To kick off our second week long break, we flew from Venice on Saturday morning to Brussels. Why did we go to Brussels you may ask? In a town called Hasslet, which was an hour train ride outside of Brussels, there was a concert/rave/party called Sensation White on Saturday. Besides buying a ticket to this event, you were required to dress in all white clothing in order to enter the venue. The event starts at 11pm and lasts through the night until 6am. Throughout the night various DJ's played mixes and there was light show to accompany the music. It is hard to just describe what Sensation actually is, so here is a YouTube video that will do better justice!
After the concert we fought through crowds to make it back to the hotel. The funniest part about returning into Brussels was getting off at the train station. As several people were getting off the train dressed in all white, people who were traveling, going work/church/etc. were dressed in normal attire and gave up the weirdest looks. Even though we spent most of our time in Brussels at Sensation, I still manage to try a Belgium waffle and their infamous french fries!
Amsterdam, Netherlands
On Sunday afternoon, we took a Eurolines bus from Brussels to Amsterdam. It ended up being a 4.5 hour long ride, which wasn't too bad compared to past bus trips I have been on. We arrived in Amsterdam early in the evening and met up with a few of our friends at a pub near the central train station. Despite our exhaustion from Sensation, we navigated our way to a boat house a few guys in our group had rented out for a couple nights. Apparently it is very difficult to find housing in Amsterdam, so that is why a lot of people choose to live in a house boast on the canals. One of our friend was celebrating his 21st birthday that day, so we decided to celebrate by going to dinner and exploring the city for a bit. To my surprise, I didn't know how many canals there were Amsterdam. The city is known as "the Venice of the North." We ended up eating at a Sports Bar that literally anything and everything on the menu. They served pancakes, pizza, ribs, nachos and even a full English breakfast! There were about 12 sitting at one table and throughout the entire meal everyone was silent. It was the weirdest yet most low key dinner I have had all semester. I think we were all still struggling from lack of sleep from Sensation. After dinner, Molly, Chris and I headed towards my friend's apartment. Jana is one of my good friends from Camp Longhorn that I have known for several years. She had been studying in Amsterdam this semester and mentioned that I could stay with her if I ever made it up to Amsterdam. After making to Jana's place and catching up for a bit, the night became fairly dull since we were in desperate need of sleep.
After catching up on sleep, we were ready to explore Amsterdam. We only had until the evening to see the city since we were catching an overnight bus to Paris that night. Jana guided us through the city for most of the day and gave us background history about different things. Before going to class she pointed us in the direction of Ann Frank's apartment. Inside we were able to walk around the apartment and view more things in the connecting museum. The apartment was very narrow and compacted. The stairs were also very steep within the different levels of the apartment. None of the rooms were furnished, but they provided pictures to show what the rooms actually looked like which was cool to see. The museum also displayed actual parts of Ann Frank's diary. She was planning on publishing her diary and had to rewrite her entries onto colored paper upon the request of the publishers.
Her penmanship was impeccable! It was better than any teacher's
handwriting I had seen! We were unable to take pictures in the
apartment, but I was able to grab a couple snapshots via iPhone.
The bookcase that disclosed the apartment.
Outside of Ann Frank's apartment.
Chris and I.
One of the Canals.
After visiting the apartment, Molly, Chris and I backtracked our way to Dam Square. The square was surrounded by beautiful buildings and the square was of course filled with street performers. There were people dressed up standing on boxes waiting for people to take pictures with them and we even ran into a guy who was juggling a machete and lighting things on fire. We also walked through a flea market that was near Jana's apartment. The vendors sold anything from tourist souvenirs, weed/smoking paraphernalia (since it is legal to smoke in Amsterdam) , vintage clothing, jewelry and bicycle equipment. I forgot to mention that every uses bicycles as their form of transportation here. All of the roads had bike lanes and there were some roads only open to bikes. After Jana was finished with class, she led us to the Museum Park. Obviously this was the area of town where the Van Gogh museum was along with the Natural History Museum and other exhibits. This park also had the infamous structure that spells out IAmsterdam. Being the tourists that we were, we all took pictures of ourselves with the letters.
