Armegeddon Part Two: Brussels, Belgium

Alright I made it to part 2! This post is going to be shorter for 3 reasons. 1. It's late and I have to wake up early to go to Extremadura tomorrow (another region in Spain). 2. We were only in Brussels for 1.5 days, 3. We really didn't do that much in Brussels besides eat.

Well, there you go! I just summed up my Brussels experience in one sentence. We went into Brussels not having any clue of what we wanted to do there besides eat.

April 5: Sunday--We woke up and say goodbye to Andrew as we packed up all our stuff and headed towards the metro. Andrew, his friend, and Kira all suggested to use to take the bus to Brussels instead of the train. I think because it was Sunday, the bus cost 25 euro instead of 19. That was a deal to us! So we made it to the bus station, and 2.5 hours later, we were at Brussels North station.

We stayed at a friend of Alli's who wasn't going to be home until later that evening, so we didn't really know what to do with ourselves. The bus station was in kind of a boring area, so we decided to take the metro to the stop that we were supposed to go to for Jeff's house. The metro system was interesting/different in Brussels. We bought a ticket but saw that we never had to check it anywhere, so we never bought a ticket again. Hey, free is fine with me! We went over to the stop we were supposed to get off at, but then we had no clue how to get to his house anyway. After probably 30 minutes of walking around with our huge backpacks, we decided to try to make it to the center of town instead, so that we could eat some lunch, since it was already close to 4 or 5. We took the metro to the center stop, but apparently went the wrong way from the center and had no idea where to go. We just kept seeing a pretty isolated city around us and had no idea where we were. Finally, I saw someone in a USC shirt, asked if they spoke english (and it turned out they were spanish!) and he directed us to the cute-center area, which was really not far from where we were, we just happened to go in the opposite direction. So we got to the place we needed to be and walked around some more (so much walking with our backpacks) to try to find food. And then we did it: we made it to the Pitta street that we had heard about only the day before. Apparently, there is a street in Brussels purely devoted to Pitta type foods. We plopped down at the first one we could get into and had probably the best meal of our whole trip. It was just a pitta with chicken, tomatoes, cucumber, and that cucumber/garlic sauce and it was sooooo good.

From there, we hung out in the center and went around eating and drinking some more. I tried some belgian beer (Leffe, to be exact), we tried some belgian chocolates (delicious!) and then, the best of all--belgian waffles! OHHHH those waffles were so good. They were truly different than any "belgian waffle" I've had in the states. Yeah, I put that in quotations because now those are fake waffles to me. These waffles were made out of a dough instead of a batter and were so sweet (even plain, without anything on top).

Then it was time for dinner and although we had been eating all afternoon, we figured we would eat again in the center before we made it to Jeff's house. Andrew's friend recommended one of the Pitta places to eat a Dürüm Kebab, which was a little different in how they rolled it and what they put in the kebab. He also suggested Andalouse sauce (which I thought was funny because I am studying in Andalucia), which tasted pretty much like thousand island. Needless to say, part 2 of our greek-style eating was delicious!

April 6: We woke up the next morning and went to a flea market for a few hours. It was really fun and I got to bargain with so many french speaking people, even though, when it came down to it we eventually spoke in Spanish or English. This day was really purely devoted to walking around and eating and shopping since we didn't feel like doing much, so I'll keep it short. We ended up going back to the center, eating at the first pitta place (soooooo good!!!), frolicked around, got some free belgian chocolate samples, had another waffle, and saw Manneken Pis, one of Brussels' famous statues that was literally no more than 3 feet tall--kind of a let down. Here are some pictures.

Pitta Street

My Leffe beer and I

One of the many delicious pittas--this was with greek style gyro

Brussels

Manneken Pis

We took the metro back to Jeff's and hung out for a bit. We were talking about getting to the airport the next day, and Jeff said it was easy to get there. Then we checked the reservation and he saw that we were going to Charleroi airport, which he said should not even be considered a Brussels airport! Good thing we checked, because he had to call a friend to see how we could make it there. We found out that we had to take a bus from the metro station and that it was an hour away...greatttt. So that meant that we had to wake up at 4:45 the next morning--we weren't excited. We decided to grab a bite to eat, but we didn't want to take the metro to the center so we just walked down Jeff's street. We weren't finding anything and kept walking, and all of the sudden we saw a McDonald's and Pizza Hut. We saw those two restaurants in the center and thought it was weird that Brussels put the two together so frequently. We kept walking and realized that we were in the center! We couldn't believe that it was soooo close to us and we had been taking the metro the whole day (in a big loop I might add because it didn't go directly there). But now I see why it didn't go directly there because there was a huge shortcut in the middle to walk there! We laughed about that for a while, and then I convinced Alli to go back to Pitta street (yes, our 4th time there!!) but we ate at a new place and we ate different foods, but those four meals were probably some of the best on the whole trip. I already miss greek food..so sad.

Anyway, that's Brussels for you. I told you it was going to be short and filled with food. Now I have to go to sleep, but I'll write about Prague when I get back from Extremadura this weekend.

