Brussels, Brussels, Brussels. Well Brussels is in Belgium for those who did not know. Belgium is the home of waffles, good chocolate, and Mannekin Pis. Mannekin Pis is a statue in Brussels that many people flock to see. Its a fountain of a little boy, naked, pissing. Actually water coming out a statues pines. It is suppose to represent a story where a little boy saved the palace from being blown to bits by peeing on a bomb. Anyways its fantastic, and people love it so much that they make outfits for it all the time with strategically placed holes of course. When we saw him he was dress as God knows what with some sort of alien pasta strainer on his head. If this is not enough for you then what will really dazzle you are the hundreds of shops carrying innumerable items in the shape of a small boy peeing. We're talking magnets, postcards, bottle openers, earring, aprons, it goes on. i think my personal favorite was the cutlery set with small boy peeing handles.
Right so Allie and I stayed at a hotel here because they were just as cheap as a hostel. Well we were living in luxury with the two single beds- smashed right together. Honey moon suit for sure!
Anyway besides this great sight the city of Brussels also offers the aroma of straight shit in the air constantly. That's about it. No offence Brussels but didn't really do it for me.
We went to Bruges for a day trip though which was a really cool place. It wasn't bombed during world war two like most of the rest of Europe so all the architecture and scenery is preserved and looks kind of fairytale-esque. There we climb a clock tower and strolled around (it only smelled like shit at the very entrance of one particular building so that wasn't to bad). We went to a Church as well that is the sight of a miracle in that they have some of Jesus' blood. I touched it.
Well Brussels was the place that Allie and I parted way as well. I was to take a train on to Paris, and Allie a flight to Dublin, and then Edmonton. Well while Allie boarded a shanty train to the airport followed by major delays, I boarded a train. Oh did I mention it was first class and somehow got it for cheaper then a 2nd class ticket. Oh and it came with three course meal including smoked salmon mouse, fresh strawberries and wine. Minty.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Luxembourg- where people shit gold bricks and then spend them.
Next stop Luxembourg. This was kind of a random stop on our trip but we fit in there and just went for it in Luxembourg city. when we got there we had a bit of trouble finding our hostel. We were wandering around ( I was chatting on the phone with Heather not really helping) and this greasy long haired boy came up to us and asked if we were looking or the hostel. We said yes and apparently so was he- even though he had stayed there the night before and was just out for the day he couldn't remember where it was. Anyways we wandered around this place and eventually found the place. I realize by this time that we had not introduced ourselves and went to do so. Well this person introduced them selves as "Fishy" and I knew from then on I was avoiding this dude like the plague. Allie told me later on that his name was quite fitting because before she even knew it she was going to refer to him as sour patch because of his aroma.
So we settled in to the place then went to find some dinner. Well in Luxembourg its apparently a task just to find a place without valet- let alone somewhere we could actually afford to eat. We ended up finding a pizzeria type place and walked into to the chef asking us how we were. Allie answered by yelling hungry. Well this proved a good move because we got free appies sent to us by the kitchen. Besides this we decided to grab a beer at this place- just a local one, you know try the true Luxembourger experience. We got this stuff called Leffe (actually from Belgium) and it tasted just lie Kidney beans.
After dinner we walked down a canal and saw lovely sights- huge swarms of mosquitoes, some sort of derelict house being used as a anarchy clubhouse, the usual. When we got back to the hostel we wanted to ask where a good place for Internet and all that jazz was since it cost an arm and a leg to use at the hostel. Well the waste of space behind the counter responded with and I quote "well if you girls want to get wasted you pretty much have to go to town and one of those pub or whatever". I say sorry I was looking for an Internet cafe. he says oh yea I think they are opened till midnight. We just bypassed that question all together and asked him how to get to a walking trail. He was so helpful- actually had no idea what we were even talking about and kept talking about getting wasted. We decided to just give up on this turd and go to bed.
At this point Allie and I had been reading the last two harry Potter books aloud to each other on the trains. I now uber geeks, but passes the time. So we were over tired at this point and I decided I was going to come up with some spells. Well I saw a bike tire that had popped and thought I could come up with a spell to inflate it. Well in Harry Potter a lot of the spells end in '-io' so I went for the most obvious choice of yelling infellatio WRONG. I'm pretty sure they wont' be using that one in the next movie.
