When In Rome. . . and Florence. . . and Um. . . Where Are We Again?

So my exam was RIDICULOUSLY long, but I think I did OK. I was a lot more annoyed that I had to come back for it. AND annoyed that it took so LONG NO ONE WAS STILL WORKING AT THAT TIME. I hate that they force us to stay until EVERYONE'S done if you finish within the last 15 minutes. They also took forever and a 1/2 to collect the exams.

Rome

I slept at the airport, which was not actually as weird as I thought it would be, a lot of people were doing it - since my flight was at 6 am. So anyways I went to Rome! It was super annoying b/c The 2 days I was there, it rained. I mean it POURED. Actually it was atypical weather EVERYWHERE I went on this trip around.

I did the touristy things in Rome and then met up with Matteo, who took me to an authentic Napoli restaurant where I had a margherita pizza with DOP (similar to DOC with wines - which means it comes from quality vineyards, etc.) buffalo milk mozzarella and olive oil! Apparently you pour the olive oil over the pizza. It was the BEST pizza had ever had in my LIFE. Then I had gelato - tiramisu, trifle and panna cotta. SOOOOOOO good. I LOVE Italy.

As I mentioned before, I really don't know where this "Italians are not very friendly" thing came from because people were SO nice! Not even just the men (for obvious apparently loving foreign women reason), but also the women! A lot of them would make eye contact with me and smile and when this street vendor started chasing me trying to sell me an umbrella, one girl started laughing and joking about it with me.

Anyways the next day I planned on spending the day at the Vatican (which btw I had no idea it was its own country?!?!?!), to find that I came on the ONE day the Vatican Museums were closed! So yes. I missed out. But I went to St. Peter's Basilica, where Peter the Apostle died. It's so amazing to think that this was an area that was important in the Bible! Anyways, I'm about 95% sure I saw the Pope!!!! I happened to come in during one of the masses and I saw a huge deal being made over one guy and all. I don't really know what the Pope looks like, but I'm pretty sure it was him and it was so cool!

That night I had a Veuve Clicquot with Kenzo in a piano bar! IT WAS A 280 EURO BOTTLE OF CHAMPAGNE! It was AMAZING and I still can't believe I drank it. I think it's literally the wine that James the sommelier from L'Impero (the restaurant I worked at in NYC) told me was his FAVORITE champagne and that it was ridiculously expensive. He was the one who gave me wine tasting lessons so I trust his judgment always.

Orvieto

We had another one of those photo stops in Orvieto, which kind of reminded me of Derry! It was this cute walled city up on this mountain. The wine there was RIDICULOUSLY cheap - as in 7,50 Euros for 3 bottles! I didn't get any because I can't carry anymore. The church there claims to have the blood of Christ as well (as the one in Brugge that is).

Florence

Gianluca drove me up to Fiesole - which I HAD to see since Ralph Williams loved it so much - and it was gorgeous!! I have to say with Florence, it seems like a normal city, but when you see it up from Fiesole and see how it's surrounded by all these mountains and scenery, it's pretty much the most gorgeous city ever! At least you can't help but think that as you are looking at it from a different point of view. Anyways we went on the free tour through busabout and went to a Florentine Restaurant where I had 3 Florentine dishes - Pappa al Pomodoro, Ribollita and Crema di Farro e Ceci con Funghi. I LOVE Italian food. Then I had gelato again!

Pisa

Yes. . . not going back to Pisa again. There was so little to do there, it was depressing! Luckily it was a photo stop. It also wasn't leaning nearly as much as I thought it would! So I attempted to take my touristy pushing the tower photo (but people didn't seem to understand what I wanted???) and was glad to leave. Despite the fact that the area gave me a bad vibe (sort of like a trapped feeling I feel when hanging around in Maryland) and I had to spent majority of my time their dodging street vendors selling useless things, it was still cool to do yet ANOTHER thing I never thought I would ever do in my life!