Buenas noches,
Haley

Armageddon Part One: Paris, France

I am about to embark upon a big blogging task. I just finished my 10 day trip and I am going to try to blog about it as concisely as I can. I am also going to break it up into three separate posts, one for each city, because I'm sure I'll get fed up with writing so much all in one sitting. I don't remember if I mentioned this in the last post, I'm sure I did, but Alli and I got sick of calling it Semana Santa (the holy week that we had off from school to make this trip) so that's why we started calling it Armageddon. Here's a recap of my spring break viaje.

April 1: Alli and I woke up at 6 am or so in order to make it to the train station by 7:30. Alli and I took the high speed rail from Sevilla-Madrid, but by the time we bought the cheap tickets online, we couldn't get the same train. I don't really know how that worked. I purchased my ticket, and then I went to get her ticket on my computer (her computer wasn't working for some reason) and by the time the transaction was going through, none of the same cheap tickets for the 9:45 train were available. We decided she was either going to have to pay more, or she would have to take an earlier train. She took the 8:45 train. We went together anyway just to make sure everything was going smoothly, since we had never taken the AVE (the name of the high speed rail). Well, I don't think I've ever taken that kind of train but we both loved it. It only took 2.5 hours to get to Madrid and it was such an enjoyable ride. I mean, I slept for a big part of it, but I would do that again in a heartbeat.

From there, we spent the day in Madrid. We hadn't really planned anything out, but we knew that it was way too early to go to the airport, since our flight to Paris wasn't until 8, so we took the metro to a park that we found on the map. The metro in Madrid was pretty efficient and huge, but I still preferred Barcelona's. We enjoyed the sun in the park in Madrid, ate our bocadillo's that we packed for ourselves so that we didn't have to bother with buying food, and took some naps. When we were really bored and realized that we were just going to sit and pass the time, we decided to change locations and pass the time at the airport.

We got to the airport and checked in and the lady wanted us to check our backpacks because she said they were too big. We knew they weren't too big, but she asked us to make sure by putting them in that little metal crate that most airports have to restrict size. I couldn't believe that she actually made me put it in there! I mean, we all generally know what the size is, but you know that that little crate is ridiculously small and no luggage really fits in there. And on top of that, you know how much room there actually is in those overhead bins and that some piece of luggage bigger than that metal crate would definitely fit. So my backpack clearly didn't fit, and she wanted to charge us 20 more euros to check it. We said helllll no and decided to move some stuff around in our bags. When we went up to check in again, no one said anything to us and we walked to security. However, in security they made us put our backpacks into the crate again!! They fit this time because we made them, but we couldn't believe that they kept doing that to us. Especially because after all of that hassel, by the time we got on the plane you could have fit three of my backpacks in that compartment. Whatever, sorry to bore you with those details but we decided that since only Madrid made the beginning of our trip so annoying, that we do not like the Madrid airport anymore.

Hahah, okay so wooo from there we went to Paris! We landed around 10:30, and by the time we got through customs, found the RER (which was the bigger form of metro system in Paris--since they do have a regular metro system too) to take us to the city, transferred to another tram to take us a few blocks down, found Hana's apartment, found a payphone to call Hana's apartment, and finally got into Hana's apartment, it was 1:30. What a few hours that was, but what was better was that there was no panicking going down and no getting lost. Everything went very smoothly, it just took a very long time to get from Charles De Gaulle airport to southern Paris! Alli and I stayed at my Berkeley friend Hana's apartment Wednesday and Thursday night. She's studying abroad there right now and it was perfect to be able to crash there.

April 2: Well, now that I've gotten through the boring stuff, our first full day (Thursday) was indeed full and super amazing. Alli and I made our way over to Versailles, a place that I have always wanted to go to after learning about it in 10th grade Core. We had to go on the RER again and the stop dropped us off right there. Alli and I saw a ton of people hopping over the gates, and since we were going to have to pay more to get another ticket, we decided to be rebels and hop over too. I know, we are super cool. Well we decided to stop for a coffee at a little shop right before Versailles and had our first langauge barrier moment. The whole time we were in Paris, we didn't know whether to speak in English or Spanish. English because apparently everyone knows English, or Spanish because it's way closer to French. Well, we went the half French/half English route and somehow we were able to communicate with the bartender, except when it came to the check. He said some sounds about how much it was. I heard 4 something, but the something was what I didn't get. So we all laughed because everyone knew that we weren't understanding each other, and then he wrote down the price on a coaster. This first encounter was very surprising to Alli and I because this bartender was just sooo nice to us. I mean, you hear of the French being particularly snobby or pretentious, so we were gearing up for the worst, but most everyone we spoke to was very friendly. This put the Spanish in 1st place for being assholes. The Spanish are mean people sometimes--just beware! hahaha.

So, Versailles!! It's everything you expect it to be and more. Phenomenal is the word I have chosen to describe most of the things I saw in Paris. The feeling that came over me when I was experiencing these historical and beautiful places was one of awe. It was so fascinating to tour around a place with such an intense history, one that I learned about so long ago and only remember bits and pieces of now, and one with such immaculate beauty.


