This Week in Europe: Brussels, Bruges and Amsterdam

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Hey Everyone,

Well, it's been an eventful week, so bear with me because there's a lot going on here.

Right, so Brussels. I can pretty much gloss right over this one and tell you that there's not much going on in Brussels. They have what's one of the most overrated national monuments I've ever seen (the 'Mannekin Pis', a fountain with a statue of a little boy peeing. It's so miniscule that when we walked by it we wouldn't have even known it was it if it wasn't for the hoards of tourists surrounding it), and it's basically a giant rat maye. Brussels has good fries (though not as good as Bruges) aaaaaaaand that's really about all I can say about it. Not much character. Not much going on.

On to Bruges. Bruges is the exact opposite of Brussels, and thank god. It's small and manageable and just lovely. Brick buildings everywhere. A big central town square and belfry (the 'Belfort', apparently featured in the movie 'In Bruges' which I am now dying to see). Cyclists far outnumber the cars. Fabulous fries, beer and chocolate. I. Love. Bruges. It is just so lovely. On our first day we got this map that's full of great local recommendations, and we we went to this candy shop that's run by a 90-year-old lady who was just great. She's been running that shop since 1950!!! She spoke broken French and English so we got a little conversation going. Just great.

We met another Canadian girl at our hostel who had spent the day cycling around the countryside, so we had to try it out for ourselves. It was spectacular! For €9 you can rent a bike for the day and go anywhere around town and then some - we biked to Holland! And the trails were great. First of all, the Benelux countries are known as the 'Low Countries' for a reason - they are seriously flat. Like, FLAT. Second, they've taken full advantage of this flatness and built an extensive route of bike paths all over the country. So we cycled 36km to the Dutch border and back and it was perfect. These paths go through everything: little villages, farms, cows, churchyards - it was so so so great. We were exhausted that night but still found some energy to meet some other canadians and find some cool bars with extensive belgian beers menus. One place had nearly 600 beers! I'm actually astonished that we don't see more belgian beer in Canada, but I've heard the alcohol content is too high - many are 8 or 9%!o(MISSING)r higher - so it can't be imported. Or something.

Right, so, on to Amsterdam. Now, some of you may have heard some rumours flying around about Amsterdam - the coffee shops, the Red Light District, the Van Gogh Museum - I'm here to tell you that it's all true, but what you don't really hear that much about is how absolutely beautiful the city is. It's gorgeous, with canals and amazing architecture, not to mention that there's almost not traffic due to the thriving cyclist culture. We did a free walking tour on the first day - again through New Europe - and learned a lot about the history of the city.

Amsterdam's actually quite interesting as, being a port town, they found themselves with overwhelming drug and prostitution problems in the 60's and 70's. There where over 10,000 junkies in Amsterdam in the 1970's. So they decriminalise the soft drugs and focus on the hard-drug use, then they legalise prostitution and form unions for the girls - pimping is actually illegal. Now by no means is it a perfect system, but today the junkie-count is down to around 1,000 and the prostitutes are quite safe in behind their little windows with panic buttons. And there are cops everywhere, so I actually felt very safe. I don't know if it would work everywhere though. The problem in Amsterdam is that it attracts so many more tourists based on these different laws that it's overrun with tourists who are just there to party. You get tired of it. I have fairly liberal views on the issues, but I'd go nuts if Vancouver was filled with rowdy tourists because we had legalised prostitution or decriminalised marijuana.

Right, but back to the good stuff. Van Gogh Museum was great, Rijksmuseum wasn't worth the money or time, Vondelpark is lovely, and the town as a whole just had a great vibe and was nice to walk around... if you would beat the tourists.

Right, so I'm on to Berlin next for a night and then it's on to Greece for 3 weeks!

Cheers,

Carly xoxo

PS computer here sucks so Photos to follow.

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