Holland

So I am back in Holland, aka the Netherlands, however this time i am in Amsterdam and love it. The city is beautiful and so much better in comparison to Rotterdam, never to to Rotterdam there is no point! However Amsterdam is filled with the beautiful canals, brick buildings, and unfriendly but tolerant people! ha ha, The Dutch aren't really fond of the toursits, but accept and tolerate everything else. It is a fun city to visit, there is litterally everything to do. I am traveling with a Frech Canadain i met on my last night in Belgium. I found a South Africian and a American who were traveling together and went to a pub with them. It was a pub with over 2056 beers available! While we were heading down there a French Canadian boy came along and as we were talking he decided to come to Amsterdam with me the next day. So we are here now. I am actually having a really good time with him. His name is Eric, and he is really nice, a bit eclectic but we are having a fun time and it is nice to have some company. The hostel here is totally ridiculous, however it works and we are really here to sleep, so it really doesn't matter too much. They have free internet, and state that toast and juice is a REALLY GREAT breakfast, but it is free too....
Today we went on a free tour with a crazy tour guide, but learned A LOT about the history of the city, all about the drugs, church, miracles, royal family, prostitution, money and tolerance. It was actually really interesting. The guide was a guy who is a student studying psychology with a minor in addiction to drugs and alcohol, so he was really interesting and had a different spin on things. Also he was from Boston who came to study here, and fell in love with the city and ideals here.
I think that i almost be sold on the city too, i love the liberal and tolerant ideals of this city, but it could have to do with the fact that the tour guild was so passionate about everything here, and i have a one sided perspective on things.
It is beautiful and very romantic here, i am planning my honeymoon to my imaginary fiance throughout Europe. Most people here think that i am making a mistake coming here before my wedding, so i just tell them that i am scoping out the scene for my honeymoon. It is kind of fun to be pretend engaged. Fun new stories all the time, however sometimes i cant remember who i have told what to... i think i need to develop a linear story.
I have two more nights here before i have to leave, my next stop is in Budapest with Cindy, however i have 2 days to figure out how to get there, it is going to take me over 20 hours by train so i am trying to figure out where i am going to go to break it up a bit. BACK TO GERMANY!
Hope everyone is well. Will try to update and send some pictures soon!

Belgium

Belguim is a pretty city, very small so it is great to walk around. Definatly don't need more than a day or two here though, you would run out of things to do. The town sauare or what-ever it is called is beautiful with georgous neo-gothic steeples, and 15th century buildings accented in gold and filled with high priced shops and cafes. The buildings here are beautifully decorated; windows with tall arches and outlined in stone, stone balconies trimmed with latice worked iron. Statues, gargoyles and cherubs fitted in every available gap, and more latice work or beautiful stone trim everywhere else. There is so much work in one square foot of building side it is mind boggling.
I have tried a belgian waffle, and am going to work on the beer situation tonight. So that just leaves chocolate for tomorrow, then off to Amsterdam!!!

My only complaint about this city is the men. They are disgusting and not easily refused. I learned this last night when i went wandering after i arrived just around my neighborhood. The prelude to the creepy men is I found an open air concert that was just setting up so grabbed some side walk to wait to see what they were playing. For a while I watched a eclectic group of people dancing to techno music being played from the cocktails tent. A thirty-something man dressed to the nines, a preteen girl, and a late 50's early 60's woman was dancing away in the square. It was three of the most random people givin' her on the sidewalk. And i never thought i would see the day when a woman who was too old to be my mother was raving to some techno music. The 30something man was mastering the "ball" technique but she was right along side of him actually probably showing him up in style, (it may have been that she had the keen sense not to hold the imaginary ball which he kept trying to pass to her)
Finally the concert started and i got halfway through the first song to realize that it was Horrible. A strange mix of a DJ scratching, a french rapper, who was half rapping Eminem style, then switching to an almost old school Backstreet (think no diggidy) slow ballad style rap. Just to throw into the already interesting vibe, the band (with an electric keyboard which did 80's style music plus a keyboard saxaphone) played a strange 50's jive meets Latino music. It was the most random combination of music, which i hated, but the crowd loved. I tried to give it a chance but by the second song i realized it wasn't going to get better. Possibly only worse.

