Lace

June 15

Slow Start Brussels is what I shall call this day. I couldn't get out! I met to get on the 826 train...slept through that...I ate breakfast...met to get on the 926 train...got there as it was leaving...what do you do? Wait for the 1026 train and meet this creepy man and his normal girlfriend...chit chat about how weird it is that I'm traveling alone...according to them...blah. Met a guy on the train with a UVa hat...turns out he goes to NYC through...onward voyager to Brussels.


Never judge a city by its train station...it was UGLY! Anyhoo...the city is beautiful, just full of sculptures and beautiful buildings, parks (what European city isn't?) It's actually a little eccentric, there's a lot of random crap like a really crazy rifle shop, and the little peeing statue, Mannekin Pis, chocolate galore, art galleries with a focus on anything Asian, and the list goes on. I had a wonderful waffle and sat next to this nice bronze man and his dog as I ate...he offered great conversation. I tried some Belgian chocolate and the nice salesman let me behind the counter and took my picture. Good times in Brussels. I think my dorm room is supposed to be all male because the one English guy said he requested only male...but he seems off, so I don't take everything he says seriously...and the nice Brazilian guy was shocked to see me as well...oh well, it's not like it's not happened before...Oh Van Gogh Hostel. So things are going and they've gone. And now I will rest.


June 16

This morning started with debating whether or not to stay in Belgium or go to Luxembourg...I chose the latter, but not before going to the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels...which was really great...loved it...they had floors covering ancient (which was only I think the 17th century in this case) to the present. They had some damn good Dali, a little delicious Delvaux, ?eager? Ernst (haha), succulent Seurat...done with the adjectives...and some of your standard creepy Dutch art...good stuff.

Luxembourg...a mysterious place if you ask me...what actually happens there...it's one of those tiny little things like Andorra, what do they do? what's their purpose?...they serve as small-day-trips-from-other-cities-where-you're-bored-and-have-nothing-else-to-do-so-you-have-to-go-to -another-city countries. It was nothing short of pleasant...in fact it was extremely pleasant. Randomly very culturally diverse, and serving up really tasty quiche, the producer of Steichen, and cute fountains.

XXX

June 12

Amsterdam. How to describe? Train station...surprisingly not the seediest I've ever been to...Hostel, interesting. Shelter City...the 1st Christian Youth Hostel in Europe...not the first choice, but the cheapest option with breakfast included. The funniest part about this arrangment was that when you walk out the door, directly on the right is a bunch of girls on display...Amsterdam style (if you know what I mean). Ahhh, in the heart of the Red Light district...I'll just say that I ran into some "curious" people during my stay.

To start and to kill time I found this frites place that was AMAZZZZING! Vlaams Friteshuis since 1887. YUM! All those years of practice have made them really good...I got my fries topped with citrus mayo...sounds gross but tastes great.

I caught the Free Tour (highly recommend it) at 3 pm...which proved to be really good. Jo from England was the guide, on her last tour before moving to Stockholm with her boyfriend. We went from Town Square, through the district...learned that the housing is actually really expensive so a bunch of old retired people live in that area instead of the working girls who live outside the city...all happliy coexisting. Saw the Men's and Women's prison, learned about Nightwatch (the painting), when to The Place for tasty snacks (try the strawberry smoothie), learned about urine deflectors, went past Dampkring (coffee house from Oceans), and ended up with Ann Frank.

Crazy side note story...I met this kid in Budapest who randomly popped up again on the tour here...crazy.

Anyways, I walked across the canal to go see about Ann...and I got the CHILLS...that was crazy being in the house...you go through all the rooms and see all the pictures she put up during the time her family was in hiding...it was pretty intense, but a really good experience in Lauren's Great European Adventure!

The rest of the day? I had Wok to go...their sweet chicken...and that was that.

June 13

I had Vlaams Fritehuis fries again...for breakfast...more like lunch, so I wasn't being that horrible...this time with curryketchup...made me miss Germany.

I made my way past the Rijksmuseum...apparentely 2/3 of the museum is closed for renovations, and I just didn't care much to see the rest....so onward to the I AMsterdam sign and then to Van Gogh Museum.

Wow. Is all I have to say about that. Seeing all these important works in person has been awesome all throughout Europe...but Van Gogh was something else. It's just that your eyes are running over and over every brush stroke he made, the intensity, the depth, the texture...and it's like good food, or a good book...you just don't want it to end. That's definitely my favorite art museum so far.

They also had this exhibit from Max Beckmann, exiled from Germany to Amsterdam because of the Nazis...his paintings are really intense...lots of vibrant colors...lots of black...dark black...I really like his self portraits, and the semi self portrait...The King.

Vondel Park...immediately...unimpressive due to the construction around the entrance...but later turning into the kind of park I love.

Met up with some girls I'd met back in Utrecht...went to a few really nice bars and snack joints...blazeh blah...got some nice night shots along the river, and things were good.

June 14

Haarlem. Cute. The same as Amsterdam really, but smaller. Their cathedral is really nice too. I went to Teyler's Museum where they had just about the nicest staff ever, making sure I was all set...even after I'd walked past the entrance, when one of the guys noticed I didn't have an audioguide he went back and brought one back for me...so they were totally sweet. I found the most awesomest painter...I mean, I know he was around before, but he's new to me! Johannes Christiaan Schotel. Totally and completely sexy. Apparentely he was a leader in the oceanscapes of the period...and oh my goodness was he good! the way he painted those waves was insane! The rest of the museum was a bunch of cool inventions, etc. etc., rocks, and yeah. It was a pretty ominous day in terms of the weather...so I retreated to the train station and back to Amsterdam where I napped and then did a little night wandering. And that was that.