Nice

UGHHHHHH I WAS SO MAD IT WAS CLOUDY WHEN I GOT THERE! But it was exciting b/c I saw Monaco on the way there, which I also had no idea was its own country. I hung around on one of the pebble beaches for awhile and I met 3 guys from MSU! I have to say, (as my Michigan sweater was the ONLY warm thing I brought, I was wearing it pretty much everyday), my Michigan sweater is a GREAT conversation starter! Theo showed me around Nice. . . there's not much to do there and I wish I had just gone to Monaco. But it was fun! We went to Thor's, a pub where we just caught the end of the Lyon vs. Paris game, and a sucky band. So we went salsa dancing. Theo loved dancing so it was like REAL salsa dancing where I got turned and stuff a lot! I know I'm rambling, but it was so much fun! Anyways one day I want to come back to Nice and go to other places (like Monaco).

Eze


This was another photo stop where we had a tour of a parfumerie! The tour guide was adorable and I found out the difference between perfume, eau de toilette and cologne. And why perfume is so expensive! My journal smells really good now.

Lauterbrunnen

UGHHHH I wish I had time to stay in Switzerland longer. . . But anyways Lauterbrunnen means "lots of waterfalls" so of course I saw LOTS of them. SO gorgeous! I had a rösti, which I totally regret getting to be honest, since it was super expensive and piled with Swiss cheese (I hate cheese and I asked for very little cheese, but apparently their very little = my A LOT). But it was filling? Anyways the Swiss Alps were GORGEOUS and the chocolate of course was AMAZING. I also saw Amy again!!!!!! I wish I could've been able to stay in Lucerne (where we stopped through), since Thomas lives there, and because it really was beautiful. But my exam timetable ruins my life so boooo. But I took some pictures.

Lichtenstein

I went to ANOTHER random country!! There wasn't much to do there. But I think it's cool that I went to Lichtenstein. I forgot to mention when I was in Munich last time, I met 2 guys from Lichtenstein! They told me not to go and there's nothing to do there.

Munich 2

Anyways I'm in Munich again now and it's SOOOO weird because remembered meeting a girl on busabout named Skye, and she was staying with the same host as me!!!!!! So we went to Hofbräuhaus, the biggest beerhall in Munich. I had my smaller beer again (which is still huge) and we split a pretzel! Afterwards we basically got assaulted by these creepy Italian guys who wouldn't leave us alone. But luckily we got away eventually. Otherwise it was really fun!

Today I watched the Glockenspiel ring and all, but I got bored and went and did other things, like the Viktualienmarkt (where I had lots and lots of food samples!), the Residenz, and English Garden! I went to the nudey area but no one was really nude. Just some old men. Just like in that movie Eurotrip where the guys hurry over to the nude beach, excited about seeing naked girls, and only see a bunch of old gross men (who were there for the same reasons).

Anyways I'm headed back to London tonight for the E-Commerce Exam tonight. Wah wah.

How Learning French Saved My Life

So Venice, oooooh Venice. Basically when I asked our tour guide for directions to the airport (I was flying back for my stupid poetry exam that afternoon. . . sorry. . . not stupid, just annoyingly timed), he told me directions. I made sure it was for Treviso and NOT Marco Polo. He said yes.

He was wrong. It was definitely directions to the Marco Polo Airport. First I was trying to find the bus stop that went to the "airport"and I got to this random bus stop looking area and I asked if it was the bus stop (for bus 15) to Treviso Airport. Not knowing Italian, and them not knowing much English, they said that they didn't know or something like that. One of them basically ended up driving me to the Marco Polo airport, where he sort of explained to me that bus 15 goes to Marco Polo (I also checked where it went, but at this point, I thought maybe it stopped through Marco Polo and then went to Treviso or something, since I trusted the directions), but maybe I could figure things out from there. So nice! So then I asked an English speaker at the information desk how to get to Treviso. He told me that there was pretty much no way to get there, and maybe I could take bus 15 further to the train station and take the train to Treviso and then take a bus from there? He advised me to take a taxi, since I only had 4 hours until my flight.

So then I started panicking. I did NOT have money to take a taxi. So I thought MAYBE if I hurried and took bus 15 I might make it and someone might know where to go. So I did. Then I got to the station. No one knew. So this is when I started BAWLING. I could NOT miss my flight or I would fail my exam (they don't allow make-ups).