So onto the creepy men. Thank GOD for my imaginary fiance! The men here will actually stop their cars in the middle of the street and come and try and pick you up. Getting out of their cars and holding up traffic. They are not deterred by the fact that I speak english and they do not. Because they have learned the important phrase of "we go!" and then point in which ever direction it is that they want to take you. I say NO... point to the ring and then walk away. Some, when they find you on the street, will follow you like a lost puppy looking for some scrap of attention before they pounce with "We go?" So i have now learend that in Belgium never answer a nod or a smile or a Bonjour, never make eye contact and ignore all forms of attempted communication. In total be a complete bitch and they will just follow you like a lost puppy until some other unsuspecting female makes one of these fatal mistakes.
Parents who are worried do not worry. This only happened when i was walking through town. Never too close to the hostel. Lots of people in the vicinity. And my new found method of bitchiness works well.
My new theory is to just start muttering to myself and talking in a made up language (double dutch anyone) and act crazy. Or just turn around and start screaming and waving my arms. This should scare the poor puppy away.
I will keep you posted on my crazy lady attempts!
So in total Brussels is cool. Supposedly has a good nightlife, but limited supply in the daytime. Females dont come alone unless you are prepared to become horrendously rude, or have no problem acting insane. I feel that i will put my psych nursing into play and try and adopt my best schizophrenic with auditory and visual hallucinations tomorrow. Hopefully my next post will not come from the local mental care facility!
Love you.

Berlin and Munich

I am currently in my last day in Munic. Again I have fallen in love with another country, and although i want to live in Paris, I think i could spend about a month in Germany just exploring the land and learning about the history. Bavaria is where Munich is and it is so gorgeous. Everything here is green and lush. Also i am sure that Bavaria is where all the corn in the world is grown. Whenever i am traveling on the trains in the country side all i see is corn row after corn row, or beautiful forests where you can just imagine a fox running out, or princess and dukes riding through on horseback persuing some animal on a hunt. It definatly has an old world feel to it. I loved Berlin, but didnt get to spend enough time there. There were so many places that i wanted to go after i left, but the city was alot of fun to walk around.
I have spent 4 nights in Munich, and the city is alot easier to walk around in. Although i walked everywhere in Berlin, it is all spread out and filled with poured concrete buildings after the distruction in WWII. Munich is a city that lost 60% of the city to air raid bombings, however rather than destroying the history of the city, they rebuilt everything back to what it once was. So one feels like they are in a place like Paris with the building being hundereds of years old, when most are only around 60 years old but look like they were from the 18th century.
I went to a beer garden, discovered why they are actually gardens, went paddle boating on a big lake, discovered the city on a free walking tour, walked from one side of the city to the other because i took a wrong turn and ended up walking in the wrong direction for 40 minutes, visited Neuchenswehan (i totally made up that spelling) where the big castel which Disney modeled their castel after, saw the Glockenspiel, and went to Dachau the first concentration camp from WWII. I actually did Dachau, the university, and the Olympic site all today. I was quite traumatized after the Dachau today, the things humans can inflict on one another is just mind boggling.
I love Germany, I don't know if I have mentioned that yet. SOO Much to see and do and learn
I also ate some real Bavarian food. And more importantly drank Bavarian beer. Who is coming with me to go to Oktoberfest?????? I am coming back!
Tomorrow i am back tracking and heading up to Belgium to eat belgium waffles and belgium chocolate..... i may find a new favorite place!
I am still waiting for some of you to email me. Dont make me start to beg!
LOVE

Germany and Pictures... finally

I am still in Berlin and heading to Münich tomorrow! Who hoo. I finallz found a computer with a usb port so PICTURES!!!! YEY.
Hope all are well. Thanks to those select few who emailed I LOVE YOU. The rest of you suck, but i love you anyways. Keep me company. I'll write again soon. Scroll back down through my other posts as i will add pictures to those ones and you can see what i am talking about.

So the first 2 pictures are a monument in the center of Berlin for the Holocost Victims, a dedication to the 6 million Jews who were murdered, and the thousands of hadicapped, mentally challenged, blacks, gypsis, and anyone else who was persecuted and murdered during WWII.
Then me sitting in a random buildings entrance, the Berlin Wall (well one of that Gates) and then the view from my room.

