Sat
Apr
25
I arrived to Brussels in the late morning, It was rainy and windy all day. (thank god i bought my raincoat & rainbow umbrella before leaving the USA.. sooo after my train ride I walked around for a bit, then stopped for some lunch- Curry Mussels with frites… a very typical belgian dish, but for me fries and mussels are two things that just dont go together, or maybe i am just not big on fries :) Around I decided to walk back to the train station. I meant to walk back to the Central station, but ended up going the wrong way & walking 1/2 way across the city through a turkish ghetto:) but I ended up at the South railway station where I catched a train and headed to the airpot to wait for my mom & cees. Once they came we got in the rental car and headed to holland :)
Once at the hotel we settled in a bit & went up to see Tootji. Then off to dinner, at a very cute little restaurant which used to be a part of an old palace, through the windows we saw bunnys, deer, goats, and chickens… Sooo Cute!
I
I arrive to Antwerp in the early afternoon by train from Brugge. What a cute little town :) I walked and walked and walked & never got bored :) I took a stroll by the riverside where i stumbled across an old castle which will now be converted to a maritime museum. But to top off my day, my week, my year…. I visited the Plantin-Moretus Museum.. “An old building which housed a 16th century print house.Has all of the originalhouse the two oldest surviving printing presses in the world and complete sets of dies and matrices, it also has an extensive library, a richly decorated interior and the entire archives of the Plantin business.”.. At the end of a lovely day my host Stefan picked me up who was wonderful! We went to a grocery store picked up some veggies and couscous & went back to his place to cook. We had dinner with some awesome rioja & then headed off to a couch surfing meet up & then to a jazzfusion show they were great :) On the way to the CS meet up Stefan showed me some underground bars how they were built in the old day, several bars underground set up in a tunner and you can go from one to the next.
I woke up early to take a train from Brussels to Brugge. I was not very impressed, way too many tourists :( It was soo crowded it felt like another day at disney. Subtract all the tourists walking around from the equation and it would have been a very cute town :) In the morning I walked around the farmers market, had lunch at a tea house, visited the Belfry tower, went to see the “holy blood”, but best of all was the boat tour… It was so nice to take a cruise around on the canals. I ended my day visiting an old monestary & called my CS host.
Lode was very nice he came to pick me up, we enjoyed long conversation on the way back to his home. His wife Martin & 10 year old son Jonas were wonderful. There home was so cute, she designed it herself! Complete with a slab of the berlin wall in the front yard (pictures will be posted later :) Jonas did not speak english so we communicated with the very little french I know :)
I took an afternoon flight from Barcelona, Espana… Then from Brussels International I took a train to Garre Nord Station in Brussels where I met Edward, my first time being hosted ever! He was great :) He picked me up at the station, and we walked back to his dorm in Brussels (in the turkish area of town) It was like a mini-Turkish town. I tried some unfiltered apple juice mmm! & that evening we went to a turkish pizzeria which one of his school friends for some “turkish pizza” which was very similar to a flat bread. I also tried his salty yogurt drink which was very similar to an unsweetend indian drink called a lassi.Afterwards we went to a bar where I tried my first Duvel aka the devils beer :) mmmm We then watched an american comedy with his friend on a projector & then I fell asleep to catch an early train to Brugge the following morning
i have been very very busy, and sometimes when I sit down at a computer I use it real quick, but just to check email or find couches. So here you go :) i will break up my past 2 weeks or so :)
Mon
Apr
13
Went the night before last & met lots of people hehe only one originally from spain, but it was fun :) I am so lame, everyone was boozin it except me, i have to lean off the water and become a bit more european:)
Today I went to an area where they dug up roman ruins from 4 B.C. yup, and all this is under Barcelona, by the “bario gothico” just under our feet and all these buildings that are hundreads and hundreads of years old anyways….
Mmmm Well tommorow I am off to Brussels, and I will have my first CS experience where I am being hosted and not hosting:)
Sat
Apr
11
i left some awesomeness out :) I went to Girona today and had lunch with Ester and her friend (a girl i met on the egypt trip last year). I forgot how much fun we had talking, and when i am living in barcelona then we can hang out more
i ate 1/2 a spring rabbit yesterday. how is that for adventure :) yup i took a step out onto a scary branch and ate 1/2 a baby rabbit ;) mmm and it was good, just like chicken! because you know, everything has to taste like chicken. well what took a big step from me is something that people here eat all the time… weird huh! maybe i will eat a cricket one day…
Thu
Apr
9
Soo. It was a long flight. US airways definatly does not have what I would call comfortable seats, well compared to United… but hey the price was right :)
Sooo after a long flight, and wait for my bags it was so nice to see my grandfather. He picked me up we relaxed, and hung out. Then we had dinner at 4 Gats Restaurant, Translated… 4 Cats restaurant. But it was very cool! this is a restaurant where picasso and his friends went to eat, drink, and talk. (Excuse the grammer in this post i am at an internet cafe and typing quickly hehe)
Then we went to a beautiful concert at Il Palau de la musica, this place is unlike any concert house you have ever seen. Look it up online :) We saw a ukranian group that preformed the four seasons. The Ukranian lady playing violin was amazing!!
Then today we walked down la rambla, and went to see Lola a lady we had met on our trip to egypt.
Well… I am off
xoxox
