Back in Amsterdam

I took a train to meet up with Carolien, Aukje and Anook, all my Dutch friends I have talked about in previous posts. On the train ride I reused the ticket that didn’t get stamped during my last trip (yes, free ride!). I’m not sure why, but I felt inspired to write a song on the way, which occupied my mind on the 3 hour ride. It’s about someone that travels for a living and doesn’t make many connections – think ‘Up In the Air’.  After some edits, here it is.

When I got to Amsterdam, we went to a random restaurant near Anook’s house, where I learned a new thing about her. She likes to make friends with elderly people. I never figured out why she does it, and yes, it is a nice thing to do. So this guy in his 80s was at the restaurant/bar around 10 pm and she immediately went up and started talking to him when we entered. She gave him her number, which I thought was hilarious, and came back to us to report that we were having lunch with the old-timer tomorrow. Yes, WE.

The night wasn’t that exciting, pretty much the standard Dutch drinking and the standard Dutch weather (rain). We turned in early and now to the good part – where we met up with Jan Mortyn (pictured at left with Anook and Carolien). This wasn’t just some random old guy, he was relatively famous. Let me backtrack a bit. We went into the restaurant and sat down for lunch. He spoke very little English, so Anook and Carolien translated for me. He told us stories about his multiple wives (from multiple countries in Southeast Asia) and multiple children (he wasn’t sure if it was 7 or 9). A few things he repeated, so we could tell that he was a little senile and maybe making the whole thing up. He said he fought for Germany in WWII against the Russians at the Eastern Front, was a mercenary and then journalist in Vietnam, was injured by a grenade, and spent most of his time since then as an artist.

By then we were ALL skeptical and just thought he was crazy. Then I started Googling him on Carolien’s phone and his online gallery came up. It had a bio section went over all of the major points he told us about, so we started to give him more credibility. Further investigation on the website showed that there have been multiple book written about his life, a play (which he said is being turned into a move – I believe him now), and even a 7 page article in the Dutch edition of Playboy from 1990. This guy was legit. He asked us what we were looking at and we showed him a few of his abstract artworks from the site. He was surprised, and didn’t even know he has a website.

We finished up a 2 hour lunch and he invited us to an exhibition in another city a few weeks from now that I think the girls were going to take him up on. After that we went to the Heineken Experience, the site where the company was founded. The tour was ok and kind of long, but the best part was the pub at the end of it. Before we knew it the day was over and we had to head back to Utrecht.

My remaining days in Utrecht weren’t all too exciting to read about, but very relaxing.  Aukje was kind enough to let me crash at her student house for free. The bathroom was small and community kitchen a bit dirty, but I got over it. One day we went to Kasteel de Haar together since she didn’t have any classes. The next day I visited the Dutch royal family’s summer residence, Het Loo. We did some shopping together and ate at a few good restaurants.

On my last day, Aukje and I went on a canoe tour of the city’s canals. I didn’t want to do the typical canal tour by boat, it was much more fun to paddle yourself. Although the water was gross in a lot of areas, it was a relaxing 2 hour trip. The weather was nice and I got to soak in Holland one last time. Aukje walked me to the train station and we parted ways. Carolien said goodbye earlier in the day and at this point we just laughed and said, “Yeah, yeah, see you soon, blah blah, whatever,” since it was about the 5th time we’ve said goodbye. So at this point, I don’t believe in saying goodbye to friends you meet in random places. See you soon, Aukje.

I took a train back to Brussels and met up with John (my replacement at work) for dinner. He let me sleep in his hotel room before my early morning flight on Thursday. I checked my email and at this point, it looks like Australia is going to happen! I’ll be home for a week and then will fly out on the 5th. G’day, mates!

Last week of work

My last week of work didn’t bring anything exciting as John started to pick up the workload and I had time to think. What do I want to do with my final 6 days in Europe? I had my travel department push my return flight out by a week so that I could travel. I had already hit most of Holland, but I had friends there and knew that I would have a good time. I could maybe do Paris and London, but a lot of that would be solo. I contacted my Emmanuel, a Parisian friend from Georgia Tech, and he seemed open to touring me around and letting me crash at his place. With that set I got another email bombshell…

Jay,

There is a possibility that you would be utilized in Australia beginning the week of 3/22 for an extended stay. Would this suit you?

Hmm, let me think about that. YES!

As you can tell from previous posts, this doesn’t mean that anything is set in stone. Emails over the next few days let my hopes down as they used a local Australian resource for the project. But wait, there’s more. Since they knew that I was interested in Australia, our company has another project that needs someone. So you’re saying there’s a chance.  They went ahead and gave me my week to travel plus a week at home to recharge, so my Australian start date is April 5th.

