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 Posted December 7th, 2005 at 4:08PM
Tomorrow at 7pm I fly from Frankfurt to Amsterdam. I have the train ticket to Frankfurt, I have the plane ticket to Amsterdam, and I have a hostel for the four nights I’ll be staying. I’ll be arriving back in Freiburg at about midnight on Monday, so that I can catch a few hours rest before my finals begin on Tuesday. Have two that day.
So far on my list of things I need to do, is:
• cat museum
• modern art museum
• red light district
• Van Gogh museum
• Vondelpark
• Albert-Cuypstr. market
The cat museum is most likely going to be dumb, but it’s sort of funny, an entire museum dedicated to cats. Plus it’s only five euros, and close to my hostel. The modern art museum has a good collection apparently, and Van Gogh is always fun. Vondelpark is the “central park of Amsterdam”, and it looks to be quite big and nice. Albert-Cuypstr. market is a large, outdoor market on a pedestrian street, in a cool neighborhood which I want to check out regardless.
And the red light district of Amsterdam is a must-visit, naturally.
Oh, and then there are the coffeeshops:
• De Kuil
• Amnesia
• Grey Area
• Bluebird
• Katsu
• and possibly Conscious Dreams smartshop
The first three are very close to my hostel. I’ll probably be visiting De Kuil multiple times, it sounds like a really chill place. Practically every other CD they play is Frank Zappa, and they’re also one of the few coffeeshops to serve alcohol. Although I don’t plan on drinking much during this trip.
Grey Area, from what I’ve read, has a really great selection of wares. Amnesia is right in the neighborhood and gets good marks too.
Katsu is close to the Albert-Cuypstr. market, and I actually got a recommendation from someone I know who went to Amsterdam two months ago. The Van Gogh museum and Vondelpark are also in the area. This neighborhood is fairly far south – I might take a tram and hit all of these on one of my days, spend the whole day down there.
Of course, these attractions are just the tip of the iceberg. Amsterdam sounds like a lovely city, and my friend who went recently also said that the food is great. I’ll spend a lot of my time walking around, taking in the sights and sounds. The things I have listed so far are only the things that I must see / do while there.
It should prove to be a good weekend.
Posted November 28th, 2005 at 6:08PM
I have been in Germany for nearly three months now, and today, just now, was the first time I’ve listened to Nena’s 99 Luftballoons. iTunes shuffle option finally came through.
Reminds me of that one night last year when my roommate and I decided to see who could stand it longer. I put the song on repeat, and then we tried to go to bed. It probably played twenty or so times before I got up and turned the damn song off.
Posted November 27th, 2005 at 2:16PM
I just got back from the Christmas market here in Freiburg. Mildly entertaining, a bunch of stalls set up around the Rathaus (ie. town hall). The major thing at the x-mas market, besides a whole host of handmade crafts, is the Glühwein, which is hot wine. It was very interesting, sort of tasty. There were a lot of stalls selling it, out of huge vats. It was steaming because of the coldness of the air, but the temperature was just right, so that you could sip it as soon as you got it. It also came in little glasses, which I’m pretty sure you can keep.
What I mean to say is, I saw a lot of people handing their glasses back, but I kept mine.
No, seriously, I’m pretty sure they don’t mind people keeping them. Really.
(Great x-mas gift!)
Posted November 24th, 2005 at 9:12PM
Today I went to class, which was fairly typical. I stayed up till around two last night, working on a paper. Two down, two to go. I’m doing all right in that area.
And then, at six, we gathered together to go to the Thanksgiving dinner that the study abroad program put together. And, surprisingly, it was very good.
Most people decided to go, so we were a large group. We had the entire restaurant to ourselves, and it was (naturally) free for us. Champagne, two additional drinks, and a five course meal. The food was probably some of the best that I’ve had this semester. I had the ‘vegetarian option’, which usually means “crap alternative for the morons who don’t eat meat”. However, it was good. The appetizer was an odd red cabbage puree dish. The salad was very good, with roasted sunflower seeds and some sort of tasty dressing. The pumpkin soup was very good, much better than the previous bowl I had at another gathering. And then, the main course, which was some sort of mixture of vegetables wrapped up in a flaky crust, with sides of mashed potatoes and dressing. Very good. For dessert we had what everyone brought (we were suppose to bring stuff we made, not too many people did, I abstained altogether).
