The journey home

<![CDATA[

The journey home Seattle, WA

Seattle, WA

Wow, today was a really long day. I woke up at 5 am and couldn’t go back to sleep because I really wanted to leave. My flight didn’t leave until 10:30 am, but I got up at 6:15 am because I just couldn’t lay in bed any longer.

I had to take the RER train to the airport, so first I took the metro to the RER line. When I tried to buy my ticket for the RER train, the automatic machine wouldn’t read my credit card for some reason. It didn’t take bills, and I didn’t have enough coins for the 8.90 Euro fare. And the ticket windows with people weren’t open yet. I tried to get change from a nearby shop, but they wouldn’t give me any. So I had to buy a couple separate Snicker’s bars just so I could get enough change in coins to buy the ticket. All of this took a while, so I was glad I left early.

It was a long half hour ride to the airport, and I was happy getting off the train, knowing it was the last one. It was weird being back at the airport, because it had been so long since I first arrived that it was only vaguely familiar. It was a breeze getting to the gate, the lines at the ticket counter and security were both pretty short. But my flight was going to be delayed by an hour because the incoming plane from the States had been delayed.

I wasn’t that irritated about the delay because my layover in Toronto was 1 hour and 45 minutes. So I figured I’d still be able to make my connection. But we ended up leaving 1 hour and 40 minutes late with an estimated arrival time of 1:30 pm (my connecting flight left at 2 pm). So I figured I still had a chance and tried not to worry about it during the 8 hour flight.

The flight actually went by fairly quickly. I had the tv screen in the seatback in front of me again. So I watched a couple of movies, wrote a couple of blogs, and then we were almost there.

We ended up getting to the gate at 1:40 pm, so I figured I should still try to make my connecting flight. I walked really quickly, following the “connections” signs, even running up and down escalators. Then I had to go through customs, which only took a few minutes. By that time I had 5 minutes until my connection left, but then I had to pick up my checked bag. I couldn’t believe it. And there were no bags out yet, so I knew there was no way I was making my connection. At least I could calm down and stop trying to hurry.

After I finally got my bag (it took forever for some reason), I continued to follow the signs for connections. Then there was a guy checking our boarding passes, and for those of us who missed our connections, he had us go into a side room where they would rebook us. Actually, they had already rebooked us because they had known our flight was going to be delayed for 8 hours. So they just had to print out my new boarding pass. I was supposed to be going through Calgary and then on to Seattle, but my new flight was direct to Seattle. It didn’t leave until 5:40 pm, but it only got in about 2 hours later at 8 pm. So all in all, it really wasn’t that bad.

I wasn’t able to get my bag checked again where I was, because they had separate areas for US and Canada connections. I was in the Canada connection place because that’s where I was initially going. But now that I was going directly to the US, they couldn’t check my bag down there. So I had to go up to the normal arrival counters in the airport to get my bag checked. And then I had to go through US customs before they actually took my bag. Then I had to go through security again before finally getting to the gates.

The first thing I saw after going through security was a Molsen bar. I realized that I had more than 2 hours until my flight was going to board, so I decided to go have a beer. It had taken me a total of an hour, from getting off the plane to getting through security, and a beer sounded really good. I also got out my cell phone and called people to tell them I was going to get in later than expected.

It was wonderful to be in Canada, it felt like I was home. I even went to a duty free store and bought some maple sugar cookies.

The flight back to Seattle went really smooth. I was really happy when we finally got in range of Seattle and I started recognizing where we were. We flew right over downtown so I got to see the Space Needle and everything.

I got home about 9 pm (after getting my car from my friend Laura’s house, where I’d left it). But I had to go pick up Scarlet (my cat) from Mike, who had been taking care of her while I was gone. So I didn’t get home for good until about 10 pm. I’d been up for 25 hours at that point, and it was 7 am Paris time. I was really exhausted, but at the same time my body thought it was morning so I wasn’t sleepy enough for bed. So I read my book for a while and it didn’t take long before my eyes started closing.

So I made it home! It actually felt strange to drive my car and be in my apartment for a while. But I was very glad to be there. It was a great trip, and I got to see lots of amazing things, but I’m looking forward to being home now.

Well, thanks to all of you for reading my blog all this time. I hope you enjoyed hearing about my travels, I certainly enjoyed telling you all about it.

Until next time,

Erin

]]>

Wow, my last day of sightseeing is finally here

<![CDATA[

Wow, my last day of sightseeing is finally here Paris, France

Paris, France

Well, it was finally here—my last day of sightseeing on my grand tour of Europe. I spent the entire day at Versailles, which is supposed to be the grandest palace in Europe. I actually wasn’t awe-inspired by it or anything. I’d seen a lot of palaces by now, and I just didn’t find it to be a lot better than the others. It certainly didn’t have the most ornate interior (that would be Palacio Real in Madrid), it didn’t have the most rooms (that would be the Residenz in Munich), and I didn’t think the exterior was the most beautiful (that would be Schloss Nymphenburg in Munich). But it did have the best gardens and probably the most complete package. So I guess if you look at it that way, it is the best.

I wanted to get to Versailles early, to avoid the large crowds that would show up later in the day. It was a half hour train ride there on Paris’ commuter train, called the RER. But first, it was a 20 minute metro ride to get to the RER line. So it took me about an hour to get there, and I arrived at 9 am when it opened.

I first went inside the palace to tour the rooms, because that’s where the masses gather and I wanted to avoid them as much as possible. I toured the King’s apartments and Queen’s apartments, which were the most ornate and had a lot of tour groups in them. But there was enough space between the tour groups that I could wait a little while to get pictures with relatively few people in them. And I got to see the most famous room – the Hall of Mirrors. It was a long hall with windows on one side and mirrors on the other, with chandeliers and statues lining the length. I also toured the Dauphine’s apartments (he was the crown prince). There were a lot less people in these, so I think I enjoyed them more even though they weren’t nearly as ornate. I also got to see the Hall of Histories, which according to my guidebook was rarely open. It was a long hall lined with paintings of all of the famous battles in French history.