Toward the end of the week I hadn’t heard from Emmanuel about a few questions I had so I started to get nervous. I didn’t want to drop money on a train ticket if I wasn’t going to meet up with him – I had no backup plan. I expressed this to Carolien and Aukje and they persuaded me to come back to Amsterdam for the weekend and hang out with them in Utrecht during the week. I’d been to both places already, but I didn’t have any other options so I agreed.

As I was packing my things to check out of my home (it didn’t feel like a hotel anymore), I got a message from Emmanuel that he had been busy with work but was planning a bunch of stuff for us to do. Aw, crap. I emailed him back to give me the details and I would do my best to go there after Amsterdam, since I had already reserved a hotel (with points, cha-ching). I never heard back from him. I guess he was pissed.

Last weekend in Brussels

With one last weekend in Brussels, I felt obligated to hang out with the Romanians and not just meet on Thursday, get a drink, and then skip out because of work the next morning. I met them at a little smoky dive bar called Café Central in downtown Brussels. It was very near the Irish pub I visited a few weeks before with my American friend (Stephanie) and Greek friend (Anna).  It was an interesting place, besides all of the smoke. I was introduced to a bunch of Italian guys, one whom had a girlfriend that looked so much like my friend Chrissy that every time I talked to her that’s all I could think about. Freaky.

We ended the night at a club up near where we all live called Spirito Martini which was in an old church. If you have ever been to Club Opera in Atlanta, the setup is very similar except all of the stonework and stained glass windows are authentic (from what I could tell). It was supposed to be a trendy, packed club, but when we got there very few people were dancing and the music wasn’t loud at all. We had a few more (expensive) drinks and called it a night.  Thanks to Mădălina, Ana-maria, Adina, Ioana, Alex, and the rest of the people I can't remember or whose names I can't pronounce.

The next morning I got up relatively early to meet Stephanie and a few of her friends (Danish Daniel and Ukrainian Yagna) at the train station for Antwerp. It was the last major touristy city in Belgium I hadn’t gone to, so I had to check it off the list. I had some ideas in mind from my guidebook, so we got on the train for the 40 minute ride and planned out the day. I was on a mission to find Westvleteren beer and take a tour of the city’s sewers.

The vibe in Antwerp is totally different from Brussels. There is a giant shopping district through the main part of the city. The road ends at one point and it becomes a giant pedestrian thoroughfare. A few hundred years ago, Antwerp became the largest importer of diamonds from Africa, and to this day 80% of them pass through the city.

Of course, there was a church in the center of the city. You had to pay to get into this one, but it housed 4 paintings by Rubens that were spectacular. Here is a picture one of the masterpieces. After seeing the church, we wandered along the river and through the not impressive red light district as the girls pretended not to giggle. Here is a picture of the city – we walked through a tunnel underneath the river to see the Antwerp skyline from the other side. It was a cold and windy day which made most of our outside activities consist of walking quickly with your head bent down to shield the wind.

Based on the reviews of the canal tour, I wanted to go and convinced everyone else to check it out. We were on a bit of a time crunch because Stephanie wanted to go to the American style supermarket on the outskirts of town (she is studying in Brussels and wanted some food to cook). We got to the building and it looked innocent enough from the outside. When you entered the ticket area you could see the steps spiral down below floor level and fade into darkness under the street that we came in on. At this point it was 2 or 3 in the afternoon and the supermarket closed at 5. We could pay 5 Euros (or so) to peek down into the sewer, or pay 15 for the full tour that lasted 3 hours. Since it didn’t fit into our plan, we all decided to just leave (although by now we all really wanted to take the 3 hour tour – it looked really cool and I would recommend anyone to check it out if they get the chance).

We convinced Stephanie that there was too much else to do and her supermarket trip wasn’t that important, so we got pints of Westerleven Trippel (my favorite beer from the trip) at a local pub. Lonely Planet said to try a certain pub in Antwerp for the elusive and highly reviewed Westvleteren trappist beer, but they just laughed at me when I asked for it. No luck. We gave up and went to the Rubenshuis, the former house and studio of Antwerp’s most famous artist, Rubens. It was only 2 Euros to get in, so definitely worth it. A few of the pictures were good, but a lot of his really amazing works are displayed in museums and churches mentioned before.

