Pannenkoeken en koffie

Do not adjust your monitors, the trains to Ghent and Amsterdam really did take forever. We took intercity trains (as opposed to the more expensive high speed ones), which left us plenty of time to reflect, nap, and take video. El Dragon likes seeing the countryside whiz by at relatively high speeds.

Youth Hostel Meeting point was...ok. I'm glad we didn't stay there the whole time. 2 rooms with 18 beds apiece sharing 4 showers isn't the most ideal set of living conditions. There was a gaggle of boys form Normandy sleeping in the bunks across from me. They spent 2 days talking trash in French until I snapped the last day and called them out. It was funny. Rule of travel: Never assume the person next to you doesn't speak your language.

As I have previously stated, Amsterdam is a wonderful city to wander in, preferably away from Centraal Station and the red light district with their hustle and bustle (pun intended). According to one of our travel books, some 20,000 of Amsterdam's innumerable bicycles end up in the canals every year. The salvage industry must be booming there. Despite all of the attention and activity around the canals, I don't think I saw a single moving boat while we were there. Wait, scratch that. I saw the "hop-on, hop-off" canal buses for those travelers too inept to take the tram (it's not a bus, it's a TRAM!) and too lazy to walk or bike.

It's truly a shame we couldn't sneak some video of the interior of the Van Gogh Museum. Its titular collection aside, it's really a nice exhibition space. Instead, we give you, dear readers, a montage of every single sign within a kilometer that makes reference to the museum. Also, directions to the nearest phone booth.

The picture of the naked women forming a bridge is the work of an American artist named Spencer Tunick. He has made his name traveling around the world doing massive installations involving thousands of naked volunteers. If you are interested, here is more info on him.

The video also gives you a small taste of our ever-changing cast of cheap umbrellas. The one you see Anders purchase is actually his second. The first was bought just a few steps away from Mannekin-Pis and had a really cool newsprint design. It lasted all of 3 days. Stef's rainbow rain protection was bought in Amsterdam and fared the best of the bunch. Mine took some severe punishment from the wind and disappeared on my last day in Paris.

-Eric

Days Seven and Eight: Arrival in Amsterdam

re: Day Six: Ghent

So, the camera is deciding to work again. I will probably finish up all of the video when I get home and then post them here.

I have finished Ghent, the video pretty much speaks for itself.



-Anders

Eric on Amsterdam

Amsterdam was terribly busy and loud this time around. Everything is under construction and every restaurant or souvenir stand owner is eying your wallet. This is most likely due to the location of our hostels, both in close proximity to Centraal Station. We did eventually escape the center to wander along narrow streets lined with flat-faced brown brick houses with tastefully adorned living rooms that open directly onto the sidewalk covered in parked bicycles. Lime-green trees hang over arched stone bridges trimmed with white lights. There is something infectiously cheerful about the Dutch. Their language has a natural bounce to it, the bulk of the population rides a bike to work, and the general environment inspires calm. Furthermore, traffic is regulated using a system of bells. I'm not even kidding.

I can't believe how much time we spent here on shoes. OMG SHOES. Very sexy video montage in the works on that very subject. Both Steff and Anders were pleased with their purchases though.

Next stop, Paris!

-Eric

Uninformed art critique: Amsterdam

Van Gogh, despite his fame, was by no means a master of his art. This first became apparent to me during my first visit. I had always enjoyed his work, but essentially from afar. Seeing work that spans the entire career of an artist provides the means to really "get" him/her. Last year l was most struck by the technical flaws: perspective problems in still lifes, impossible points of view and misshapen body parts in portraits, etc. This year I focused on the influence of the post impressionists, especially the pointillists, on his work. Van Gogh's color palette brightened drastically after he moved to Paris: and he very successfully integrated pointillism into his own emotional and very tactile painting style.

The Rijksmuseum was surprisingly quite fascinating. The work of the Dutch and Flemish masters is so detailed you want to reach into the canvas. People look alive and glowing. Fruit glistens in intricately painted porcelain bowls. Dutch aristocrats apparently had enormous foreheads.

Thank you for indulging in my amateurish musings. More to come.

-Eric

Camera Down!

Hello everybody, it is now day ten, and our last day in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam. Has been chaos. Our first hostel was super shady, and we were in an 18 bed dorm with our stuff all locked up in big steel drums the entire time. We are now in a much better hostel called the Flying Pig. This place is awesome. When you first walk in the have a bar with a pool table and "the pillow room" (exactly what it sounds like). No shoes allowed. I am currently in the basement kitchen / living room. There are couches, soft lighting, and a big screen TV. They are currently serving the free breakfast. Also, they offer free skype phone calling, internet terminals, and wi-fi.

This town is super touristy, everything is very expensive. The food is generally crappy, greasy stuff. Also, it is incredibly easy to get lost in Amsterdam.

So, in these last few days, we've seen the Van Gogh museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Anne Frank house. Not to mention, the red light district. That shit is crazy.

Unfortunately, I haven't captured much on film because we were uncomfortable carrying the camera around (security). And also, the camera is having problems. It is demanding a head cleaning cassette again, so the video it spits out is all garbled until we can get it fixed, or until I can get it home. Sooo...maybe no more video until we come home =(

We are heading out to Paris tomorrow! Excitement!

