one cool thing about paris was recognizing lots of the areas from the shorts of Paris, Je T'aime. i definitely want to re-watch that one. and Amelie. supposedly our hostel was in an area where parts of Amelie was filmed.
and i want to re-watch In Bruges now, too. i think all of these movies will have an extra charm now.
also, one weird thing in paris: all the homeless people have dogs. is that a way to get you to give them money? what you're supposed to think: "oh well that homeless guy has a dog to take care of and i doubt the dog has a drug problem so i'll give him a euro or two to take care of the dog" ?
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Paris, France
paris is huge. i didn't even think about it before going. but it's massive. used the metro to get everywhere-- not used to that. went with a big group (me zach mallory jennifer ali cari, then a few guys we met at the hostel). it was fun but probably could have been better. i was feeling a little sick, got so exhausted from walking around everywhere, and sort of just followed the group to each destination. all the same, i can now say i've been to paris. lots of beautiful stuff. my personal favorites were the eiffel tower (of course) and the sacre coeur. catacombs were pretty sweet, too. we had some great weather, to boot. list of places we went:
1. notre dame 2. sacre coeur 3. louvre (for free!) 4. eiffel tower 5. catacombs 6. arc de triomphe and champs elysees 7. chateau de versailles (but not inside b/c the line was huge and it was 17 euro) 8. musee d'orsay
good.
1. notre dame 2. sacre coeur 3. louvre (for free!) 4. eiffel tower 5. catacombs 6. arc de triomphe and champs elysees 7. chateau de versailles (but not inside b/c the line was huge and it was 17 euro) 8. musee d'orsay
good.
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| Paris, France |
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
torben, chris, doug, and i went to luxembourg city for 2 days and 1 night. we all agreed that it was a great trip. had a really fun time. played pool for the first time in so so so long, that was nice. at a "rock" bar that played katie perry and poppy stuff except for a lot of songs by the offspring. not really rock. paid 8 euro for a long island iced tea. oh well. then we went to an irish pub type place, that had actual irish people in it! cool. then got the most delicious kebab in the world (so good, basically just like a gyro...they're everywhere here and cheap). next day walked around and explored. went to a museum of luxembourg history. it was cool. they had an exhibit about religion, as well. then spent the rest of the day just perusing the city. went to a souvenir shop with the most anal owners ever, yelled at torben for touching things and then pressed an alert button (for the cops? really?). another group of people from jr. house went to luxembourg city just yesterday, they didn't like it, but we really did. they went to the same souvenir shop and had a bad experience with the same owners. terrible.
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| Luxembourg City, Luxembourg |
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Visiting Ina
thursday march 5th
first of all, mechelen train station gets a big thumbs down from me (because i have to turn my aggression somewhere). reason? to get to my destination of nijmegen i had 2 connections, the first of which was a 4 minute gap, which became a 2 minute or less gap because the first train was slow, so i missed boarding it while running to catch it. waited an hour but the next one was cancelled, so i arrived in nijmegen (the netherlands) 2 hours late to a patient ina (who, to my credit, i called from a payphone several times but she left her phone in the car by accident). anyways, she took me to her apartment in kranenburg, germany. tiny town but better living conditions than in nijmegen (where her and her 2 roommates go to university). nice roommates. settled in and hung out, ina made dinner and one of her friends came with her boyfriend. we played a game called bluff and michel (one of ina's roommates) shared his birthday beer with me. lots of german conversation that i didn't understand but lots of fun anyways (are they actually saying words or just making noise and sending mind messages to eachother?). then the 2 friends left and we played "flour cutting"(or is it cocaine?)which is a game sort of like jenga where you put a toothpick in flour and cut away until the toothpick falls and if it falls on your turn you have to get it with your mouth which leaves flour on your face and run-on sentence. then a few rounds of poker then went to bed.
friday march 6th
ina showed me around her school in nijmegen, then around the actual city part of nijmegen. nice parts with lots of shopping and stuff. walked around with her roommate who met up with us. went to a cafe and played rummikub. went back to ina's apartment then headed to wesel (ina's mom's house). ate delicious mom-made food with her mom and bro, then walked around wesel with another one of ina's friends, maerle (sp?). went to a heavy metal bar. went to the rhine. went to bed.