To wrap up the day we did some shopping (yes, even me). I failed to get the two things I was really looking forward to out of the city, but I definitely prefer Antwerp to Brussels. The group talked about going to get a drink in Brussels when we got back, but I was beat. The hope was to take a nap and meet back up with the Romanians, but after I got home and talked to them they weren’t up for it. I spent a night in and rested up for my last bit of sightseeing in Belgium.

The first thing I did on Sunday was use the metro – for the first time after being there for six weeks. It was pretty easy to figure out, and I went to the northwest part of the city to see the Brussels Atomium. It was built for the World’s Fair held here back in the 50’s, and resembles a giant atom. I paid the highly overpriced 12 Euros to go inside, and took an elevator to the top floor. The views honestly weren’t that great. You could see a lot of the city, but all of the cool buildings were far enough away that it didn’t strike me as impressive. The coolest part was just walking around the outside of the Atomium and looking up at the massive structure.

I caught the metro back into town and walked around a little more. Then I peed on a church. Haha, let me back up. So I’m walking by a church and I see this partitioned part on one side where a few guys were facing the wall. On closer inspection after they left, these were indeed “urinals”. Metal dividers had been put up and a pipe at the top dripped water down the wall. I said, “Don’t mind if I do,” and peed on the church.

My last stop of the day after eating another delicious waffle was to the two museums in the city. The Magritte Museum (think man wearing a bowler hat with an apple in front of his face) was appealing to me because he was a contemporary of Dali and had a very similar style, just not as twisted. The Beaux Arts Museum held the Hals painting I mentioned in an earlier post of a man that might be one of my ancestors.

It turned out that the Magritte Museum was sold out, so MAKE SURE TO RESERVE TICKETS ONLINE if you want to go. The Beaux Arts ticket was only 2 Euros and the place was relatively empty. Surprisingly, I saw a few works in the modern section that I recognized. They had a Dali, Van Gogh, David, Seurat, and of course my sought after Hals. See the resemblance? And to those that have given me crap about the scarf: it was cold, rainy and windy, and I don’t care. :P

I ended the day watching UK win in overtime (I found a streaming site online) and then went out to dinner with John, my replacement here in Belgium. He’s a Scottish guy and pretty cool although he’s a bit older than me. We got to know each other over a few pints and got ready for my last and his first week of work.

Week 5

I got home from Amsterdam on Sunday evening and caught up on emails from the past 3 days. I found out from my neighbor Drew that I had a summons for jury duty. GREAT. Let's see how hard it is to get out of this. Part of me is curious about the judicial process. I wouldn't mind serving on a jury as long as it was short and interesting. I think that would be wishful thinking since most people have such bad experiences. I found out that March 19th is definitely my last day for working in Brussels, so maybe I will be around to follow through with it. I'm hoping to travel from the 19th to 25th as long as I can get my return flight pushed back. I'm not sure where I'll go yet, but Paris seems like a good bet.

On Tuesday I went to dinner at my favorite restaurant in Brussels, Le IIéme Élément. I've been there twice and have ordered the same thing both times. #25 on the menu is a chicken curry dish in coconut milk - it's so good. The restaurant is located in the Ixelles neighborhood about a 10 minute walk from my hotel. There are a lot of African shops and markets in the area, and every time I've been there at night I see shady characters standing on the corner - and no, not because they are black. They always speak to me (in French) when I walk by, but I usually just ignore them and go on.

This time, I was walking along the sidewalk with my head slightly down to block the wind and I came upon three guys blocking the sidewalk. I was aware of what they were doing, so I wasn't surprised when they didn't move out of the way when I approached them. I came to a stop and attempted to get by when one of them said something and pulled out a little bag of weed. I shook my head but none of them moved. I side-stepped between two cars and walked across the street, continuing home on the opposite side. They yelled a few things at me that I couldn't understand. My blood was pumping and I know that things could've ended a lot worse. I'd love to think I could go for a run (if it wasn't so cold), but things like that make me stick to the hotel treadmill.

Totally shifting gears here, I think my weekend plans are set. A few people I met in my third week here are going to Antwerp on Saturday, which happens to be the last major city in Belgium that I haven't visited. I had plans to go there anyway, so it worked out that they will be going as well. I plan to spend Sunday in Brussels going to a few attractions that I haven't seen, namely the Atomium Magritte Museum (think apple and bowler hat) and Musees Royaux des Beaux Arts. The Beaux Arts Museum has works from famous artists like van Dyck and Rubens, but others like Frans Hals.