-Anders 11:30 AM 6/27/07

Day Six: Ghent

Day Six:

On day six we travelled to the city of Ghent, 30 minutes outside of Brussels (unless you are on the slow train like us).

Anyways, we are currently in Amsterdam in a super crazy ghetto hostel on a crappy internet terminal since they do not have wi-fi. I will be uploading our Ghent material once we get somewhere safe enough to take the laptop out (tomorrow). Until then!

-Anders 6/25/07 12PM

Day Five: Rain on our Parade

Day five:

In a hurry so I'll make this brief.

Steff really wanted to go to this flea market on the south side of town, so we trekked out there to check it out. Turned out to be a flea market. Ferreals. I didn't find anything that I MUST HAVE, but Steff bought a pair of old fashioned keys.

After that we of course lounged around in a pub for breakfast. Then we hiked up to the Grand Sablon, another famous plaza area. There was supposed to be an antique market going at the base of this old gothic church, but it appeared to be closed for the day. We also stopped by Wittamer chocolatier who are the chocolatiers who supply the royal family and bought some chocolate.

Unfortunately, the weather was pretty foul and it began to rain during lunch. And boy did it pour.

So, on our way back to the main strip, something unthinkable happened: I was dragged into a salon and violated. Basically, my beard (and thus my manhood) was unceremoniously removed without my permission. Hacked. Butchered. I am still in shock. My face is fucking weird looking.

-Anders 10:35AM 6/24/07

Brussels, circa day 4

Alex and Elliott
We were napping in our room when the new roommates arrived. Alex and Elliott are both students at the University of Virginia. She's from Colombia, is majoring in psychology, and is taking her boy around Europe to, among other things, visit her mother & sister, who live in Holland. Elliott just finished a six-year stint in the National Guard. They joined us in our search for the fabled Delirium Tremens Cafe. We had a general idea of where to find it...

We got caught in an immense downpour, the kind that brought about the term "coming down in buckets" and circled the area repeatedly without luck. As the rain cleared, Alex finally caved and asked for directions, and we discovered we were only 100 feet away. Delirium, and it's counterpart, Floris, occupies its own alley, which was full of intoxicated teenagers. The bar downstairs was spacious, but packed to the brim since Thursday is free music night. The band on stage was playing "I shot the sheriff" I immediately felt at home. I could easily imagine myself hanging out here on less crowded nights. We took a table on the terrace (read: alley) and soon discovered that Floris served a large variety of absinthe. Each of us tried a different variety, most of them arguably too vile for human consumption.

Subsequent topics of conversation included: The taxing nature of international travel, cultural differences within Europe, the psychology of language acquisition, the differences between Belgian and American beers (Elliott shares my love of IPAs) and our parents.

Shortly after our departure from Delirium, we found two oft-sought-after late-nite gems: an open kebab stand and a super-underground Moroccan discotheque. The rest is better explained on video.

The following day, Anders beard was released into the wilds of Belgium by a trained beard-handler. Both the beard and its host were in a temporary state of shock, which is perfectly normal given the abrupt nature of their separation. He had wanted a haircut, and the salon looked inviting, so we browsed through a catalog and found a super-Euro cut he liked. The hairdresser offered to “trim” his beard (not some other word with a more open-ended definition), but then, to our videotaped shock and awe, she promptly buzzed it all off. Steff and I agree that it's a good look for him. He doesn't seem to agree, but his face fuzz is growing back quickly.

-Eric

Day Four: Brussels Madness.

Day Four:

We begin the day with a kebab from "Sultan of Kebab." This is definitely my favorite kebab so far. Apparently kebab is like the fast food of choice. I don't know how good this stuff actually is for you, but it's got to be better than American fast food. The concept is so simple, I don't know why we don't have kebab shops all over the damn place in the states too.

Anyway, after our kebab we hung around Grand Place waiting for the chocolate museum's demonstration to begin. We tried a beer sampling at a cafe, the beer was decent but not awesome. I think that our beer-o-meter is at around nine or ten new beers tried at this point. Maybe more. I know that at the time of writing the number stands around 21-25. I've lost track.

So we try the beers and then head over to the chocolate museum. There is this charming old woman who gives the demonstration to us in English. The place of course smells heavenly. She cracks cute jokes in each language she gives the presentation in. We try some fresh dark chocolate seashells. I try to ask her why I always see Belgian chocolates in seashell shapes. No conclusive answer.

After the chocolate museum, we ride the metro to the Royal Park and lounge around for a while before going and sitting in front of the Royal Palace. We discuss the possibility of taking off early since we are running out of activities in Brussels sooner than thought. We return to the hostel to try to figure out revised plans.

But instead we fall asleep and wake up when our new room mates, Elliott and Alexandra, walk in. Fortuitously, they turn out to be a catalyst of some sort that propel us into a mad drinking frenzy.

We go searching for the Delirium Tremens Cafe. We zig zag around the Grand Place, unable to locate the cafe until Alex asks for directions. It is just one block from where we are. Delirium holds the Guinness World Record for most number of beers available for sale in one location (2004). The place is super crowded because it is also live music night, so we each grab our beers and sit in the alley.

