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 Posted January 12th, 2006 at 2:44AM
Franktfurt
Paris
Brussels
Luxembourg
I had a better time in Brussels than I did in Paris. True story.
We arrived in Brussels around 8:15pm, on Monday, November 7th (how long it’s taken me to finally get around to this). The hotel in Brussels was fine, I remember little about it. I do remember we did have trouble finding it however. It was right next to a church, and every morning, at six or seven, the church bell would begin ringing — a deafening sound in our room, waking us up. It was apparently rung by hand, since it was uneven, and even worse was the fact that it seemed to ring until whoever was in charge got tired. The first morning in Brussels, it had to of went on for five minutes!
I was only rooming with one guy in Brussels, and he was a cooler head than my previous roommates in Paris. That Monday night I was feeling a bit better than I did in Paris, so I went out and walked around. Nothing memorable, the hotel was in a tiny Asian section of town, so I ate some Chinese, bought a bottle of wine, and headed back to the room. We watched TV, called it an early night.
The next day was Tuesday, November 8th. We had to wake up early, for meetings at NATO headquarters. We had three meetings here, and two of them were actually excellent. The first was informative, who presented a lot of valuable info (he was “an American, but representing NATO, not America”). And the third turned out to be a fairly conservative diplomat (“representing America”). He was fairly provocative — the first speaker left his personal opinion out of it, whereas the third’s presentation was full of it. There were three or four Germans in the room, and he ruffled their feathers quite a bit. But the guy made me want to come back, take the Civil Service Exam, and work for the government. He was smooth.
This was one occasion where a sort of cultural difference appeared, which was interesting to watch. While the American students were relieved to meet someone who wasn’t full of officious bullshit, the Germans in the room were offended with his casual, opinion-laden style of presentation. The two different groups had hugely different reactions to this guy. It’s possible that the age difference came into play — although one of the Germans was one of our teacher assistants, who was in his mid-twenties. I mark it up to cultural differences — the sort of difference that makes “outsider politicians” like Bush winners in the US, while career politicians like Schroeder and Merkel earn Germany’s top spot.
After spending awhile at NATO, and having an hour lunch break, we traveled to the US-EU Mission. And these two meetings were a complete waste of time. The first women treated us like preschoolers — I felt dumber after leaving the room. While the second person, who was soon about to be transferred to the diplomatic mission to Kazakhstan (or some other backward -stan country (big freaking deal)), kept the self-important attitude of the US diplomat at NATO — without any of the charm, intelligence, or information of the former.
After this, we departed for a city tour of downtown Brussels. The tour was pretty good; the guide was nice and informative, although she recommended a really crappy restaurant that a friend and I tried and were totally disappointed with. We got a nice historical overview, and an explanation of all of the official buildings. Brussels is a city of bureaucrats — and that’s not said in any sort of disapproving manner. Brussels is the center for three or four governments and major organizations (Belgium being a heavily-federalized country, I believe both the national and state governments are housed in Brussels).
I can’t really remember what I did this night, since it’s been such a long time (damn it, half of the reason of blogging all of this was so I’d have a place it was all written down). I believe I just walked around downtown Brussels a bit with the roommate. We bought a bottle of wine, and sat on a park bench drinking. We had dinner somewhere that was unsatisfying (I swear, I didn’t have a single decent meal on this entire trip) and probably called it a fairly early night.
Wednesday, November 9th, we had a light program at the European Commission. I can’t remember anything remarkable about these lectures, so I imagine they were just marginal. Originally, we were suppose to have a meeting with Greenpeace, to see how an NGO interacts with the EU. But those plans apparently fell through, and we didn’t get to go. One I was actually looking forward to too.
This night I do remember, because it was sort of a let-down. In the morning, I checked the cellphone, and found a message from someone — alerting me about a nearby bar which had one Euro pints. Damn, we missed out. But a lot of people were going back again, so after doing the requisite wandering around trying to find food with my roommate (he was one of the other few vegetarians in our group, so that problem was shared), we headed to the place. It was sort of early, nine or ten I think, and we only caught a few people that we knew there. After a few drinks, we split. Later on, I heard about another couple of friends who showed up later, and had an absolutely crazy night in Brussels. If only we had stayed a bit longer.
Thursday, November 10th was our last day in Brussels. We met with the Council of the European Union early. Another unmemorable time. A lunch break, then we met with a representative of the European Anti-Poverty Network. This meeting was really bad. Absolutely nothing remotely interesting or informative. We left Brussels and headed towards the last leg of our journey, Luxembourg, at about five in the afternoon. Brussels was actually quite a nice city, and I would have loved to explore further. Maybe I’ll get another chance someday. Pff.
