there are no dinosaurs in brussels

so, picking up where i left off--wednesday morning we chunnelled our way back to the continent and over to brussels in belgium. we arrived pretty far from our hotel but decided we could just walk it rather than worry about figuring out the metro. we literally walked across the entire city to get there. that was a good early morning preview of brussels. we stayed in an actual hotel, which was a nice change from the night before.

while waiting for check-in time, we walked over to a quarter of the city that was rife with landmarks and fairly close. the entire area smelled like marseilles. that is, it smelled like dog crap. all the buildings were dilapidated-looking and the water in all the pools was green with islands of garbage. we were already beginning to get a bad impression of brussels, and it was still before noon.

after having not great paninis at a street cafe, we did some more walking:



we went to the park that the european parliament building is in and tried to find this tyrannosaurus rex that was marked on cindy's map. we wandered for a very long time without finding either a dinosaur or parliament. we finally found the parliament just as the last guided tour was starting and ran over to sign up. unfortunately, no t-rex.

it was really cool to see the inside of the building. we had a headset telling us all about the parliament as we sat in the main chamber where mps debate things. we were about ready to continue on the tour, but it turned out that it was confined to that one chamber. meanwhile, the ambitious tour guide continued with anecdotes and direct quotes in different languages. exhausted as we were, the three of us started nodding off halfway through, and at a certain point i just turned my headset off and slept. some kids next to us thought it was funny that cindy was nodding while she fought sleep and filmed her.

we were finally released from the tour and found a shady spot in the park outside to crash. hunter and i got some good nap time in while cindy wandered around for an hour or two. then we got up and continued walking. brussels may have been the most walking we did on any one day in the trip, so definitely the most walking i've ever done in my life.



we randomly walked into a little medieval fair-esque festival in the streets. it wasn't terribly popular with the locals, but the knights were some of the fiercest i've seen. the big one, below on the right, kept beating the crap out of everyone he fought. he caught one guy's sword by the blade, picked the guy up by his head and threw him down. no joke.


we went to see the manneken pis, a famous sculpture of a little boy peeing. i expected it to be much larger, but it's tiny. and it's tucked into a corner in some random city street. the good news was that there was a good bar across the street where we could rest.


we got some delicious belgian waffles, then walked around the old city center. it was nice, but there were huge bleachers set up all over the place like an event had just taken place. that took away some from the overall aesthetic quality of the area.


afterwards, cindy got some frites. this was our first experience with french fry stands in europe, but definitely not our last. hunter and i got kebabs at a greek restaurant that smelled like the strongest, most pungent armpit you've ever smelled. we soon called it a night and collapsed at the hotel.

next: amsterdam. this here is 'magic jack.' he will perform miracles to please you. this poster was on the side of a building and about four stories tall.

o.h.m.s.s.

i'm finally going to try and make some progress on this thing. i may have somewhat defeated the purpose of this acting as a travel journal by waiting so long to recount my adventures, but better late than never. monday morning, we got up and made our way (without kristin) to the train station and onto the eurostar to london. i don't know why i had the impression that the 'chunnel' trip would all be underground and super fast, but it was mostly french countryside just like the majority of the train rides i'd taken. i think i slept through the only part where it went underground.

we went over to our hostel, which was unfortunately a ways out of the center of the city, on the outskirts of hyde park. it was by far the worst hostel/hotel experience we had on the trip, but i'll get to that soon. we hadn't exchanged any money yet, so we couldn't properly check in yet. the whole separate british currency thing was pretty annoying, but the good news was that the pound was at one of its lowest points in a long time, so we saved money. but even with that, london was unbelievably expensive. just in case you haven't got the patience to read through the rest of the tale, here is a picture that really wraps up everything necessary in london--people driving on the left side of the road, double-decker buses, big ben and parliament and the london eye:

we walked from our hostel to find some lunch and ended up stopping at a little asian restaurant that had apparently been visited by an iron chef or something like that in the past. it was good food, albeit expensive. i had a kind of gooey rice dish that had duck, shrimp and squid in it, among other unidentifiable seafood bits. we then metroed over to parliament, it really is a pretty magnificent site.




we walked around that area for a while, then went over to westminster abbey. we had gotten a pretty late start that day, so the abbey was already closed by this point. we then walked to buckingham palace. we took a break in the park in front of the palace and had an ice cream. we had been sitting in these lounge chairs that were all over the park for about ten minutes when a guy walked over asking us to pay for sitting in them. we awkwardly got up, told him we were broke and left. that area is pretty nice, but i was not terribly impressed with buckingham. it's pretty plain. which i guess is a good description of my general opinion of england.