After I was done touring the rooms I went to see the gardens, which were amazing. Directly behind the palace was a terrace with twin reflecting pools, then a fountain and a long grass lawn, and then the long grand canal. On either side of the lawn the garden was organized into squares that each had a distinct design. And some contained really neat features. One was called “The Ballroom” and contained an amphitheater with seashells built into the seats and fountains. Another was called “The Collonade” and was a circular structure of marble columns. And another was called “The Encelade” and was a circular trellis with an awesome looking fountain in the middle. The gardens were also filled with lots of cool tree-lined walkways, fountains, topiaries, and some flowers. Oh, and there was also a really cool area called “The Orangerie” off to one side. It had the best pattern of greenery I’ve seen.

So I wandered my way back through all the different areas of the garden, and then stopped for some lunch at the grand canal. I bought a ham &amp; cheese baguette and just sat on the edge of the canal, admiring the view. It was a beautiful day out, with blue skies and lots of sunshine. I knew that I probably wouldn’t be seeing much sunshine after I got home to Seattle, so I aid down and basked in the sun for a while. My feet were grateful for the rest.

After I’d had enough of the sun, I went to explore the rest of the grounds. Yes, there was more. Marie Antoinette had built a whole separate estate to be able to escape the very public life at the palace. There were two smaller palaces—the Grand Trianon &amp; Petite Trianon, as well as an English garden and the “Hamlet”, a small village of cottages.

By the time I’d seen all of that I was exhausted and pretty far from the actual palace. So I paid to take a little tram back. There were a couple of areas of the garden that I hadn’t seen yet, but I didn’t feel like walking anymore. So I just left.

It was really weird on the train ride back, realizing that I was done being a tourist. It was only 5 pm when I got back to Paris, so I probably could have gone out and seen a little more of Paris. But I was already exhausted and decided I’d seen enough. So I went back to the hostel and spent the evening working on blogs.

So tomorrow I finally get to go home! It’s hard to believe the day has finally come, but I’m really excited. Six weeks is a long time to travel and it will be wonderful to be home again. Here is what I’m looking forward to:

1. Not wearing a money belt 24/7

2. Not carrying around a backpack 24/7

3. Not having to rely on public transportation (i.e. driving my car!)

4. Having an abundance of free, clean, and easily-found public restrooms

5. Public water fountains! (there are none in Europe)

6. Being able to read signs

7. Being able to speak to everyone &amp; understand what other people are saying

8. Being able to use my cell phone!

9. Having a couch!

10. Seeing my cat!

11. Sleeping in my own bed!

Wow, can you tell I’m ready to come home?

Au Revoir!

]]>

Paris Blitz Tour, Part 2

<![CDATA[

Paris Blitz Tour, Part 2 Paris, France

Paris, France

My first destination for the day was to see the Sacre Couer, a church on top of a hill overlooking Paris. The church is really beautiful, but more importantly I wanted to climb the dome in the morning when the light over Paris would be good. But when I got there, it was so hazy that I didn’t even bother. It was still worth it, though, to see the church up close.

I decided to go to the Louvre next, so that I could spend as much time there as I wanted. When I got there, I tried following Rick Steves audio guide. But everything in the first few rooms he described was moved elsewhere and I got frustrated. So I just started wandering.

I went to see all of the statues first and they were amazing. There were so many it was unbelievable. Although, it took patience to get pictures without other people in them. It seems like Europeans are obsessed with getting pictures of themselves in front of stuff. I saw many very famous statues including the Venus di Milo, Winged Glory, and Cupid &amp; Psyche.

Next I went through the famous picture galleries and they were pretty amazing. There were many paintings that I found fascinating. And, of course, there was the Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the world. It seemed like a very small painting compared to all the others in the museum, but I found her to be quite beautiful. All the pictures I’ve ever seen of the painting make it look very flat and boring. But in person it was striking. I think maybe that’s because the details just don’t come through in pictures.

So those were the major things to see according to Rick Steves, but I also wanted to see the Egyptian stuff. So I walked through those galleries too. A lot of it was boring, but there were some interesting things there. And on my walk back to the entrance, I passed some really cool things from Iran and Mesopotamia. I really don’t know what they were, except their place of origin.

On my way out I stopped in the café for a very expensive piece of pizza. And then I walked through the Tulieres Gardens on my way to the Orangerie Museum. It contained Claude Monet’s famous water lily paintings. I was expecting normal paintings hung on a wall, but these were huge. They filled two oval rooms, with four curving canvases in each.

My next destination was to go back to the Isle de la Cite (an island in the middle of the Seine River), to see Sainte Chapelle and climb the tower of Notre Dame. But when I got to Sainte Chapelle the line was really long and I didn’t feel like waiting in it. So I went over to Notre Dame, but the line to climb the tower was even worse.

So I decided to take a break. I walked over to a spot along the river that’s very famous to anyone who watched the old “Highlander” TV show in the 90s. The show was filmed half a season in Vancouver and half in Paris for many seasons, and it’s one of the main reasons I wanted to come to Paris. The main character lived in a barge on the Seine River with a view of Notre Dame. So I went to find the spot, sat for a while, and had a snack.

By the time I got back to Sainte Chapelle it was an hour before they closed and the line was a lot shorter. So I went ahead and waited and went inside. And it was beautiful. Pretty much the entire chapel was lined with beautiful stained glass windows. And the detail was amazing.

