EuroStars 2009: Brussels and Brugge

hello all!
well this is my first "OMG I TRAVELED LAST WEEKEND" post.

last weekend i went to belgium! it was really really cool, both literally cold and awesome. luckily it was only 60 pounds for the train ticket there and back, which was exciting because we went underneath the channel for a bit. and i went with my friend clenton who had been to brussels last year for ten days, so he really knew where to go. clenton is the man -- he is from nyc and goes to claire's school up in boston, and really good at navigating most situations.

since we got in around midnight on thursday night, we got some food and headed to a bar that clenton knew of. it was pretty european--completely techno music, smoking allowed in the bar, and creepy men with mullets. i was, of course, enthralled. and upset that my clothes smelled like smoke for days. but what made up for everything was that brussels was so reasonable in terms of price. perhaps it's just because i'm getting used to being raped by the pound-dollar exchange rate, but it was refreshing to go to a bar and not drop 20 pounds and eat actual food and whatnot. the food was my other favorite part of brussels: besides the obvious of chocolate and waffles, there were kebab places all over that were 24 hour and amazing, i miss greek/Mediterranean food more than i realized and died and went to heaven when i tasted it. i also had a wonderful french omelette AND excellent beef lasagna in brugge that was legit.

okay so apart from that tangent...on friday, we went to the Gran Plasse of brussels, which is kind of like their tourist center and whatnot.

myself and Claire, so happy to be in brussels!

the architecture was breathtaking. it was super gothic and european, and although it was raining a lot we enjoyed our time there. we went to a chocolate museum within the Gran Plasse and it was not as awesome as i wanted it to be, but the Belgian pride and culture was ever-present and adorable, as condescending as that may sound.

standard architecture for the Gran Plasse. my shot at Artistic representation. it's hard to capture the beauty in photographs because of the angles you miss out on, but i thought this was okay.

then we went to Mannekin Pis, the basic memorial of Brussels' culture. for some reason or other, that's what they're known for all over europe. so i was a total tourist and had a pic taken of me:

so cute. haha NOT. it was so cold! but this was too good to pass up.

Friday night, we met up with Claire's friend from home named Hope, who is studying in Florence and brought her two friends. they were really cool, and now when i go to visit Beth in Orvieto/Rome in March, we might meet up with them.

me being as Euro as possible, Claire, and the three girls from Florence: Ansley (from Alabama), Clara (from somewhere near East Hampton i think), and Hope (Claire's friend from home). this picture is Claire's and from Saturday night.

on Saturday, v-day!, we went to Brugge. it was beautiful! it looked like a movie set of what Europe should be: cobblestone streets, churches everywhere, canals, etc. it was only an hour trainride from Brussels and a nice change of scenery -- it was a beautiful day, and good for exploring. we went exploring through the city then to a brewery and then left.

the canals of Brugge.

the beautiful cobblestone streets of Bruge, with Clenton navigating us in the corner there..

this was a little church we found, it was beautiful. we could light candles for the dead, which i did for Pop-pop and Shana. i have not considered myself conventionally religious for years now, but if i was, i think these two photos would be some sort of proof of that.

we only had twenty minutes to spend there before the tour of the brewery, but it was beautiful.

from the top of the brewery, almost all of Brugge was visible, so i took some aerial shots. again, it looked fake.

they were doing a lot of construction, but it's so cute!

on Saturday night, back in Brussels, we went to a bar called Delirium, which was actually a street of bars in what looked like to be Brussels' china-town. it had over 2600 belgian beers on draft, so obviously the boys were happy with that, as well as absynthe. weirdly enough, claire ran into another girl from her hometown and also a boy from her and clenton's friend from school came to that bar, so it was cool to meet all those people. i also met a really nice couple from Sheffield in england, who gave me a euro when i didn't realize how much drinks cost and told me that whilst in England i MUST go to nottingham. okay. haha all in all it was a good night.

Sunday morning we caught the train back, which was a good thing because it gave us all of sunday to recuperate. i did some work. this week has been pretty standard in London.. i went on a run in St. James' park yesterday and remembered how much i like london, despite it's pathetic cold freezingness and paleness. haha and i booked some trips this week for the rest of the semester: paris, and the hostel for the first time i'm going to Amsterdam (in two weeks!), talked to Mariel and crew and figured out our major voyage over spring break. oh and parents: my final schedule will be up 27 Feb, so i have to wait to book Dublin until then, for fear that i might have finals everyday you are in Dublin. here's hoping that doesn't happen!

last night i saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which merely only solidified my desire to go to Barcelona. the only problem is, i might not have time. but Kelly is coming to stay with me for the last two weeks i'm here, and i think the dorm might have a problem with her staying so long so we might go to Barcelona for five days and come back. the movie was pretty good, but the scenery of gaudi made me remember how much i want to go there.. in Spanish classes i always had a preference studying Bar-the-lona over Madrid.. we shall see.

alright! i am going to submit my internship to Penguin right now and then probably take a nap. it's been kind of a grueling week academically -- i had to read Pamela in it's entirety, BLEH. and i have a presentation/essay due monday, so i need to work on that this weekend, i GUESS. Beth and i were just talking about how great it is that class is so secondary here. i am just happy it's the weekend again!

love from londontown!