Luxembourg has all these fortified areas and underground castle tunnel things so we adventured in a few of these. We realized that we have been going underground in quite a few of the cities we visited, quite interesting. We also realized that Luxembourg is a little right for our blood, and it was time to move on the Brussels.
So we settled in to the place then went to find some dinner. Well in Luxembourg its apparently a task just to find a place without valet- let alone somewhere we could actually afford to eat. We ended up finding a pizzeria type place and walked into to the chef asking us how we were. Allie answered by yelling hungry. Well this proved a good move because we got free appies sent to us by the kitchen. Besides this we decided to grab a beer at this place- just a local one, you know try the true Luxembourger experience. We got this stuff called Leffe (actually from Belgium) and it tasted just lie Kidney beans.
After dinner we walked down a canal and saw lovely sights- huge swarms of mosquitoes, some sort of derelict house being used as a anarchy clubhouse, the usual. When we got back to the hostel we wanted to ask where a good place for Internet and all that jazz was since it cost an arm and a leg to use at the hostel. Well the waste of space behind the counter responded with and I quote "well if you girls want to get wasted you pretty much have to go to town and one of those pub or whatever". I say sorry I was looking for an Internet cafe. he says oh yea I think they are opened till midnight. We just bypassed that question all together and asked him how to get to a walking trail. He was so helpful- actually had no idea what we were even talking about and kept talking about getting wasted. We decided to just give up on this turd and go to bed.
At this point Allie and I had been reading the last two harry Potter books aloud to each other on the trains. I now uber geeks, but passes the time. So we were over tired at this point and I decided I was going to come up with some spells. Well I saw a bike tire that had popped and thought I could come up with a spell to inflate it. Well in Harry Potter a lot of the spells end in '-io' so I went for the most obvious choice of yelling infellatio WRONG. I'm pretty sure they wont' be using that one in the next movie.
Luxembourg has all these fortified areas and underground castle tunnel things so we adventured in a few of these. We realized that we have been going underground in quite a few of the cities we visited, quite interesting. We also realized that Luxembourg is a little right for our blood, and it was time to move on the Brussels.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Hear the Bell Run like hell
Amsterdam was awesome!!!! There is almost as much barf on the street there as there is in Edinburgh. The whole city is just canals everywhere, everyone ridding bikes, really liberal (obviously) but just an overall good vibe in the city. We were booked in a Christian hostel which was bizzaro not going to lie. night prayer and surveys about how you pray is not really what I'm looking for in a hostel. However it was clean and a decent place to hang your hat at night so not too many complaints.
Bikes there are crazy!! You get out of the train station and there is a three story car park- filled with just bikes. You are way more afraid of getting hit by a bike then a car for sure! Its is hilarious because you see a mom with a kid in a bike seat in front of her... and then two more kid's seat behind. 4 people on one bike it was hilarious. Also I think I saw one person wear a helmet the whole time. Not even the police on bikes wear helmets- they actually usually have long hair all down waving in the wind. Also when there is a bike lane in Amsterdam, that apparently means that if you are on something with two wheel you cna go for it. Bikes, scooters, motorcycles, htye all rip up these little paths.
Anyways Allie and I were pretty pumped on finding some traditional pancakes and found a great place called Sara's pancake house. I'm about 90% sure she is not originally from Amsterdam, or Holland for that matter, but she still knew how to make some good pancakes.
So basically our days were filled with exploring all the canals, going on tours, and dodging bikes left right and centre. The funny thing about tours in the city are that locals there are so tired of tourists that they actually yell liar at tour guides to make the tourists think that they are getting some crazy tour. In fact they tell you this is going to happen before you even start tours so that you know they aren't just stringing you along. Sure enough the first one we went on an old man with a fist full of fries yelled at our tour guide about being a liar. Quite the sight actually.
However it wasn't the best interruption of a tour on our trip to Amsterdam. We also went on a tour of the red light district. this place is bizzaro. Ladies in windows to be purchased for sex. Well we toured around and saw "the sights" You would not believe some of the stuff. A rather large woman was wearing a jean skirt that did not in fact cover her rear at all and I got an eye and a half full of her business. Anyways about part way through that tour an old drunk man- wearing slippers- came up to our tour and started rambling about the district. He actually started calling himself Mary J. Blige and told us that even if you only pay for 15 minutes with a lady that you have to try and stay with her longer, and announced his record was and hour and a half. after this great enlightenment his fun was over because he then announced that if our guide was a prostitute he would buy her for sure.
