Since the 90’s, I have been collecting pins and whatnot from the various Hard Rock Cafe’s I’ve been to in the U.S. A few times, friends/family have visited other states/countries and brought something back for me.
Well, when The Child planned to work in Spain for 9 months, and travel to other countries, I told him he would have to stop at any nearby HRC and get me a pin. Initially, he said it felt like a chore, but he eventually admitted it was interesting to see the places.
On his previous trip to Spain, I rec’d pins from Madrid and Paris, France and he chose those on his own. This time around, he surprised me with calls/texts so I could choose the pins I wanted. Which was awesome. Well, except for the couple of times when it was 8am on the weekend. HAHA JK He also sent pics of memorabilia he thought I would like.
He is recently back home so I finally got to see the pins in person. They are awesome and I’m so glad he agreed to help me add to my collection.
December 2018: Berlin, Germany
The stone guitar in the photo below is made from part of the Berlin wall. The holiday guitar he chose on his own as a family ornament.
March 2019: Porto, Portugal
Apparently this Hard Rock Cafe has three floors.
April 2019: Lisbon, Portugal
One day he sent me a “Are you busy?” message and then a bunch of photos of pins….in Lisbon! What? He also sent me the main photo for this post with the quote, “Coolest Hard Rock ever.” The wall IS pretty impressive. I had no clue he was going to Lisbon. When I asked why, his reply, “To see another city.” (He chose a 16 hour layover on his way to somewhere else.) He also messaged me, “I’m literally on the floor charging my phone to buy you your pin. You’re welcome.” (Charging it so he could send me photos. haha)
June 2019: Brussels, Belgium
At 3:08am back in June, I rec’d a message that The Child would be waking me up at 8am, “for your hard rock pin decisioning.” Of course, I was asleep. He sent another message at 5:44am, “Time to choose!” Of course, I was still sleeping. Well, I happened to wake up on my own at 7:15am and saw the messages. Luckily, I didn’t miss him. I asked some questions about the building pins. The one I ended up choosing is of the Grand Place. Apparently it’s the biggest plaza in Belgium and the most beautiful square in Europe. He sent me photos of the actual Grand Place and mentioned, in general, everything is adorned with gold. (This includes the outside of the HRC as shown in the 2nd to last photo.) Of all the inside pictures he sent me, the instrument display above the bar in this Brussels HRC was THE COOLEST thing I think I have ever seen in any Hard Rock and I’ve been in a lot of them. He kept sending me pics from different angles because I couldn’t tell how big it was. It’s massive.
Thanks again to The Child for humoring me and giving me a little glimpse into some of the musical pieces in other countries and of course, adding to my HRC collection!