To the North!

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I can't believe another 3 weeks have gone by and how much has changed in that time. I must admit I'm getting weary with my travels- I have reached and surpassed my comfort limit. In good news, I continue to push this boundary, and it gets longer each time. However, I don't think I wanted it to get any longer than this. Do not fear friends and family, I have a feeling my trips back home will be quite frequent in the next few years as people get married and have kids, etc. But you won't catch me making a permanent move stateside anytime soon...sorry. Anyway, traveler's updates:

*Important note* I need to make a revision to a statement in my previous blog. In the sentence "I found love in an unexpected place", the word should be read as . Feelings were a bit exaggerated due to general on-the-road loneliness and the July heat wave and, now that some logic has returned to my brain, I felt it necessary to clarify the situation. There is no more Italian lover. Please forgive any confusion and/or excitement I created.

From Naples, I headed north again, trying to escape the heat. I stopped for a round 2 in Florence, because I loved the city and I had an amazing couchsurfing host there. It was a great stay, filled with sun, good food, exotic drinks (Mexican shot bar?), and great company. But the journey had to continue onward and upward, so I caught the train to Venice for my first new city in almost 6 weeks.

Venice is fascinating, unlike any city I've ever been to. It is a cluster of individual islands linked to each other by hundreds of bridges. You won't find bikes or cars here; in order to get around you either have to walk or take a boat. "Oh, tourist you want to take a lovely gondola ride? That'll be 70€ for 20 minutes." Nooooooo thank you. Instead, I walked, and walked and walked and walked, to the point that I actually started having back pains again (ok, maybe I overdid it a bit). But Venice is a city where you don't actually have to "do" anything to enjoy it. It's not like Paris or Rome, with their monuments and big attractions. One can simply wander over the bridges, through the alleys, from one hidden piazza to the next, enjoying the intricacies of the city. They happened to have an international art festival going on as well, so I checked out some of the free exhibitions. As some of you may have heard, I also had a reunion with John, who had just finished the year in Thailand and was starting his own European travels. It was nice to catch up and realize how much we had both changed and matured in the past few months. I was then invited to a Papirio family dinner- Real Italian Style; if you know them , you can imagine how absolutely outrageous (and awesome) of an experience this was. It was a short trip, but filled with wonderful times.

From Venice I took a Ryanair flight (oh, the horror!) to BRUSSELS. Yes, the capital of that little country called Belgium, the home of the beloved waffle and some of the world's finest chocolate. And 2,500 varities of beer. Waffles, chocolate, and beer- enough said. This is a funky little city, full of beautiful and ugly buildings alike. Plus, their most visited attraction is a fountain of a little boy peeing. There are stories behind it, but basically its just a foot-tall bronze boy, shooting a stream of water out of his little boy parts. Sometimes they dress him up, for holidays and such. The popularity of Manneken Pis (his name), lead to the creation of his sister, Jeanneke Pis, a fountain of a girl squatting to pee. If this isn't enough peeing sculpture art for you, there is now a third member of the family, Zinneke Pis. It is a statue (sadly not a fountain) of a dog raising its leg to relieve himself, cleverly placed next to a sidewalk barrier pole. I found this to be a fun scavenger hunt, roaming the city to find all three. I had yet another great host, who took me out to sample some of the thousands of beer options and to the Brussels Summer Festival for some good music in the chilly summer night air.

A few nights was just enough time in this quaint city, then it was off to every young backpacker's dream destination: Amsterdam. I will have you all know I did not partake in the coffee shop culture that the city is known for, though the air in the city center does have a distinct scent of weed at all times. However, I did check out the red light district, just to see what the fuss was about. Basically, its like window shopping for a prostitute. I was not particularly interested in any of the women so I refrained, but lots of visiting men seemed to indulge, as noted by the closed curtains in many of the, uh "shop fronts", if you will. Amsterdam has quite a few canals of its own, not like Venice, but still abundant. It is also the home to the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh museum, the two cultural sites I splurged for.

The Anne Frank House is the office building slash annex where Anne and 7 other people hid for two years during the German occupation of the Netherlands (and other countries). It is where she wrote her diary, which is now on display in the museum, before being found out and sent to a concentration camp. I have long been fascinated by the annex, ever since I read the diary back in middle school. But sadly I was rather unsatisfied with my visit to the house. The rooms are completely empty, all the belongings have been removed. The walls have been re-wallpapered, the hardwood floors covered with some stick-on protective layer. So the house no longer looks or feels anything like the original, cramped hiding space. Every window in the building is covered with translucent black cloth; the staircases are blocked off with plexiglass. Plus there are so many tourists shoved into this tiny space, you don't have time to stop and look at any of the items that are on display, for fear of holding up the massive line behind you. Overall, I was deeply disappointed by the experience. As for the Van Gogh museum, the pieces on display were magnificent, but for such a small place (took less than 45 minutes to see the entire exhibition), I thought 15€ was outrageously overpriced. But that's my general feeling on most of Europe.....

I am still glad I visited these museums; I love seeing things in person. But maybe the next time around in Amsterdam I'll try to make my way out into the Dutch countryside and avoid the tourist-trap center! That's all I have for now. More updates soon 😊

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Photos

Gondola
It was a 1 minute paddle across the big canal for 2 euros- cheapest gondola ride in town!

Frites
With mayo not ketchup!

Sunflowers
Van Gogh's second version of the infamous piece

Comments

[Virginia Kelly]

So good to see you!
And better to hug you!!!

[Home and Away]

We lived in Brussels for eleven years...
so really loved your picture of the double fried frites and mayo! In the States we still ask for mayo with our fries. And you are forgiven.