I walked back over to Notre Dame and was happy to see that the line was a lot shorter. But when I got to the end, I saw a sign that said it was the end of the line for the day. So I couldn’t go up, but I didn’t mind. I decided to go the Eiffel Tower instead. I figured I should have plenty of daylight left (it was about 5:30 pm and sunset was about 7:15 pm).

My plan was to climb the stairs up to the 2nd level of the Eiffel tower and then take the elevator from there. But I got there at 6:15 pm only to discover that the stairs closed at 6 pm. So I had to take the elevator. It was about a 15 minute wait to take the elevator up to the 2nd level. The line for the separate elevator up to the top looked long, so I did a circle of the 2nd level, taking in the views. It was only about a half hour until sunset, but I decided to try and make it up there while there was still light left. The wait was about 25 minutes so I made it up just in time. It was still light enough to get pictures and have plenty of time to take in the view. Plus, I got to see the actual sunset. But it wasn’t very good because there were a bit of clouds in the sky.

I lingered at the top for a while longer and then decided to go back down the 2nd level. It wasn’t a very long wait this time, but by the time I got down there, all of the clouds in the western part of the sky had turned a brilliant pink. It was amazingly beautiful. I just stood there in awe and watched for quite a while.

Then, at 8 pm, all of a sudden it got really bright and I saw lights flashing. The Eiffel Tower had gone sparkly. It does a nightly light show after dark, on every hour, where there are all these sparkly lights all over it. So I gazed up in amazement until the show was over 5 minutes later.

By this time it was pretty much completely dark out, so I lingered for quite a while, taking in the city views at night. Then I went back down to the ground and walked across the Seine River to see the tower in the dark from farther away. It was very beautiful. I timed it perfectly and got to a good viewing point about 5 minutes before the next sparkle show. So I hung out and watched it from afar this time. It actually wasn’t as impressive from far away, though.

It was 9 pm by this point, and I was tired from my very long day. But the metro on the way back to the hostel went right by the Hard Rock Café. So I stopped to get another guitar pin for my Dad (to replace the one I’d lost).

By the time I got back to the hostel it was after 10 pm. What a long day! I was wiped so I just went to bed.

Well, tomorrow is my last day of sightseeing on the trip. I can’t believe it! For a long time it felt like it would never end. But I can’t wait to get home!

Au Revoir!

]]>

Paris Blitz Tour, Part I

<![CDATA[

Paris Blitz Tour, Part I Paris, France

Paris, France

This morning I took my last real train ride of the trip. It was also the first time since the overnight train from Venice to Vienna that I’d bought my ticket before the trip, because a reservation was required. It was 1.5 hours and I was very tired. I hadn’t slept well either night at the hostel in Brussels. My room was right on a very busy street, and it was very noisy even through my earplugs.

We arrived at the Paris Nord train station about 10:15 am (there are at least 6 different train stations in Paris). My hostel was closed from 10 am – 2 pm, so I was really hoping they had a bag check. My guidebook only said that not all Paris train stations have a bag check. I looked for a sign but didn’t see one, so I resigned myself to just carrying my bag around.

When I went down to get on the metro, I saw an information desk. So I went to get a map of the metro system and figured I might as well ask if there was a bag check. And there was! So I went and stood in line for a long time because the bags had to be screened. But it was worth it to not carry my bag around all day.

After I’d safely stored my backpack, I headed back to the metro to start my blitz tour of Paris. There was lots to see and my plan was to buy a two day museum pass, which would get me into pretty much everything, and see as much as I could.

So first I headed to see Napolean’s Tomb &amp; the Army Museum. While on the train, I’d read that the Orsay Museum and Rodin Museum would be closed tomorrow. So my plan was to make sure and do those today. And the Army Museum was literally right next to the Rodin Museum. So I started there first.

Napolean’s tomb &amp; the Army Museum were in the same building, called Les Invalides. It was a huge building built by Napolean to care for wounded soldiers. I went to Napolean’s tomb first and it was huge, but otherwise not that interesting.

Then I went to the Army Museum. I went to the WWI &amp; WWII section first, but it was incredibly boring. It was just a bunch of uniforms and some uninteresting weapeans, mostly guns. And it took me forever just to walk through it because it was set up in a convoluted one way circuit over multiple floors.

When I finally got out of the world war dullness I went to the Armory section, which was very cool. There were many, many suits of armor on display, including some really weird-looking helmets. There were also many medieval weapons likes swords, halberds, and crossbows. And in the back was the storeroom, which had rows and rows of spare armor parts.

My next stop was the Rodin Museum. In case you don’t know, Rodin was a famous sculptor around the 18th century or so. He’s most famous for his statue, “The Thinker”, which was the main reason I wanted to see the museum. And it was really cool. But I was much more impressed with his other sculptures.

When I was done admiring Rodin’s sculptures, I headed over to the Orsay Museum, which was inside an old train station. I was surprised that there were a bunch of sculptures there, because it was known for its impressionist paintings. But I like sculpture, so that was cool. There were a lot of boring paintings there, but also many cool paintings. I got to see “Whistler’s Mother”, which I didn’t even know was there. There were also many paintings by Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, and other famous impressionists. And I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the paintings. There’s just something about how they use such broad brushstrokes to create vivid scenes. It truly amazes me. And then there were some pointillism paintings, which I kind of liked more. These are paintings where they just used dots of color to create vivid scenes.

By the time I left the Orsay it was around 4 pm or so, nearing the time when most everything closed. So I decided to go over to Notre Dame to start Rick Steves “Historic Paris Walk”, and go as far as I could.

I decided to walk to Notre Dame because there wasn’t a direct metro route there.That took a while, but it was worth it to walk along the Seine River. There was a bit of a line to get inside Notre Dame, but it was worth it because there was organ music being played. And it sounded exactly like I’d always imagined it would in Notre Dame. The inside itself wasn’t that impressive to me, after all the churches I’d seen. But there were some really beautiful stained glass windows.