The reason that I'm interested in Frans Hals takes a little bit of explaining. A few years ago my dad traced my family's geneology. Our family has lived in Kentucky for a long time, and one of my ancestors saved Abraham Lincoln from drowning when they were children (my great-great-great-great-great uncle... but that's another story). The 'Hornback' line goes back to the 1600s, where he found that we were descendents of a Dutch man named Johannes van Horenbeeck. I created an online version of our family tree on Geni.com.  Coincidentally, our family comes from Hertogenbosch, only 30 km away from Carolien's hometown of Oosterhout which I visited for Carnaval.

I started Googling Johannes van Horenbeeck, and it turns out there were more than one - it was and is a family name (Johannes is Dutch for John, which is my given name as well as my dad, grandfather and great-great-grandfather). One of the Dutch Johannes' was a theologian whose portrait was painted by Hals in 1645. That painting sits in the forementioned Beaux Arts Museum in Brussels.  I don't know how or if I'm related to him, but I'm definitely going to seek the painting (pictured here).  Post note: I tried to dig up some geneology, but it turns out that the trail goes cold for my family with Warnaar Hoorenbeeck, born in 1645. There is a chance he could've been related to the portraited Johannes, but I can't prove it.

Feel free to drop me some suggestions of places I should go on my week off.  I'm open to anything!

Bruges in the Rain

On Sunday morning, I had nothing pressing me to get up too early. I thanked Wouter once again for a fun day in Ghent and walked back to the train station to go to Bruges. It is a city much like Ghent with canals, a long history and many old buildings. I stepped out of the train station into the rain - my luck had run out. I came prepared with an umbrella (that I found in the train station a few weeks ago) and immediately put it to use.

I took a bus to the city center, which was a lot like Ghent and Brussels. The only difference was that the wind was whipping the rain in 30+ mph gusts. I tried to snap a few pictures with my backpack holding me down, umbrella in one hand and camera in the other. The wind kept pulling my umbrella back and I got some drops on the camera that obstructed the shot. It was beyond frustrating.

I used my Lonely Planet guide for a walking tour of the city. About 20 minutes into the walk I was already over it. I wanted to be back in Brussels. My umbrella had turned inside out 5 or 6 times, my guidebook was wet and I hadn't really seen that much. Around every corner and intersection, I never knew which way the wind was going to gust. I veered off the path a few times and ended up getting lost for a bit. I wasn't too worried since I had a map, but after my umbrella's 10th turn inside out I threw it in the trash. Let me rephrase that... I emphatically slammed my umbrella into the trash and trudged off through the rain. There were a few churches and sights recommended by the book, but I skipped them and went for an indoor attraction - the chocolate museum.

Choco Story chocolate museum was located on an unassuming street north of the center. Mostly I was just happy to get out of the rain. I was happily surprised by the artifacts that went all the way back to the Aztecs and continued through the cocoa trade to Europe, how production changed during the industrial revolution, up to today's techniques. There was a demonstration at the end and a free sample. This is a picture of me with Barack Choc-Obama (my title, not theirs - I'm so clever). As a side note, people in Europe love the fact that Obama was elected in the US, but everyone I've talked to about it says they are quickly getting tired of the politics as usual, because what has really changed? Anyway, I'm not the biggest fan of chocolate because I'm (mildly) allergic to it, but I still like to eat it every now and then. It's only the pure stuff that really makes me kind of queasy, but even with that I can take it in small doses.

I quickly walked back to the city center and was tempted by the Salvador Dali exhibit in one of the buildings. It cost 15 Euros and took about an hour to complete, but it only had etchings (no paintings). I REALLY like Dali's work and I've never seen one of his collections, but I was wet, tired, and it didn't look like that great of an exhibit. I caught a bus and took the train back to Brussels to get ready for another week.

Ghent

I woke up on Saturday morning hoping that it wasn't raining. The forecast was calling for rain all weekend, but I turned on CNN International just to check. Just then, they gave breaking news about a huge earthquake in Chile. It happened about 300 miles from Santiago, where I had been working for two months. I logged onto Facebook and messaged some friends and then made my way to the train station with more on my mind than weekend traveling.

A little info on Ghent... it was the second largest city in Europe (after Paris) until the 13th century. It has a rich history of trading and lots of wars throughout the years. I would definitely recommend seeing it if you are in Belgium - just not in the winter time.

I got to Ghent after a relatively short train ride and hopped on the tram to get to the city center. I had no idea where the race was going to begin, but I thought that was a good place to start my search. I quickly realized that I took the tram in the wrong direction as we passed through the suburbs. Luckily it looped back around within 15 minutes and I asked someone for directions. Someone located the square where the race would start on my map, and it turned out that it would be quicker for me to walk.

