, had a little picnic in the park, rented rowboats and had an aesthetic paddle around the pond, and then Natalie, Ari, and I got Acai and a Golfeado from a place nearby.
• 8:00 Last Cristina dinner for a while! We had gnocchi, spring rolls, bread, salad, and a kiwi. Then Natalie and I had our usual post dinner hallway talk
• 9:30 Look at my homework. (Not me having two final assignments due before midnight and not having started EITHER ONE)
• 10:30 Shower
• 11:00 Chill
• 11:20 Start Photo Project Assignment, which is actually way less work than I was expecting THANK GOODNESS. Also say my goodbyes to Natalie :(

(We switch over to Friday, April 15th)

• 12:25 I was a little late to submit the photo project assignment, but not too bad (Well… maybe a bit bad because it was a group project)!
• 12:30 Packing stage 1: Set everything out on my bed
• 1:00 Brush teeth, pajamas. Then cozy up and work on my Psych Written Final for a bit. I was so tired and all I wanted to do was stay in my bed and go to sleep…
• 2:00 Pajamas back off, packing stage 2: Put things in my backpack. I packed incredibly strategically to be able to fit: 5 days of clothes, girl scout cookies, host gifts, an umbrella, a cinnamon roll, my school stuff, and all my other random stuff
• 2:35 Walk out of the house and completely miss the bus I was going to take.
• 3:07 Wait a reeeaaally long time at the bus stop for the next bus that Google Maps was really not sure was even going to come. But it did!
• 3:35 Changed to the N17 Airport bus. My timing was so perfect
• 4:05 Arrive at the airport. Go through security, find my gate, work on my assignment more, blah blah blah.
• 5:30 Board the plane
• 6:00 Take off! I had the window seat and actually slept pretty well.
• 7:20 Land in Lisbon. Had to wait almost a half hour for the jet bridge.
• 7:30 Find my next gate, eat my cinnamon roll, board the plane
• 8:15 Take off! Had the window seat again and slept even better this time!
• 9:45 Land in the Azores! Specifically, at the Ponta Delgada airport on the São Miguel Island (largest of the 9 island archipelago).
• 10:15 Chris, Pavel, and Faith graciously pick me up at the airport. Faith and I scream and are reunited. It’s a beautiful moment :)
• 10:30 We drive into Ponta Delgada and I get to know my new local heroes a bit better. Chris is from the U.S. and Pavel is from Bulgaria and they met when Chris was in Bulgaria and fell in love and moved to the Azores. They got married and have been living here happily ever after for 2 years with Chris’s sister Stephanie. They renovate old ruins into modern homes for a living on the island. Chris is one of those people that you immediately like: easy going, funny uncle vibes, can make a story out of virtually anything, and Pavel is very sweet and funny as well. As far as how I got so lucky to meet- and stay with- these lovely people, it is thanks to Faith’s mom. Before the Azores, Chris lived in Minnesota for 20 years and met Faith’s mom and dad working at the Stages Theater Company. When Faith’s mom told him that her daughter was studying in London for the year, he said he would be happy to have her visit the islands and bring a friend! And boom, that was me!
• 11:00 Welcome breakfast at a local café in the capital (Ponta Delgada). Chris and Pavel knew everyone in the cafe- of course- and had lots of entertaining stories to tell Faith and I. We all got bacon, eggs, and toast, and it was actually really satisfying.
• 12:30 Chris and Pavel head off and Faith and I, armored with loads of tips and recommendations from them, headed off to explore the capital.
• 1:00 Walk along the harbor. Examine a giant cruise ship and a really beautiful golden church.
• 2:00 Walk up this really old tower that feels like its going to crumble underneath our feet and enjoy the view from the top.
• 2:30 Buy apples and water from a local grocery store. Figure out what to do next, then ATM stop.
• 3:00 Military museum! We kept stumbling across new exhibits and passageways just after we thought we’d explored it all. Personally the underground tunnels were the coolest part, but there were also some pretty nice views from the roof.
• 4:30 Walk over to the Botanical Gardens and we are blown away! We thought we were entering a nice city park. But no. We were stepping into an enchanted jungle world of moss covered bridges and flowers and caves, plopped right in the middle of the city. We frolicked and took a lot of pictures :)
• 6:00 Garden closes. We could’ve stayed longer. Illegally hop the fence to leave, then walk over to another botanical gardens a few blocks away. Just our luck- they were also closing
• 6:15 Walk to a mall for dinner.
• 6:30 Decide on this fast food Italian pasta place for dinner- we ate in the mall food court!
• 7:00 Run to the grocery store downstairs to buy provisions (breakfast) for the week. I bought: 2 apples, yogurt, and these english muffin bread things that looked really good.
• 7:30 Meet Chris back at the food court and drive back to his house in Fenais de Ajuda (Fin-aysh de A-joo-duh). It’s a solid 40-50 minute drive into the interior of the island. Their house is gorgeous, with the backside and giant balcony overlooking the ocean. And they renovated it themselves!
• 8:30 Settle in, give everyone their gifts, chat with Faith, do some homework, etc.
• 11:30 I am continually falling asleep as Faith and I are laying in bed and talking.