Netherlands to Germany

So i decided to go to Rotterdam when i could find no where else that had acommodations when i dedided to leave Paris. So i went to Rotterdam. Stayed in a really nice hostel and met some really cool people. However Rotterdam SUCKS!!! There is nothing to do in the city and nothing to see as it was bombed flat during WWII... so my whole day was spent desperatly seeking a internet cafe so i could get the hell out of there. I discovered later that night what one does in Rotterdam, Drink and Dance. It has a good night scene with lots of pubs and clubs. So i went out with a big slew of people i met at the hostel. One being a Canadian (actually Calgarian) who he and I flew to London on the same plane, spent the same amount of time in London, and then randomly met in Rotterdam. It is a small world. I danced the night away with my new found friends of 2 Italians, 1 Spanish, 1 Czech Republic, 1 Polish, and the Canadian. All who spoke varying levels of Englsih so there was a lot of miming during the night. It was really funny.
We all left the next day and I came to Berlin. It is a whole days travel by train so my first day was really today.
I did the general meandering and walked all over. It is crazy how much ground one can cover when totally occupied by the sights. I saw where the Berlin wall once stood and visited the monument dedicated to the 6 million Jews that were killed. I also visited the German History Museum which was really interesting talking about the whole German history from about 800AD.
The biggest challenge I am finding for myself is to find food. I am a little intimidated to go into a resturant or cafe and try to figure out what gzwölkaügmsäa is on the menu..... I am sure that some have English menus as well, but i feel ónce i go in and ask i have dedicated myself to the cafe and sometimes the menu items consist of a whole lot of animal parts i am not interested in eating!
I found a grocery store this evening not far from my hostel so tomorrow should be a little less hungry!
I must say i have been recieving almost NO emails..... umm you are not all recieving personal emails unless you email me.... this is my means of mass communication. PLEASE email... I only have myself to talk to out here, and it gets a little one sided.

Part 2

i have to do this in stages because my time keeps cutting in and out on the computer.

After the Versaille palace we went to the gardens. Garden is an understatement. It is like a provincial park that is immaculately groomed! Square trees, not a weed in sight, huge beautiful fountains with Victorian sculptures everywhere.
I was also introduced to the best Orange Juice ever... something that i have heard Ben raving about for months and now i finally understand!
We spent the whole day there and that evening we went to the Eifle Tower. It was all lit up in blue, and filled with lights that would randomly go off and cause the tower to sparkle! I wanted to go to the top, but the lift to the very top was closed, so we decided to come back the next day.

Ben had to do some errands on Thursday so i went to the Louvre and explored the inside. I saw all the things i was supposed to, Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa, and the Victory statue which was probably one of my favorites. However there was so much more there... you could definatly spend a couple of days there if you wanted to.

That night we tried the Eifle tower again, however it was raining and we arrived about 15 minutes after they closed. So i didn't get to go to the top, and i guess i will just have to come back!

Yesterday i decided to come to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The reason i chose Rotterdam is that no where else has room to accomadate me! Ha ha so as soon as i am done here i am going to go explore. There is supposed to be a great night life here. I really like the hostel I am staying at as it is really easy to meet people at night. There is a nice bar and some pool tables and last night i made friends with Sheamus, an Irish lad, and Patrick who wants to show me around when i get to Prague!
I'll keep you all posted. Keep sending emails because i love to get them!

Part 1

okay for those of you who are not sure if i am alive, I am... just have not had access to a computer for a little while. But i am back! The short story is i went to Paris!! And i LOVED IT! I may have to learn French and move there! I fell in love with the Parisian Lifestyle; sans smoking though. But how can you pass up rich food, wine, cheese, and pasteries GALORE.... Of course if anyone knows a personal trainer with a bootcamp marshal intensity i will also need to bring them to Paris with me because i will get ridiculously obese!

I arrived in Paris on Monday night, the majority of Monday was devoted to getting to Paris, and sucking up to my friend Ben, who was meeting me at the airport. There was a slight miscommunication and he came to get me from the airport at 930am.... and then came again with much persistance to get me at 930pm.
I also met another interesting customs person, who i wasn't sure was going to let me into the country when i told him i didn't speak French. He told me i had to say one thing in French before he would let me in. I laughed... he didn't. So then i was racking my brain for something from Grade 8 French..... ummmm Je' mapel Kelley! (it is probably good i didnt have to spell it though!) After that Access was granted to France and Paris!

The next day Ben took me around Paris we did a walking tour and i discovered that i was in Love. I saw Notre Dame, Hotel de Ville, Champs Elysees, the Louvre, Hotel Invalids, the Eifle tower from a distance, and Sooo much more!

Wednesdsay we went to Versailles. It is so increadible there. It was really interesting to see the things that I learned in Jr. High social studies. I remember looking at pictures of the Hall of Mirrors, and learning about Louis the XIV building it. I saw the Kings and Queens room (they had different bedrooms, Salons and receiving rooms) and the bed whih 19 royal children were born. The room where Marie Antointe escaped through a secret door during the revolution. They should take you to Paris when they teach you these things.. i think i would have been more interested to actually see them and see how amazing and beautiful these places really are!