The closer I got to the race staging area, the less I needed the map. Streets started to become roped off and there was a general pedestrian flow in one direction. The tightly packed buildings opened up around a corner to an open plaza, jammed packed full of cycling team buses, sponsor tents, fencing to route foot traffic and a stage. I wandered between team buses with all of the other people, trying to catch a glimpse of cyclists I knew. It was kind of hard since they were all wearing their helmets and shaded glasses, but I managed to capture a few pictures.

Thor Hushovd, last year's Omloop winner


I watched the start of the race and then made my way to my Couch Surfing host's apartment, less than 10 minutes from the plaza. I took a deep breath and rang the bell... I didn't quite know what to expect. Wouter answered the door and invited me inside. He had a one room apartment half a flight down the main stairway that put his window at street level. He had a single bed in the corner, futon couch (which I assumed would be my surfing spot), computer desk in a corner and a sink in the remaining corner. It was definitely smaller than what I'm used to. The kitchen was shared by the other seven apartments, as was the bathroom and shower. I definitely wouldn't want to live there, but it would do for a night. I wasn't going to complain!

We talked for a bit and got to know each other and then walked to the city center. The rain had held off so far, and I hoped that would continue. Wouter wasn't a cycling fan, but I convinced him to plan to be back at the plaza for the race's finish in about 4 hours. He took me through the city, which he actually didn't know that well since he had only been living there as a student for 6 months (he was from Holland and studying photography at the university).







We paid 2 Euros to go into the Belfy of Ghent for 'the best views of the city' according to Lonely Planet. It was finished in 1381 and only took about 70 years to build - no big deal. You'll notice in the picture directly above that it looks a lot like one of the churches I have visited, but it isn't. It has a bell tower and was used to summon townspeople, but never served religious purposes. There are churches on either side of the tower.

I already climbed the Dom Tower in Utrecht last weekend, so I wasn't as excited to climb another - plus, we were on a time crunch. This one had an elevator, so you only had to walk up two flights of stairs to get to it. It looked pretty typical from the inside, but I definitely recommend the view, as you can see from the pictures below. I was disappointed that we didn't get to go all of the way to the top. The observation area is just underneath the clock in the picture. There were stairs going further up with a simple chain barring entry further up - no sign saying do not enter, just this red and white chain. Wouter and I considered just stepping over it and going further up the tower. His exact quote was "You're American, you make your own rules." Low blow, my friend. We ultimately decided not to do it and headed back down to the cathedral. Here are three of the best pictures from the belfry:







St. Bavo Cathedral, (pictured directly above, last of the three pics from the belfry), now ranks as the most impressive cathedral I've visited. Unfortunately you weren't allowed to take pictures inside. The church was founded in the 11th century and is MASSIVE inside. The most famous piece of artwork held by St. Bavo is Jan Van Eyck's masterpiece "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb". You had to pay to see the real copy but they had a duplicate on display which was impressive enough for me. There was a medieval castle that I would've liked to go inside, but we didn't have a whole lot of time. For the most part, the allure of the city is just walking along the cobblestone streets and looking at the architecture. I was disappointed in all of the construction that was going on though. Many of the streets, especially around the churches, was torn up and filled with fencing to route traffic. All of the rain created a lot of mud and obstacles as we toured the town.

Wouter and I made it back in time for the end of the cycling race, which was not surprisingly won by someone I had never heard of. He won by 18 seconds, so the race ending left me unsatisfied. We walked around the team buses again, hoping to get pictures of Tom Boonen for Dana (yes, I was that dedicated to your cause, Dana). Tom is Belgian so there were a lot of other people waiting on him, but he didn't show. Maybe he was upset with his poor performance in the race.

We went back to Wouter's apartment for a while and got into a long discussion about girls and relationships. I think he was more messed up than I am/was, and though he is only a year younger than me, he had the relationship mentality of someone much younger (girls are stupid). We debated for a while but I just kind of gave up.

I treated Wouter for dinner as a thank you for letting me stay with him. We went to a Turkish restaurant called Ankara which I highly recommend. We got a two person sampler plate that was stacked full of all kinds of meat - yum. After that we went to the bar area, which wasn't as impressive as I would have thought. Wouter told me that a lot of students go home on the weekends, so the bars are most lively in town on Thursday nights. Oh well, nothing I could do about it.

Wouter was super shy, coming up with all kinds of excuses not to talk to girls. I was trying to be a good wingman, because I could tell that he wasn't bold enough to start a conversation. I surprised even myself because I'm usually more in his role while other people seek out new friends, but I was getting tired of just walking around with only him, not making any interactions with the scene.

