Updates and more updates.

6/21/08

Trier..

Upon arrival we (Justin, Randal, and Mako) made our way over to Porta Nigra, a Roman fortification that now served as a museum. Oh, before I delve into my day any further let me tell you what the city of Trier is all about. Trier is the oldest city in Germany, was if you didn't pick it up on it, a Roman city. Also, had claimed a residence for the famous Karl Marx, many Jewish settlers, and had a bit of royalty in its established state. Anyway, after making it over to the tourist information desk, we tried to make a light plan for the day and off we went after about 40 minutes of putzing around. About after 2 minutes of walking I turn around a see that none of my American travelers we with me and waited in the center square for approximately 5 minutes before deciding that I was doing Trier alone (which was okay by me, some solitude is always nice but you know some effort should have been made to keep together on their part). Whatever. I failed to mention so far that the day we picked to go there was the old city festival or the antiquity fair, which meant lots of vendors selling brats, beer, and other assorted foods and liquor.

First stop I made was at the church of our lady (yes, in France it would be called Notre Dame), Der Dom. Magnificent church, truly breath taking. I was attempting to read the German and if I remember correctly is built around 10 century but over the years has been worked on and expanded. The Church had two high alters, which for the first time I've been in a church was able to walk up both, a statue with the Grim Reaper skeleton, and a courtyard area with previous priests and saints buried. I spent a good 20 minutes in the Church, got the death stare from some weirdo German (maybe he could pick up on me not being part of his faith), and started the day off a little better after the separation incident. So on I went, stumbled into the Royal Palace courtyard with Baroque statues surrounding the perimeters. Saw some Roman ruins and made my way over to Karl Marx's house as well as spotting a few other historical spots, including a synagogue, a few churches, and a park in the middle of the street. Deciding it was about time to check out the festival because at the time we arrived they were just starting to set up (9 AM), and found myself watching a great 'high school' jazz band with Bitburger beer stands everywhere and the brats a cooking. So I did as the Germans do, got some food and had a beer, except I saved the brat until later don't worry, I some sort of potatoes that were in the shape of noodles served with sauerkraut. Pretty good, and the beer help wash it down (oh if you didn't notice I'm starting to take pictures of the food, because it's simply great and even I want to remember what's in my stomach). On my other trip to a food stand I got my brat and decided to try a German liquor called, Asbach. The brat was delicious and the drink was as well, so I had two and bought a bottle to bring back home for 12 euros.

Trier is a nice city, with many landmarks scattered around the city that makes a good day trip, its just that it was blistering hot and if you recall my experience in Nancy, walking around was kind of rough and the knee wasn't too happy about all the walking either. I pressed on however, seeing almost all the sights available to see in Trier except supposedly there were underground networks with bars, shops, and other sorts of nick-nacks. Called it an early day and left, alone, at 5:30, had a stop in Luxembourg for a half hour, and arrived in Metz at 7:30 right in time for dinner. In Luxembourg, I met two English travelers who are backpacking through parts of Europe and who might be in Amsterdam at the same time as Charlotte and myself. Good lads, who fancied the words, fags for cigarettes, and shag for sex. If only you could use those words in America....

Got back, and decided to go out to town because it was Musique de la Fete throughout France to celebrate the first day of summer. Music was everywhere and so were people. Some streets were so packed you couldn't walk through them without pushing your way through. Saw a few punk bands, African drummers, a good amount of DJs, people dancing and drinking. Good times. Again, I started out solo, but then met a few friends who I walked with for an hour then they had left, and alone I was again. Not bad though, all good, I'm fine with me, myself, and I.


6/23/08

Bus departing the residence at 5:30 for Brussels, so wake up was around 4:30. Ouch. But I did get to say goodbye to the residence and its shitty shower for good, so +1 for the team! A 3-4 hour bus ride followed with one stop, because in France it's required by law to stop every 2 hours worth of travel. Arrived in Brussels and went straight to the European Commission, for a little information session. Bad idea on their part, don't expect a group of 40 that woke up before the sun rose and get their undivided attention and pay attention to people who can't speak English too well. It was still nice though, I mean how many people can say they visited the EU Parliament and the EU Commission.

We stayed in the youth hostel, Van Gogh, with 6 per room and little dinky bunk beds. Communal showers and toilettes. Free day in Brussels, except dinner was at 7 PM in the hostel, but other than that the day was at our disposal. Visited the main attractions, the Grand Place, Mannekin Pis and Jeannakin Pis (a replica with a little girl in a small alley that was a little off the beaten path), Parc des Bruxelles, and other sights. I tried to visit some museums (50 years of Smurfs, and It's not only Rock n' Roll baby which featured art work by Bowie, Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, and modern musicians) but they were all closed on Monday. so I was pretty bummed because they seemed like really interesting. I asked myself what else to do in Belgium...oh yeah, chocolate, waffles, and beer. After getting chocolate checked off, deciding to skip on the waffles because I wasn't hungry at the time, so the third seemed to come into the view. On our way to see the girl pissing fountain across the way there was a world famous bar, Delirium Bar, that had the Guinness World Record for most amount of beers, over 2000. Three beers later, including the famous Kwak, I had a little buzz a going, and it was time for dinner. Good, because I didn't want to have to drink more beer....... Right, about that, they just so happened to place a bar in our "youth hostel", making it very easy to continue the little buzz I had going. Dinner was decent, kind of in the same fashion as the cafeterias in France, just better food. Spoke a little to the bartender who told me of an Absinth bar, directly across where we were earlier, and following that word a decent sized group headed out to try the Absinth. This bar had over 300 varieties of Absinth, impressive, and all relatively priced. Had 3 absinth shots that were about 90% each, wowzees, and then started feeling a little grumbling in my stomach = waffle time! Delicious, I don't care if I was drunk, it tasted great and I remember it very clearly, chocolate with whip cream, unfortunately I was too drunk to remember to take a picture of it. Oops.. About 12:30 now, I decided that it was time to hit it, my missions were accomplished in Brussels and I was drunk and joyous. Pass out, wake up at 6:30 by the sound of Paul's alarm clock, and still felt a little drunk, which meant a good night was had. Showered, had breakfast, and now were on the road again as I'm writing this on the bus trip over to Normandy. Left at 8 AM, and I don't think were getting in until at least 5 PM, haven't they heard of the TGV? It's all good though, I have two seats to myself, I'm stretched out listening to some jams and getting some reading done as well. So when I find some internet, you will find this, hopefully with pictures if the connection is decent, but if not you will just have to be patient. Deal with it.

to Normandy for beaches, Mont Saint Michel, and WWII museums. Well it's obviously Wednesday, but I'm too lazy to continue, and I will make a post of just pictures possibly tonight or tomorrow fo sho. But I must say the D-Day beaches were beautiful, and that's all for now.

Patient s'il vous plait.