Posted December 14th, 2005 at 9:04AM
It was a long time coming, but I need to quickly wrap up the second big field trip. Over a month after it happened.. *cough*
Franktfurt
Paris
Brussels
Luxembourg
We got into Paris on November 4th. It was a Friday, and we arrived at about eight in the evening. The hotel was alright, although the elevator was broken and I was in a triple. This night we set out to see some sights. I was not feeling all that great, and after eating at a crappy Chinese restaurant, and seeing the Eiffel Tour lit up, I walked back alone. Paris was a bit intimidating at night – moreso than any of the eastern European cities.
But Paris’ subway system is amazing. I used it every day, and it was pretty easy to use / understand. Very nice.
Saturday, the 5th, we had completely free. I did all of the typical tourist things – Eiffel Tour, the miniature Statue of Liberty, the Arc D’Triumph, Notre Dame, and half a dozen other attractions. A lot of walking. And I still felt bad.
Sunday we also had free, except for a formal dinner in the evening (expenses paid, naturally). I visited the Louvre, and had the amazing luck to get in free (first Sunday of every month). The place was packed, but I saw some art. Mona Lisa. Woo. (I guess?)
The formal dinner was pretty bad, since the other vegetarian and I had to request “special” dinners, which meant crappy leftovers of the sides of everyone else. I’ll say it right now – French cuisine is bad, and overpriced to boot.
Sunday night I walked around the neighborhood around our hotel (NE of the city center area). It was sorta ethnic, sorta funky. A little creepy. Found a used clothing store, bought some pants and a couple shirts.
On Monday the 7th, we had two lectures, which were quite good. One dealt with the French rejection of the European Constitution, and the future of European integration, while the other was a meeting with a group from the EU Institute for Security Studies. The focus was on EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, and it was quite enlightening.
At about three thirty, we departed Paris for Brussels, and I was glad. The weather in Paris was bad, alternatively overcast with occasional rainshowers. I felt terrible the entire time, having some sort of stomach bug, or, more likely, just as a result of a terrible diet on the trip (vegetarian options in Paris are scarcer than any other place I’ve been. Only options were Italian, which I soon grew tired of). And Paris was just generally.. “EH”. The tourist attractions were alright – the Eiffel Tour and Arc D’Triumph being particularly impressive – but the general atmosphere sucked.
I had very low expectations for Paris, since it is such the typical tourist spot. Generally, I think it was probably better than I was expecting. But it still wasn’t all that much fun.
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 2nd, 2005 at 3:47PM
I’m packing up for the second large trip. We leave tomorrow. Time to finish writing about this one.
Hungary
Slovakia
Czech Republic
Estonia
Our flight arrived in Tallinn at about 10pm. We had a bus take us to the hotel. Then we went to bed.
The hotel was alright. The room was small but nice enough. The TV programming sucked. I read a little of a Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. book that I had picked up in Prague for the flight. Good reading.
Sunday, October 9th, we were able to sleep in till a decent hour. We ate breakfast (this hotel probably had the worst continental breakfast of all of them, but it was still worthwhile) and then headed out for a city walk at 11am. The hotel was perhaps fifteen minutes from the city center, so it was a good location. The tour itself was very good. The women giving it was entertaining and informative. Throughout most of Estonia’s history, they’ve been ruled by some foreign power – Sweden, Germany, Russia, etcetera. So a lot of the tour centered around this history. Interesting stuff.
Following the walk we had a quick hour break for lunch. I walked around a bit with one girl from the group, eventually had a coffee. Then we all joined back together and took public transportation to Audentes University, where we had a lecture with a professor there, Ivar Raig.
This lecture was memorable, if not particularly useful or worthwhile. Raig is an outspoken eurosceptic who didn’t have too many positive words for the EU. It was mostly odd-ball ranting. Eh.
We got away from him at three thirty, and had the rest of the day off. I walked around the city some more, but since it was Sunday, not much was open. I eventually ate at a place called “The African Restaurant”. All of the servers were cute blonde Estonians, but in the kitchen they had a few Africans. Heh. The food was good, I forget what I got. Also had some sort of African specialty drink. It wasn’t quite tea, and it wasn’t quite coffee. It was enjoyable nonetheless. On the way back to the hotel, I ducked into a liquor store and bought a bottle of cheap and very bad wine. Drank a little and read some more Vonnegut back at the hotel.