Then this woman found me. She couldn't speak English and I couldn't speak Italian, but she asked, "Parlez vous Francais?"
I said, "Un petit. . ."
So she took me on the right train that went to Treviso and explained to me that from Treviso I needed to take the taxi to the airport. She told me that I could relax and I would make it on time. I can't believe how AMAZING people are. Then she asked if I had enough money for a taxi. I showed her my wallet and she flipped out (I only had a few coins as I had been told that I could just take the bus to the airport >(). Apparently no taxis take credit cards, and you can't really get around Italy using a credit card.

She had her husband come and PICK ME UP and DROVE ME TO THE AIRPORT! Then she tried to give me 15 Euros! I was like, NO! I can't accept her money! I gave her one of the Belgian chocolates I had intended to give as a gift to people at home and she tried not to accept it. Eventually she did. Anyways I aged about 70 years that afternoon.

But honestly. . . I don't know WHERE this "Italian people aren't nice" thing came from?????? I don't know where these people went where they experienced people being mean because I've had NOTHING but great experiences from people in Italy! NO one gave me problems because I couldn't speak Italian, and when they couldn't understand me, they would lead me to someone who DID know English! In case you can't tell, I LOVE Italy.

Um. . . that guy just took a picture of us. . .

I'm going to London tonight so I can take my stupid e-commerce exam Thursday. Stupid F-ing exams cutting into my travel time. . .

OK so continuing on:

Cesky Krumlov

This was definitely one of my more FAVORITE places! I miss it so much! It's this tiny little Bohemian town with this pink Barbie Castle in the middle. I LOVED it. The hostel I stayed at was like staying at home. It had 3 guitars and a piano so I practiced chords! Anyways I met this girl who was also staying at that hostel from busabout - Amy - and she was my best friend through this part of the trip! It's nice to have that b/c now I'm starting to get tired of having pictures of places and not being in the pictures or having to have a boring normal smiling posed photo b/c I had to ask someone to take it.

Speaking of - I don't know WHAT it is, b/c I think Czech women are GORGEOUS and there were lots of Asians in Prague and around Czech Republic and the such (so it's not like it's weird???) but I had a LOT of people asking to take pictures with me?? As in I would be walking around, minding my own business, then I get bombarded with this camera, and thinking they are asking me to take a picture for them, I take the camera, then get grabbed and they take a picture WITH me. It was really weird.

Anyways Amy and I ate this HUGE Bohemian Feast for super cheap and it was AMAZING! We also sat by the river and had a view of the castle. It was just perfect perfect PERFECT. The next day, we went over to Krizok to get a view of the town after hiking, and we basically spent the day lying around talking and playing with dandelions! I haven't made a dandelion chain in forEVER! It was another perfect perfect day. Cesky Krumlov is perfect and I love it and it was nice to relax after Prague and other various huge cities.

Vienna

I basically spent way too short a time in Vienna, but I met up with Ulas and he showed me all around Vienna! I did my essential drinking a coffee (melange) in a Viennese Cafe with an Apple Strudel (yuuuuuuummmm) and had a falafel in "The Best Falafel in Town"! We spent time talking in the museum purple blocky thingits and had a few beers and then went to this club called Club Flex - which is known for being the 10th best nightclub in the German speaking world, after 9 in Berlin (yes, SO glad I went out while in Berlin)! Anyways I have decided my new 2 places I HAVE to go are Corinthia and Iceland! I'm also considering moving to Berlin sort of. I was kind of bummed I didn't get to see an opera. They are 3 Euros for SRO tickets! Boooo. I'll have to come back. When you're unemployed, the government provides you with a Culture Card in which you get to go to operas for free (movies too)! That's so not fair.

