"If I grew up on a farm and was retarded, I would think Bruges is nice. But I didn't, so it isn't." - Ray (Colin Farrell) In Bruges
Regardless of what the famous movie may say, Bruges is a beautiful city. Definitely touristy, but it is pretty enough that you don't even have to see the sights to appreciate it. Narrow cobblestone streets and rows and rows of medival and renaissance buildings hugging the canals. Just... breath taking.
My hostel this time round was LEAPS AND BOUNDS better than the last [and not only because they had 1 euro beers, although it certainly helped]. It was full of travellers who just wanted to get to know people, as well as lockers that had outlets inside of them os you could charge your stuff in safety. Also, a slightly more elaborate breakfast with DRIP coffee. Not instant. Huzzah! Although I didn't find out what breakfast was like until the second day, as the first night I met 2 American brothers from northern Maine. We shared a few brew and discussed the difference between the States and Canada before going to this little bar called T'Poatersgat. The only thing that marks it is a cellar door with a waiter painted in single line across it. It totally looks like you'll get stabbed from the entrance, but once you get inside it was AMAZING. Dried hops along the support arches. A steady soundtrack of Motown music. Beer for 2.50. Fooseball and darts. I had my ass handed to me in Foosball, and then we went to Simon Stevin Plein with some cans of Bush and drank in the square til 4 am. Needless to say I slept in a little the next day and missed the cut off for breakfast.
I stopped in a little cafe called Li-o-Lait where I had the most elabortate long black served to me. the coffee, with little letter cookies (which I have since learned are called nic-nacs}, a fluffy pink marshmellow, and the tiniest pitcher of milk. It was exactly what I needed to rechardge my battery (sic: cure my hangover). I spent the rest of the afternoon climbing the famous Belfry and wandering the streets of Bruges. I came across a cathdral with an art installation taking up the entire inside, as well as a nunnery where the internal courtyard was completely in bloom with daffodils.
At breakfast the next morning I met another Canadian gril named Danielle who was also going on to Amsterdam that day. We shared one more cup of coffee and caught the train together. It was nice to have company while navigating the European rail lines together.
Things I learned today:
-Belgians must have a rampant diabetes problem. Breakfast consists entirely of chocolate. Chocolate flakes, chocolate spread or sprinkles on thier toast, nesquik...
-Belgium also has supermarkets that make vegetarian pepper salami! Yay train sammiches!
-you do not get nearly as bad of hangover from belgian beer as you do from Jamesons.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Stumbling and insomnia
April 22: currently sitting in St. Pancras station drinking a latte and waiting for my train to Bruges to depart. And boy, did I need a freaking latte this morning. The hostel I was staying in was also over run with a 10 year old French boys rugby team. And they were the WORST behaved little snots I hav ever had the displeasure to come across. They were smoking in the building, running up and down the stairs, and literally SCREAMING through the halls. Oh, and one of the kids had gone into the shower outside my room, and his buddy figured it would be a good idea to pound on the door yelling "Ouvre!" And asking him about why he was in the shower. I don't know, maybe he was taking a GODDAMN SHOWER. He could be masturbating to pictures of queen Elizabeth for all I care, just get the HELL AWAY FROM MY DOOR. *rage*
It probably didn't help that I had a gingerbread latte at 9:00at night, but I wanted to go somewhere where I could get away from all the ruckus and just read a book. Although people here just seem to close their business whenever they feel like it. :S anyhoo, it resulted in me having more run just the above preventing me from restful slumber. Also, anytime I would juuuuust about to tip over the edge into sleep, some fellow traveller (let's call them d-bag mc-inconsiderate) would come in, slam the door and turn on the lights. Oh, but they would whisper. Thanks for that. No, it's 2:30 in the morning and I have a tiny curtain in front of my bed. It's practically a sound proof wall. *sigh*
Now that THAT'S out of the way...
London! It's pretty!
I stumbled upon some great stuff On Saturday. I had originally planned to see a west end show that night and spend the day on the south bank. However, I slept in until 1 in the afternoon after stumbling home from the always delightful Kim and Andrew Gibson's house at 6 am. And always the gracious hosts, they also sent me on my way with a crippling hangover. So once a shower and some Tylenol were had, my epic plans for the day got quickly rearranged. I figured I would pick up my ticket to Bruges at King's Cross, then head to Leicester Square and still see what show tickets were like for that night. Once I got to the west end, I noticed throngs of people heading towards Trafalgar and then saw that it was The Feast of St. George. Apparently all the local food shops that specialize in traditional English food were gathered in the square to show what London's farmers markets had to offer. EXCITING RIGHT?! So my hangover cure that day was a delicious shallot and parsnip pie on the sunny steps of a cathedral across from the National Portrait Gallery.