Monday, October 10th, we had a little more on our schedule. We ate breakfast and were at the first meeting by ten. Three meetings, they were all pretty decent in hindsight. We also had a tour of the Estonian Parliament building, which was very nice. At six we had a finishing tutorial with one of the tutors. At eight we had the final dinner, which was on the study abroad program’s dime. It was a medieval-themed restaurant. It was fun, the food was alright, the company was better.
Students started splitting, and I ended up being with three or four others, the last to leave. We stepped outside and began to make plans on what to do next, when the people running the program stepped out, and invited us to a bar for a drink, on them. We went to this “white bar”, which was — you guessed it — very white. Walls, seats, lights, bar. Everything was white. And vinyl. This place was the epitome of the phrase “eurotrash”. Anyways, we had a round or two, had fun, and eventually headed back to the hotel. Made it back at eleven or so. Read a bit, drank a little wine, went to bed.
Tuesday, October 11th, we ate breakfast, checked out, and headed for the airport. Our flight departed Tallinn at noon, and we got back to Frankfurt at about one thirty. A bus brought us back to Freiburg, and I was back at my flat by five.
A wirlwind tour of Central and Eastern Europe. Guess you had to be there. I’ve left so much out. But jeez. I’m tired of writing about it by now!
Posted October 29th, 2005 at 6:56PM
This trip summary is taking way too long to write. This Thursday, we leave for the second long trip, were we’ll travel throughout Germany, France, and Belgium. A little more local, but still highly anticipated.
Hungary
Slovakia
Czech Republic
Estonia
We got to Prague at about one or two in the afternoon. We checked into our hotel. And it was amazing.
Every set of students got one of the corner rooms. Meaning, it was a suite with a huge balconey.
* large entry room
- roughly double the entire size of your average hotel room (especially in Europe)
- full set of furniture, desk, table, TV, mini fridge
* balconey
- again, about the same size of your average hotel room, went around the corner, scenic overview of Prague
* bedroom
- Comfortable beds, nicely furnished, clean
* one and a half bathrooms!
- in a frigging hotel, we had a crapper, then we had a seperate bathroom with great shower, double sinks, foot washing thing.
This hotel was great. The continental breakfast was only so-so (lots of breads and pastries, no eggs), and it was about a half hour’s walk from the hotel to the city center (and it was uphill), but the hotel was worth it.
Anyways, back to the trip. Adter checking in, we had to leave the hotel for the city tour. Yes, unfortunate at first. But the tour guide was actually very informative and engaging. We got to see a few of the more interesting buildings, and eventually ended up downtown, where we split up.
If you didn’t know much about Prague, like me, you’d be in for a surprise when you got there. Tourist hellhole.
I mean, it wasn’t so bad. But there were a lot of tour groups circulating around during the day. And walking around on the streets you heard more English than any other language. It seemed to be a lot of Brits. The German tourists were in full force also.
Feeding off of the masses of tourists, were tons of tiny, single-aisle stores. They all sold the same things: postcards, Russian dolls (you know, those wood ones), Soviet hats, tacky t-shirts (“CCCP”), shot glasses, other more intricate glasswares, etcetera.
Although, truthfully, I found a diamond in the rough at one place. The guy maintaining the store was obviously a hardcore Russian commie. His hat selection was very good, and in the back of the store he even had full jump suits, complete gas masks, and other sweet Soviet schwag. He seemed well-accustomed to selling military-surplus gear to young idealistic Americans. I bought a really awesome hat, and an extra red star pin. You can never have enough red star pins, trust me.
I contemplated buying a Russian doll for someone (anyone) back home, but the sheer amount of them intimidated me. Every store sold them. Which one would I buy from?
There were also street stalls set up, and they also had some cool stuff. One stall I came across had a lot of very nice metalwork, little knickknacks. I was very tempted to pick up a necklace. I haven’t worn a necklace in probably ten years.
Thursday night I just walked around a lot. Eventually wandered out of the tourist center, into slightly shady parts of town. Still felt safe though. Safer than wandering around Bratislava, at least. Bought a CD (I think it was Prague, might of been Bratislava, doesn’t matter), the new Queens of the Stone Age.
Also checked into a sleazy internet cafe for a quick surf. I seemed to of wandered into some sort of ethnic, African section of town. The guys were smoking hookahs on the ground floor, while a dozen or so computers from the early nineties were hooked in upstairs. I felt dirty after using the keyboard. But the guy running the joint was friendly enough, so hey.