Across from Delirium is a place called Fortis, whose sign claims it is a "Whiskey" bar. But inside, we find very little whiskey but over 200 brands of absinthe. Hmmmm....

After the absinthe tasting, we walk around in a haze until we could locate fries and a hooka bar. The rest is history, and of course, all caught on tape.

-Anders 6/23/07 10:45 AM

p.s. sorry, slow on the video. Will try and upload two days worth tonight.

More day 3

I hopped on a 6am train to Paris to meet up with Steff and Anders. I was mildly concerned because I hadn't heard from them since their layover in Newark. My train was late, which did not improve things.

I arrived at Montparnasse at 8:25, bolted to the metro, waited ten minute in line to buy a ticket, and took the metro across town to Garde du Nord. Mild panic ensued when I didn't find them immediately. Suddenly, the crowd melted away to reveal my beloved Steffany. Moments later, Anders appeared, video camera in hand, in much the same way. It wasn't some perfect cinematic moment, but it was equally as cathartic.

Our train left while we waited in line to get our railpasses stamped. We climbed aboard what we thought was the next one, and discovered otherwise just in time to miss it. We exchanged our reservations, bought some sandwiches from exotiq, my second-favorite sandwich place in Paris, and finally got on a third train. They got salami. I got a chicken curry panini. The ride was brief, about an hour and a half. We did much catching up.

We got lost trying to find our hostel. after 20 minutes of looking for the "you are here" on a map posted in front of the world trade center, a nice man offered to help and told us we were actually off the map (I'd like a word with with the manager, please) and we were only 2 blocks away from our destination. As you can see in the video, our hostel is better furnished than your parents house. Bienvenue a Bruxelles.

-Eric

Day 3: Brussels

Our third day in Europe:

Steff and I left our hostel early to meet Eric at the Gare du Nord train station, mistakenly thinking his train would arrive there at 9:25, when in fact his train was arriving at Gare du l'Est and he would be walking over to our location. So needless to say, we started to panic a little bit thinking we would miss our reservation. Which we did. But that turned out to not be a big deal at all. They give reservations out like candy.

So, after a short and sweet train ride we arrived in Brussels, Belgium. Capital of Europe. We checked into our hostel after becoming briefly lost, "2Go4"which you may be able to see in the video is a very hip, totally Ikea'd hostel. Looks very expensive, and our room is very nice. We got started much earlier than anticipated and wound up venturing out into the Grande Place which you may recognize from movies and television. Its this huge old square (built in the early 17th century after the original area was artillery bombed by the French) that now has become the center for the tourist area. Many people here speak English , but Steff and I are still a bit shy about dealing with service people.

Also on this day we visited the legendary Mannekin Pis. You will see him in the video. Much smaller than expected actually. You'll also see a shot of Mannekin Pis merch. There are shops all over the place that sell anything and everything with Mannekin Pis' image on it. Corkscrews where his penis becomes the screw, lighters, postcards, statues, stickers, and even lace embroidery with the little pissing boy's image(Belgium is also famous for its traditional lace)!

Finally, we lounged around and tried our first Belgian beers before going to a bar called "Le Cercueil" or, "the Coffin." You can't tell in the video because the interior of this place was almost pitch black, but the inside was decorated with coffin tables and funeral wreaths, and had a dinstinctive embossed black wallpaper. The clientèle and bartender were very pleasant though. We drank beers from skull-shaped mugs before retiring for the night.

More to come. Usually too tired at night to call you guys, will get to it soon though, promise!

-Anders 6/22/07 10AM

Day 1 / 2: Arrival

We have arrived! Actually, we are sitting in our hostel in Brussels right now. We were unable to get internet access on our first day in Paris.
We made it to our first flight with just five minutes to spare (we had to stop by the exchange to rectify their mistake). We had a two hour layover at Newark, then another seven hours to Paris. I hate air travel. Fourteen total hours of cramped up Anders in a crappy airplane seat. Then when we arrived at 11AM local time in Paris (felt like 2AM to me), our reserved shuttle was no where to be found and was two hours late.
Our first hostel, "Peace and Love" was a tiny, cute little place. We had to sign in at the bar they run and enter a small nondescript door to the side where the rooms were up a spiral staircase. I didn't feel jetlagged at all, so we marched around town and found some food (doner kebab). Then suddenly I passed out at 6PM and woke up again midnight to the sound of the bar bumping Tupac.

So, the video will say "Day One" but in fact, it is days one and two - I totally lost a day in there. I got to practice editing video and I think it's tons of fun. However, its still just six minutes of boring travel footage. I'll try to improve content next time =)

More about today's events in my next post!

-Anders 6/20/07 2:45 PM

Blogger is gooooo!

hello, anders here. its a whole month until steffany and i embark on our epic journey through a tiny portion of europe with eric, but here i am setting up our blogger account. at this stage we've still got to plan out the last two-thirds of our trip, but i am super excited already.

anyway, all things going smoothly, this spot will be filled with pics and video and bloggings of the awesomeness starting june 18th/19th.

-anders