By the time we made it made to Jana's apartment, grabbed our bags and ate dinner at this amazing crepe place called The Pancake Corner, it was already time to head over to the bus station, which took about 30 minutes by metro from where we were coming from. Even though our stop in Amsterdam was brief, I enjoyed my time there! Thank you Jana for everything! It was great!
Dam Square.
In Museum Park.
Jana and I at Museum Park.
Paris, France
The overnight bus was an entire experience in its self! I sat next to a guy who was clearly doesn't understand the term personal space. He was sitting next to window and I was on the aisle. Throughout the bus ride, he would not only sleep in a position that would take up his seat, but he also managed to take up half of my seat as well. Talk about getting close and comfortable with a stranger! Throughout the night I would casually nudge him or make obvious remarks that he was taking up room than enough room. The poor guy couldn't take a hint!
Anyways Molly, Elizabeth, Ben, Laney, Chris and I made it to Paris by 6:30am. Just in time to catch the first round of metros in the city! When I looked at the metro map, I didn't know where to look first. There were so many stops and so many different lines to use! My distress may have been because it was so early in the morning and I was still waking up! After putting our navigation skills to the test, we made it to our hotel. Since it was so early, the rooms weren't ready. Chris and I decided to walk over to Notre Dame, since it was down the street from us. I don't think we could have timed it any better. We were able to walk inside Notre Dame and walk around the it before the mass crowds of tourists came. Right as we walked out of the cathedral, a huge tour group was about to go inside. We opted to not stick around the crowds and grabbed some coffee and croissants at a nearby cafe.
After checking for the second time to see if our rooms were ready(which they weren't), we decided to walk along the Sein River since it was down the street from the hotel. Chris and I walked along the river past Notre Dame. We went by the Palace of Justice, a few fountains and we came across this block of pet stores. We walked into a couple of the pet stores and they sold all types of animals. There were all kinds of breeds of dogs, cats, fish, birds and rodents. It was just so random coming across all these pet shops in the middle of Paris. We also walked across a couple bridges with deadbolt locks locked on them. I guess couples wanted to "lock their love" away in Paris on a random bridge....how clique! So for the rest of the afternoon we wondered around town and grab some fresh fruit from the market to settle our rumbling stomachs. By then, our hotel room was ready for us, so we took a afternoon nap! We were all still struggling from our sleepless night during Sensation.
By the time we woke up it was dinner time and we were decided what we should do for dinner. The manager of the hotel suggested us to go on a boat ride down the Seine River and see the city lit up at night. Being the tourists that we were, Chris and I decided go on the boat ride. We didn't want to stay in the hotel all night and we didn't want to explore the Paris nightlife since we had heard negative reviews about it. After taking a local bus to the marina, we hopped on the boat literally a minutes before the boat left. It was a 90 minute boat ride that took you down the river. We say the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame, French Institute and several other buildings. There were a lot of bridges that crossed over the river. Each bridge consisted of a different design, so it was cool to get a closer look at them.
Right after we finished up with the boat tour, the "plague" hit us. We figured we just ate some bad food and it would pass within 24 hours, but we ended up being sick for the rest of the week. (We started feeling sick on Tuesday night.) There were 6 of us who got sick. I will spare you the details of our illness, but it was the worst food poisoning that I have ever had.
Outside Notre Dame.
Some of the stain glass windows.
Front window of the cathedral.
Palace of Justice.
Bridge with Love Locks.
Seine River.
View from River Boat.
Eiffel Tower at Night.
On Wednesday, we spent our morning in the Louvre Museum. Even though we were still struggling from our food poisoning, we managed to bear the crowds and see the more popular works of art. We saw the Mona Lisa, Code of Hammurabi, Aphrodite, Napoleon's Apartments, The Wedding Feast and so many more. I uploaded just a few pictures from the Louvre. The rest are uploaded to a Facebook album.
Outside of the entrance to the Louvre.
Code of Hammurabi.
Aphrodite.