Salzburg

I stayed with a host family with 2 kids. They were SO cute! They couldn't really speak English though and I couldn't really speak German so most conversations sort of ended very quickly. But there was one part where Karin (their mother) told them that I knew some French and they got so excited! It sort of helped, since they knew a little French (their dad lives in Paris). Anyways, I have no idea what the big thing against Salzburg is! The people are SO nice and the city is GORGEOUS. I didn't take the Sound of Music tour, but I ended up seeing all of the things I wanted to see in it anyways - Mirabell Gardens (the Do Re Mi song), the Nonnberg Priory at the beginning of the film and the Gazebo from 16 going on 17! I also saw Mozart's birthplace and home and the such. The first night I was there, I watched an outdoor concert in Mirabell Gardens, which they only have on Wednesdays and Sundays, so I was lucky to have timed my trip right then!

Munich 1 (Since I'm in Munich again for the 2nd time now)

So coincidentally, although Marie and I didn't book a hostel together, we ended up choosing the same one anyways!!! Jaeger Hostel! As one guy I met in the hostel said, 'it's all in the name'. They give you a free shot in coming in too! It was SO nice to see a familiar face from Michigan again! We met up with another girl from the a cappella community studying in Munich and one of her sorority sisters and went to a beer hall (one of the Augustiner ones, I forget). It had these massive tables where they sort of seat you with a LOT of people, and we ended up sitting with a Michigan Alum! It was so weird! Actually I've been meeting a LOT of Michigan alums in my travels! Anyways, as I am extremely lightweight, Marie ordered "the smallest portion of beer possible" for me and when they came back, they brought me this little shot glass. I was like um. . . . Marie?!?!?!? But then it turned out they were kidding and got me the real one but that was hilarious and we took a picture of me with the little drink. But the glasses the others got were HUGE. As in 2 times the size of my head or something! Anyways then we met up with one of Marie's other friends from the Harmonettes and her sorority sisters and we went to some club. It was OK. I kind of wish I hadn't gone. It more or less reminded me of why I didn't like partying so much in Michigan all the time.

St. Johann in Tirol

This was actually the place I think I was MOST excited about (maybe equal to Prague) and it was a let down. I mean it was nice and I saw the Austrian Alps, but I felt I should have just stayed in Switzerland longer instead, it's the SAME. But on the bright side I went hiking. In the rain. I guess it was good for me since no one was around so I just kind of sang to myself the whole time. I know it's kind of a weird thing to do but it was good practice. As I was going up I kept muttering to myself that the waterfall I was hiking for had better be worth it. It was! I passed a bunch of caves on the way there too! There were also people climbing by the waterfall - I wish I had climbing equipment!

I was so annoyed. I was SO excited about tobogganing and it wasn't even opened for the season yet! I don't know I think I'm just bitter. But on the bright side, I had schnapps at the pub with the other busabout people and I ran into Amy again!!!!!!!! Then left.

The first time I have ever hated a city. . .

. . . and ironically it was Prague - the city I had expected to love the MOST! Anyways, this starts my series of updates:

Last Night In Berlin


Me, Arthur, Linea and Thomas (people I met at the hostel) all went to a jazz bar called B Flat! It was really cool and Thomas really tried (they all tried but he actually went up and talked to the trumpeter) to get me to sing! I didn't because I was catching a cold and I realized I hate singing in front of people unless I'm prepared for it. I need to always be prepared. UGH. But anyways that night showed me how easy it would've been for me to just go up and sing. I feel I could actually live in Berlin, despite the language barrier. But now I'm all the more excited for LA, which is where I have more or less definitely decided on living. We then went to this artsy beach bar place - I think it was Squatters?? Anyways, the point is I had to leave at 8 am the next morning and I only slept 2 hours that night.

Terezhin


If any 1 thing has been making me feel better about busabout, it is the day trips included in between the stops! I didn't get to go to the Sachau Concentration Camp while in Berlin, so I was pretty depressed about it, only to find that Terezhin, a "photo stop" was also a concentration camp! The guided tour was horrible, as the guide looked really bored the whole time, but I was excited to see a concentration camp in person! I had read about them since the 3rd grade and all, so it was interesting to see what it really looked like.