"What about that group of three girls?" -me
(pointing to three brunettes)
"No, I like darker brown hair." -Wouter
....
"Look at that girl." -me
"I like cute, next door girls. She's too done up." -Wouter

This was a typical exchange, each time with an excuse. Finally I gave him an ultimatum that he had to talk to a girl within 5 minutes or we were leaving (it was 1:30 am at this point). He found a woman ~35 and asked her for a cigarette, then walked away proud of himself. I shook my head in frustration. I had never seen so many girls in a bar, just sitting by themselves and talking without guys coming up to them. I was trying to do Wouter a favor. Finally I spotted two girls and said, "Look, I'm going to go talk to them. I don't care if you like them or not. In a minute I'm going to wave you over and we're going to hang out. Ok?"

I went over and met the girls and started to have a conversation. I kiiiiiiind of forgot to work Wouter into the conversation, and 15 minutes later when I finally did, he was gone from the bar. I had his phone number and a map to get home (about a 25 minute walk), but I was still kind of worried. The girls were cool about it and waited while I looked around the bar, before finally texting him to come meet us. He didn't seem too upset, but I felt like I broke the Bro-Code. The girls seemed to want us to hang around and stay out later, but I could tell that Wouter wanted to go home, so I thanked them for their time and we left. It was probably best since I was planning to go to Bruges in the morning. We had a conversation about girls (again) on the long walk home. I really wish him luck because his whole relationship outlook is pretty twisted and counter-productive.

Sunday - on to Bruges!

Three weeks down

My third week in Brussels wasn't too exciting. I'm pretty deep into the routine of taking the train to work every day and trying to find somewhere to go for dinner. I ran 5k on the treadmill on Wednesday because I'm definitely losing my fitness without exercise in this cold weather. I met my Romanian friends for the EU happy hour on Thursday. All of the Romanians seem to travel together and know each other. An older guy came into the pub and I was introduced. "Ahhhh! You are American! I love America!"

He owned a restaurant (Food & Wine, Rue Belliard 181, Etterbeek 1040 - it's a small place so there is no website) and insisted that I come by. He introduced me to his two beautiful waitresses, who were from Peru of all places. I think he said that it was French style cuisine... so let me get this straight. A Romanian opens a French restaurant in Belgium and has two Peruvian waitresses. Got it. I practiced a little Spanish with the Peruvians (Shera and Seha) and then bowed out so I could get some sleep. I had plans to stay in Belgium for the weekend and either go to Antwerp (if a Dutch friend contacted me as promised) or Ghent/Bruges to explore by myself. I wanted to make sure to get some rest.

On Friday, my friend Dana gave me a heads up on a cycling race that was going down in Ghent. That solidified my itenerary. The Omloop Het Niewswblad is the kickoff to the international cycling season and the first of the "Classics". Famous names like Tom Boonen, George Hincapie, Thor Hushovd, Tyler Farrar and Kim Kirchen were just some of the names I recognized from the Tour de France. I knew there was a chance that I would see my ex (one of those people you never care to think about, see or hear from again, you know?). That gave me pause initially, but I thought the chances that she would be there multiplied by all of the people watching the race would keep the odds in my favor. Plus, I don't think Dana would've suggested it to me if there was a chance... at least I hope not, Dana! It was too good to pass up, so I'll ignore the drama.

I hadn't heard any details for Antwerp so I decided for Ghent and Bruges - I could've gone to Antwerp by myself (and will eventually on this trip), but the race was a once in a lifetime type deal. Ghent is a college town, so I figured it would be a good place to spend the night. There is a Marriott there, but they didn't have any rooms available (what good are the points!). I'm guessing that the bike race was raising hotel prices, so I started researching other options. I thought about staying up all night, but that would demand that I find people to hang out with that were staying up that late as well - this wasn't South America, I don't know if everyone stays out that late. There was a train back to Brussels at 5 am, but that would rule out getting to see Bruges, which wasn't that far away from Ghent (and a place that everyone says you need to see if you're in Belgium).

I finally decided upon Couch Surfing. The whole idea is that people offer their couches to travelers for free. The hosts sometimes take you around the city and give pointers on things to do. I had a friend that was involved with it, so I thought I would give it a shot. I was kind of apprehensive about sleeping at a stranger's house, but I figured it would be a good story. Late in the afternoon I started messaging potential hosts. I knew it might be a longshot since I was inquiring on short notice. At first I was trying to be picky based on people's profile and living situation description. As afternoon turned into evening, I still didn't have any responses so I widened my search (I'm impatient, I know - so American). Finally I got an email from a guy named Wouter, and I planned to meet him in the afternoon in Ghent. This should be interesting...