Mona Lisa.
The rest of the afternoon, we spent time in the park outside of the Louvre calledJardin des Tuileries. As we walked through the park, we took time to hang out and relax near the fountains. There were a bunch of lawn chair that surrounded these fountains. A lot of locals and tourists sat around the fountains and enjoyed their lunch break there. After hanging out in the park we made our way towards the Arch de Triumph. Fun Fact: Insurance companies in Paris do not cover their clients in this roundabout because of the high number of car accidents there. It has been said that every 15 minutes there a wreck in the roundabout. That policy does not surprise me at all because as we sat across the street to take pictures of the arc, we witnessed almost three wrecks in under five minutes. Since the Eiffel Tower was in sight, Chris and I decided to venture over there and hang out on the lawn in front of the tower. On our walk over to the lawn, we walked by a bunch of embassies including Egypt, Switzerland, Iran and the French Financial Union. There were some French policemen and security guards surrounding the outside of the Iran Embassy. Needless to say we got some death stares as we walked by the embassy from the police force. Before it started to get dark, we sat on the lawn in front of the Effiel Tower and enjoyed the weather. We thought about going up to the top of the tower, but there was a three hour wait. By this point in the day the two of us were struggling due to our food poisoning and the only thing I wanted to do was lay in bed. I think I set a record that night as I was in bed and asleep by 7 o'clock that night.
Fountain in the Gardin deTuileries.
Chris hanging out near the fountain.
Arch de Triumph.
Eiffel Tower.
Getting to the airport the next morning was an epidemic in itself. Out of the five of us that were leaving from the hotel at that time, four of us were still sick with food poisoning. I will make this long story short, but basically we went to multiple subway stops just to get on the right line to the airport, ran into a protest near Notre Dame, Holden threw up in a subway station and the metro tickets we bought did not work in the subway station, so we had to become friendly with the locals and use their metro passes. The good news is that all of us made it to the airport with plenty of time before our flight.
Barcelona, Spain
On Thursday afternoon the nine of us (Holden, Sarah and Kyle met up with us in Paris) flew from Paris to Barcelona using EasyJet Airlines, which is one of the discount airlines most travelers use in Europe. We arrived in Barcelona around 3 and grabbed a cab from the airport to the hostel. The original plan was to check in at the hostel and start exploring the city. Things changed quickly after we landed in Barcelona and a wave of stomach cramps, nausea, headaches and fevers came over the four of us (Chris, Sarah, Holden and Me). After making a trip to a nearby grocery and stocking up on water, gatorade and crackers, we thought after sleeping for a bit, we would all be cured. Sadly, we all still felt sick, but that did not stop us from trying local tapas and sangria. We learned that a lot of tapas places have a rule about the number of tapas you order. The place we ate required you to order at least two tapas places unless you were ordering a full entree.
The next morning we got up ready to explore the city. Our first stop was Sagrada La Familia, which is the iconic church located in the heart of Barcelona. Unfortunately we did not beat the crowds at this popular sightseeing spot. Along with the other 100 tourists wanting to go inside the church, Sarah and I had to wait in line for about half an hour which wasn't too bad. As we waited outside we could admire the all the details of the church. The church was also on construction and had been for quite some time now. It was fun to see the workers climb up to different points of the church and watch them work on the church's exterior. The inside of the La Familia was breathe taking! It was unlike any other church I'd seen before. It was much more modern and abstract compared to the traditional/standard Catholic Church. The stain glass windows were very colorful and the arches in the ceiling had the coolest angles and designs in them. I won't try to explain the church anymore and just upload some pictures I took!
Front of La Familia.
One of the stain glass windows.
Looking at the alter.
Ceiling.
Backside of La Familia.