After I’d seen enough, I continued the walk through some mostly uninteresting streets until I reached Sainte Chapel, a chapel famous for its beautiful stained windows. But I had to stop there because it was closed. However, I knew that the Arc de Triumphe was open late, so I decided to take the metro over there. I’d been to it the first time I was in Paris, but I didn’t go up to the top because that was included in the museum pass.

So now that I had the museum pass, I went back to see the view from the top. I had to go up a bunch of stairs, probably about 200 or so (I forgot to look it up before I threw away my Paris guidebook info). And the view from the top was amazing. The sky was crystal blue and it was about an hour before sunset, so all the white buildings just glowed. I could see straight down the Champs Elysees to the Place de Concorde and the Louvre and Notre Dame beyond. On one side I could see the Sacre Couer on a hilltop above the city, and on the other side was Les Invalides and the Eiffel Tower.

I thought about waiting around for sunset but I knew it wouldn’t be that interesting because it was too clear. And I was really tired from all my walking around and museum-going. So I went back to the train station to pick up my bags, and then I headed for the hostel. It was a really weird feeling leaving the train station and knowing it was the last time I’d be inside one.

When I got to the hostel I was so wiped out that I didn’t have the energy to work on blogs. So I just read for a while before going to bed.

Au Revoir!

]]>

Erin's Tour of Belgium

<![CDATA[

Erin's Tour of Belgium Brugge, Belgium

Brugge, Belgium

Well, you can probably tell from my title how this day ended up. But, I’ll start from the beginning.

Today I took a day trip to the city of Bruges, an hour away from Brussels by train, and featured in a movie a few years ago called “In Bruges.” The movie is the main reason I wanted to come to Bruges, because I had seen how beautiful the city was. And it was beautiful. It’s what I was expecting Amsterdam to be: water-filled canals, beautiful architecture, and small cobbled streets.

When I left Brussels I just barely caught the 8:27 am train (they left every half hour, but I didn’t want to wait). I bought my ticket upstairs, and the woman who helped me said the train was on track 6 and I might make it. My watch showed it was 8:26 am. So I ran down the stairs, found track 6, and I thought I’d missed the train because there was a train just leaving. But then the train stopped! It was actually arriving. I couldn’t tell from the sign on the platform whether the train was going to Bruges, so I asked the man in front of me and he said he thought it was. So I was a little unsure for a while whether I was on the right train, but I soon heard an announcement listing Bruges as a stop.

When I arrived in Bruges I walked about 20 minutes to the main square of town, once again called Market Square. It was very beautiful with lots of gabled houses and the tallest and most massive bell tower I’ve seen anywhere.

My first task for the day was to take a canal boat tour. I just missed getting on a boat and had to wait almost 30 minutes for the next one. It was only a 30 minute tour and I ended up in the back of the boat, where it was hard to see over people’s heads. So I’m not sure it was worth it. But it did get me oriented to the all the sights in town.

When the boat tour was over, I walked around a little, to all the nearby places the canal boat had gone. Then I headed back to Market Square to climb the bell tower. But when I saw how long the line was I decided I didn’t want to wait. It was almost 1 pm by this time, and I really wanted to rent a bike and go to the nearby village of Damme.

So I walked over to the nearby bike rental place and got a way better mode of transportation than my feet. I first rode around the city a little, going the rest of the places the boat tour had gone. Then I started the real bike ride.

Earlier, I had bought a cycling tour brochure at the tourist information center. It outlined a 41.5 km cycling tour that went out to the town of Sluis, but it also went through the village of Damme (only 7 km away). I figured I’d probably just go out to Damme and back.

So I started by getting to the outskirts of Bruges, where there was a ring canal lined with a few windmills. They were pretty neat, but not nearly as impressive as the ones I’d seen in Holland. Then I rode out to Damme. There was a bike path that went along the edge of a straight canal, lined with trees on both sides. There were also trees on both sides of the bike path, so it was quite fun riding through the corridor of trees. Just before getting to Damme, there was a windmill and some sheep right next to the bike path.

It ended up only taking me a half hour to get to Damme, so I decided to keep going. The bike rental place was open until 10 pm so I had plenty of time.

I came to the next turn around place in only 15 minutes and I didn’t want to turn around yet. So I decided I should have plenty of time to just do the whole 41.5 km tour. My legs felt fine and I knew I’d ridden at least that far in Amsterdam, so I knew I could do it. There wasn’t much else to see in Bruges anyway. I probably wouldn’t make it back in time to climb the bell tower, but I’d climbed enough towers on the trip.

So I made it all the way to Sluis. The trail actually went out away from the canal for awhile, through a small, pretty village, then angling back to the canal the rest of the way. Sluis was a much larger city than the others I’d ridden through. But it still had its old earthen walls around the city, and the bike path mostly went around the outside of those.

By the time I left Sluis my bum was already really starting to hurt. I think it was still recovering from my ride two days ago. So a lot of the ride back was kind of tortuous. But it was very pretty, either going along the canal or out through the countryside. And I even got to ride on a self-service bike/pedestrian ferry across the canal. It was hooked onto two cables and the ferry had a big wheel that you turned to move it. I didn’t get to move it myself, though; there were three teenage boys there ferrying people across.

When I finally got back to Bruges, I went directly to Market Square and returned the bike, even though it was only about 5:30 pm. There was no way I was putting my bum on that seat any longer than I had to.

My first order of business was to get some food. So I got some french fries, or “Belgian” fries as the guy at the stand corrected me. I got them with mayonnaise again and I’m kind of starting to like them that way.

