BRUSSELS/AMSTERDAM

As some of you know and some of you don't my friend Fernando came into London last week to visit for 2 weeks. Although we could spend two weeks in London without even being able to do everything, we thought it might also be fun to go to Amsterdam and Brussels. So technically I have been to both of these cities before but I never made it out of the airports.

First off: Brussels. This is the quirkiest little city I have ever been to and I love it! For instance, their most famous statue is about a foot tall and they dress it up in various costumes on a regular basis. But not just anyone can dress it up. There is only one guy who is allowed to. He is the official Mannequin Pis costume designer. Despite their apparent insanity, people are friendly and laid back and the city is pretty small but still a lot to do. The food is great and I ate falafel for pretty much every other meal. Going out in Brussels is pretty fun too. There was a bar next door to one of the hostels that had a secret alleyway door and screamo music and then we went to another bar with over 2500 types of beer. For the record, I really hate beer. It makes me want to gag. But they had some flavored beer (aka raspberry) that was actually pretty good. For all my GW friends, do you think that McFaddens has Floris Raspberry during happy hour? Yeah I didn't think so either.

The Atomium

Mannequin Pis

Grand Place

Next: Amsterdam. Amsterdam is pretty no doubt but I honestly wasn't a huge fan. I think it was partly because of where we were staying though. The street we were on was 2 streets down from the red light district and had probably 20 "coffee shops" within 2 blocks. For the record, we all know I love coffee so if you don't now what I mean by Amsterdam coffee shops then you should search google. I realize for a lot of people my age who are staying in cheap hostels that's what they are looking for, which is why all the cheap places to stay are right here, but it's not really my style. I did find a market and a beautiful park though. My last day in Amsterdam before catching the train to the airport, I spent about 4 hours in my new favorite park reading. This probably makes me a 70 yr old woman but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Beautiful Canals

Tulips from Vondelpark

Classic I amsterdam Sign