Sign In
Travel Blog Posts
September 15th 2010
Last day of not only Berlin, but of the trip altogether. We kind of feel like we're getting a second wind and would love a few more days, but we have to go home sometime. The morning began with a trip to the Gemaldegalerie, which has a large collection of Europe's finest masterpieces, including Bosch, Brueghel, Titian, Raphael, Rembrandt, Rubens, and Carvaggio to name just a few. Best museum of Berllin in my opinion. Then on to the Deutsches Guggenheim, which showcases temporary exhibitions of modern art. We were probably out of there within 30 minutes b/c the the museum is very brief in content and not up our alley at all. Mostly video art installations. We then tried to find a Turkish market we heard about, but that was a no go as I don't ... read more
September 14th 2010
Today we again started out w/ our inexpensive sandwiches and some struedel. Then we went to the two remaining museums on Museum Isle, the Altes Nationalgalerie (19th century art) and the Deutches Historisches Museum (German History Museum). Both were excellent museums, though the Altes Nationalgalerie did not take very long to complete. The German History Museum is an amazing colaboration of photography, artifacts, artwork, and documentation of Germany's history. Of course, the popular era for visiting is from 1933 - 1945 when the Nazi party came to power and then the second World War began. The degree of propaganda used by the party is of particular fascination...unbelievable. Afterwords, we took the metro to Pariser Platz where we saw the Brandenburger Tor, Reichstag, and the Holocaust Memorial & Museum. Again, another eventful day that left us exhausted. ... read more
September 13th 2010
Wow, Brandi and I have not worked this hard during our whole vacation. We somehow managed to cover 6 museums/sites today. We began by getting breakfast at a little sandwich shop at the grocery store next door. We ate for only 5.70 euro...total! (turkey sandwich, crousant, two coffees) Berlin really is turning out to be much more reasonable price-wise than any other city, though the city is not as condensed as the others. In other words, it's a bit of a hike to get anywhere so the metro passes we bought will come in handy. Then we tackled the Neues Museum (Egyptian), Pergamonmuseum (Classical antiquities), Bode Museum (Sculpture/Byzantine), Altes Museum (Classical antiquities), Check Point Charlie (Checkpoint b/t American occupied Berlin and Russian occupied Berlin), and the Typographie of Terror Museum (History of the rise of Nazi ... read more
September 12th 2010
All went well this morning as for transportation went. Despite the following schedule, everything was on time: Metro 1 Metro 2 Train 1 Train 2 Metro 3 Metro 4, then walk to hotel. Piece of cake. The room at Winter's - Hotel Gendermenmarkt is on the small side, but very chic and modern. We then walked west to Potsdamer Platz where there is a mall, Sony Center, and plenty of places to eat, as well as pieces of the Berlin wall. Since it was so late on a Sunday, everything around here was pretty much closed and we aren't up for much at this point anyways. We settled for dinner and sat outside where we dined on spaetzl, kraut, potatos, and sausage...and of course a few german beers.... read more
September 11th 2010
Day 2 Brussels We got ourselves the 24-hour Brussels pass that gives you free admission to museums and transportation (metro, bus and tram). Then headed right to the Belgium Museum of Brewers since it was right next door to the tourism information office. Not a whole lot to look at, but at the end you can have a couple of samples in their neat little bar area. This was wonderful, b/c I got to talk with the curator about Belgian beer and he was very nice to talk to...we made fun of wine lovers and held our pinkies in the air as we simulated drinking wine. Then we went to three art museums: Royal Museum of Ancient Art, & Modern Art, and the Magritte Museum. All three were very interesting, but the Ancient Art Museum was ... read more
September 10th 2010
We began the morning having breakfast with the other new tenants of the B&B, but no one spoke Then on to the bus to the train station. The train from Brugge was nice, and only about an hour. The hotel is literally 50 yars from the Brussels - Centraal station. The room is great, very elegant...though I already screwed up and moved some drinks around in the computerized mini-fridge and it charged me at least 10 euro thinking that I was drinking them. The front desk confirmed that this would be taken care of upon check out...oops. Who new that a fridge had billing capabilities? Off to the Grote Markt (Grand Place) where all of the action is. Just as we remember it (we stopped in Brussels on a day tour from Holland about 5 years ... read more
September 9th 2010
Another nice day in Brugge, with the exception of being charged 9 euro for a Coca Cola at a restaurant...the waiter just ended up paying for it by not getting a tip. Other than that, the day was fun. It started at breakfast with our hosts and we met the other two couples staying at the B&B. Both couples were older, one from London and the other from a little town in Holland. It was very nice speaking with them and seeing where they were going next. We walked around and ventured into a few areas that we hadn't seen before. I tried to find a brewery just to the east of Brugge but it appparently isn't there anymore because at the address I had, there was a giant hole filled with construction workers. We went ... read more
Bless this city - Brugge, Belgium - Day 1
Published: September 8th 2010Europe » Belgium » West Flanders » Brugge
September 8th 2010
Today started very early, and we raced to the Paris - Gare Du Nord train station. It was very overwhelming at first....I haven't been that lost ever. We did finally make our way to the correct rain platform only to find out that the train we needed was cancelled....but an earlier one was leaving within minutes. We managed to get ourselves on that train and rode out to Brussels where we caught another train to Brugge. Travel timewas not over, as we fought our way onto an extraordinarily crowded bus through Brugge (I think school just let out). We missed our stop, but only by 100 yards or so, and walked it to our bed and breakfast at the home of Marie-Rose DeBruyne. Using the door code given us, we entered and found our room just ... read more
September 7th 2010
Wow, another exciting day has come to a close. First thing this morning we went to the Catacombs of Paris. We decended down a round of stairs for quite some time and then entered the underground stone-coated tunnels. It was like something out of a movie. We walked for quite some time before encountering the area where they have the walls of bones. When I say walls, I mean 6-foot high, about 9-12 feet deep, and I am not sure of the entire length, but we walked for quite some time. It was quite surreal even though I have seen many pictures before. We spent awhile down there travelling the path that is set for you (thank goodness the blocked off all of the forks in the tunnels with iron gates to keep you moving on ... read more
September 6th 2010
Day 3 was another great day in Paris. We started the day with a Starbucks and took the metro to Centre Pompidou museum. Despite not being a big fan of modern art, particularly installation pieces, this museum was pretty fun. It was very entertaining and each collection was interesting to explore. The museum also had a nice collection of Picasso, Matisse, and a single Dali on display. We spent a couple hours in there and again used our Paris Pass to enter. Then on to a cafe nearby where they are very accustomed to tourists, so much so that the server took one look at us and handed over a menu in english...not sure what it was that gave us away. I proceeded to order in my broken French anyways just for practice and it must ... read more
Tot: 0.131s; Tpl: 0.007s; cc: 9; qc: 76; dbt: 0.0371s; 1; s:apollo w:www (50.28.60.10); sld: 1; ; mem: 6.5mb
© 2013 TravelBlog.org & Bloggers