I didn't end up seeing a show that night as most of the cheap tickets to the shows I wanted to see were sold out. But I did meander over to the Tate Modern and took in some art. And stumbled across a gathering of furries. Super nice. The kids around were excited, it was cute.
Sunday was Brick Lane market. Fan-friggin-tastic. I pretty stuck to the main market in the old Truman Brewery, where I came across a designer sample sale (didn't buy anything) a 3 for £10 vintage clothing clearance (SCARVES!) and a Pop-Up art gallery where all the work was about coffee. I actually liked it WAY better than the Tate. There were watercolours made with coffee and typographs of Starbucks orders and clothing made from coffee. Some incredibly talented stuff. There's also a whole bunch of street food stalls where I got a solid helping of chickpea and veggie tagine for like, £4. Yay cheap eats!
I continued to explore the the area when I realized Brick Lane was more than just those 2 blocks. And then it just became busy and crowded and I was just anxious to go home by that point.
Things I've learned:
- Never stay in an all ages hostel.
EVER.
- I will always giggle at the train station for "cockfosters". Heh.
- Pluto has a moon called Bacon (thanks Natural History Museum!)
- never do 2 major English museums in the same day. Your brain and feet will turn to goo.
- unlike Canada , London theatres are dark on Sundays, not Mondays. Guess I'm checking out a show when I come back through in June :S
- it was the London Marathon on Sunday! Which sucked because the tube was PACKED but great because everyone was watching the marathon and not at the usual tourist places. Like brick lane.
It probably didn't help that I had a gingerbread latte at 9:00at night, but I wanted to go somewhere where I could get away from all the ruckus and just read a book. Although people here just seem to close their business whenever they feel like it. :S anyhoo, it resulted in me having more run just the above preventing me from restful slumber. Also, anytime I would juuuuust about to tip over the edge into sleep, some fellow traveller (let's call them d-bag mc-inconsiderate) would come in, slam the door and turn on the lights. Oh, but they would whisper. Thanks for that. No, it's 2:30 in the morning and I have a tiny curtain in front of my bed. It's practically a sound proof wall. *sigh*
Now that THAT'S out of the way...
London! It's pretty!
I stumbled upon some great stuff On Saturday. I had originally planned to see a west end show that night and spend the day on the south bank. However, I slept in until 1 in the afternoon after stumbling home from the always delightful Kim and Andrew Gibson's house at 6 am. And always the gracious hosts, they also sent me on my way with a crippling hangover. So once a shower and some Tylenol were had, my epic plans for the day got quickly rearranged. I figured I would pick up my ticket to Bruges at King's Cross, then head to Leicester Square and still see what show tickets were like for that night. Once I got to the west end, I noticed throngs of people heading towards Trafalgar and then saw that it was The Feast of St. George. Apparently all the local food shops that specialize in traditional English food were gathered in the square to show what London's farmers markets had to offer. EXCITING RIGHT?! So my hangover cure that day was a delicious shallot and parsnip pie on the sunny steps of a cathedral across from the National Portrait Gallery.
I didn't end up seeing a show that night as most of the cheap tickets to the shows I wanted to see were sold out. But I did meander over to the Tate Modern and took in some art. And stumbled across a gathering of furries. Super nice. The kids around were excited, it was cute.
Sunday was Brick Lane market. Fan-friggin-tastic. I pretty stuck to the main market in the old Truman Brewery, where I came across a designer sample sale (didn't buy anything) a 3 for £10 vintage clothing clearance (SCARVES!) and a Pop-Up art gallery where all the work was about coffee. I actually liked it WAY better than the Tate. There were watercolours made with coffee and typographs of Starbucks orders and clothing made from coffee. Some incredibly talented stuff. There's also a whole bunch of street food stalls where I got a solid helping of chickpea and veggie tagine for like, £4. Yay cheap eats!
I continued to explore the the area when I realized Brick Lane was more than just those 2 blocks. And then it just became busy and crowded and I was just anxious to go home by that point.
Things I've learned:
- Never stay in an all ages hostel.
EVER.
- I will always giggle at the train station for "cockfosters". Heh.
- Pluto has a moon called Bacon (thanks Natural History Museum!)
