my last few hours in paris :-(
well, let me do a recount of this past week.
Monday: got into Brussels in the afternoon. our hotel was pretty cool - the rooms were individually designed with different art motifs. we went downtown to the plaza in the old city center and walked around. saw the Mannekin Pis, probably Brussels' most famous monument, tho i really don't know why. it is a small statue of a boy peeing. that's it. anyway, they had so many cool souvenir shops, i wanted to buy so much, but i couldnt since i would be lugging whatever i bought for the rest of the week. anyway, the Grande Place (plaza) was beautiful, surrounded by a huge cathedral and really cool buildings, most from the 1600s or earlier... totally what you think of when you imagine a European city might look like if left untouched by modern buildings and McDonalds.
Stayed in Brussels Tuesday and had class at the European Commision, which was beyond boring and excrutiating b/c i was sooo hungover from the night before. Matt, Autumn, Andrew and i went out to a brewpub in the grande place and met some Belgian guys there, who then took us to a really cool local bar. i take back what i said about the Brickskeller-ish place in Paris; this place could be the Brickskeller's European brother - it's underground in a brick celler (imagine that) with a menu of some 400 belgian beers. incredible.
Wednesday: left for Amsterdam really early and got in around noon. Autumn and i checked into our hotel across from the Rijksmuseum and walked around a bit before meeting up with Matt, Andrew and Murad. we checked out the Van Gogh museum (pretty good, but not as good as the Musée d'Orsay in Paris) and Anne Frank's house. that was pretty cool, but not really the best designed museum - not a lot of information and it assumes you are very familiar with the book, which i havent read in probably 15 years.
anyway, Amsterdam is really pretty and peaceful by day, with everone walking or biking or boating the canals everywhere; at night it can get a little rowdy, but only in certain areas. yes, we went to the red light district, which i kinda found to be really sad. usually i am very much for legalized prostitution - it will happen anyway, so you might as well regulate it and maintain certain economic and health standards -, but seeing the girls sitting in the windows, hoping some guy will choose them, just made me sad.
as for the real Amsterdam draw, the weed is incredible. soooo cheap for really good stuff, and the "coffeeshops" are so cool. Autumn and i also tried mushrooms, which were the nastiest thing in the world to eat. it sucked cuz Autumn tripped but they had no effect on me... oh well. now i have to give away the rest of my stuff because i cant bring it back to the US ;-( . stupid American drug policies.
Thursday: left Amsterdam for Bad Honnef, a suburb of Bonn, in Germany. we stayed and had class at Deutsche Telekom's training facility, which was nice, but really in the middle of nowhere. not that we had a whole lot of time there - we got in around 3:00 on Thursday and left around 1:00 on Friday. they did take us out to a biergarten - basically an outdoor bar for the whole family - which was really nice. it was right on the river, so the view was really pretty, and the Hefeweizen was on tap... yum.
Friday: back to Paris via Cologne. had a couple hours there so we did some shopping. it was crazy though - i looked everywhere for souvenirs, and only found TWO shops. i really wanted to get Lisa a Tshirt from Germany, but there were only like two designs and they were awful. i don't understand - Cologne is a major city, we were at the train station, a major transit center for Western Europe, and next to big tourist sites, but nothing. weird.
well, i guess that sums things up. i have to go finish packing now, i guess and say goodbye to everyone... i'm sad to leave, but happy to be going back.
well, let me do a recount of this past week.
Monday: got into Brussels in the afternoon. our hotel was pretty cool - the rooms were individually designed with different art motifs. we went downtown to the plaza in the old city center and walked around. saw the Mannekin Pis, probably Brussels' most famous monument, tho i really don't know why. it is a small statue of a boy peeing. that's it. anyway, they had so many cool souvenir shops, i wanted to buy so much, but i couldnt since i would be lugging whatever i bought for the rest of the week. anyway, the Grande Place (plaza) was beautiful, surrounded by a huge cathedral and really cool buildings, most from the 1600s or earlier... totally what you think of when you imagine a European city might look like if left untouched by modern buildings and McDonalds.
Stayed in Brussels Tuesday and had class at the European Commision, which was beyond boring and excrutiating b/c i was sooo hungover from the night before. Matt, Autumn, Andrew and i went out to a brewpub in the grande place and met some Belgian guys there, who then took us to a really cool local bar. i take back what i said about the Brickskeller-ish place in Paris; this place could be the Brickskeller's European brother - it's underground in a brick celler (imagine that) with a menu of some 400 belgian beers. incredible.
Wednesday: left for Amsterdam really early and got in around noon. Autumn and i checked into our hotel across from the Rijksmuseum and walked around a bit before meeting up with Matt, Andrew and Murad. we checked out the Van Gogh museum (pretty good, but not as good as the Musée d'Orsay in Paris) and Anne Frank's house. that was pretty cool, but not really the best designed museum - not a lot of information and it assumes you are very familiar with the book, which i havent read in probably 15 years.
anyway, Amsterdam is really pretty and peaceful by day, with everone walking or biking or boating the canals everywhere; at night it can get a little rowdy, but only in certain areas. yes, we went to the red light district, which i kinda found to be really sad. usually i am very much for legalized prostitution - it will happen anyway, so you might as well regulate it and maintain certain economic and health standards -, but seeing the girls sitting in the windows, hoping some guy will choose them, just made me sad.
as for the real Amsterdam draw, the weed is incredible. soooo cheap for really good stuff, and the "coffeeshops" are so cool. Autumn and i also tried mushrooms, which were the nastiest thing in the world to eat. it sucked cuz Autumn tripped but they had no effect on me... oh well. now i have to give away the rest of my stuff because i cant bring it back to the US ;-( . stupid American drug policies.
Thursday: left Amsterdam for Bad Honnef, a suburb of Bonn, in Germany. we stayed and had class at Deutsche Telekom's training facility, which was nice, but really in the middle of nowhere. not that we had a whole lot of time there - we got in around 3:00 on Thursday and left around 1:00 on Friday. they did take us out to a biergarten - basically an outdoor bar for the whole family - which was really nice. it was right on the river, so the view was really pretty, and the Hefeweizen was on tap... yum.
Friday: back to Paris via Cologne. had a couple hours there so we did some shopping. it was crazy though - i looked everywhere for souvenirs, and only found TWO shops. i really wanted to get Lisa a Tshirt from Germany, but there were only like two designs and they were awful. i don't understand - Cologne is a major city, we were at the train station, a major transit center for Western Europe, and next to big tourist sites, but nothing. weird.
well, i guess that sums things up. i have to go finish packing now, i guess and say goodbye to everyone... i'm sad to leave, but happy to be going back.
posted by Davina at
1:24 AM
