fluffy_penguins

Go early! The gardens are free, and open very early in the summer (I think it was 7 am)... I had the place to myself!

If you don’t drive you can take the bus out from Amsterdam for a half day or full day tour. The half day was plenty of time to see all the groovy flowers. My fave were the frilly tulips.

Great art; great food. You can walk most places. A bit hustle and bustle. You cannot do the major museums all in one day… don’t even try. You will be zonked out. My fave was the modern art… the Prado is a bit old and frumpy… and very very crowded.

It takes a long time to get out of the Madrid airport, esp. if you are flying in through the new terminal. One train to get your luggage, and then immigration, and then a bus to the metro. And then the metro… so I’d suggest leaving about 3 hours for the connection.

Spain was great. People friendly and helpful, easy and cheap to get around by bus or train.

You can take a cab out to the sight quite cheaply, and the driver will wait and bring you back. Quite incredible. Well worth seeing.

I went before it got super expensive. I had crazy dreams, but maybe that was the vodka in the icebar. You can plan to meet some local Sami involved in tourist trade, reindeer safari, etc. It’s worth it. It was very very cold, but they will loan you extra hats, mittens, etc.

The bandoleros museum is small, and quite odd. They have the scariest looking mannequins I’ve ever seen! If you are in Ronda go for the weekend to El Refugio hostel in Cartajima. Gorgeous location; friendly staff.

Check out the photography museum, FOAM. Great space with several exhibits running at a time.

my first day in paris i ran into a friend i haven’t seen or heard from in 10 years. incroyable!