Prague

So as I mentioned in the title, I hated Prague on my first night. Basically the bus dropped us off in a hostel in the middle of nowhere. I was thinking I would take the metro to my hostel as I had had only 2 hours of sleep and did NOT want to carry my bags 3-5 miles to my hostel. . . Well, as the hostel was in the middle of nowhere, it turned out, NO one around spoke English. When I was finally able to mime out "BANKA" (which is what I had been saying?!?!?!), NO one knew where an ATM was. We had also been warned not to use a cab b/c they WILL rip you off and potentially kidnap and kill you. So I decided to walk towards my hostel in the hopes of walking by an ATM or something.

When I finally found one, GO FIGURE, the machines don't accept large bills and NOTHING was open. Also, as that hostel-in-the-middle-of-nowhere is past the train station, there were a LOT of dead ends not shown on the map (meaning I had to walk in circles for hours), so I walked around with my bags crying for 3 and a 1/2 hours. Oh yes, and we had also been warned the Bohemian sense of humor. I don't remember what it is, but it definitely consists of laughing at the really tired and lost looking tourist and not helping. Afterwards, I understood it's that Prague is really easy to figure out so they thought it was silly that I was freaking out. But if you had to walk for hours just trying to get to your hostel, only getting to more dead ends, you would be flipping out too. But I blame busabout for that. Anyways I finally found it and just went to bed.


The next day I headed to the Astronomical Clock which was. . . I have to say, very underwhelming. . . someone's eyes got taken out for making that?!?!?! (So that he wouldn't be able to make something that beautiful again.) So I was even more pissed that I had decided to make Prague one of my longer stops.


Then I headed to the Castle, on the way passing by the Prague Metronome, which WAS impressive, and potentially the most gorgeous building I had ever seen in my life hidden in the mountain the metronome was on (which I found out later was the Hanavsky Pavillion, and not very impressive close up actually. . .). So anyways, dramatically, as I made my way over to the castle, just as I saw it, I heard the most beautiful music I had ever heard in my LIFE. I really mean that. Then the Castle came into view. That when I couldn't help it. Despite the fact that I had more or less decided I hated the city and that the people were mean, I fell in love with Prague. There's something odd about the atmosphere - where I could feel why people have been inspired to create amazing things there. It's as Kafka said, "this little mother's got claws". Literally, I felt the cold I had caught in Berlin disappear at that moment.

Yes, so then the street musicians playing the gorgeous music started singing to it and kind of ruined it, but I watched the changing of the guard and then went all around the gardens south of the Castle and explored. I don't know, that atmosphere also pretty much makes you hungry 24/7 and feel like you just want to run around the city naked. It's very seductive. I don't know it was really weird. Sort of as if you need some void in yourself filled in. I just felt like I was constantly in need. ANYWAYS so then I went to the Charles Bridge which was WAY too crowded. But it was so weird b/c I ran into one of the kids from the busabout on the bridge (and I haven't gotten to the weirdest it's a small world part yet)! Then some random Ukrainian guy started talking to me ( I had dirt and grass all over my shirt from lying in the grass) so I practiced my Russian with him. Actually I practiced my Russian a few times and people more or less understood me!! Like I would speak to them in Russian and they would practice their English on me!

So anyways I headed back towards my hostel and on the way admired the Dancing House (so cool looking!) when I heard someone screaming my name. Thinking it might be one of the busabout people, I didn't think it was too odd. Then I see ANJ running towards me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For those of you who don't know, Anj is one my friends who I worked with in the Law Quad in Michigan - and I had COMPLETELY forgotten she was in Prague!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So yes everyone, we live in a small SMALL world. In fact I found out she worked at the Pub Crawl that is connected with busabout that I almost went on! She was in a hurry so I planned on going to the Pub Crawl the next day.


After that, I headed to Vsengard, which is a park/garden to the south of the city, where I heard the best view of the city is (it WAS and was also the least touristy place I went the whole time AND my favorite part of Prague!). I noticed there was a huge cemetery there, similar to Pere LaChaise so I looked around when I noticed the name "Antonin". So I thought to myself. . . Antonin? Antonin Dvorak? He was Czech, wasn't he? Dvorak is my second favorite classical composer after Tchaikovsky in case you didn't know. So I went to the list of people buried there thinking, hey, I wonder if maybe he's buried here? AND HE WAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO I ran over to his grave like a crazy person and found it! I just sat and gaped at it for God knows how long. But that pretty much made me even MORE obsessed with Prague.