I sat on Market square while I ate the fries, but when I was done I wanted to enjoy the ambience for a little while longer. So I decided to get a seat at one of the cafes and have a beer. I got a local beer called Bruges Zot that they were selling in 1.5 liter glasses. They looked really cool, but it was more than I wanted to drink so I settled for their next smallest size—a 0.33 L bottle. It was very good and I wanted another, but my waiter ignored me for a half hour. So I finally just asked another waiter for my check and left.

I didn’t want to leave the city in a bad mood, so I decided to try a different café on the square. There was one that didn’t have many people at the tables, so I went there and got excellent service. I got a ½ liter of Jupiler beer and also a waffle with whipped cream. It was very good.

I didn’t finish my beer in time to make it to the 7 pm train, so I decided to order a small beer rather than have to wait a while at the train station. But when I got the beer it was another ½ liter! It was a mistake—the waiter had ordered a small beer. But he let me keep it. So I ended up having to hurry to catch the 7:30 pm train, but I made it with a few minutes to spare.

When I got back to Brussels, I went to the hostel and called my parents and brother for our last Skype session of the trip. It was hard to believe I’d be going home in 5 days! After we were done talking, I pretty much went straight to bed. Biking for 40 km has a tendency to tire you out a little.

Oh, I should probably mention that the bike tour from Bruges was way better than the one from Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, the instructions weren’t very good so I kept going the wrong way and I spent a lot of the time worrying about finding my way. Plus, most of the way back was through the city. But in Bruges, the whole trip was going by canals, countryside, or small towns. And, they had an awesome system set up where each bike path intersection was numbered, with signs everywhere pointing the direction towards each intersection. And the brochure I bought detailed exactly which numbers the tour followed. So it was extremely easy to follow. I could just relax and enjoy the ride as I pedaled. Of course, I guess that’s the difference between a free brochure and buying one.

Oh, I should also mention that while I was reading the bike tour brochure the next day I noticed that the town of Sluis was actually in the Netherlands! It was right across the border from Belgium.

Well, tomorrow I take my last official train ride to Paris. And I’ll be there for three days before finally heading back home to Seattle. The first two days I’ll see as much as I can of Paris, and then my last day I’ll go to Versailles in the morning and see if I have time for anything else.

Au Revoir!

]]>

A day that will live in infimy

<![CDATA[

A day that will live in infimy Brussels, Belgium

Brussels, Belgium

So I have to get this out of the way right off the bat—today is the one year anniversary of the biggest bank failure in U.S. History. That is, one year ago today Washington Mutual was seized by the FDIC and sold to JP Morgan Chase, leading to my loss of a job, and ultimately, this trip. It’s a day that will be forever burned in my memory because of all the accounting hassles it created. And because it led to me losing my job, of course. But on a positive note, my coworker Laura has started a new job already and that’s awesome!

Okay, back to the trip. I decided to be lazy again this morning and take a later train to Brussels so that I could get another hot breakfast at the hostel. And actually, I still needed to return my bike and the rental place didn’t open until 9 am. So I didn’t really have a choice.

The hot breakfast this morning was pancakes, and they were Dutch style again. But I made the mistake of using the packet of syrup. It wasn’t American syrup—It had a chocolaty-taste to it and not in a good way.

I was out of the hostel by 8:35 am and I knew it would only take 15 minutes at most to bike to the rental place. And I was a little leery of trying to ride the bike with my big backpack on, especially going up the small hills over canal bridges. So I decided to just walk my bike, at least for a while. So I did that until after I got past all the canal bridges. Then I decided to just try it with my backpack on, and it was fine. It was a little weird at first, but I soon got used to it.

I actually made it to the bike rental place before they opened, but only had to wait a few minutes before they opened the doors. My train didn’t leave until 9:54 am so I had a bit of a wait, but I just got out my Brussels guidebook info and started reading it.

The train ride to Brussels ended up being my worst of the trip, by far. It wasn’t that anything really happened during the trip, it was just incredibly crowded. I got on when the train got there about 15 minutes early. And I was a little annoyed when a couple sat down in the two seats across from me. Most of the trains I’d been riding were so empty that that wouldn’t have happened. But the train started getting fuller and fuller, and a guy even came and sat right beside me. I was annoyed again.

So the train was fairly full when we left Amsterdam, but after a couple of quick stops it got completely full and people were standing. And then the standing room got completely full. There was one place we stopped where we left people on the platform because there wasn’t enough room for them to get on the train.

I wasn’t used to it being so crowded on the train, and I didn’t like not being able to move around. The girl across from me had bags at her feet, and I had my daypack at my feet. So I pretty much couldn’t even move my feet around. By the time we finally got to Brussels my back side was getting pretty sore from sitting there for three hours. Needless to say, the train was late because the loading/unloading had taken so long at all the stations. But thankfully, a lot of people had gotten off the train in one of Brussels’ suburbs, so getting my bag down wasn’t too hard.

So we got to Brussels about 1 pm but the hostel I was staying in was closed until 2 pm, so I couldn’t go drop my bag off. There really wasn’t that much to do in Brussels, but I decided to go start Rick Steves walking tour. It started in the Grand Place, the main square and a short walk from the train station. Rick says it’s probably the grandest square in Europe and I think I agree. Except that there was a big concert stage set up in the middle, so it was hard to see everything. But the buildings were very grand indeed.

The walking tour said that just sitting in one of the cafes on the square was a great way to spend an afternoon in Brussels, and I thought that sounded great. So I found an open table and sat down to order a beer. It was called Maes and it was very good. If you don’t know, Belgium is very famous for its good beers. And there’s one Belgian beer I’ve had in the States called Stella Artois.