When we entered, we walked into this exhibit of period costumes, which was beautiful. Some of those ladies had the tiniest little bodies! There were many paintings and actual replicas of costumes depicting the fashion of the era. Alli and I both wore leggings and tennis shoes because we knew we were going to be doing a lot of walking around that day and wanted to be comfortable, but just imagine the people in these costumes and they all usually went on walks because there was nothing else to do!

From there we went into the palace where our audioguides gave us a mini tour through many of the rooms of Versailles. I could go on and on about each room we visited, the designs, the furniture, the artwork, etc, but I guess the most important room that I will share with you was the Hall of Mirrors, of course. I'm sure you all know about it, as it has stirred up quite the fame, but it was so amazing to actually be in it rather than see pictures. Well, you're going to see pictures, but you can just imagine how cool it was to be there.


After the Palace, we went out on the steps overlooking the massive gardens and ate some lunch. Then we walked around the gardens a bit more and headed over to Marie Antoinette's chamber and toured her not so small house and her huge gardens as well. We barely covered a dent of the greenery in Versailles, but if I lived there I would go all the time because it was just so wonderful to walk around in (and the gardens were free!)


Marie Antoinette's Chamber

From her gardens

What a beauty.

April 3: Friday morning, Alli and I woke up, packed up our stuff, said thank you and adios to Hana and headed 5 metro stops north to Andrew's apartment. From that moment on, Alli and I used the metro at least 6 times a day. It was crazy how much we needed to use it/how great of a system it was. I think I'm really getting my metro system fill (especially since LA doesn't really have one). But the french system was really good. It went all over the city and got us literally everywhere we needed to go. Anyway, Andrew is a friend of mine from middle school who let us crash on his couch for the next two nights. He has been studying in film in France and lived in the latin quarter, which was pretty hip. Alli and I dropped off our stuff and immediately became tourists.

We walked to Notre Dame.


Then headed over to the Eiffel Tower to have a picnic lunch. And while there, we met up with my friend Kira from high school who is studying abroad in Paris too.


Alli and I took another funny picture in front of the Tour Eiffel.


Ate some crepes and walked over to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Élysées, and then went back to Andrew's apartment, where we then went to dinner and ate some savoury crepes, which were super delicious.

That night, we went with Kira to the bridge Pont Nouf, which is where a lot of people go when the weather's getting warmer. Kira said that she had been in Paris since January, and this was the first time she was going to go to Pont Nouf because it had been so cold. She also told me (whether or not she is right, I kind of don't care) that one of those last Paris scenes of Sex and the City was filmed on this bridge. The last time I was in Paris (last year for all of five hours), every bridge we passed, I shouted out, "look, it's the Sex and the City bridge!" (you can ask my mom, Rochelle, and Samantha if you need proof). So I'm glad I made it.

April 4: Our last full day in Paris. We woke up and got started immediately! We went straight to the Lourve and I actually went in this time! (again, instead of last time when I was only there for five hours). I could go on and on about how amazing it was to be in there, but that's one of those things you'll just have to see for yourself/understand. I saw such amazing works of art. Even the building itself was beautiful. And yes, I saw the Mona Lisa. But there was such a variety of works of art, from Ancient Mesopotamia to 19th century England. It was magnificient.


Then we had a lunch break. I saw a picture on facebook of these desert things that I couldn't figure out what they were, but I knew they were French. So when we got to France and after I told Alli all about it, we found them! They weren't hard to find. They were macaroons, but a little different than the macaroons you're used to eating on passover. They still had a little bit of the same taste/texture though. Anyway, they came in so many different colors. We tried them a few times and I wish I had taken a picture of how pretty a lot of them were, but here is one little picture.


Next, we went to Père-Lachaise, one of Paris' biggest and most famous cemetaries that houses so many famous french poets, artists, composers, musicians, etc, and Jim Morrison. We saw Jim Morrison's grave, which wasn't that impressive compared to every other grave there. The grave stones were basically little houses or huge pieces. They were beautiful. We just walked around for a while because there were so many beautiful things to see.


Finally, we went up to Montmartre, one of the highest places in Paris that overlooks the whole city. We got off the metro and saw a bunch of people waiting for the elevator. I looked to Alli and said, this means there are going to be a lot of stairs. We decided to take the stairs anyway. I think I counted almost 200 stairs, and that was JUST to get out of the metro! That does not include all of the stairs and hills that we then had to go up just to get to Sacre Coeur! But once we got up there (after a little rest) it was so amazing. Well, it was as amazing as it could have been on a gray day, but I'm sure on a clear sunny day it's even more beautiful.


We headed back to Andy's and had dinner which was Chwarma Poulet (or chicken shwarma). That was basically the start of our mediterranean food kick that I will continue about in the next post, but it was seriously delicious. I had some amazing food on this trip!

Well, I tried to keep it on the shorter side, or what I could do for 3 full days of sightseeing in one of the world's most famous and fantastic places. I will write about parts two and three tomorrow! Enjoy!

Haley