The journey, not the arrival, is what matters.

The journey, not the arrival, is what matters. 
         - T.S. Eliot

Friday, June 10, 2011

When in Bruges...

My mother has left the continent and my cousin Michelle has arrived. Let the second part of this vacation begin.


Michelle arrived in Paris on Tuesday. I picked her up at the airport, and then we explored a little bit of Paris the first day. When we got off the Metro, we met a group of guys with their backpacks on the front and back and their map spread out - we can spot fellow travelers anywhere, even if they don't have their backpacks on, and it turns out they were trying to find the same hostel we were, so we just all went together. We ended up hanging out with them for part of the day. Mom, so far our trip has been what you thought ours would be - meeting fellow travelers in every city.


Update 1: Gertrude and Hans now have twinsies! Michelle also has the lovely traveler look going with one backpack on the front and one on the back. Gertrude's counterpart is Martha, and Hans' new best friend is Hubert, affectionately knows as Huey. Perfect.


Back to our life. Paris was rainy, so we just bought a bottle of wine, enjoyed the views of Paris from indoors, and caught up on some family drama. The next morning, we set off for Belgium.


We took the train from Paris to Bruges, and spent the next two nights in Bruges.  We sampled plenty of local Belgian beer, and enjoyed way too many waffles, chocolates and fries. Seriously. Our hostel had a bar on the first floor, and we met lots of great people in our hostel on both nights.


On the full day we were in Bruges, we spent the day sightseeing, taking a canal tour, touring the local brewery, taking a walking tour, enjoying more food and beer, and meeting more people at our hostel. The dorm rooms were pretty big at this hostel, and some of our roommates were down hanging out with us. Before we even told them which beds we were in, one guy guessed simply by the magazines and enormous toiletry bag Michelle had hung up from the bottom of my top bunk.


Update 2: Michelle has a huge toiletry bag. And, every time we get to a new city or new hostel, she unloads her whole backpack, hangs up her toiletry bag from my bunk, and gets organized. After the accurate identification of Michelle based on her toiletry bag alone, she is now referred to as the one girl with the magazines and huge make-up bag. The guy we met in our room who noticed her bag - Stan - is also coincidentally going to be at the same hostel we are staying in when we get to Paris tomorrow, and he told us that he'll be sure to recognize us by the magazines and toiletry bag. Stan - we'll hold you to this.


Anyway, after our great day in Bruges, we settled back in at our hostel, met some more great people, and introduced our new friends to Kings Cup. We met some Australian boys who played it a little different than we did, but we all played for hours, tested more Belgian beer, and had a great night laughing until we couldn't breathe.

The next day, we caught a train to Brussels, and today we saw the atomium, which was built for the World's Fair, and the famous statue of the little boy peeing. We even got to hold the Heineken cup -  the real Heineken cup.


Update 3: The Heineken cup is much heavier than it looks. It's the highest trophy for rugby you can win in Europe.

Tomorrow we are off to Paris again, where we will stay for the next three nights, then go pick up Luke at the airport, spend one more night in Paris with all three of us, then jet off to Italy! Luke, we can't wait for you to get here! We have big plans already for your graduation celebration/Michelle's birthday!

Just a few other updates in my life...

4: I have slowly been shedding items from the backpack. People of Europe - be on the lookout for other presents from me. So far, I have left a sweatshirt, a hat, a pillow, and some other random clothing items, but my backpack is starting to get heavier and heavier, despite my shopping drought, so there may be many more surprises coming soon.

5: I have never had a more desperate laudry situation. I am trying very hard to hold out until we get to Kevin's house on Wednesday night, but it's getting a bit gross. I officially am out of socks and underwear. I have worn the same pair of jeans four days in a row. My towel is starting to smell. I am wearing every item a minimum of three times before I deposit it into my laundry bag. And, today was a new low. I had to rummage through my dirty clothes bag to find my least smelly pair of socks, spray them with Michelle's odor eliminator spray, and then put them on for today's adventure.

Think that's about it for the moment. We are off to shower, catch up on some sleep, and then make our way to Paris tomorrow.

And Luke - congratulations on your upcoming graduation! I'm so proud of you, and can't wait for you to get here and update me on your life for the last 6 months.

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