Second week in Belgium

Early in the week I decided to change my flight by a week so I can travel through Europe. I'm here, I might as well do it. It cost me $285 to change my flight, a small price to pay I think. I was planning to hit Amsterdam and maybe London or Paris, I wasn't sure. Then I got the news... my time working had been extended until mid-March. This is great for my weekend trips, but I'll hope that I can still have a week to get further from Brussels in March. There is a chance, according to our deployment team, that the next part of the project will take me to Canada. Oh, joy.

I came down with some kind of sinus/cough/congestion thing early in the week - thank you, Carnaval. The week was pretty miserable until I got the news on Friday that the deployment team was trying to put me on the Australia leg of the project. Now THAT is what I'm talking about. If you remember, they were teasing me about a project in New Zealand that didn't end up coming through. The NZ wave is finished and they are starting up on Australia now. Fingers crossed on that.

With this extra time to see the sights, I didn't have any pressure to try to rush anything. I spent Friday night in Brussels, so I thought I would try to make some friends and go out to the bars to experience nightlife in the city. I went to dinner at a restaurant around the corner from my apartment and heard an American accent at the table next to mine. It was a group of 3 girls, so I figured my odds were pretty good. I'm getting more comfortable talking to girls here, but I still feel weird walking up to random guys. Maybe I'm a homophobe, I don't know where the awkwardness comes from. I went over and talked to them and it turned out that one was from the US, one from Greece and one from Brussels. They were in an MBA program, so we had a lot in common.

They invited me out to a few bars, and I was surprisingly more familiar with the Luxembourg Square area than they were. We headed downtown after a while, where I had never been, and waited in line at a club until we were too cold (after about 2 minutes). Then we went to an Irish pub and hung out as late as we could until the buses stopped running. It was a good time, though I'm not impressed with the nightlife (that I've seen - maybe there is more?).

Carolien was having a graduation party on Saturday night in Utrecht. I just KNEW we would end up meeting up again on this trip. I had a day to waste before the train ride, so I strolled around Brussels to see the city. I ate a Belgian waffle which was... ok. I wasn't that impressed and I prefer Liege waffles (which are still Belgian, but a little different). Get educated on your waffle varieties! I also stopped by Neuhaus Chocolatier and got Carolien a little graduation gift. I'm not that into chocolate, but this place was GOOD (and expensive). The praline was invented here, and they have been in business since 1857.

Mannekin Pis is the most famous statue in Brussels. The problem is, it's only 13 inches tall and a let down when you actually see it:


Mannekin's sister, Jeanekin Pis (and I thought the Dutch were weird):



St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral - the most impressive I've been to so far (including South America):


Again at night:


Royal Palace - residence of the Belgian king:


Another church and square in the city:



I'll split my trip back into Holland into a separate post...

Train crash in Brussels

Yesterday there was a train accident in Brussels at ~8:30 am local time near Halle, just south of the city center. I was on another train at that time on the same line, but north of the city. Yes, I am ok for those that have inquired. I didn't even find out about the accident until I got to work... a friend that works for CNN was traveling from London to Brussels to cover the story and told me.

I get on about 3 stops from where it happened (from a connection at Noord Station) and get off at Vilvoorde. Apparently the local train and an international train met head on, causing 18 deaths. There's no word on why it happened yet, but the trains were running tonight on my way home from work.

I'll be on the train again tomorrow as long as they are running. I guess things like this happen every day, but should it affect you?

First week Euro-working

I just finished my first week of work in Brussels, but before I talk about that, let me back up a bit.

My week at home was relaxing – of course it is great to sleep in your own bed. I was less than happy with the weather, because who wouldn’t like to stay in a place where it’s 85 and sunny every day? I got a prescription for Ambien since I found out that I would be making frequent flights to Belgium (more on that in a second), got a new pair of glasses (for the first time in 15 years or so), but spent most of my time catching up on Heroes and 24 episodes on the DVR (what would I do without it?).

After I was all prepared for a life over the Atlantic for most of the next 7 months, my company’s legal department threw a wrench in the plan. They insisted that I was going to need a work visa to make frequent trips through customs into Belgium. If I stayed for 3-4 months at a time it would probably have been ok, but European customs officials frown upon it when you visit every 3 weeks. I fought for a while, but could do nothing but give in. My European summer had been cut short before it began, and I am only going to be here for 3 weeks. That gives me 2 weekends to explore Europe on my first trip here.