- never do 2 major English museums in the same day. Your brain and feet will turn to goo.
- unlike Canada , London theatres are dark on Sundays, not Mondays. Guess I'm checking out a show when I come back through in June :S
- it was the London Marathon on Sunday! Which sucked because the tube was PACKED but great because everyone was watching the marathon and not at the usual tourist places. Like brick lane.
Friday, April 19, 2013
An adventure begins!
So I figured that this would be the best way for me to keep in touch with friends and family regarding my trip to Europe. And since it is my starvingartistadventures blog, I also thought it would be good for me to mention some of the food I'll be experiencing! So here we go:
After approximately 24 hours in transit, I finally made it to London! Everything is already green here, and the smaller communities outside of the city proper look exactly like stock scenes from an episode of The Tudors. Quite a change from the grey and white pallet of Snowy Dedmonton.
My flights and everything left and arrived without a hitch (well at least until untried to leave Gatwick airport, but more on that later). I have to say that I Am actually quite impressed with Air Transat. I had requested the dairy free vegetarian meal and the food was really well put together I thought. Lemon thyme pasta with white kidney beans, a green salad, multigrain bun and fruit salad. Balanced AND nutritious? Who'd a thunk? Breakfast was just as delightful with a blueberry muffin, orange juic and apple slices. Although I wish there had been peanut butter. But then I always wish there was peanut butter. The airline also had a strong selection of both English and French Canadian content in the on board entertainment. Coeur de Pirate, A separation, Bon cop bad cop.... Kudos Air Transat for supporting Canadian artists and filmmakers! I would definitely recommend them for your next trip.
Oh, and did I mention complimentary wine with dinner? FREE. WINE.
As for the gatwick story I mentioned before, here's what went down:
I was tired but coasting through each checkpoint on my way out if the airport. Security: check. Baggage: check. I was winning left right and centre. Until I got to the shuttle bus stop. I had bought my ticket online and printed off the email confirming my purchase. I pulled t out of my bag and started glancing around, realizing my sheet of paper did not look like other people's sheets of paper. I then read the email and came across that line of horror: "this is not your ticket."
...*facepalm*
So winning rachel turned into panicky rachel as she stopped at information to ask if there were computers with printers anywhere. Which there were, but they only accept change. Zap icky rachel then stops into a shop and buys a Star Bar (English wunderbars, *om nom nom* ) so she can get some change to print off her shuttle ticket to make it within the one hour window that her ticket allows. *sigh* Everything worked out fine, but it taught me the first lesson of my trip: Always read the fine print.
After approximately 24 hours in transit, I finally made it to London! Everything is already green here, and the smaller communities outside of the city proper look exactly like stock scenes from an episode of The Tudors. Quite a change from the grey and white pallet of Snowy Dedmonton.
My flights and everything left and arrived without a hitch (well at least until untried to leave Gatwick airport, but more on that later). I have to say that I Am actually quite impressed with Air Transat. I had requested the dairy free vegetarian meal and the food was really well put together I thought. Lemon thyme pasta with white kidney beans, a green salad, multigrain bun and fruit salad. Balanced AND nutritious? Who'd a thunk? Breakfast was just as delightful with a blueberry muffin, orange juic and apple slices. Although I wish there had been peanut butter. But then I always wish there was peanut butter. The airline also had a strong selection of both English and French Canadian content in the on board entertainment. Coeur de Pirate, A separation, Bon cop bad cop.... Kudos Air Transat for supporting Canadian artists and filmmakers! I would definitely recommend them for your next trip.
Oh, and did I mention complimentary wine with dinner? FREE. WINE.
As for the gatwick story I mentioned before, here's what went down:
I was tired but coasting through each checkpoint on my way out if the airport. Security: check. Baggage: check. I was winning left right and centre. Until I got to the shuttle bus stop. I had bought my ticket online and printed off the email confirming my purchase. I pulled t out of my bag and started glancing around, realizing my sheet of paper did not look like other people's sheets of paper. I then read the email and came across that line of horror: "this is not your ticket."
...*facepalm*
So winning rachel turned into panicky rachel as she stopped at information to ask if there were computers with printers anywhere. Which there were, but they only accept change. Zap icky rachel then stops into a shop and buys a Star Bar (English wunderbars, *om nom nom* ) so she can get some change to print off her shuttle ticket to make it within the one hour window that her ticket allows. *sigh* Everything worked out fine, but it taught me the first lesson of my trip: Always read the fine print.
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