Well, from 9AM Thursday morning to 11:30PM Friday night, that was my epic mega day. I slept better than I maybe ever have on a plane and ended up on a tiny little patch of land in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. I am so excited for my time on the island and forever indebted to Faith and her mom and especially Chris and Pavel themselves for making it happen! And being our drivers, tour guides, and day trip planners. Without them I might not have even know these islands, where I now want to move one day, existed. Special shout out to all of these special individuals for making me feel so at home here.

Today I embarked on an epic mission that I was not expecting to be so epic: Finishing the Salomon Run Barcelona 10k! When I signed up for this race on spring break in Croatia, I was craving a deeper involvement with the Barcelona community. I felt like I had been in the walking around and exploring random neighborhoods phase for too long and needed to do something real in the city. I needed my name written down somewhere.

The race definitely quenched that desire and I am very happy I did it! I even made a new friend at the starting line who is from Argentina and moved to Barcelona 10 months ago. As she was telling me about the mountain summit races she’s done in Argentina I joked that the stairs just beyond the start line would be no problem for her. I never considered my lack of Argentinian mountain training (or any training at all, actually) and how important that might actually be for the Montjuic MOUNTAIN course.

Picture the starting line with me for a second: You are standing at the base of Montjuic mountain staring up eight? Nine? flights of stairs. The gun sounds and you’re off, flying up the stairs like a champion and getting annoyed with the people already walking because they are blocking the entire stairs and forcing you to slow down. You make it up all eight or nine flights, shake out your legs, and are able to run again. Considering how high you’ve climbed, you’re feeling pretty good. You’re patting yourself on the back for choosing the stairs over the escalator in the metro.

And that’s when you see the long stretch of downhill in front of you, pretty steep. It appears a little suspicious, a little too early to be coasting down to a flat course and then the finish line, but you have hope. Well I should’ve expected the worst, because this hill dumps me out at the base of a fresh eight or nine flights of stairs, basically climbing back up everything I just climbed (jogged? bouncily walked?) like two minutes ago. So I do that and I think: All right, good joke, but we must be done with this now.

Of course not! The top of this new hill turns out to be the bottom of another hill, and so on and so forth for the next 9 kilometers. I couldn’t count the number of times we ran up a hill just to turn the corner and run down the equivalent number of stairs. Kilometer 6 was especially bad as the entire thing was one long, terrible incline. One of those that was just incline-ey enough to be taxing, and it just would’t stop. Usually during a race the competitive environment and cheering makes me feel like I am running faster than I usually would be, but this time I couldn’t have even tricked myself into thinking that. I was a helpless little snail wriggling my way up that hill. Honestly, as long as I was still moving, I was moving fast enough.

The last kilometer provided some relief… until the last stretch: You could hear the finish line up ahead, just after you mounted, descended, and re-climbed a final few flights of stairs. The best part, as usual, was cheering on the last few stragglers after I finished. They even had a Vertical Solomon challenge after the races finished where 32 participants raced up the initial flights of stairs over and over again until they narrowed it down to one winner. All in all it was a fun time and made me feel a small pocket of community in the middle of such a big city.

A few more…

A little study of waves and a staircase.