Europe 2006

This is what I had been saving up my vacation days for, what I had attempted to do while living in Japan (but thought it too expensive) and had saved up my money for: The Big Trip to Europe. It all started when I met Marita, from Amsterdam, while on vacation in Thailand last year. We had both promised that we'd visit each other, so I guess I was first (Marita will come to the U.S. in Nov.). I didn't want to plan too early in advance, because I've found that when you freestyle your trip a little bit, then you're not stuck with one plan, but you can do a little extra. Anyways, Mel and I flew on Iceland Air and the tickets were a great price. Of course, this meant that we had a layover in Rekjavik, Iceland, but the food was great and so was the service.

Amsterdam
Marita came to pick us up from the airport after a night of partying in celebration of Queen's Day in Amsterdam. We were wondering why there were orange decorations and such around the city.

I found Amsterdam to be quite a good city to start out with because just about everyone spoke English. I was really concerned about running into situations where I was really hungry and couldn't even order food in the local language (like in China). One observation that I made about Amsterdam was the fact that it was SO diverse. Don't get me wrong, America is diverse, but this was diversity on a different level. People from all different races and cultures hanging out with each other. I experience that in my own life, but it was nice to see that in Europe as well. Well, there are tons of stories for Amsterdam, but I'll just let you see the pictures and read the captions.

Marita, Mel and I on a bridge (crossing over into the Red Light district) over a canal. 

Cheeseland -- Marita telling Melissa about all the varieties of cheese that is available in Amsterdam. Mel was really excited about the cheese w/ cumin in it. I was impressed that there was an entirely section of the famous grocery store, Albert Heijn, dedicated to cheese. I LOVE it!

Madame Tussauds

This famous wax museum was so much fun.

I LOVE Prince. Can't you tell?  

Me and Bob Marley are just "Jammin'." 

"Skinny" Oprah interviewing me. 

Rijksmuseum

This was a cute statue of cupid. I think that this one was the copy and the one in the Louvre was the original. I had also seen the copy of "The Kiss" by Rodin in St. Petersburg's Hermitage museum 6 years ago. I assume this is common among famous museums.

Grazyna and Stefan - we met Grazyna when she offered to take our picture while standing in line at the Rijksmuseum. Later, we met Stefan when he came to join us at this Thai restaurant, called "Bird." 

Mel and Grazyna on the canal cruise boat.  

Mel and I on a canal cruise in Amsterdam. 

This strictly-beer shop had imported beer from all across Europe.  

Look at all that beer. 

This is the famous flower market in Amsterdam. This particular stand had the aroma of all kinds of beautiful flowers. I bought some tulip bulbs from here.  

Umm...uh... I don't think that this pic needs much of a description, but the small print reads: Includes: Cannibus seeds, compost, user manual with growing instructions. 

Brussels

I absolutely LOVED this city. It was clean, the layout of the city was totally walkable and it felt so quaint. It was unfortunate that we only stayed for 1 night. We stayed in an amazing hostel that was right in the center of everything. I am definitely adding this city to the list of places to go back to.

Atonium - I think that from the tour I heard that this giant model of an atom was built for the World Fair, but don't take my word for it.

Windmills - On the way to Brussels from Amsterdam. 

The European Union headquarters are in Brussels, this is apart of it. 

The Royal Palace in Brussels.  

Brussels -- Grand Place Grote Market -- A beautiful building lit up at night in a square where people were out eating at cafes, young people picnicing in the courtyard and artists sketching. It didn't get dark until almost 10pm at night. 

Manneken Pis -- I never knew that this famous statue was in Brussels. Here's something that I never thought that I'd see in my life. We just kind of stumbled upon when we were walking the city. 

Paris

Paris was exactly what I expected: history around every corner, bad attitudes after speaking English, and great cafes.

Before leaving the States, I arranged for a rental apartment on Craig's List.com. The apartment was on Rue Amelie and it was only 10 minutes away from the Eiffel Tower, in fact, we could see the Eiffel Tower from the balcony as it was lit up at night. The Eiffel Tower would flash in a bright white lights for 10 minutes at every hour on the hour after dark.

Paris was great and I wouldn't spoil it by just writing about it, ask me and I'll tell you. I can tell you that we met some great people while we were there too. First, we met Djeneba and Wanja after searching for an internet cafe (just computers connected to the internet would've been just fine) at the American University in Paris. Djeneba was from the Ivory Coast and Wanja was from Kenya. They were so nice and we ended up getting Djeneba's contact info, so we ended up hanging out with her on Saturday. We also met Kenyatta, who was from New York City.

Well, please enjoy the pictures... there are tons of stories, but like I said, you have to listen to the stories....

Proof that I was at the Eiffel Tower and climbed those steps... 

Me in front of the Louvre museum. There's the cool pyramid that I always saw on TV. The next time I see it is on the Da Vinci Code movie. 

Concorde - the little island of fountains and the obelisk not far from the Louvre tulip gardens.  

Djeneba and I in front of Notre Dame. 

Jardin des Plantes - huge park in Latin Quarter area. 

I was SO excited to see the posters for the Da Vinci Code movie being advertised in Paris. The walls of this particular station was completed covered by Da Vinci Code ads. I thought that the old French guy standing next to the ad was perfect. Earlier, he had walked up to the poster, looked at it and shook his head. I just HAD to get a pic of the old rejecting the new. He had probably heard about the controversey over the movie and was not happy about seeing the station covered with posters celebrating the release of the movie.