My waiter had been so slow getting me my beer that by the time I was done it was well after 2 pm. So I headed for the hostel. But on my way I stopped at a waffle stand to try some real Belgian Waffles. They had all these different toppings you could get, and I chose one with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. It was good, but mostly I could just taste the whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

When I got to the hostel, I checked in and I was completely happy with my room. I think it’s about as perfect as a hostel can be. There were four beds, just like my room in Amsterdam, but probably 4-5 times as much space In Amsterdam, there was literally about 2-3 feet between the two bunkbeds and that was it. But here in Brussels, we had individual bed lights, a table with chairs, a sink, and an electrical outlet. There’s even free wireless and a bar in the basement. I don’t think there’s much else I could ask for.

Normally, I probably would have crashed in the room and not left. The way I’d been feeling when I’d finally gotten off the train, I definitely would have if I’d gone straight to the hostel. But I think I discovered the key to being excited about a city—beer! Before I had that beer on Grand Place, I’d been in a bad mood from the train ride. And I didn’t think the square was that great. I really didn’t want to be there. But while I was drinking my beer, the square started to look more and more beautiful. And by the time I was done, I was actually excited about exploring a little bit.

Anyway, after I got my stuff set up at the hostel, I left to go back to Grand Place. I’d decided I wanted to have another beer. But this time I got a Stella Artois, because I figured it would be a good memory when I have it in the States. It was good, but actually tasted weaker than when I’d had it in the States. I guess all that German beer made my taste buds stronger!

After my second beer, I continued on Rick Steves walking tour, which didn’t really go that far. But I stopped to get some Belgian French fries. Belgium is actually where French fries were invented, so I wanted to see what they were like. And I even got them Belgain-style—with mayonnaise. The fries themselves had a little too much potato for me, but they were surprisingly good with the mayonnaise.

The walking tour ended back at Grand Place, which is really the only interesting thing to see in Brussels. And there were bands doing a run through for the concert or something. I’d read a sign that said there was going to be a free concert there tomorrow night. So I assumed they were doing a dress rehearsal. I stayed on the square for awhile and listened before heading back to the hostel.

It was only 6 pm or so, but I needed some time off from sightseeing. So I just relaxed at the hostel and read my book for the rest of the night.

They mostly speak French in Belgium (60% French, 40% Dutch), so Au Revoir!

P.S. Apparently Haas is a Dutch name, in addition to a German one. After I told my name to the girl at the bike rental place, she asked if I spoke Dutch. She said it was a common Dutch name and it meant “hare”. It means the same thing in German too.

]]>

Erin's Tour of Holland

<![CDATA[

Erin's Tour of Holland Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam, Netherlands

This morning I had a first at the hostel. I actually got a hot breakfast! I couldn’t believe. I got fried eggs &amp; ham on toast, made fresh. It was awesome.

I was still in a bad mood this morning, and not wanting to be in Amsterdam. But I figured I might as well go out and try to see it because I sure didn’t want to stay in the hostel all day. So my plan was to walk back to train station, go on a canal boat tour, and then rent a bike for the rest of the day. Another thing that had really been irritating me about Amsterdam is how large the city is. It took me a really long time just to walk to my hostel, but there were other things I wanted to see that were even farther away than that. And I was getting tired of walking everywhere, so that made me not want to do anything.

Anyway, the canal tour wasn’t that great. I decided to sit on the back of the boat because the sides were open and I figured that was better for taking pictures. But there were no speakers, so I couldn’t hear the recorded narration. And the top was covered so I couldn’t see all around like the inside cabin (it had windows on the top). I didn’t realize this until after we’d started, and there weren’t any empty seats inside anymore. So I just stayed in the back and continued being in a bad mood.

When the canal boat got back, I went and found the bike rental place, rented a bike, and headed on my way to find the Hard Rock Café. And almost immediately my bad mood went away! It was fun being on the bike! There were separate bike lanes on the big streets, separated by curb and everything. There were even separate bike lights telling us when to stop and go. And it was so much quicker! Riding along the canals was now fun!

But after I got past the streets I knew it started to get a little annoying. I had to keep stopping to check the map and see where I was. And it was hard figuring out how to make a left turn. But I eventually found my way to the Hard Rock and found a cool guitar pin.

The Hard Rock was right by a park called Vondelpark, so I decided to get out of the city for a while and take a ride there. And it was really pretty. It was very green and there were lots of ponds and trees. It was a long, skinny park, so I rode all the way down one side and came back up the other. But I took a break partway to sit on a bench beside a pond for a while.

When I left the park, I headed back up to Dam Square. And it seemed a little nicer because it was sunny today, but I still wasn’t that impressed. Then I went back to the hostel for a bathroom break, before heading back up to the bike rental place at the train station.

I’d pretty much had enough of the city. It was a lot better on the bike, but I still didn’t care for it that much. Rick Steves guidebook said that if you rent a bike, you can take a free ferry across a big canal to the north, and in 5 minutes you’d be in the Dutch countryside. The map I’d gotten from the bike rental place, though, didn’t show much of that area. So I went back to see if they had a bigger map. And they actually had a map of a bike tour to go see some windmills. So I decided to do that.

I started about 1:45 pm and it wasn’t until after I was on the ferry that I noticed the tour was supposed to take 3 hours for cycling and 1 hour for sightseeing. But I figured I’d just see how it went.

The biking was great at first; there was a bike path right along a canal for a while. And then I got to the countryside, where the bike path was really narrow and went right through the farm fields. I saw some cows and some sheep and I was happy. I kept making wrong turns, though, the directions for the tour were not that great. I finally realized I just needed to follow the map, not the directions.

I had to go through a little town, where I kept getting turned around and couldn’t figure out where to go, but eventually I found me way back to a bike path. From there, the path went through some type of nature preserve, right along a canal again. And I passed my first windmill. It was really neat, but the weather had turned very cool and I was now biking directly into the wind. My legs were still feeling fine, though, so I kept going. There was a big cluster of windmills at about the halfway point of the tour and I really wanted to see them.

