Schedule for Rest of Semester

Okay, so lately I've been trying to figure out trains and all that stuff for the rest of the semester. Here's what I have, and these are pretty close to being set in stone.

April 15-18: Croatia

April 21-25: Rome, Cinque Terre, and hopefully either Paris or Lyon (pending train reservations)

April 28-May 2: Amsterdam

May 4-5: Paris (pending train reservations) - for a city that wasn't one of my favorites, I feel like I go here way too often haha

May 5: Atlanta

Also, a couple things I forgot to mention about last weekend:
Antwerp
1) I think it's a really rich city, we saw a bunch of really nice cars while we were there.
2) It's a really relaxing city, it's kind of like a beach city with a river instead of a beach.
3) Best döner kebab place I've been to since being in Europe.
4) Met some other Americans at the Kulminator who were really cool and also bought us some relatively expensive beer.
Westvleteren
1) I got ice cream from there with some kind of beer syrup or something and it was amazing.
2) Depending on what day you go, you can bring a six pack back. We went on the wrong day.
3) Trains hate us. On the way back, we got fined for something dumb (for those of you who have Eurail, it was for not filling out the travel report at the bottom that nobody looks at). Then, we got stuck in Luxembourg and had to take a cab ride back to Metz.

Stay tuned for stuff about this past weekend.

The Beer Pilgrimage

This past weekend was pretty much dedicated to beer. What do I mean by that? Well, Belgium is a country known for having some of the best beer in the world. And, since I didn't get to go to Venice, and most people were going on trips I really didn't care to go on, I decided to go with a few of my friends, one of whom is obsessed with beer, on a trip I called 'The Beer Pilgrimage.' Basically it consisted of the following:
1) Go to a bar in Brussels (Delirium) that serves over 2500 beers.
2) Go to the number one bar in the world (in terms of beer selection), the Kulminator.
3) Go try the most rare beer in the world (12 km walking from a train station, hence why I call it a pilgrimage), a beer which was also rated the best beer in the world multiple times, Westvleteren Trappist.

While on this trip, I definitely learned a lot about beer. For instance, did you know that there are only 7 trappist beers in the world? I've tried all 7. Not many people can say that. Also, did you know you could age many types of beer and, just like wine, they get better with age? Sounds kind of gross right? Trust me, it's not. I tried three beers that were older than me (1980, 1984, 1987), and a bunch that were aged less than that. One of them was one of the best beers I've ever had - in fact, it didn't taste like beer at all. The best part? It didn't cost that much at all. For instance, the aforementioned beer goes for like $50 a bottle in the US. How much did I pay for it? 4 euro for a glass. This was all at the Kulminator; this is why it is rated the best bar in the world.

I also found out that two of the top 10 bars in the world are in Atlanta. And while in Brussels, we went to the #10 place (here is a list if you're interested). I also got to 'witness' a fight at Delirium (what I called the Brussels Bar Brawl) and meet some cool locals in Antwerp.

The owners of the Kulminator

We were very confused by this on our 12km walk to Westvleteren...

Until we saw the parade when we got back.

We asked for a chicken sandwich. This is what we got.

Also, for some reason, it feels like the Friday spring break today... not sure why. And I am going to Interlaken, Switzerland, tomorrow. As of now, my plan is to paraglide and to explore the mountains.

Waffles, Chocolate, Fries and Beer! (Also Discovery #2)

So this weekend was our first trip out of the country. Our original plans were to go to Luxembourg on Friday and either stay there or go somewhere else afterward. What roughly ended up happening was the following:

Friday - Luxembourg

Friday Night - Metz

Saturday - Travel to Bruges, Belgium, with a stop in Luxembourg and Brussels (6 hour trip)

Saturday Night - Bruges

Sunday - Bruges

Sunday Night - Metz

Luxembourg was pretty cool and it took less than an hour to get there. There was a group of 10 of us that went, and we stayed there for almost a full day (it feels a lot shorter here since the sun sets at like 5:30), which, to me, was enough time to experience most of the city. It didn't feel too long or too short. The only thing we wanted to do that we weren't able to do was to go and see one of the castles (it was closed). Most of the city was scenery type things, although we did see a McDonald's that sold beer and a couple of other weird sights! There was also a really, really cool valley-city-type-thing that we got to explore (see below).

