The show must go on.....

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Good evening everyone! It has been quite some time since I have written but I think I left the last entry in Paris. The rest of Paris was phenomenal! Just as gorgeous as ever and with plenty to do!

After my last entry, we went to the Musee d'Orsay where I saw beautiful works of art that bored my poor friends to tears. I thought it was terribly exciting to see "The Bathers" or "Olympia" but differing interests I suppose. We putted around there for a couple of hours and then made our way to the catacombes.....people, I had a great time! If you know me at all, you know that I would really enjoy the catacombes. Lots of bones placed in interesting murals/mosaics a good 6 stories down? Where do I begin? It was cool and dank but interesting and almost beautiful to see. Skulls aligned into a cross formation, femurs laid out on top of one another to create a wall, and the infamous skull and crossbones formation. It was definitely a fun experience, but I think I weirded out the fellas with my enthusiasm. After traversing the depths of the Paris catacombes, Ben and I went down Champs Elysses where he created a sign saying, "Trying to win a bet, any change helps, Merci!" He then proceeded to perform a street performance of tricks with an apple....we are working on the name. It got some okay response and we fufilled a part of the scavenger hunt. That night was pretty chill and we had a great time drinking beer in the hostel.

The day after, Ben and I hit up the Cemetarie where Jim Morrison is buried. We found his grave after searching high and low, it's hidden behind another grave. There were offerings of pictures, flowers, drugs, notes, and rocks with notes on them. Ben and I wrote on a chestnut, "OR 2010." We went to Edith Piaf's grave and left a rock with "La Vie En Rose" written on it. Then Oscar Wilde's grave, covered in lipstick-stain kisses and scrawled messages of thanks or quotes from the man himself. I left a rock saying "I can resist anything but temptation" and kissed the gravestone. That night, we all went out to Auberge St. Roch, a restaurant that Ben and I had been to 2 years ago and had one of the best meals there! We had a couple of bottles of wine and had a fantastic time! I had escargot, a little foie gras, duck steak in citron sauce, and chocolate cake. It was superb! The food, service, and wine were all great! One of the best meals of my life! After indulging our culinary sweet tooth, we headed up to the Eiffel Tower. We each made a sign saying more or less "Trying to win a bet: Kiss me!" mine with the very classy addition, "No tongue." The boys walked around the second floor holding up their signs and asking for help. I hold up my sign and about a minute later I get a big kiss from a judge from Wisconsin. He and his wife were extremely sweet and we all talked for awhile. There was a train strike on our way back but we were able to navigate around that easily.

We left Paris and took a train up to Brussels, Belgium. Honestly, there isn't much to see in Brussels. We got in, walked around, took a nap, had some food and then went to Delirium. My friends, 2000+ kinds of beer to order and some can come in Das Boot! Needless to say, we got very drunk. We haphazardly met some new friends and had a fantastic time drinking with them. When it came to get email addresses, I became a notepad. Sharpie all over! All over my arms and on my chest! Too much Sharpie. I shouldn't have had that last Boot! Either way, the new friends were great new company and I hope to keep in touch with all of them in the future! The next, extremely hung over, day we discovered that Ben's camera deleted all the pictures prior to the last day in Paris! He was crushed and took a day for himself. Jared and I ate some cheap Greek food and went to Mannequin Pis, not too exciting but still pretty funny. We met up with Ben, had some waffle comfort food and went to the Atomium, you know the building that looks like an atom. It was cool to see on the outside but a word to the wise, unless you want to see temporary tiny art exhibits from no-name "trendy" artists, do NOT go inside. It costs more to get in there than the Louvre and it is totally not worth it. All in all, Brussels had some great food, beer, and chocolate but the sights are a little lacking.

Bruges!! Now Bruges I can get onboard with! A cute old town that reminds me of Winchester a bit and some pretty fun things to see. We only spent one night there, but we did see the Belfry, the Holy Blood, and Chocolate Obama! Pretty solid day, I think. Very easy-going and a relaxing evening all around.

Amsterdam now! We got in here a few days ago and it is a great place to be! We smoked (Mom and Dad -Don't have heart attacks please) and hung out our first night. The first day, we went to Anne Frank's House (sober of course) and it was pretty intense all around. It was an extremely rainy day so we roamed the red light district and ended up going into a tourist trap called the Amsterdam Dungeon. It was pretty funny though! Ben sold us to work on a trading ship where Jared was diagnosed with plague and operated on without an anesthetic, we got lost in a mirror maze, and we were put on trial. Ben and Jared for bad fashion sense and me for being American and giggling too much. We went down into the rollercoaster part, which is supposed to be a highlight, and there wasn't a soul around. We had to go out the emergency exit and find a worker to help us out. Kind of kills the magic by that point. That night, we had Chinese food and ate Space Cake. We went to see Machete! It was fantastic and cheesy! I love that movie! Yesterday, easy day: laundry and pancakes. Today, we rented bikes, locked them outside a coffee shop and smoked with a vaporizer, something totally new to me. It made it easier and it is apparently better for you. We walked to the zoo and had a great time checking out the animals. Afterwards, we went to Madame Tussauds and took goofy pictures with wax statues. Today has been a pretty good day all around! I probably won't be able to put in another chapter until Hamburg or even Berlin! So goodbye for now! I hope you are all well! Love!

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