Watch out Germany!

June 10

...So far I'm really liking the Netherlands. Last night on the overnight train from Offenburg,
some crazy German teenage boys decided to talk the ENTIRE night, even
though a number of times they were told to shut up...so it goes. But
Utrecht is really nice. It was like a ghost town this morning (being
Sunday and all) but as the day has gone on, it's brightened up a lot
with all the restaurants, etc. I ate the most tastiest pita too...at
Dimitri's right by the tower. ice cream twice, and now I'm done...I got
to walk through this bizarre Renaissance Fair thing they were having
along the river where this hippy folk band call Harmony Glen was playing...wonderful.

Of course walking along the river was nice as usual...and that was the day.

June 11

Today I had a hard time leaving the hostel...I just kept getting so wrapped up into conversations...There was:
*an Englishman trying to establish himself in the horse racing business
*a New Zealander
who had moved to Holland following his girl who soon after dumped him
and took his passport hostage, thereby making it impossible for him to
leave the country again
*a Swedish contemporary dancing troup...

interesting crowd...

Anyways,
I went off for lunch to the Venice ice cream place, as I did yesterday,
it was good...like yesterday. After my walk along the river slash
park...I came back for some more chillaxin...

Sittin out back in the garden...hangin out with everyone...

How this will go...

...hello all...it's been a long time! Basically for this, I'm gonna be copying what's been going on in Lauren's Great European Adventure from my travel journal...

Where's Lauren?

Currently enjoying The Netherlands...more updates to come...

Getting used to France...

In line with my idea for warming up to Switzerland...I had the same sort of idea for France...Strasbourg...right over the French border...and it was lovely. It had my park (something that started with a "c") which I used a lot...on the down side, the first day I was there, I thought I was going to die from the heat...seriously. Second day, I was stuck inside half the morning because it was POURING down rain, and I've still refused to purchase an umbrella, I'll get on that.

Anyways, it wasn't so bad, not at all, very lovely town where the French speak French with a German accent, and the Germans speak German with a French accent...I'm not sure how it would sound if a Frenchman spoke German or a German spoke French...I'll have to see about that next time I go.

Things were made even better by the fact that for each breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I tried a croissant from different bakeries to see if the French really have the croissant down...they do.

Why I think I went to the wrong place in Switzerland!

So, ever since I got to Europe in the first place, everyone's been saying...so you love hiking? You love lakes? You love river!? Oh my GOODNESS! You will totally love Switzerland...

I didn't love Switerland.

I go to Basel, thinking that hey, Switzerland, that's kind of like my first love, Germany...it's right on the border, it will be great! But nooooo...they say Basel's just under 200,000, but it felt more like 1 million...that train station is like HELL! It's ridiculously stressful, yatta yatta. Anywho, I'm exaggerating a little, I just didn't like how I couldn't find a nice park like I like...but no worries, Lauren always knows when she's in need of a nice DAY TRIP!

Next day...

Schaffenhausen, about 1.5 hours away, with what they say is the "largest waterfall in Europe." I am doubtful, 26 m high by 150 m wide...they say the reason it's considered to be the largest is due the vast amount of water running over it. Either way I liked it, it was great, no worries. I had my 3 km trail to walk along to the waterfall (and then back of course), enjoying the private little gardens, and swans on the Rhine along the way...and all was well in the world.

Getting lost in the Black Forest...

Freiburg. It was great. It was the Black Forest. I actually spent more time there than anywhere else on my trip. It was wonderful and relaxing. The Black Forest Hostel, where I stayed was really cute and nice...right next to the water so I had nice river sounds singing me to sleep every night.

Things I learned in Freiburg, butterbretlezs are AMAZINGLY TASTY, PotatoLand is truely wonderful, and I have been reinspired in my love of hiking. Two out of the 4 days I was there I went out into the magical forest which served as the setting to Hansel and Gretle's misadventures, and it was amazing...there were tons of fun hippy Germans wandering through the forest as well with their cute cross country walking sticks...no witches. It was just an all around good time. I've decided that I'm definitely coming back to Germany to do a hiking tour...I'll probably throw Swizterland in on it as well (although being here in Basel now is not rubbing me so well being that it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO expensive!).

Besides all that lovely forestness, I had my first spaghetti eis...what's that you wonder? It this lovely invention (as displayed below) that turns yummy ice cream into, at least esthetically speaking, spaghetti with sauce. YUM!

To complete the Black Forest experience, being that it is coo coo clock country...and I love the amazing tackiness of the coo coo clock, I indulged myself in buying one of my very own! It a beauty she is...I will definitely be brainstorming up a name. I bought the clock in Titisee, Black Forest Mecca of tourism, which is fine by me...it was on a pretty lake with lots of yummy restaurants where for the second time I had a tasty German treat called spatzle (egg based noodles basically), and my very first slice of the lovely Black Forest Cake...which goes something like schwarzwaldkirshtorte in German...what a mouthful!