It's off to Brussels today. Caught the noon train and half an hour later I was in another country ready for the last stop on Part 1 of the vacation. Almost half way through it amazingly. Found my host's place with ease and soon we were getting acquainted. I am couch surfing here with a couple of American girls who are getting their masters degree here in Brussels. Both are students in International Relations and Brussels is kind of the perfect place for this as it is the home of the EU and subsequently a bunch of NGOs, think tanks and the like. There are really only two things in Brussels I wanted to see (Grand Place and Mannekin Pis) so I headed over to the centre city to do my touristy things for my trip ... read more

So today was my day to do all the touristy stuff in Paris. Took the metro from the hotel down to Notre Dame and had a quick walk around there. I remember this place being much more impressive as a kid but I guess that is pretty normal. From the outside today though it really didn't look like anything special. I didn't get the chance to go in as the lines were massive. Unfortunately this would be a trend that would continue throughout the day. Took a nice leisurely stroll along the Seine over to the Eiffel Tower and grabbed a quick lunch at a Chinese place nearby. I know I should probably try something a little more French like crepes or whatever but I don't care. Chinese is never a bad option for me. After ... read more

Checked out of the place with the amazingly small beds today and made our way over to Gare Nord so we could throw our bags in the locker until we met my Dad at his hotel tonight. From there it was just a quick walk for Pat and I over to the Montmartre area. The area used to be a bohemian neighborhood but from what I can see it is just overrun by tourists now. It is most well known for the church that is perched up on a hill called Sacre Couer. The outer façade is quite nice but the interior is the same as everything else I have seen, blah. It’s worth the trip for the views of the city which are pretty amazing. Especially since there are no high rises in the downtown ... read more

Today's activity was going to be a little more traditional but a lot more strenuous. A group of us that included myself, Cody (San Fran) and Jake and Joe (the OC) were going to rent bikes and trek up to some of the mountains down in this nearby valley. Got up pretty early to get a head start on the day and rented bikes from this nearby pizzeria. Everybody in this town has some connections to the action/adventure sports. It took us about an hour and a half of mostly uphill biking to reach the town of Lauterbrunner which sits at the end of one valley and from there we took another half an hour to bike down through the valley to another small town on the end. I know this is getting redundant but the ... read more

Started off my day with a nice run through Lyon with my host Michael. Got to see a little more of the city and the main park. I was pretty shocked to turn the corner on a path in the park and see a small free zoo right in the center there. Did a little run through there before heading back the way we came along the Rhone river. As I said in the blog before I wish I had more time to check out the city since I only saw a small part but I guess I cannot see everything this trip. Made it over to the station just in time to grab a quick lunch to eat on the train. The plan for the day is take the train to Geneva and find a ... read more