across the park from the palace is this more imposing structure that had something to do with horses. i think we decided it was a horse hatchery.

next, we went to trafalgar square and went into the national gallery. it was pretty nice, but i don't think we stayed for very long. one really nice thing about london--all of the big museums are free. not the case with landmarks or churches, but it was refreshing to not have to pay.


this was the location of the texan embassy to england during the period that texas was an independent republic. now, its a tex-mex restaurant and from what i've been told not a great one.

we walked around picadilly circus and just happened to walk right into the middle of the london premiere of the new movie, public enemies. just as we had figured out what all the commotion was about, people started screaming and johnny depp's car pulled up. cindy claims that she saw the back of his head before he walked away. exciting stuff. we stopped in a pub/restaurant for the obligatory fish and chips. apparently fish and chips from london is a joke compared to the dish along the southern coast. and it really wasn't great, just extremely bland. we had hoped to catch a show that night, but they were all either sold out or had already started. so instead, we watched an american movie, the hangover (or as it was called in france, 'very bad trip'). that was funny.

returning to the hostel around midnight, i realized just how awful our nights were going to be. it had been one of the worst heat waves in a long time, so it was still hot and muggy when we got back. and naturally, there was no air conditioning. also, since we got in so late all the good spots in our room of nine were already taken. i was stuck climbing up onto the third level of a bunk bed that was not properly secured to the wall. every time i stepped up the thing swayed like it was going to collapse and crush me. that got me lots of dirty looks. needless to say, i did not sleep well and woke up a couple hours later in a pool of my own sweat. that scene was similarly reenacted the second night.

we woke up early the next day to get a better start that our first day. we started by going out to westminster abbey and doing the audio tour. it was pretty interesting, even though i don't know a whole lot about british history and it was mostly old kings and queens buried in there.


then we metroed over to the tower of london, which was something of a fortress for royal families to stay in if the city was under threat of invasion. lots of torture chambers and prisoner carvings on the walls. we saw the crown jewels, which i'm sure was the most valuable collection of objects i've ever seen. the grounds of the tower (which is more like a little castle) are populated with huge, scary ravens. they say that when the last one leaves the tower, it will mark the end of the monarchy.


the tower bridge, right next to the tower of london. this is NOT london bridge, which is now somewhere in arizona.

we stopped at a stand for burgers and fries. it had been over five weeks in europe for cindy and me, so american food sounded good. hunter had only been gone for a few days, so i'm sure his cravings didn't compare to ours. we went over to st. paul's cathedral, but it was some exorbitant admission price so we just napped in the yard. or at least i napped.



then we went to the british museum, which is actually pretty legit. we only had about half an hour because we were meeting my friend zadie, who studied in oklahoma my sophomore year. but we did have enough time to see the rosetta stone and lots of mummies.


we met with zadie at leicester square and had a drink before finding a pretty nice restaurant for dinner. in keeping with the theme of trying out local flavor, i had a meat pie which is basically a nice version of a chicken pot pie. but it was really good. we mentioned to zadie that we had wanted to see a show while we were in town, so we went to one of the many discount ticket booths and found out that, among other shows, grease was starting in about ten minutes. i guess grease is cindy's favorite musical, so it was decided that we must go. zadie had to catch a train back home so she couldn't join us. it was a bummer that we didn't get to spend much time with her, but it was still really nice to see her.

we got our fairly cheap tickets and ran/speedwalked over to the picadilly theatre. we actually had pretty decent seats and got in just as the first song was starting. i've never been a big grease fan, but i had a good time. the guy playing john travolta's character looked like peter pan and sang about an octave higher than travolta, which detracted a bit from the overall performance. but it was good. after that, we went back to the hostel for another hellish night of very little sleep.

up next: brussels! horses are funny. as are signs relating to horses.

down and out in paris and london

well, i certainly have a lot to write about. the tour is now over, and as expected it was both amazing and exhausting. as for the blog's title, it's just the name of an orwell novel. i'm not going to get around to talking about london in this post. before getting into it (and before i forget), we spent our last weekend in vichy taking it easy. sunday we went to clermont ferrand for la fete de la musique. lots of walking and mostly crappy amateur groups. but it was fun, and every once in a while we'd here some decent music.