So after leaving the nature preserve, the bike path followed a train track for a while and then a motorway. And then it just dumped me off on a road and I kind of had to follow my intuition and the map. But I finally made it to the windmills! I was glad because my legs were starting to get tired and I was really sick of going into the wind (I’d be able to turn the other direction after the windmills).

And these windmills were awesome! There were about 5 or 6 right in a row, along the bank of a river. Some of them were even turning! And there was one that was open (called De Kat) and I could pay 3 Euro to go inside and up on a platform at the base of the windmill. So I locked my bike on a wooden fence and went inside.

I was amazed when I got inside, because the windmill was actually grinding some flour. The gears were turning and moving two large circular stones around a flat surface, where something was being ground down. It was really cool but I forgot to take a picture of it. I only took a video.

I also went up on the platform, and the view of the windmills and the river was really cool. Plus, I could get pretty close to the moving blades of the windmill. They actually came down almost to the platform, but that part of it was blocked off (for safety reasons, obviously). It was still really neat, though.

After I left the windmills, the bike tour continued across the river and then headed back towards Amsterdam. But it went through city the whole way so it wasn’t very interesting. At first I was just riding on a city street, but then I had to take another short ferry over a canal. From there, there was a bike path all the way back to Amsterdam. I’d been planning to return my bike that night, but they closed at 5:45 pm and I didn’t have quite enough to time to make it. But, that meant I could ride the bike back to the hostel and return the bike in the morning. I was paying for 24 hours anyway, it would just be interesting in the morning trying to take the bike and my big backpack to the train station.

Anyway, I got back to the hostel about 6 pm, which meant I’d been riding for about 7 hours without that many breaks, especially during my tour of the windmills. After all that, I felt like I’d ridden a cycling stage of the Tour of Holland. My legs definitely needed a rest. So I got my computer and went to the hostel’s common room to work on blogs. I’d been thinking about maybe going out a little later to get a beer, but I was so exhausted from my cycling marathon that I didn’t feel like going anywhere.

I eventually got too tired to work on blogs any more, but it was only 8 pm. So I went up to my room and managed to read until about 9:30 pm. But I couldn’t make it any longer, I had to go to bed.

So tomorrow I will be leaving Amsterdam and going to Brussels, and I’m very happy about that. Even though my day on the bike was mostly good, I’m still not that thrilled with Amsterdam. After reflecting on it a little bit, I think the city is just too different for me. And I think it’s mostly all the bikes. They’re everywhere. I’m just not used to being around them and it took me out of my comfort zone. But hopefully Brussels will be better.

Bye!

P.S. When I was doing blogs in the evening I read the brochure on the cycling tour better and it said that the loop I did to the windmills was 35 kilometers! I couldn’t believe it. I was glad I hadn’t read that beforehand, though, because I may have decided not to go. But I made it fine. I figure with all the other riding I d
id in the city, I probably rode somewhere in the neighborhood of 45-50 kilometers for the day. I think that’s about 25-30 miles.

]]>

Whoa, culture shock

<![CDATA[

Whoa, culture shock Cologne, Germany

Cologne, Germany

I decided to be lazy this morning before catching the train to Cologne, so I stayed at Weingut Rademacher to have breakfast. I was able to catch the 9 am train and make it to Cologne by 11 am. I was stopping there briefly before catching another train to Amsterdam.

The only thing to really see in Cologne was their cathedral, which was supposedly the best in Germany. And it was conveniently located right beside the train station. But first I decided to walk to the Hard Rock Café to get Dad his guitar pin. I was worried about time, so I figured I’d do that first. It was only a 5 minute walk, though, so it didn’t take that long. Unfortunately, though, they didn’t have a very big selection, so they didn’t have one I really liked. But I still got one.

When I got back to the cathedral I went inside, but they were having a service at noon so I could only see it from the very back. I wasn’t really that impressed with the inside or outside. If it was the first cathedral I’d seen in Europe it probably would have been amazing. But compared to the Duomos in Italy, it wasn’t that special.

But, they did have a tower to climb to see the views of Cologne. I didn’t think the view would be that spectacular, but I wanted the exercise. And I had time, so I did it. It was 509 steps, which is the most I’ve done so far. And it was no problem. Although, I did take a short break near the top to go see the bell because it started ringing.

The view from the top was better than I was expecting, mostly because the cathedral was very close to the Rhine River. Otherwise, Cologne was just a big industrial city. It was mostly destroyed during WWII so it was very modern.

I managed to get down in time to pick up a little McDonald’s for lunch before catching the 12:48 pm train to Amsterdam. So I was able to see the city in about 1.5 hours. I probably could have stayed longer and gotten one more taste of German food, but the next train wasn’t for another two hours and I didn’t want to wait around that long.

Anyway, on the train ride I met two American men and talked to them for quite a while, mostly about travelling. One was in Europe on business; he had a company that made safety equipment for nuclear power plants or something like that. And the other was his brother-in-law, who was just piggy-backing on his trip for two weeks of vacation. It was fun to talk to some other Americans, and they were really nice and bought me a water. They even offered to share a cab in Amsterdam, but I was pretty sure my hostel was nowhere near any hotels.

When we finally got to Amsterdam, for the first time, I experienced some serious culture shock. First of all, the train station was under some massive renovation and I couldn’t find the tourist information or public transit information places. I knew I could take a tram to the hostel, but I couldn’t figure out where to buy a ticket. I was really annoyed and decided just to walk. It was only supposed to take 20 minutes.

When I walked outside the station, There were tons of trams right there, really big roads, and lots of people and bikes on the streets. Coming from the tiny towns on the Rhine and Mosel Rivers in Germany, it was a bit of a shock. Even when I got to the canals of Amsterdam, which I was expecting to be really scenic, there were roads on either side with tons of people on bikes whizzing by. And it was a little hard to walk because the sidewalks were skinny and often cluttered with bikes or scooters. I just really felt out of place. And the city seemed really dirty and grimy too.