Another thing I noticed about Prague immediately: how every liquor store, bar, gift shop, and convenience store sold absinthe. This is probably partly due to the fact that the Czech Republic produces so much of the stuff, and partly due to the amount of tourists hogging the streets, ready for a taste. So I picked some up Thursday night, a bottle advertising 35mg/kg of thujone, the legal limit in the EU. Walked back to the hotel, drank a glass, watched some TV, went to bed.
Friday, October 7th, we woke up fairly early. Ate breakfast, and then departed for a few meetings. Unmemorable, something about the Czech Republic, or the European Union, or politics. Something like that. They lasted from 9:30am till 5:30pm, with a few short breaks. Then, we were free for the day. But, at seven, there was an opera that we were informed about — La Traviata. After the good ballet in Bratislava, I decided to check out this opera, a steal at 16 euro. It was in Italian, with a teleprompter in the rafters translating to Czech. Suffice to say, I was totally lost during the first act. But during the intermission, I snagged a glance at a summary, and it began to make more sense. In one sentence? Your typical love story. The set was very elaborate, with a revolving center. The singing was great as far as I was concerned, and all it all, it seemed to be a fine opera.
Yeah, I really can’t tell between a good and bad opera. Well, I might pick up if one is completely atrocious, but other than that…
After the opera, I headed back to the hotel. It was nearly 10pm, and since the next day was a Saturday, which we had free, it was decided that tonight would be a good time to par-teh. Especially with such free access to the green fairy. I showered, and showed up at the designated room. First to arrive, last to leave. Spent a lot of time on their balconey, smoking a cigar and talking to a girl.
I downed my bottle of absinthe. I was mixing it with Fanta, and it was damn smooth going down. And once my bottle was done, I started on someone else’s. I guess she either didn’t particularly like it, or had had enough. I didn’t ask why she had offered it.
I won’t begin to try to describe the difference between absinthe and your traditional high-potency alcohol, but it’s there. It’s damn subtle, but there. The problem is, is that people go into it with misconceptions. Expecting to trip. It’s not going to happen. At least as far as EU-legal, cheap absinthe goes.
The party winded down at about three, just as I began to feel a bit nauseous. Passed up a pipe, went back to the hotel room, made out with the toilet a bit. Drank some water, went to sleep.
Saturday, October 8th was a memorable day. I woke up with a unique hangover. My head was clear. My stomach didn’t have that ‘heavy’ feeling that it sometimes gets (especially after a lot of malts). But I felt very sick nonetheless. Almost flu like symptoms? Anyways. Threw up some more. I couldn’t make the noon checkout time, so I had the roommate check in my key card, and I took my time packing up. The maid actually showed up exactly at noon, which was really odd. So I hustled a bit more.
I checked my bag into the luggage room, and then made my way — slowly — out of the hotel. I walked down the hill. My pace was excruciatingly slow. I felt like throwing up some more, but that might of been a bit uncouth in the middle of the sidewalk (I wasn’t in Dublin, afterall). Looking back, it’s actually quite humorous. I made it to a cafe, and ordered a glass of orange juice. Mostly so that I could sit. It was your standard eight or twelve ounces of juice. And it took me a full hour to drink it, tiny sip by tiny sip. The owners had to think that I was an odd character.
After the juice, I felt marginally better. Decided to step up to some food. Walked a little further, found a pub-sort of establishment. It was only two or so in the afternoon, so it was pretty quiet. But packed at the same time. The only seating was at the bar, which was conspicuously vacant. They were busy, so my meal took a while to arrive. I ate slowly, keeping everything down. What a battle.
Eventually had to wander back up to the hotel. I was feeling my oats again by the time we left at five. To get to Tallinn, we were flying. We arrived at the airport, sat around for a bit. Decent-sized airport. At one point, to use up some excess local currency, I bought an ice cream and a soda at one of the stores. Two of my friends were in line ahead of me, buying similar trash. When I got to the front, the girl at the register rang up my items, and then pulled a CD from underneath the counter and surreptitiously handed it to me, saying, “This is a present for you.” I dumbly accepted it without a second thought. Once out of the store, I realized that no one else had gotten one. I looked back at her, smiled.
It was a sampler, of Czech and Slovak lounge music. Not traditional lounge as in Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, but new-age, laid back trance. I guess I just looked like I’d be a bit more into it than my two compadres. Although they are hep looking cats.
I’ve added it to iTunes, and do indeed enjoy it. Thanks random Czech girl who I met for all of two seconds.
Free music rocks.
After this, I ate my ice cream, and then boarded the plane, headed towards Tallinn. It was a smaller plane, Airbus, and our group made up the majority of passengers on board. I switched seats with someone who had a severe case of pre-flight jitters, needed a window seat. Oh, and we actually got a meal. The flight was only three hours. Pleasant surprise.