saturday march 7th
we had a breakfast with ina's direct family then headed to düsseldorf where her boyfriend and another friend judith lives. toured the city which was very nice. expensive shops (i.e. tiffany and gucchi and stuff like that). saw the rhine again, except in a better environment, better weather, and better lighting. tried the "old" beer of düsseldorf, which is good. ate falafel. went to the top of the rheinturm tv tower which was huge and a very nice view. walked around a little bit more then headed back to daniel (ina's boyfriend)'s apartment. ate dinner, watched german idol, then went out and about with ina. we had a beer at an outdoor place and met 2 german guys that bought us drinks and wanted to hang out with us all night. so we went to another bar where it was only old people and the 2 guys started dancing and being just kind of strange but enjoyable to watch. after long enough at that one bar where the guys were singing and dancing to every goofy song, we went to some danceclub sort of place where the guys dropped their drink expense card on us and ran. but we danced then went home and slept.
sunday march 8th
headed to cologne, germany with ina and daniel. saw the massive cathedral (biggest/most impressive one i've seen so far). saw the rhine in the rain. went to an art museum called museum ludwig, which was fun. first time to an art museum in a while. ate a wienerschnitzel for lunch. nice. twas good. then met up with a few more of ina's friends for a very brief time before i had to get on my train back to leuven. such a very good time.
first of all, mechelen train station gets a big thumbs down from me (because i have to turn my aggression somewhere). reason? to get to my destination of nijmegen i had 2 connections, the first of which was a 4 minute gap, which became a 2 minute or less gap because the first train was slow, so i missed boarding it while running to catch it. waited an hour but the next one was cancelled, so i arrived in nijmegen (the netherlands) 2 hours late to a patient ina (who, to my credit, i called from a payphone several times but she left her phone in the car by accident). anyways, she took me to her apartment in kranenburg, germany. tiny town but better living conditions than in nijmegen (where her and her 2 roommates go to university). nice roommates. settled in and hung out, ina made dinner and one of her friends came with her boyfriend. we played a game called bluff and michel (one of ina's roommates) shared his birthday beer with me. lots of german conversation that i didn't understand but lots of fun anyways (are they actually saying words or just making noise and sending mind messages to eachother?). then the 2 friends left and we played "flour cutting"(or is it cocaine?)which is a game sort of like jenga where you put a toothpick in flour and cut away until the toothpick falls and if it falls on your turn you have to get it with your mouth which leaves flour on your face and run-on sentence. then a few rounds of poker then went to bed.
friday march 6th
ina showed me around her school in nijmegen, then around the actual city part of nijmegen. nice parts with lots of shopping and stuff. walked around with her roommate who met up with us. went to a cafe and played rummikub. went back to ina's apartment then headed to wesel (ina's mom's house). ate delicious mom-made food with her mom and bro, then walked around wesel with another one of ina's friends, maerle (sp?). went to a heavy metal bar. went to the rhine. went to bed.
saturday march 7th
we had a breakfast with ina's direct family then headed to düsseldorf where her boyfriend and another friend judith lives. toured the city which was very nice. expensive shops (i.e. tiffany and gucchi and stuff like that). saw the rhine again, except in a better environment, better weather, and better lighting. tried the "old" beer of düsseldorf, which is good. ate falafel. went to the top of the rheinturm tv tower which was huge and a very nice view. walked around a little bit more then headed back to daniel (ina's boyfriend)'s apartment. ate dinner, watched german idol, then went out and about with ina. we had a beer at an outdoor place and met 2 german guys that bought us drinks and wanted to hang out with us all night. so we went to another bar where it was only old people and the 2 guys started dancing and being just kind of strange but enjoyable to watch. after long enough at that one bar where the guys were singing and dancing to every goofy song, we went to some danceclub sort of place where the guys dropped their drink expense card on us and ran. but we danced then went home and slept.
sunday march 8th
headed to cologne, germany with ina and daniel. saw the massive cathedral (biggest/most impressive one i've seen so far). saw the rhine in the rain. went to an art museum called museum ludwig, which was fun. first time to an art museum in a while. ate a wienerschnitzel for lunch. nice. twas good. then met up with a few more of ina's friends for a very brief time before i had to get on my train back to leuven. such a very good time.
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| Nijmegen, Wesel, Düsseldorf, Cologne |
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