later that week, a big sale throughout france, so we did some shopping in vichy. we found pretty nice ties for only one euro each, so from that day to the end of our stay i think we had ties on. way too classy for our family dinners and local pubs.

thursday was our last night in town, and it was pretty disasterous. it climaxed with lots of people blowing us off and two friends and i wandering around the streets when i got a text message that michael jackson had died. way too many american icons have died since i've been in europe (it wasn't long after that i heard about billy mays. sad day). after seeing most everyone off, vasiliy and i left vichy friday evening for clermont. we met up with alex and elise and had a nice night out. alex has lots of favorite bars in clermont, and naturally some kebabs were consumed. the next morning, we got up at an ungodly hour and got on a train for paris.

in paris, vasiliy and i parted ways and i attempted to make my way to the hostel where hunter, cindy and her friend kristin were waiting. as usual, i am absoultely terrible at navigating european cities, so i got so lost that i had to take a taxi to get to the hostel. kristin had mapped out the path of this big gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender pride parade that was going through paris that day, so we took the metro over to one of the corners they were supposed to pass. we had sandwiches at a smaller version of monoprix and waited. finally, the gay parade came on in full force. it was certainly an experience.




after that, we started our obligatory tourist trip through paris we started with notre dame, which is not nearly as impressive as it's made out to be. my favorite part of that was this crazed looking birdman that was sitting in a gated-off area in front of the cathedral. he was surrounded by something like 50 pidgeons but was cradling one of them and trying to feed it. the rest of them kept dive boming him, so he eventually got upset and threw his pet pidgeon and shooed the rest away. quite a spectacle.


birdman trying to protect his pidgeon

then we metroed/walked over to the eiffel tower. this one lived up to its hype. we all crashed in a park under it for a brief siesta, then hunter and i took the elevator up to the top (kristin had already been up, and i guess cindy wasn't in the mood). that was our first amazing view of paris.

afterward, we picked up the classic bread, meat, cheese and wine combo for a picnic under the tower. one of my favorite parts of the trip thus far. we got to watch some guy named kyle's dad lose his cool on the phone too. favorite quotes = 'those clubs are dangerous!' 'who all's going? i don't care who all's going, you tell them i said that!' and 'dammit kyle!!' kind of had to be there.

kyle's dad on the phone

next, we metroed over to the champs élysées and the arc de triomphe. it was getting dark so i didn't get very good pictures of the arc. that thing is huge. we walked down the champs, and when we got to sephora the girls decided that they had to stop and try to get a free makeover or something. hunter and i continued on and got way lost on the way (we didn't have a map, let alone the address of the hostel). we ended up getting a delicious crepe and a cheap bottle of wine and sat on a stoop in front of the metro station waiting for the girls to come back. that was one of my favorite times in paris.



the next morning we got up and went over to the louvre. it was a really great museum, but way too big and fairly overwhelming. we did an audio tour and naturally hit up the 'masterpieces' -- venus de milo, victory of samothrace and the mona lisa. the venus was cool, but hunter and i spent way more time in the rooms of greco-roman sculptures. it bothers me how much emphasis they put on the famous paintings even though they're not the best. aside from the sculptures, some of my favorite paintings were in the red rooms of huge paintings like liberty leading the people.



we did some more walking and saw this fountain that cindy loved. it was four women representing the four parts of the world, a division that i'd never heard before -- the americas, europe, africa and asia -- all holding up the globe. we napped briefly in the park in front of that statue. as we were crossing one street after leaving, the biggest amassing of rollerbladers i'd ever seen went flying by. it took literally five minutes for them all to pass by. i have no idea if they were blading for some cause or just for fun.


then we went to the pantheon. lots of impressive bodies are buried there -- voltaire, rousseau, zola, victor hugo, marie curie, and lots of the big names of all the french revolutions. the crypt was really cold and felt great after sweating all day, but it was also pretty heavy to be down there underground surrounded by all that's left of all these people that you've read. as usual, a big obnoxious tourist group came in as we were finishing up and ruined the whole vibe. tourist groups were one of my least favorite things about this trip. after the crypt, we went up on top of the pantheon for another really great view of paris.