We also discovered where the best of the best ladies can be found- its a tiny sketch alley just down the road from the Prostitute union office... and a kindergarten. I didn't know where to look- eye contact, no eye contact? what is the protocol. Well let me tell you its not to take pictures. There are stickers on all the windows saying no pictures and one guy attempted. A crazy huge bouncer came out and tried to smash the guy's camera. then we were told that a lot of the ladies have bottles of urine beside them to throw at people who try and take pictures. mmmmmmm.
Once the frolic in the red light district was over we did some reading by the canal and more exploring.
On our final day in Amsterdam we rented bikes and ripped around the city. this is by far the best, and most fun, to get around the city- highly recommended! We rented them so close to when our train left that we actually went to our hostel picked up our packs and then rode back to the train station with them. Hilarious! We are talking about backpacks that weigh about 12kg and go from the back of my head to below the waist. Basically it was a mission to not get thrown off the bike when turning corners. We laughed hysterically the whole way.
Bikes there are crazy!! You get out of the train station and there is a three story car park- filled with just bikes. You are way more afraid of getting hit by a bike then a car for sure! Its is hilarious because you see a mom with a kid in a bike seat in front of her... and then two more kid's seat behind. 4 people on one bike it was hilarious. Also I think I saw one person wear a helmet the whole time. Not even the police on bikes wear helmets- they actually usually have long hair all down waving in the wind. Also when there is a bike lane in Amsterdam, that apparently means that if you are on something with two wheel you cna go for it. Bikes, scooters, motorcycles, htye all rip up these little paths.
Anyways Allie and I were pretty pumped on finding some traditional pancakes and found a great place called Sara's pancake house. I'm about 90% sure she is not originally from Amsterdam, or Holland for that matter, but she still knew how to make some good pancakes.
So basically our days were filled with exploring all the canals, going on tours, and dodging bikes left right and centre. The funny thing about tours in the city are that locals there are so tired of tourists that they actually yell liar at tour guides to make the tourists think that they are getting some crazy tour. In fact they tell you this is going to happen before you even start tours so that you know they aren't just stringing you along. Sure enough the first one we went on an old man with a fist full of fries yelled at our tour guide about being a liar. Quite the sight actually.
However it wasn't the best interruption of a tour on our trip to Amsterdam. We also went on a tour of the red light district. this place is bizzaro. Ladies in windows to be purchased for sex. Well we toured around and saw "the sights" You would not believe some of the stuff. A rather large woman was wearing a jean skirt that did not in fact cover her rear at all and I got an eye and a half full of her business. Anyways about part way through that tour an old drunk man- wearing slippers- came up to our tour and started rambling about the district. He actually started calling himself Mary J. Blige and told us that even if you only pay for 15 minutes with a lady that you have to try and stay with her longer, and announced his record was and hour and a half. after this great enlightenment his fun was over because he then announced that if our guide was a prostitute he would buy her for sure.
We also discovered where the best of the best ladies can be found- its a tiny sketch alley just down the road from the Prostitute union office... and a kindergarten. I didn't know where to look- eye contact, no eye contact? what is the protocol. Well let me tell you its not to take pictures. There are stickers on all the windows saying no pictures and one guy attempted. A crazy huge bouncer came out and tried to smash the guy's camera. then we were told that a lot of the ladies have bottles of urine beside them to throw at people who try and take pictures. mmmmmmm.
Once the frolic in the red light district was over we did some reading by the canal and more exploring.
On our final day in Amsterdam we rented bikes and ripped around the city. this is by far the best, and most fun, to get around the city- highly recommended! We rented them so close to when our train left that we actually went to our hostel picked up our packs and then rode back to the train station with them. Hilarious! We are talking about backpacks that weigh about 12kg and go from the back of my head to below the waist. Basically it was a mission to not get thrown off the bike when turning corners. We laughed hysterically the whole way.
Douches of Deutschland
not going to lie. Berlin has waves of stinking like shit. It was built on a bog and there for has nasal assault every half block or so. Don't worry its still cool. While I did tell you of some really great things that happened in Berlin I haven't talked about some of the very best!