Being Spoiled in London

So things are continuing to go well. I am in my 4th day in London.
Yesterday was a little bit interesting. I had about an hour where i was very frustrated however after excepting my fate, and plugging in my ipod to some chipper music i was good to go again.
Yesterday it rained... and rained.. and rained. And i don't have an umbrella, however, they do sell them for about £2 in every store you pass, however after watching about 50 people purchace umbrellas and then open them, and they collapsed, inverted, or slid back down when you exhaled i decided i was to be wet. Fortuantley i also had decided to wear a hat that day so i really was oblivious to the rain until a double decker bus drove by and soked my right side. They make quite the splash let me tell you. Did i mention that i was lost in the hell that is Bloomsbury at this time as well.... oh well let me tell you!
I decided that yesterday was to be Museum day since the weather called for rain. However everyone and their brother also had my decision as well. So they were very croweded and truthfully quite boring. Maybe i am not as big as an art lover as i first thought... wait no, i am, i just didn't know how many more paintings i could see of jesus on the cross, or the virgin mother and the baby jesus, or the 3 kings and so on an so forth. I am almost positive that 99.9% of the National Gallery is Jesus pictures. Which are great and good, but i just go a wee bit tired of the same old thing. However i did finally find Renior, and Picasso, and Da Vinci, Monet and Manet... so that was AWSOME.
However after i visited the British Museum i seemed to have lost my way on the roads and wandered up and down the roads for over an hour. It is less fun meandering in the rain, and i prefer the meander because when I have a set place I amtrying to find, I get lost. When i meander i have no where i am trying to go.
Last night I also got to go to the play Wicked, which was Wicked! It was a great play and i loved every minute of it. Today i am continued to be spoiled as i am staying in a beautiful hotel (thank you Daddy and Cindy) and had a bath and a shower this morning! WHOO HOO! So i am feeling refreshed and clean and i can wake up tomorrow morning when I want to, not because the girl next to me has a plasic bag that appparently she is required to crumple at 7 am.
So i am off to explore more of London. I was hoping to go to Stonehenge but apparently that is a full day trip and quite expensive, and i didn't jump on that one quick enough. Although in the long run stonehenge may have been cooler, i am really happy with my bubble bath in London today!

First Offical Day in London

Small victories make me really happy.
First Victory of the day was buying a soup and a piece of bread for 3 pounds and eating it for 3 meals! The second victory was aptly navigating the bus, train, and interwinding roads as i wandered throughout London.
I have also learned that it is probably a good thing that i am traveling alone because i know i would make others crazy. I meander through the streets as i try and find some building or monument that i saw down the street or across the river, and on my assumed path there i will wander at random up and down streets, allyways and hidden pathways that i find and look interesting. So it takes me a bit longer to find what i am looking for, but in the same time i tend to find something new and interesting to look at.
Today i found St. Pauls Cathedral, The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Trafalger Square, Big Ben and the Parliment building, and lots of quaint little parks to eat and rest in. I had no idea where i was going when i found any of these things. Just spied something interesting through the trees or around a building and thought i would check it out. It has been an awsome day, and althogh i am not sure if i am travelling the way one "should" or is supposed to, i am having way to much fun wandering around the city.
Tomorrow i think i have a game plan though. We'll see how it works out

London!

I have made it to London. Landed this morning and made my way with only slight difficulty through customs and to my hostel. My first challenge was the customs lady who wasn't convinced that she wanted to let me enter the country. She was unimpressed that I was travelling alone, and no one was meeting me in the UK, and my next scheduled departure date was not until 2 months away from a different country. However she let me through after a good stern look, and a grimace.
The next challenge i overcame was navigating myself up and down the narrow corridors and ridiculously steep skinny stairs with a 35lbs bag on my back. I tend to feel like i will either fall backwards and just sit on the stairs, or the bag is going to ride me like a sled face-first down the stairs.
I am reminded of that Ghannaian markets as i travelled through the streets as I tried to find the hostel. The streets are lined with African yams (not to be mistaken with orange yams, but big brown trunk -like tubers), okra, hot peppers and chunks of meat. However here is like a up scale Ghana market with all these splays of food in window shops, rather than on a wooden shack baking in the sun. The meat is kind of similar to as i watched full and half pig carcasses being thrown around. But rather than baking in the sun with the flies feasting on a wooden table as in Africa, these London pigs were being unloaded from a refrigerated truck into a metal shopping cart. Just dead headless pigs in a shopping cart. I found the butcher shop a few more minutes down the street.
The exact same smells on these streets though, that smoked fishy, curry, hot pepper smell. Dani and Carolan you know exactly what i am talking about.

I am already in love with Europe though. I love looking left at a Gothic spear of a cathedral pierces the sky above the old brick buildings, or looking right and seeing a domed arch from a church or university hovering beyond the top a pub. It is so wonderful. I spent my later afternoon after a much needed nap hanging out in a church courtyard sitting on a sarcophagus while i revelled at the beauty of the old building.
I am going to love this country!