Anyways the next day I more or less took it easy since I had pretty much seen everything and went to find Anj that night. The people at the Pub Crawl were super nice and told me Anj was working at the Latin Arts Bar (working 2 jobs again! Just like in Michigan), so I went and saw her!!! This was where I had absinthe (which btw hits you really quickly!) the right way with the sugar and fire and all! I stayed for a really long time catching up and talking with people at the bar (and also had Czech beer, which is actually really different from other beers! It tastes good and refreshing! I usually hate beer!). Then cursed myself for staying out so late AGAIN on the night I was leaving and slept for 3 hours before I headed off to Cesky Krumlov.

"Dude. . . there's a balloon that says DIE outside your window!" (A hot air balloon that say 'Die Welt')

Berlin is probably the most "American-like" city I have been to. It's awesome! I randomly ran into a South Korean girl (who started talking to me) while walking around the city! I'm sort of getting better at saying words like "danke" and "entschuldigen".

While I was in waiting in line to go up the Reichstag with Swyn (my new Welsch friend!):
Me: OK so help me with the basic German words. . . is it en-SCHULTZ-dig-ung? (*which btw means excuse me*)
Swyn: No, it's "entschuldigen" *random German person turns around*
Me: Ooooh. . . en-shul-ti-gun? *another random German person turns around*
Swyn: More like en-. . . *continues on and everytime we say the word another person turns around*

There are a lot more German tourists here than I expected. Actually I completely forgot that tourism in people's own countries existed! Most of the day I have to dodge huge school groups.


Anyways I got to do all of the things I've wanted to do - Eastside Gallery, Gallerie Topographie des Terrors, the Holocaust Memorial, beer and all! The shopping here is also awesome - especially since everything is so cheap! There's apparently a 2nd-hand store I missed though called "Collars" where they charge by the weight of the clothes - like 1 kg = 13 Euros! There's also an area at Checkpoint Charlie where you can get a stamp in your passport (because you're crossing between the US and Russia region that doesn't exist anymore)! I didn't do that because I'm bitter that I didn't get a stamp from Belgium, the Netherlands or Germany. WTH! I didn't get my earrings from the Netherlands either. Boo. It drives me crazy now.

Anyways today was one of those ridiculously perfect days. It was really sunny (now I wish I brought shorts and leggings and less jeans) and at one point I got really thirsty, and was considering whether or not to go buy something when this girl randomly jumps out of Starbucks and offers me a sample of a Mocha Frappuccino! It made me so happy! I have a lot of blisters on my feet though. Boo.

Sorry to get political here, but I'm getting really annoyed by Clinton - YOU ARE HURTING YOUR OWN PARTY. She has little to NO chance of winning (especially now since she lost North Carolina), and all she's doing at this point is stirring up problems against Obama. When he wins, the people supporting her will bitter and not vote for him and we'll have another Republican for a president. . . or is this what she wants?

The average height in the Netherlands is around 6'5"

Is one of the first things my bus tour guide person told us about Amsterdam. SO true.


I actually went to Amsterdam on Remembrance Day - so I went to the main square place and I saw the queen!!! It was so cool! On Remembrance Day, everyone is basically silent for 2 minutes at 8 pm. I was told pretty much everything shuts down, and cars on the highway even pull over! I got to get to the front of the procession at one point! Tall people's shoulders covered my view and pictures for majority of it though - since I'm short and everyone is pretty much 6 feet tall and up.

I had left my luggage in a locker in the train station, and got back at 11:30 at night to find that they close everything up at 11:00! But luckily I went to the information desk and they opened it up! I know I just repeat this over and over but people are so nice!

I wish I could've been in Amsterdam longer! I'm SO mad at myself for only going for 1 night! At least I got the main highlight - the nightlife (my host took me to a couchsurf gathering) - and seeing the Queen! And windmills - there are a lot of them! I met my first Mongolian and lots of Amsterdam people! The Netherlands is now #2 on my list of countries I must go back to (after Sweden).

