Brussels Belgium

The LAST stop of my super nice vacation in November was Brussels Belgium!! My friend Adriane was visiting a friend, and they decided to check out Brussels...which is about 2.5 hours by train from Eindhoven- so I met up with them in Brussels for the day. It was pretty awesome.. except my train from Eindhoven to the Belgium/Netherlands border was about 10 minutes late..and the connecting train to take me into Brussels was right on time. SOOO I missed my train!! ARGHH. and I had to wait 1 hour at the train station for the next one!! I felt So horrible because I had no way of contacting Adriane...and I was really worried she would just leave and then I would be in Brussels ALL by myself trying to find her. BUT thankfully she waited at the hostel for me! OMG i felt SOO bad!! (cuz the trains are usually so on time.)

Anyways, after it all, we had a blast in Brussels. very neat city- reminded me of italy-ish. very typical style of set up for european cities- have the city centre with amazing historic buildings, have the art museums and of course the "open markets" (well they are called "christmas markets" in belgium).

Here are some pictures from Brussels:

Museum of Modern And Ancient Art:

This globe was FULL of bugs:

Chocolate and gold ornament: WOW

mmmm waffles:

Famous statue of the peeing man:

Light Show:

Amsterdam Netherlands....finally

So after the whirlwind adventure through spain, france and italy, i finally made it to Amsterdam!!! I've been in Holland for about 4 months and I never visited Amsterdam until now!!! How sad right?? but I went...and its a pretty sweet city! (way nicer than Eindhoven.... ) Went to the Albert Cuypstreet market...(not that impressive), Heineken Museum, and the Museumplein. I am totally going to go again so that i can visit Anne Frank House, Van Gogh Museum, Leidensplein ... etc etc. sooo if anyone wants to go with me... let me know when!!!! I'll be here until July 2009!!!!! :)

The Museumplein reminded me of Harold & Kumar 2. It was exactly as depicted in the movie!!!! (i guess there is SOME truth in movies.... hahaha) the heineken musuem was awesome- it is totally worth a visit!!!! it was reallly neat to see how they make beer and learn about the history of heineken. they have some awesome "hands-on" activities for visitors.

I think my 2 fav cities in Holland are Amsterdam and Den Haag. Maybe my opinion will change after I've gone a few more times... as I've heard a lot of local dutch people don't really like Amsterdam (they claim its too toursity). Here are a few pictures of amsterdam:

Amsterdam City:

Heineken Experience:

Brewing Beer!!!!

Bar tenderrrrr:

"This MUST be Holland"

Museumplein:

Just like in Harold & Kumar:

ITALY: Palermo Sicily

The last stop in Italy was Palermo Sicily. Wow... my expectations of sicily were totally off. palermo was nice but kind of run down...like nyc but way way way shabbier. it was nice bc it was by the beach but there wasnt much to do in palermo. there were some nice buildings but nothing super significant. kind of disappointed. but regardless below are some pictures of the south of italy:

ITALY: Rome, Naples, Pompeii, & Sorrento

This was my second time going to Rome, but I loved it just as much! Rome is a beautiful city with SO much history. You can never get enough of it!!! :) I totally wouldn't mind heading over there a THIRD time...but as my time in Europe is limited...I'm going to try to visit other countries/cities instead. After Rome, we stopped by Naples/Capri. In particular we visited Naples for about 30 minutes (it was super ghetto...and kind of scary), saw the awesome Pompeii Ruins, and then stopped by Sorrento for some pizza. We really wanted to head to Capri...but alas we didn't have enough time. We had to take a hydrofoil from Sorrento to Capri....and since it wasn't really a hydrofoil, it would have taken 1 hour to get to Capri and then you still have to walk about 1 hour to get to the city centre. Plus we were super tired from Pompeii.... if I ever head back to Pompeiii...I really want to climb Mt Vesuvius!!

ROME: Enjoying gelato

Trevi Fountain:

Pantheon:

Naples:

Pompeii:

Mt Vesuvius in the background:

Amphitheater:

Ruins:

Sorrento:

"Authentic" Italian Pizza: (no cheese)

ITALY: Pisa/Florence

The first stop in Italy was Pisa/Florence. We took a train from Livorno Italy to Pisa (~15 min) and then took a train from Pisa to Florence (~1.5 hours). Pisa was pretty awesome- the sky was SUPER clear the day we went... wow. we really wanted to go up the tower of pisa...but alas we had to rush to florence before the sun went down. Florence was also very beautiful- but its a very small city...or maybe it seemed small because we spent about 2 hours in florence and then left. Below are some pictures of Pisa & Florence:

Pisa: On the way to the Leaning Tower

A cathedral we saw on the way to Pisa:

Classic Leaning Tower Photos: (SOO much fun)

Also in the Pisa Square:

Florence:

Monte Carlo / Monaco France

I also went to the south of France for a day to visit VilleFranche. It is a port about 20 minutes from Monte Carlo/ Monaco. On the day we arrived, it was about 75 Degrees F. No joke. people were wearing t-shirts and shorts!!! and wow, monte carlo is full of expensive cars and expensive stores. the casino is beautiful. and the scenary is just as breathtaking. It really reminded me of the Bahamas/Carribean. Monaco was also really cool- we saw the old castle and walked up a bajillion steps to get to it. We also searched everywhere for a "jardin exotique"....definitely never found it. we are thinking we probably saw it...but didnt realize it was "exotique" because we saw signs and followed them and then saw a mini garden, and then saw signs pointing back to where we came from. hahahha anyways, here are some pics of france:

Villefranche:

At the train station:

Monte Carlo Casino!! there were a bajillion ferraris parked outside...all red. just like in the movies

Walking up towards the castle:

Finally made it.

November Trips - SPAIN

Sorry for the lag in updates, but I spent this past month doing A LOT of traveling! It has been so amazing to see southern europe! I went to visit Barcelona Spain, Monaco & Monte Carlo France, and ALL over Italy. I also made it to Amsterdam Neterlands (like actually visiting museums and etc ), Dusseldorf Germany, and Brussels Belgium.

I'll start with Spain- wow what a beautiful place! I was in Barcelona which is right by the Ocean and it was SOO sunny during the day! (Like 70 degrees F so people were in t-shirts and shorts). The city is FULLL of Gaudi architecture- almost every other building was designed by Gaudi. The Sagrada Familia is SO amazing- its crazy how he designed it ... so mathematical! :) Also visited the Poble Espanyol (its a "village" that is designed to mimic the various styles of architure throughout Spain), saw the Montjuic Fountain Light Show (SOO amazing..totally worth sitting in the cold for 1 hour to wait for it), visited Los Ramblos (the famous street in Barcelona for shopping), and of course visited the Barcelona Beach (even went to the aquarium)!!!

Here are some pictures from Barcelona:

The view from the Hostel: very unique office building...turns blue & red at night

First thing to do in Barcelona: find the shopping mall!

La Sagrada Familia- designed by gaudi...still being completed today

This is how gaudi designed it- with sandbags. wow...

Outside the Montjuic Fountain- what a beautiful light show

View of BCN from Poble Espanyol:
The MaGic Fountain show...totally worth seeing!!!

Christopher Columbus Monument:

The port of Barcelona. sooo beautiful