First of all there was our experience at the bar that was in our hostel. We went up to the outside terrace where we talked to two guys from Ireland. not going to lie I could not tell you what we talked about because I was too busy staring at the giant herpes cold sore on one of their faces. After that thrilling conversation we went inside where I saw one of the greatest things. A lady was wearing huge heals and was running, bumped into a couch and fell so hard on her on her ass. She was so embarrassed that she had to take a few moments to calm down and walk out. In this time she was taking these moments I was just praying she would leave because the laughter that was building up inside me was threatening to errupt at any moment. One of the greatest physical challenges of my life.
So last time I left off I said we went to a beer garden. By beer garden I mean the coolest place ever. We got traditional schnitzel and beer and just chilled in a huge pic-nic area. Then magically there was a trapeze show. Now this is not just any trapeze show- it was a magical interpretive dance show that was led by an oddly fat old man with no shirt on and waist length hair. It was actually a miracle some of the stuff her pulled off on that high-flying swing. there is no doubt in my mind that he was the choreographer as well.
The next day we left to head to Amsterdam!
First of all there was our experience at the bar that was in our hostel. We went up to the outside terrace where we talked to two guys from Ireland. not going to lie I could not tell you what we talked about because I was too busy staring at the giant herpes cold sore on one of their faces. After that thrilling conversation we went inside where I saw one of the greatest things. A lady was wearing huge heals and was running, bumped into a couch and fell so hard on her on her ass. She was so embarrassed that she had to take a few moments to calm down and walk out. In this time she was taking these moments I was just praying she would leave because the laughter that was building up inside me was threatening to errupt at any moment. One of the greatest physical challenges of my life.
So last time I left off I said we went to a beer garden. By beer garden I mean the coolest place ever. We got traditional schnitzel and beer and just chilled in a huge pic-nic area. Then magically there was a trapeze show. Now this is not just any trapeze show- it was a magical interpretive dance show that was led by an oddly fat old man with no shirt on and waist length hair. It was actually a miracle some of the stuff her pulled off on that high-flying swing. there is no doubt in my mind that he was the choreographer as well.
The next day we left to head to Amsterdam!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Bitchin Berlin
Alright so we were in Berlin- the capital of Germany and a crazy place for 20th century history. I really really liked it there. I thought it was really cool we were seeing all these places where history was made, and really shaped the country, and unlike a lot for the cool history that we had learned about in other countries, this was all during our lifetime.
Lets back track a bit though and talk a bit about accommodation. So ya really good hostel. We were in a four room with two Australian guys. They were also traveling Europe together and were good fun. Easy to chat with and ended up hanging out with them a bit. Allie and I of course didn't remember their name until about two days into staying with them so we referred to them as Mario and Luigi most of the time.
The first full day they we set out on our favourite activity- New Europe Free walking tour! M & L joined us for this adventure and we all headed out after it to see a few sites a little closer. During the tour it was absolutely pouring but we managed to see some really cool stuff: The Reichstag's, Holocaust memorial, Check-point Charlie, part of the Berlin wall, museums, Hitler's bunker, and the hotel Michael Jackson dangled his baby out of. Big stuff.
After that Allie, I M&L went through the Jewish memorial again, which is made up of a huge span of cement block of all different heights that you walk through and its really crazy because you get in the middle and you are totally lost, you can't seen anyone, and its so quiet. Our guide said its still a controversial sight because ti was just built by the government because they felt that it was something that its something that they are embarrassed of and no one can just act like it didn't happen. Really interesting place. Hitler's bunker barley even has a sign by it, its a parking lot now and they only reason they put a sign up was because people in the neighbourhood were tired of being asked where it was.
The next day Allie and I went on a Red-tour of Berlin. It was focused on the communist rule in Germany and the division of Berlin itself. On this one we saw huge pieces of the Berlin wall, some of it made into art, the death strip, and heard a lot about exactly what it was like. Our guide was an Irish guy who said he was tricked into going to Kentucky on a soccer scholarship and ended up with the ridiculous degree of History and acting. Anyways this made our tour amazing because he knew so much and would act out scenes and use Russian accents all of the tour- amazing. Another great point was that at the beginning of the tour they ask where everyone is from and Allie and I say Canada and the couple in front of us do to. They ask where we are from and we say and then it hits me- this girl is in Degrassi the next generation. Allie are pretty much BFF's with her now so if are looking for your big break then you can probably be an extra on this low budget Canadian teen drama re-make.
Berlin is full of amazing things- their pedestrian walking man is famous because he's so different then any other countries- his name is Ample man and there are merchandise stores for him everywhere. In the train stations there are food stores call Le Cro bag- think its supposed to combine croissant and bagel, but really it just sounds like some sort of reference to scrotum.