After La Familia, we hopped on the subway to Las Ramblas, which is a huge market run by locals. There was variety of types of stands including souvenirs, flowers, soccer jerseys, snacks, chocolate, herbs. Off the main road there was an entrance to the main market that sold more fruits, vegetables, smoothies and other products you could either eat or cook with. We walked all the way through Las Ramblas and ended at one of the marinas. For most of the day I felt fine and thought I had finally over come my food poisoning, but right when we finished walking through Las Ramblas, I had the chills and felt like I had a fever. After getting medicine from a nearby pharmacy, I went back to the hostel to sleep while the rest of the group walked around the beach. By the time I woke up it was dinner time. I felt better than earlier that afternoon and I was ready to go to dinner and experience Barcelona's nightlife. This time Chris had a fever and not much of an appetite, so he skipped dinner and slept. The four of us (Kyle, Sarah, Holden and me) went to another nearby tapas restaurant. The placed was packed with locals, so we were sure that the food was fairly decent.
After a delicious dinner( grilled chicken with cous cous and vegetables), Kyle and I headed over towards this bar that reminded us of the Sandbar back in Lawrence, KS. The bar was decorated with strands of Christmas lights and tropical votives. At this point, Chris met up with us since he felt better after his nap. Aside from sangria, mojitos are another drink that Barcelona is known for. So the three of us sampled the local mojitos and tried a local beer called Estrella. Both drinks were very tasty, but I stuck with a beer since the mojitos were a little on the sugary side. After spending a couple hours at the bar, we were ready to move on to another place. As we were walking back to the main road, yet again I felt nauseous, light headed and had the chills. Perfect timing right? Initially, I though I could though it out and enjoy the nightlife, but it got worse as time passed. By that point I felt like I needed to go to bed, so I left Chris and Kyle and returned to the hostel. I think the weirdest thing about Barcelona's night life is that the locals go out so late. We went to dinner at 10pm and went to the tropical bar around 12am and I was in bed by 2am. We were told that most clubs in Barcelona don't even open until 2-3am.
Las Ramblas.
The Market entrance.
Sarah and I at the tapas restaurant.
The next morning(Saturday), I woke up to stories of Chris and Kyle making up to the VIP club in the W Hotel. Of all people that I have traveled with this semester, Kyle always randomly manages to get into VIP areas of clubs and bars without paying a bouncer. The original agenda for the morning was to walk over to the peninsula and ride the cable cars over the bay to this castle. After walking over the the cable cars, we quickly found out that the carts to the castle were closed for the day. As we walked over to the cable car station, we passed several stores that offered bike/roller blades/vespa/four wheeler/go cart rentals. Kyle was in the "renting mood" so the two of us decided to rent a vespa and drive it on the streets of Barcelona. Yes, we thought this was a dumb idea at first and we were nervous driving in the streets with other traffic around us, but the store manager said that we would be fine! Luckily I did not drive the vespa. Kyle drove and we navigated our way to the peninsula and drove down streets parallel to the beach. While we were at a stop light, a couple of police officers pulled up next to us. We were terrified because we thought they would ask us for our international driver's license, which neither of us have. They noticed I had my iPhone in my hand and t offered to take our picture on the vespa which was pretty funny. Sadly, they couldn't take a picture of us since the traffic light turned green and we scooted off on the vespa!
After returning the vespa in one piece, we looked into taking a catamaran ride along the coast line that afternoon. Kyle and I woke up Chris at the hostel and went back over to the marina. After buying our tickets and a couple of Estrella beers, we boarded the catamaran and began our tour along the coast. We were able to see a bunch of sights from the coast including La Familia, W Hotel, the castle and other big modern buildings. The weather was perfect too, so the catamaran ride turned out really well. After finishing our boat ride and investigating the option of taking a helicopter tour(Kyle was really wanting to do one) it was time for dinner. Kyle, Chris, Sarah, Holden and I had been reunited and decided to make dinner at the hostel since they had an open kitchen. The easy thing and the only thing our stomachs would keep down was pasta, so Chris and I went made pasta with some tomato and basil sauce. We wanted to go out and enjoy Barcelona's nightlife, but all of us had early flights the next morning and it was day light savings. We were all paranoid missing our flights since the time shifted one hour ahead. Even though we were all sick, I loved my time in Barcelona. Next time I'm back I'll be sure to be healthy and well rested, so I can explore the city even more!