voltaire's tomb

we walked to another park whose purpose i have forgotten and i believe napped again. there were so many naps in parks on this trip that they've blurred together. then we went to the sacré coeur basilica, which is on a big hill overlooking the city. we chilled in front of the church for a while, observing the terrible fashion sense that most young people had. i'm not sure if it's because they were tourists or what, but it did not reflect well on the french style. some little kid was running around the park area on the hill blowing a whistle at strangers, which was pretty awful.


eventually we left and went over to the pseudo red light district in paris to see the moulin rouge. mostly we stood on this median in front of the moulin rouge while the girls sang songs from the movie.


after that, we went back and crashed to prepare ourselves for what i think was the earliest morning of the trip. my one disappointment in paris was that we didn't get to see the catacombs. we got in line, but apparently the employees thought that we were too far back in line to make it in before closing. i think that happened on the second day, after i had a lunch of one half of a corn-fed chicken at some little street shop. this proves that i should have written all this down earlier. the parts that i don't have photos of are already getting hazy in my memory, just because i did so much in the last two weeks. anyhow, first post down. something like seven to go. i already put up lots of humorous pictures, but i've got one more. this man was one of the saddest people i've ever seen, all because he had to sit next to a sweaty hunter on the metro:

bon voyage, bonne chance, et bon courage

so this is it, vichy is done. in a couple hours i leave for clermont ferrand to spend the night with alex and hopefully see some other ex-oklahomans. then tomorrow morning, i meet up with cindy and hunter and begin my tour d'europe! paris, london, brussels, amsterdam, cologne, prague, vienna, graz, munich. we're also going to meet travis in amsterdam and then the rest of the trip, we should have a great time. i probably won't find much opportunity to update during the next week and a half, but i will certainly recount it all once i get back. and july 9, i finally go back home and see all the people that i've been missing like crazy for the last month.

le volcan et la catastrophe de la piscine

it's been another interesting week in france. wednesday, our school put together a trip to scale puy-de-dôme, the biggest volcano in the chain around clermont ferrand. it was a blistering hot day. the path up the volcano was incredibly steep, and it's about a 45 minute climb. i hadn't really prepared myself for the intense lower body workout that i got. at a certain point we got tired of the path, so my danish friend tjanna and i started just climbing up the vertical rock walls. that was a lot more fun, and we actually saved time doing it.


the view from the top was amazing. i saw little white dots forming into straight lines on the ground below that turned out to be sheep being herded across a stream. pretty epic.


you can also pay to hanglide off the top of the volcano. it looked like a lot of fun, especially since you just sit down after walking that whole way, but i didn't have 80 euros to blow.

the remnants of an old roman temple to mercury built on the summit.

the next day, we attempted to go out to the local swimming pool after class. we didn't realize that local in this case means 3 kilometers away. sean, william, our irish friend charlie and i decided to walk there then take the bus back. after about 45 minutes of walking, we found it and paid our 2.5 euros to get in. things went downhill from there. first, we couldn't figure out how to get into the pool. it's a pretty big complex, with indoor and outdoor pools, lots of lanes for lap swimming, a water slide, a lazy river and some sort of bubble therapy chairs. but we could not figure out how to get in. the secret is that you're supposed to go into these specific changing rooms that have a door on the opposite side. when you leave from the other side, you suddenly find yourself harry potter style in a different room leading to the pool. it's not explained very well by signs, so we didn't find that out till we left. we finally stumbled in through an exit and got yelled at a bit. but before we could get in the water, the weather alarm started going off because of lightning, so they made everybody get out.

the sirens finally stopped, and we went inside the main area. we were about to get in the water when a lifeguard came over and told us that we couldn't swim because our swimming trunks were forbidden. it was at this point that i realized that every single person, young and old, skinny and fat, was wearing a skin-tight speedo. we were going to go get our money back and leave, but the lifeguard pointed us in the direction of a vending machine for bathing suits. they had two designs that would fit us, one with just a slight amount of coverage on the legs and one with just the bare amount of coverage to not be considered indecent exposure. the smaller ones were cheaper, so we all bought a pair and strolled out to the pool in our matching speedos. needless to say, pictures were not taken, and if they had been they would not be posted.

this weekend, we stay in vichy. other travel plans fell apart. but it'll be nice to just relax for a weekend. sunday is la fête de la musique, a holiday in which amateur musicians take to the streets in every french city and perform all day, and professionals put on free concerts throughout the day. we're planning to take the train down to clermont ferrand for the day to enjoy the spectacle.

we also had the honor of riding the bus to the volcano with brett michaels. that is all.