For this 9 hour overnight plane ride I was prepared with the Ambien and popped it about 2 hours into the flight. I woke up a few times, but everything was in slow motion and swirly… trippy, man. I woke up with about an hour left and felt relatively rested enough to start the day at work.

When I touched down in Brussels, I got a very different feeling from Santiago. Maybe it was the after-effects of the Ambien, but I think it was more because I don’t speak French or Dutch and IT WAS FLIPPING COLD. Luckily for me, everyone here seems to speak English so getting around isn’t difficult at all. Of course, throughout this week people have told me ‘This has been the coldest winter in a long time’ and ‘We never get snow like this’. It was great to see some snow since we don’t get much in Atlanta… well, at least we didn’t until I left. I was prepared with warm clothes, but I ended up wearing two pairs of pants to work for a few days. Yes, it was that cold.


I’m staying at an extension of the Renaissance Marriott Hotel, which is called Marriott Executive Apartments. Fancy, I know. It’s a glorified hotel suite, with 1.5 bathrooms, a full kitchen, living room and bedroom. There is room service and a full gym and indoor pool in the connected hotel. Not too shabby. At ~100 Euros a night, it better not be (thank you, client!).

I have to take trains to work every day, which includes a connection. Then there is a 10 minute walk from the train station to work, making my overall commute from apartment to work about 50 minutes. Brr. Going to the train station every day is almost like a trip back in time… except the trains are electric so they make almost no noise, all of the sign boards are digital, and there are people talking on mobile phones here and there. But other than that, riding the train feels like I’m in a 1950s movie. Everyone is bundled up in scarves, gloves and hats, speaking French when spoken to. You know the movie where the boyfriend leaves the girlfriend to move away, she hands him her hankerchief as he waves goodbye while the train whistle blows and chugs away? That’s the one.

I live in the ‘EU Quarter’ which is near the Luxemburg train station. The EU Parliament is right behind that, so there is a good selection of restaurants and bars within walking distance. I tried out L’Atome (link) my first night out, and it was decent (although steaks in Belgium are undercooked. Well done = medium rare).

Last night (Thursday) I went into Luxemburg Square, where there were lots of bars, restaurants, and people buzzing around. My apartment is just around the corner so it’s close enough to be convenient, but not close enough to be bothered with all of the traffic. I ate at a restaurant called Coco and planned to go for a walk through the city since I hadn’t seen any of it yet. I know it was dark, cold and late, but I was tired of waiting. I took my guidebook to find sights that were close by, doing my best to hide the cover of the book so that people didn’t think I was a tourist. Despite my best efforts, a group of girls kept looking over at me and laughing. Great, I thought. I have tourist written on my forhead.

As I finished dinner, that group of girls were leaving and told me (in English, without asking if I spoke it) that I should join them for a drink at The Pullman, a bar next door. I paid my bill and walked over there – I’m in Brussels, I’m alone, why not? I felt a bit foolish because I had a guidebook in my pocket, I was wearing jeans in a bar where everyone was just getting off work and dressed up, and of course my Asics shoes (after all, I had planned to go for a walk).

I found the group, who were surprised that I accepted their invitation. Come to find out, they were all Romanian and work for the EU. A lot of the assistants and underlings of the EU congressmen go out in this area on Thursday nights since it is so close to their work. I ended up meeting a few other nationalities, all of whom spoke English. I had a few drinks, exchanged contact information with a few of them, and turned in for the night.

On Friday I left work early because our network was down for the first 5 hours I was there. I wanted to tour Brussels a bit before I left for Holland since I hadn't been in the city during daylight hours. I made my way from my apartment down to Grand Place, the center of the city. It is a very old square, with the city hall and old guild houses dating back to the 11th century. Here's a panorama that I took to give you an idea what it's like:




So that was my first week. This weekend I am going to Holland to hang out with Carolien for Carnaval. She says it’s a really great party all weekend, so we’ll see. I just hope I can figure out the trains and get there without getting lost!

Belgium

I just got word that the next leg of this project will take me to Belgium. I've known it was a possibility for about a month, but didn't get definitive word until today. They initially wanted me to fly straight there from Santiago, but I think I'm going to need some other clothes. I'll be going from 90 degrees to about 30 :(

That's not to say I'm not excited about getting to see Europe of course. I may try to delay my return flight by a week so I really get a chance to explore (something I wish I had done here in South America). Belgian chocolate, Belgian waffles and Belgian beer, here I come.