Not having a phone/watch is stressful by the way. I was SO worried I was going to miss my bus this morning mainly b/c I had no idea what time it was. But I made it! Now I'm in Berlin and tired so I'm taking it easy tonight and updating this blog. But Europe is awesome and I don't want to go back to the US!

I lost my phone. . .

. . . but luckily someone found it and called Karen to get my contact info to send it on Monday!!!! People in Belgium are SOOOOOO nice! Unfortunately this also means he's too nice to pick up the phone when I try to call and tell him I'm still in the country so I can pick it up. . . Ughhh I'm SO STUPID! How do I lose my batteries and my phone?!?!?!

Anyways, so I was sick yesterday - apparently eating 4-5+ eggs in one day when you're not used to protein (or ever) is a bad idea. I can't help it! My host's mother has a hen! It may have also been the ridiculous intake of chocolate over the past few days. . . OK so I know I was sick in Paris and all, but people talk about French food a lot, but Belgian food is AMAZING - I may have gained 10+ lbs!

Anyways, despite being sick, I spent the day in Bruges - and adding to my everyone being nice thing, when I was on the train, all these people were coming up to me and asking if I wanted to sit down, if I was OK, etc., etc. Btw, kids here seem to really like me for some reason - they're SO cute! They always come up to me and stare at me really obviously and when I smile at them they smile and I love kids ah! When I got to Bruges, Victorya brought me medicine! Anyways I didn't want to miss out on Bruges so I walked around anyways and just ate nothing. Or nothing that day, but I had toast later that night. . . and fruit. . . with chocolate fondue. . . This is SO hard as the food smells SOO good and Jef is a great cook! I snuck in a chocolate sample too during the day. So basicaly I lied when I said I didn't eat anything.

Same as with Ghent - I can't remember all the stuff I did, but Bruges was PACKED with tourists - apparently the most Jef and Victorya have ever seen! Anyways the major highlight was that I kissed the vial with the blood of Jesus - or at least what is believed to be a vial holding the blood of Jesus!

Today I felt a lot better and went to Brussels and Antwerpen (and ate a lot of chocolate again)! I had Belgian Waffle and fries! I loooove the food here! Brussels was cool, it reminds me of Paris! I love practicing my French! I saw all the major things (including Mannekin-Pis, the peeing boy and the 2nd best flea market ever - after Portobello Road) and all, then went to Antwerpen for the diamond things! I watched a man cutting diamonds at Diamondland! Today was also the PERFECT weather - sunny and warm with light breezes!

Anyways I'm leaving tomorrow for Amsterdam! Anyways to sum up My Belgian experience: My order of favorite cities in Belgium is:
1. Brussels - sorry Victorya - I know you don't like it! It reminds me of Paris and I LOVE Paris!
2. Ghent
3. Antwerpen

(I'm leaving off Bruges for now since I was sick when I went. I have 2 hours to see it again tomorrow so I will see!)

General (not things to see as I can't remember the names of anything!) tips for other people going:
1. Cash: If you arrive late, have cash b/c apparently all or majority of the ATMs only accept from 2 banks in Belgium - Fortis and something else. It will NOT accept your not-these-banks card - neither will the machine for buying a Go-Pass (train pass). Apparently there are also issues with cashing traveller's checks. . . Basically, Belgian Banks are not Visa ATM card-friendly. I also rarely saw ATMs.
2. Dutch: Try to learn some Dutch/Flemish - French won't help much outside of Brussels and non-French Belgium - Bruges, Ghent and Antwerpen (3 or the 4 largest cities) are all Dutch-speaking! I was lucky to have 2 Dutch-speakers showing me around! (You could also try that only speaking English thing and expecting someone around to understand you, but I personally hate that and find it rude.)
3. Dogs: are EVERYWHERE - allowed on the trains, Metros, buses, restaurants. . . this is good for me since I love dogs and miss the 3 I "had" this summer, but may be problematic for anyone allergic.

My Favorite Instruments:
1. Irish Flute and Whistle - can't choose
2. Cello
3. Harp - which I heard in one of the Belgian Cathedrals - I always forget how much I love classical instruments except the violin, which still gives me the creeps