Posted October 21st, 2005 at 4:45PM
Sitting here on a Friday night, dreaming up schemes and drinking cheap wine, I decided to write about the second leg of my trip.
Hungary
Slovakia
Czech Republic
Estonia
We arrived in Slovakia on Tuesday, October 4th at about six pm. The hotel was a decent distance (and also uphill) from the part of town with stores, restaurants, and bars, but it was still a nice enough hotel overall. The only real drawbacks were that they only issued one key per room, and we were in doubles. And the shower was also woefully inadequate, so I ended up taking baths. Not entirely bad. The continental breakfast here was also very good.
After moving my stuff into the room, I headed into town alone. Found the center of town without any effort, and walked about. The downtown area of Bratislava was very nice. There was, on one side of a major thruway, the ‘old city’, complete with the requisite cobblestone, pedestrian-only streets. On the other side, was the more modern section. I’m sure there was a high-scale area somewhere, but the modern section that I walked about was fairly dingy, filled with second-rate, dubious shops. My sort of area. In one spot, there was a narrow alleyway that I wandered into, and throughout the entire way there was a sort of market that had sprung up, mostly used clothes and cheap jewelry.
I walked around for a few hours, and finally settled onto a bench in a large, well-lit square with two impressive churches on either side. There were choirs singing from both, and it was really a lovely atmosphere. I slowly smoked a cigar and sipped jager from my flask for nearly an hour, people-watching. Afterwards, I ate a quick wrap, and then stumbled upon a group of Americans. I joined them for a bar or two (or three), and then departed. Walked back to the hotel, fairly early, and called it a night. We had gotten in so late, that there was not a whole lot that we could have done that day. On the way back to the hotel, I tried to take a new way, and got a bit lost. I mean, I knew where the nice city center was, so I eventually backtracked. But outside of the shop / restaurant area, Bratislava was pretty sketcky. Especially late at night. A few times I questioned the wisdom of walking about alone (which is forbidden according to the higher-ups in the study abroad program. But I’m a rebel).
Wednesday, October 5th, we left early for three educational seminars. These were alright, nothing to write home about. Including a quick lunch break, they lasted from 9:30am till 4pm. This was also the evening on which we had the chance to go to an opera on the program’s dime. It was at 6pm — Swan Lake by the Slovak National Theatre. There was not enough time to go back to the hotel, so I wore business-formal attire the entire day. It killed my feet, wearing my dress shoes all day.
The ballet was great, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t have a whole lot to compare it to, being my first ballet. But it certainly was a dash of culture. I think that I enjoyed it more than I expected to. Originally, I was pretty much only going out of some sort of obligation of seeming cultured. Oh, and it was free. But I genuinely enjoyed myself. Some of the moves were amazing, and the orchestra was grand (there was one lead clarinet that I could see from where I sat; she seemed to get many important parts, and the music reminded me of when I use to play). The only thing worth mentioning that was not particularly impressive, was the spot-lighting. It was pretty so-so, but I think that the only reason I noticed was because I had to deal with shoddy spot-lighting in high school, when I did the lighting for a few plays.
Afterwards, I went back to the hotel since it was getting a bit late, and I didn’t really feel like drinking. Not sure why. Watched some TV.
Thursday, October 6th, we ate breakfast and checked out of the hotel early, bound for Prague, via bus.
Posted October 17th, 2005 at 5:31PM
Tonight, instead of doing the massive amount of classwork I have, I’ve been trying to find a way to visit Amsterdam. Just now, I found round-trip tickets to Amsterdam from Frankfurt for 101 euro, total. The actual tickets are 11 euro, but those pesky taxes add up. The only problem is that I’d be skipping a full day of classes, and I’d prolly be late for a few coming back. But I’d have four days to spend in Amsterdam. Hedging my bets on the fact that I probably won’t need to miss classes ever, and if I restrain myself from skipping any other time……
Going to talk to the guy I know who’s going this weekend, see what sort of deal he got. But this is by far the best deal I’ve found. Cheaper than taking a train. Plus it’s Lufthansa!
I am so close to booking the flight. So. Close.
UPDATE: Oh man! I just realized that it’s the weekend before final exams (I want to go Dec. 8th to the 12th). This would be too hilarious. I need to make this happen.
SECOND UPDATE: I found a better time table, that would involve only missing one class on Friday. Additionally, I don’t seem to have any finals on Monday, so that’s clear. Everything is falling into place, and I found the same tickets today, proving that last night was not a fluke. Amsterdam, here I come.
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