So back to our roommates. When we went on the red tour they went on a concentration camp tour. Before hand on of them cam out of the shower and ask if his hair looked 'concentration camp chic'. Appropriate. After that they were on the mission of their lives to Leggo land. Really historic and memorable I'm sure.
We got on with them really well and actually went to a beer garden's and everything with them (I'll speak about this later). That night they decided to get quite drunk and came back to our hostel quite late. Now Allie, unlike myself who is a corpse when I fall asleep, is a very light sleeper so she hears when anyone gets up. Well the morning after this she woke up to inform me that she though that Luigi got sick in the night. I asked her how she knew. She said well he got up in the night and then the next time she woke up he was back in bed- his friend's bed, and they were spooning. she got up to use the bathroom at this point, and by the time that she got back to bed, he had moved back into his bed. We laughed really hard at this and then figured that there had been other signs. At this point we started referring to them as the ambiguously gay duo and singing in the transformer theme ' ambiguously gay duo, maybe more then meets the eye'.
Lets back track a bit though and talk a bit about accommodation. So ya really good hostel. We were in a four room with two Australian guys. They were also traveling Europe together and were good fun. Easy to chat with and ended up hanging out with them a bit. Allie and I of course didn't remember their name until about two days into staying with them so we referred to them as Mario and Luigi most of the time.
The first full day they we set out on our favourite activity- New Europe Free walking tour! M & L joined us for this adventure and we all headed out after it to see a few sites a little closer. During the tour it was absolutely pouring but we managed to see some really cool stuff: The Reichstag's, Holocaust memorial, Check-point Charlie, part of the Berlin wall, museums, Hitler's bunker, and the hotel Michael Jackson dangled his baby out of. Big stuff.
After that Allie, I M&L went through the Jewish memorial again, which is made up of a huge span of cement block of all different heights that you walk through and its really crazy because you get in the middle and you are totally lost, you can't seen anyone, and its so quiet. Our guide said its still a controversial sight because ti was just built by the government because they felt that it was something that its something that they are embarrassed of and no one can just act like it didn't happen. Really interesting place. Hitler's bunker barley even has a sign by it, its a parking lot now and they only reason they put a sign up was because people in the neighbourhood were tired of being asked where it was.
The next day Allie and I went on a Red-tour of Berlin. It was focused on the communist rule in Germany and the division of Berlin itself. On this one we saw huge pieces of the Berlin wall, some of it made into art, the death strip, and heard a lot about exactly what it was like. Our guide was an Irish guy who said he was tricked into going to Kentucky on a soccer scholarship and ended up with the ridiculous degree of History and acting. Anyways this made our tour amazing because he knew so much and would act out scenes and use Russian accents all of the tour- amazing. Another great point was that at the beginning of the tour they ask where everyone is from and Allie and I say Canada and the couple in front of us do to. They ask where we are from and we say and then it hits me- this girl is in Degrassi the next generation. Allie are pretty much BFF's with her now so if are looking for your big break then you can probably be an extra on this low budget Canadian teen drama re-make.
Berlin is full of amazing things- their pedestrian walking man is famous because he's so different then any other countries- his name is Ample man and there are merchandise stores for him everywhere. In the train stations there are food stores call Le Cro bag- think its supposed to combine croissant and bagel, but really it just sounds like some sort of reference to scrotum.
So back to our roommates. When we went on the red tour they went on a concentration camp tour. Before hand on of them cam out of the shower and ask if his hair looked 'concentration camp chic'. Appropriate. After that they were on the mission of their lives to Leggo land. Really historic and memorable I'm sure.
We got on with them really well and actually went to a beer garden's and everything with them (I'll speak about this later). That night they decided to get quite drunk and came back to our hostel quite late. Now Allie, unlike myself who is a corpse when I fall asleep, is a very light sleeper so she hears when anyone gets up. Well the morning after this she woke up to inform me that she though that Luigi got sick in the night. I asked her how she knew. She said well he got up in the night and then the next time she woke up he was back in bed- his friend's bed, and they were spooning. she got up to use the bathroom at this point, and by the time that she got back to bed, he had moved back into his bed. We laughed really hard at this and then figured that there had been other signs. At this point we started referring to them as the ambiguously gay duo and singing in the transformer theme ' ambiguously gay duo, maybe more then meets the eye'.
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