But regardless of all of this, I was in an odd mood. It was a merry time, lots of laughter, alcohol, pictures, etcetera. But I was still sort of down.
I came back to my room, and was about to just chill out, listen to music, go to bed. But I decided to call someone, and met up with a few people at the bar in our residence (quick aside: I live in a little cluster of buildings which use to be French barracks till 1992, when they were turned into student housing. And there is a bar in one of the buildings, administrated by the college. Only in Germany). Drank a few dollar fifty Becks, had a few laughs.
Oh, and it snowed today. First time that it actually stuck to the ground. I’m in a better mood now. A successful Thanksgiving Day after all.
Posted November 19th, 2005 at 6:41PM
So, more than two weeks ago we departed for a ten day tour of Western Europe. The educational seminars were by and large better than the ones on the other trip, however the hotels (and their continental breakfasts’) were generally worse.
Franktfurt
Paris
Brussels
Luxembourg
Thursday, November 3rd we loaded our crap onto the bus bright and early at 8am. We arrived in Strasbourg an hour and a half later. We had been to Strasbourg several times already, and were only staying for a single presentation, so this was not very exciting. We left Strasbourg for Frankfurt at 11:30, and we arrived in Frankfurt by three. We had a meeting, and then had the rest of the night off.
In Frankfurt we stayed at a youth hostel. But it was probably one of the nicest youth hostels known to man. There were only four beds per room, and it was a generally clean place, with decent furniture, brightly lit, a good shower. And so on.
We only had one night to spend in Frankfurt, so we had to use it wisely. I set off in a group to the area nearby the hostel which supposedly had a lot of restaurants, and also to try some of the “apple wine” that is apparently a local concoction (for the record? It was alright. Nothing I would want to get drunk off of, but a glass or two with dinner? Acceptable). I split off of the main group at the earliest opportunity, and ate at a very good Thai place with a few others. Why Thai? I had not eaten Thai since arriving in Europe; it was a pretty clean, decent-looking establishment; and it was relatively cheap. The restaurants were expensive in Frankfurt.
It was very good Thai.
After that, two of us hooked up with another small group who were going to see a play (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). I was sort of interested, but not entirely in the mood. The price (12 euro from scalpers) was the deciding factor, and I passed on the chance. Instead, I headed into the downtown area with two Americans, and a German that one of them knew. We went to a few bars, drank a few rounds. Generally nothing to write home about. It was a good time though. I got back at around half past eleven though, and all three of my roommates were asleep.
Err… whoops? No, waitasecond. Why the hell were they sleeping so early?
The next morning, Friday the 4th, we packed our stuff onto the bus, then headed to the European Central Bank, where we had a presentation. It was alright. Again — nothing spectacular. I also began feeling sort of rotten this day, something which continued through most of the trip. It had nothing to do with drinking, I believe it was rather the result of a shoddy diet (I ate mostly cheese on baguettes during this trip, because, guess what? The French do not make vegetarian food). Any time I drank coffee, I would get indigestion, and I was generally in a sour mood.
We left Frankfurt at twelve, and arrived in Paris at around eight in the evening. We had the evening free in Paris. Gai Paris, eh? *shrug*
Posted November 15th, 2005 at 5:41PM
I saw the cat in our flat again tonight. I don’t know why he was in, how he got in, or if anyone else knew. But I lured him back into my room and petted him for a few minutes. Eventually he jumped off my lap and walked out of the room. Someone noticed him and chucked him outside.
I’m thinking about bringing him back to the states with me. In my carry-on. Perhaps… A bowling ball bag?
I kid.
Probably.
Posted November 11th, 2005 at 3:17PM
It was only a week, but felt like forever. Spent a day in Strasbourg, a night in Frankfurt. Three nights in Paris, four in Brussels, and then one in Luxembourg City.
I’ll write more later. But I’m damn tired. Exhausted. Mentally. Physically. Emotionally? Eh, not so much.
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