Zandy
Alexandra Joined: August 16th 2009
Logged in: June 19th 2011
Logged in: June 19th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Canals
My dad came to visit me over my April break and we decided to go to Venice for a week. We rented an apartment that was recommended to us by a friend of mine from work. The apartment was wonderful because as we walked out the door, we could see the water and we were just a short 10 minute walk to St. Mark's Square. The part of Venice that we were staying in was also a bit less touristy, and there were many local shops just around the corner from out apartment. On the first day in Venice, my dad and I first stopped at a nearby cafe on the waterfront and enjoyed a delicious cappucinno. We then headed to St. Mark's Square and the Bascilica of St. Marks. It was a glorious first day ... read more
MISC 301
Today I went to Liege, which is the capitol of the French speaking part of Belgium. Liege is located next to the Meuse River and close to the Netherland and German borders. The Liège-Guillemins train station was designed by Santiago Calatrava and is quite the architectural structure. From the train station I first went to the Liege Cathedral, also known as St. Paul’s Cathedral. It contains St. Lambert’s tomb and is one of the original seven collegiate churches in Belgium. I then headed over to and began to climb the 400 steps stairway "Montagne de Bueren", which leads from Hors-Château to the Citadel. I didn’t end up going to the Citadel, but at the top of the stairs there is a magnificent view over the city. After climbing and descending the 400 steps, I walked over ... read more
First Belgian meal for Dad
My dad came to visit me for the second week of my April break, and ended up staying all of April!!! He was "stuck" in Europe for almost the entire month because of the volcanic ash and when we were in town on the weekends, we managed to take a few day trips to some different cities in Belgium. Our first trip was showing my dad around Brussels. I gave him my ultimate walking tour that I gave to my brother when he came to visit me in February (although my dad didn't try to change my route, unlike my brother!!). I took him to all the usual sights: Sablon, Monts des Arts, Grand Place, Manneken Pis, waffle stand, and of course, Fritland! The next day we took the train to Bruges and spent the day ... read more
Vasa Museum
For the first week of our April break, my housemate, Amanda, and I went to Stockholm. We left after Easter lunch on Sunday and spent four great days in the city! On our first day in Stockholm it was snowing!!! Amanda and I weren't too thrilled about this and so we decided to go to the Vasa Museum and wait out the snow. The Vasa Museum is a maritime museum that is located on the island of Djurgården. The museum displays the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged, the 64-gun warship Vasa that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. Vasa has been fitted with the lower sections of all three masts, a new bowsprit, winter rigging, and has had certain parts that were missing or heavily damaged replaced. The ... read more
Zurich, Switzerland
I spent a wonderful 3-day weekend in Switzerland to visit my friend, Isabelle, who I met while she was on exchange last year at Queen's. I arrived in Zurich on Thursday night and Isabelle picked me up at the airport because she lives in Winkel, which is a town that's only about ten minutes away from the airport. Once we got back to Isabelle's house, I met and talked to her father and brother and planned my visit in Switzerland with Isabelle. The next morning I went with Isabelle to Zurich. Isabelle had a class to go to in the morning, so I went down the popular shopping street, Bahnhofstrasse, and then wandered around the city while Isabelle was at class. Isabelle met me at noon in the city and we grabbed a Swiss sausage and ... read more
View from our hotel room
I went to Amsterdam for the weekend with five other teachers to celebrate our friend Lucia's 30th birthday. Lucia and I took the train after school on Friday and didn't get into Amsterdam until really late Friday night. We stayed at the Hilton, which was quite luxurious! On Saturday morning, Lucia and I had a huge (and delicious) buffet breakfast at the Hilton. After breakfast and before the others arrived in Amsterdam, Lucia and I walked to the museum district, took lots of pictures with the 'I Amsterdam' sign, and then went to the Van Gogh museum. After the museum, we walked over to the flower market alongside the river and met the others for lunch. The rest of the afternoon we spent walking around the city. We went to a few shops along the popular ... read more
Day 4 - Belem Tower in Lisbon
On day four of our roadtrip Derek and I had a lot planned before making the five hour drive to Cádiz, which is on the southern coast of Spain. We woke up early in the morning and drove to Belém Tower on the west side of Lisbon to take a few pictures. Belém Tower is a fortified tower and an UNESCO World Heritage Site due to the significant role it played in the Portuguese maritime discoveries. After the tower we decided to take a short detour and go to Sintra - a town just north of Lisbon. While looking around Lisbon we saw so many postcards showing the beautiful city of Sintra and it caught our interest so we knew we had to see it before leaving Portugal. The town of Sintra is also an UNESCO ... read more
Day 1 - Flying into Madrid
My brother, Derek, came to vist me over my February break from school and we decided to take a roadtrip around Spain and Portugal. We flew into Madrid on RyanAir and immediately went to Europcar to rent our car for the next five days. Once getting the car (we got a little Spanish Ibiza) and briefly scanning over the map to see how to get out of the city, we drove off towards Salamanca, which was our first stop for the night. We got to Salamanca in good time and only stopped once at a rest stop along the highway to get a few snacks. This is where I found the greatest Spanish souvenir ever - it was a bottle of sangria in a bottle shaped like a bull and it had castanets tied to its ... read more
Fritland!
Last week my brother, Derek, came to visit me in Brussels and we had a few days on either end of our roadtrip to spend in Brussels. On the first Saturday that Derek was here, we went downtown and did all the usual tourist things that you have to do in Brussels: go see the Grand Place, eat frites, waffles, and chocolates, go see the Mannekin Pis, go to Mussel Alley, go to the Rue Nueve, which is the huge shopping street in Brussels, and (most importantly...well to him it was) drink a beer while walking down the street. The next weekend in Brussels, we toured around the entire city and saw the Palace of Justice, the Grand Sablon area, Chocolate Square, the Royal Palace and all the museums, the Grand Place, the Mannekin and Jannekin ... read more
Margaret of Austria's house
On Saturday I took the train to Mechelen, which is in the Flemish part of Belgium about 25 minutes away from Brussels. On my way from the train station to the Grote Markt, I passed by the Saturday morning market and passed by the house and beautiful garden that used to belong to Magaret of Austria, who was Governess of the Netherlands in the 16th century. When I got to the Grote Markt, I looked around the market and saw the Mechelen City Hall. This city hall was built in the 14th century and was supposed to be an exact copy of the belfry in Bruge...but apparently it doesn't look anything like that. In the Grote Markt there was also a statue of Margaret of Austria. In 1830 the Belgian government ordered all cities to raise ... read more