So by the time I made it to the hostel it had taken more like 30 minutes to get there, and I wasn’t in a very good mood. Then, when I got to my room (which was the smallest hostel room I’ve been in yet), I was supposed to be in bed #1 (a lot of hostels number their beds and lockers and then assign you to one). But the only clean bed was #3 and the only free locker was #4. I was really confused and mad, so I went down to the reception to make sure it was the right bed number. I told her what I had found, and that the bed that I was supposed to be in looked slept in, but there wasn’t anything on it. So the girl at reception had someone go up and make the bed for me. And she also had me put a note on locker #1 telling that person to move their stuff to the right locker. And she gave me a locker out in the hallway for free, which was actually bigger anyway so I didn’t mind too much.

So by the time I got all my stuff situated I was in a really bad mood and really didn’t want to be in Amsterdam. But it was only 4 pm so I decided I should try and go out and see it a little bit. So I went for a walk. I started at the Westekirche, which was very close to the hostel. There were these cool elephant sculptures there, painted really neat. And that made me start to feel a little bit excited about being there.

But then I walked along a really busy road to Dam Square, the main square of Amsterdam. And it just didn’t impress me. I started to watch a street performer, who was having the audience wrap him in cellophane and chains. But then he got mad because part of his front row left right before he was going to “do the show” and escape. He started cursing and saying some really foul things, and he decided not to do his show. He just sat down on his box and starting laughing at all of us, saying he just waiting to see how long people were going to stay there. That’s when I left.

So I decided I needed some dinner and went to get some Dutch pancakes at the “Pancake Bakery”, a recommendation from Mr. Steves and pretty close to the hostel. They had pancakes with all different kinds of toppings. Some were savory (i.e. meats &amp; cheese) and some were sweet (i.e. fruits &amp; ice cream). I got the pancakes with apples and cinnamon ice cream. I was expecting a stack of thick pancakes, kind of like at Bob Evans. But when it came, it was one thin pancake that was as big as the plate. But wow, it was really good. And I got so full that I actually couldn’t finish it.

When I finished my dinner I went back to the hostel and worked on blogs for the rest of the evening.

Tomorrow I have another whole day in Amsterdam, but I almost wish I didn’t. I’m not sure what I’ll do all day.

I know zero words in Dutch, but I think they all speak English, so goodbye!

]]>

My feet hurt…seriously

<![CDATA[

My feet hurt…seriously Cochem, Germany

Cochem, Germany

This morning I went to see Burg Eltz, Rick Steves’ favorite castle in Europe, so I was excited. But I wasn’t very impressed. Yes, it was breathtakingly beautiful from the outside. But the inside wasn’t that great, and the setting wasn’t nearly as good as Rheinfels Castle yesterday. Plus, I had to take a train 20 minutes to the tiny town of Moselkern, and then walk an hour from there just to get to the castle.

So by the time I made it back to Cochem it was lunchtime and I was kind of mad that I’d spent so much time to go to Burg Eltz. I kind of didn’t feel like doing anything else for the rest of the day, but I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t at least go see Cochem.

So I walked to the main square, which was very pretty with half-timbered buildings. But the city itself felt too big. There were a bunch of retail stores and lots of people walking around. So I walked up to the castle on the hill above town. I took a tour and actually enjoyed this castle a lot better than Burg Eltz. The view of the Mosel from there was amazing, and there was more to see inside. There was a cool mermaid chandelier in one of the rooms, and the legend was that if you touched its belly and made a wish, it would come true (so I did, of course).

After I walked down from the castle, I decided to go experience another form of transportation—the Sesselbahn. It was a chair lift that went to the top of another hill behind Cochem. It was very fun; it had been a very long time since I’ve been on a chairlift. It wasn’t scary, though, because it went so slowly I could barely tell when it went over the towers. I think I could have walked up faster. But the views from the top were amazing. Cochem Castle especially looked really cool.

When I’d had enough of the views, I rode the chairlift back down and then went to find some food. I ended up going to a little food stand and getting a Bratwurst and kartoffelsalat (i.e. potato salad). I was glad I knew the German word for it, although it tasted like American potato salad. The bratwurst was excellent, though. I think I’m going to have to try American bratwurst when I get home, just to make sure I still don’t like it.

When I was done eating I decided to go get a beer at one of the riverside restaurants, so that I could enjoy the view. So I went to a place that was selling Bitburger beer. I’d seen the name all over towns on the Rhine and Mosel, and I really wanted to try it. But it was a little bitter. Hmmm, I wonder if that’s what its name means.

Anyway, I made it back to my room with time left to enjoy my last privacy of the trip. I’ll be staying in hostels for the rest of the trip. And my feet really needed a rest. Not only did I walk for two hours getting to/from Burg Katz, but I spent a lot of time walking around Cochem too. And I think my feet are starting to chronically hurt because of all the walking I’ve been doing. They feel okay during the day, but after I rested in my room for awhile I could barely walk.

Oh well…only one week of sightseeing left before I get to go home!!! I’m actually very excited about that, I’m kind of tired of travelling. But I’ve realized that this trip was really good for me for two reasons:

1. It gave me something to look forward to as my job at WaMu was ending. Otherwise, I probably would have gotten really depressed and I would have been dreading trying to find a new job.

2. Now that I’ve been travelling for so long, I’m excited about going home and I’m even excited about looking for a new job! I’m eager to start working again, and that’s a good thing because it will make interviewing a lot easier.

Well, enough of that. Tomorrow I will head to Amsterdam, stopping in Cologne, Germany on the way for a few hours. After Amsterdam is Brussels, then back to Paris, and that’s it! The end is in sight!

Auf Wiedersehen!

]]>