Hello everyone! Ca va bien?
I am in Belgium now, and I have been here for about 6 days now! First "In Brugge", then in Brussels, and now in a little town called Namur. Leahs {my sister} friend Amelie lives here and I am enjoying some down time with her! Today we visited the old town of Namur including the very old Citadelle {with les sous terrains}, a cathedral and then we also took a boat tour on the river {Sembre and la Meuse} and then bought some yummy cheese with sweet belgium crackers, plus some other groceries, for dinner! We had a few mojitos last night on la terrace by Amelie and also enjoyed a cafe there today! It has been great weather in Belgium and Ive been very lucky!
When I wrote last I was on my way to meet Jenna G {a cheerleading friend} who is going to school is Liverpool. I stayed at her dorm for 3 days and we drank lots of wine, ate lots of chocolate cake, lots of cheese and made some very delicious dinners! We had a snack once downtown I think on the hottest day of the year in Liverpool, and went to the largest Cathedral in great britain {sort of like their version of the CN tower where you can see the whole city from the top}. Although I know that Liverpool is the Capital of the Beatles, but I honestly did something much more fun . . . saw an ABBA tribute group at a beautiful old theatre! Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, etc. all played there many years ago. It was the most beautiful theatre I have ever seen, with many chandeliers and plastered ceilings! Jenna and I had a great time together, and I even caught some sunshine on my deathly white skin on her not-so-much-a-deck-more-like-a-fire-escape deck! Since Liverpool is a major shipping port the docks there are very touristy so I walked around and had lunch by myself, but I am now feeling a bit better about not feeling like an idiot eating alone!
After some frustrating time on the phone to the Eurail people {who are useless, of course} I made my way to the airport at 6 to catch a flight to Paris! I was sad to leave Jenna, but it was really really nice to have a taste of home so far axay! see you in August Jenna! Email Gooey . . . or forward it to me and I will, haha
Anyway, Paris is Paris! Beautiful in the tourist and old part, but dirty, loud, congested in the rest of the city! My favorite part of Paris is that you can drink in the parks and that you can walk by 5 Pattisserie per block! However, this created many more problems for me because as many of you know it i hard for me to keep my hands off anything sweet!!! So I devoured many tartelettes and chocolats!! In paris I spent my 24th birthday at the Eiffel Tower with a big botle of wine and the twinkling tower! It was beautiful of course, and i had brilliant weather to sit in the park! I also was meaning to take a walking tour {which got cancelled} so I ended up taking a bike tour and I really enjoyed pedalling rather than walking for once! I also met Andrea from the U of T who was originally from Vancouver and had the whole west coast hippie vibe going on. What was even better was that when she was returning from Paris she was starting her family med residency so we had lots to talk about! During the bike tour we had a great little lunch in a park which I cant remember the name of now and saw many of the big sites {Eiffel, larc de triomphe, Louvre, etc.}and had a pretty funny guide from texas who insisted we yell YEE HAW as we entered the wild and crazy Plade de la Concorde on our bikes! His theory was to just get the 20 bikes in the way of the insane french drivers and they will have to stop . . . it was interesting!
During my journey I have started to compare subways and Paris has an ugly one. Its too bad because it seems so romantic to be in Paris . . . until you have to take the subway! London is not so bad, Dublin is wonerful {but its above ground} and Montreal is better. In london there are no garbage cans because of the bombings a while back, which is really frustrating whan your ooey gooey greasy snack wrapper needs to be held onto until you can escape the tube and the crazy urgent londoners in the tube!! oh boy
Following Paris I took a train to Brugge, in the northern part of Belgium. They speak mostly flemish there, but also some french. However, there are many tourists and lots of the shop people sort of treat you like cattle since they are so used to the crowds. Its sometimes very disappointing, but the city is beautiful. I went to the market on saturday but I had no idea what the stands people were yelling about their fruit! I bought a beautiful scarf and some fruit though; I tried to order in french but they just get all huffy puffy and reply in english! oh dear
After Brugge {and some fun cycling around windmills and farms near Damme} I was off to Brussels for one night! I walked around the old town there in one evening and then really had nothing else to do. The government buildings are very beautiful, and they have palaces because there are monarchs here, but other than that there is not much to do in Brussels. I have to say I was disappointed with it! there is so much to say but I really should cut this short now! On friday I go to Berlin and then off to Prague! I am excited to see both of those cities but I am getting very sick of being in big cities. I love travelling, but I know my home will always be somewhere smaller and cozy!
I will go to bed now, I walked Amelie to pieces today and she is dying to sleep! We got sunburnt today but nothing a little cheese and crackers wont fix! Goodnight from Namur . . . cheer for me at the Rider game!!!!!
Amanda xoxo
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