..::Dominican In Madrid::..: November 2012

Here we go again, another round of excursions with HCAYS. This time we got Salamanca and León on the line up. I had no idea what to expect but I had heard about the livelihood of both cities. First up was Salamanca; It's an interesting city because while it has so much history and old architecture, it is mixed with a modern, contemporary vibe due to all the young people that reside there during the school year. It's main plaza, Plaza Mayor, is almost identical to that one in Madrid but at the same time there are many modern restaurants (McD's...) and shopping stores on the outskirts of the downtown area. It's like the old and new are intertwined and simultaneously appreciated it.

León on the other hand was quite similar just that it felt more religious (more convents and cathedrals) than Salamanca but both have an incredible amount of history. The tapas system is unreal....because they are free. We went tapas hopping at night and it filled me up by the 5th bar. Its truly magnificent!

One thing about both cities that I did not expect was their night life. Yeah, I had heard that they were both lively places but I didn't expect to have such a great time. From the lay back culture, to the tapas, to the bars, to the 1 euro shots, to the women and the clubs, it made me wonder why we couldn't stay longer. The guys and I went out, took the city as we went and have a blast. By far the two cities in Spain where I enjoyed myself the most. I recommend it. Check out some pics below.

Universidad de Salamanca

Casually by the well

Did I mention that the food was crazy good. #Cochinillo

Shout out to the moon-man on the cathedral

Impressive Retablo

Cathedrals on Cathedrals (León)

Bro Pond

First off, if you ever plan on going to Amsterdam DO NOT..i repeat, DO NOT fly into Charleroi ("Brussels") and take the bus to Amsterdam. It is not worth it at all because you run a bigger chance of not even making it to Amsterdam. That being said: I'm going to continue a little rant about Charleroi....IT SUCKS! The airport is as small as the closet of a one bedroom apartment in Manhattan. The run way is like the top floor of a parking garage, they make you walk to the terminal. One might think that walking outside the plane is cool...unless its COLD...January at Hamilton cold. Now, when you take the 13€ shuttle to Brussels (yes, the airport is ways away from the city) they only accept exact change.....despite the fact that I see 5 or 6 people in front of my paying with exact change I ask the young man: "Do you have change?" He says no... unless you buy two. I give him a look like he's crazy (0_o) and then say I want two tickets but before I hand him a 50 euro bill I think to myself: 'that still doesn't make sense because I still don't have exact change.' I hand him the money anyway and he gives me change..........I was like: WTF!!! I could't fathom that entire situation and proceeded with my adventure to get to Amsterdam.

Once in Brussels, my good friend PappaG and I had to take a tram or taxi to the bus station where we would take the bus that will take us to Amsterdam. It was taking us forever to figure out the tram system so we decided to take a taxi...best thing we could have done. We got into to find a young French guy blasting french rap and driving as if we were filming the next Bourne movie. We were flying through the streets of Brussels and lucky us because we made it just in time to catch the next bus. Once on that bus, we watched an awful movie ("Hunter"..don't google it) to pass the time.

To continue with our crazy day of traveling, once we got to the great dutch land of Amsterdam, we had to take a bus to the Hotel, which was another experience because their transportation system is very different (in a cool way) and we didn't have the full directions. Luckily I was able to get my international SIM card working and called our friends who were already there. After waiting in the cold, we managed to make it to the "Amigo Budget Hotel" safe and sound.

Once reunited, our friends greeted us with an authentic, home grown present that helped us relieve some stress. We used the next day to try and enjoy the city as well as we could by doing typical and authentic Dutch (Amsterdammer?) things. We rented bikes and rode around to see the Van Gogh museum, the Ann Frank house, the Red Light District, Gray Area coffee shop, drink the best Amstel beer ever and more. All in all, Amsterdam was amazing, Brussels sucked except for that delicious chocolate Belgium waffle. Check the few non-incriminating photos below.