This picture was taken from a bridge crossing over this landscape.

This was inside one of the churches in the city.

A picture from another bridge. See what I mean by all these random valley-city-things?

So we headed down, and this is the view from the bottom. Went down a bunch of steep and slippery stairs and streets to get there.

And look who we found down there! Since they don't have chimneys, I guess Santa sneaks in through the windows. Sneaky, buddy.

And... going back up.

When we got back up, from a different angle.

Oh look, more tourists! I think they were French, but then again, they thought we were English, so who knows. Yes, that's them taking a picture of us while we take a picture of them.

Another angle from when we got back up.

The pink graffiti says BABY (it's clearer in the original).

And this is the McDonald's you can apparently get beer at. It costs €2,10, which is roughly equivalent $3.00. Apparently, they also sell wine at McDonald's in France.

Next up was Belgium. We left Metz with a group of about 5 people and headed to Bruges, which proved to be more difficult than we originally thought. First, our train to Luxembourg was delayed 40 minutes, which then meant we had to take a later train to Brussels, which meant we got to Bruges later than expected. But, it was definitely all worth it in the end.

By the way, if you're wondering what the title of this post meant, we decided that being in Belgium meant we had to get the 4 things the country is famous for:

Waffles

Chocolate

(by the way, this is all chocolate. the cat, the santa, the duck - all of it, 100% chocolate)

Fries

Beer

Just FYI, if you ever plan on going to Belgium, getting all four of these in one meal is probably the best idea ever (especially the first two parts).

Anyway, back to the trip. So on the train from Luxembourg to Brussels (3 hours long), we met some random girl from California, as well as some guys from Argentina and played Uno with them for a good part of the way there, so it went by pretty quickly. We also had a train inspector that looked like Uncle Vernon from the Harry Potter movies. Once we got to Brussels, we had about 30 minutes before our next train, which was basically enough time to run outside the train station, take a few pictures, and run back in.

The Brussels train station from the outside

L'Arche - some random art right outside the Brussels train station that's the furthest we could get.

Some other artwork in the middle of a roundabout outside the train station.

Then, we finally got to Bruges. When we got there, we instantly knew it was worth it. The city is beautiful and there are canals everywhere. We got there when it was dark and all the buildings were brightly lit with Christmas lights and other decorative lights. We stayed at the Bauhaus hostel and, the next day, we explored the city with a plan: climb to the top of the tower (366 stairs), go to the chocolate factory, and take a canal tour of the city. Unfortunately, only one of these things happened. Fortunately, the city is so awesome that it didn't even matter. The chocolate factory was undergoing renovations (for the January 10-24 - good timing on our part) and the canal tour is only during the summer season. Also, they speak Dutch in Belgium. Not German. Trust me.

Apparently, a lot of pickpocketing goes on in Belgium. This was in the train station.

And this (pause for effect) is Brugge.

And this... is a random scooter someone must have thrown into the water.

So this is stair 1 of 366 of the tower we climbed.

More stairs.. 

And then... the view from the top.

After the tower, we explored a little more, bought some chocolate, and headed home.

I think it's really cool that, with a Eurail pass, you can basically hop on any train in Europe and go anywhere you want. It's really convenient compared to airplanes, although it does take more time to go long distances. Also, while in the Luxembourg train station, someone tried to pick-pocket me and one of my friends - it was an interesting experience, but unfortunately for him, neither of us had anything in our back pockets. Finally, discovery #2: Americans are not loud. Well some are, but really, Europeans are just really quiet.

Anyway, that was this past weekend. Next weekend: Maybe snowboarding? Leave a comment and let me know of places you guys think I should go!

I've also decided on this new thing I'm doing:

Weekend Picture Count: 342

Trip Picture Count: 405