#i at least saw nice street art and that historic church that's been there since this city was even started
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beaversatemygrandma · 1 year ago
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You know, I've been learning how to drive for years, didn't get my license until March this year. And somehow, during my learning and testing period, I've never bumped a thing.
Today that streak broke. Overestimated the size of a parking spot in a parking garage. First time ever parking in one of them. I fucking bumped the cement support pole. My bumper is scuffed. The literal first damage I have ever been responsible for on a car.
Which is wild to me tbh. Never did it when i was like 17 or 18 or something. Never did. But today. At the age of 24.
I mean, it's minor as all hell and didn't do anything more than scratch the paint, didn't even dent. At first i didn't even see the scuff and was like "thank god, no mark." Nah man, there's a mark. And this is gonna eat at me for a while. I swear I'm good at driving. I'm just bad at gauging space. I thought there was room and I'm just glad it wasn't another car. 😭
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airariaira · 5 years ago
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Troisième - 12/02/20
It’s been more than a month, and holy heck time has truly flown. Yet somehow I feel like I have been here for a while, too. I’m feeling more settled and comfortable here in Troyes - I can get to and from school fine, and I don’t jump up with fright at every bus stop on the way home alone, worried about missing my stop! I couldn’t even imagine getting lost now. I feel confident enough to explore a bit more, and this afternoon I took a walk a little in town and along the Seine, because the weather was gorgeous. That was of course until i was 15 minutes away from home and the wind picked up, then suddenly there was needles of rain soaking through my jacket and my bag and my jeans. Honestly, I felt very personally attacked by the weather at that point. On a day that only a few hours earlier had looked like this from my window?:
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It was so gorgeous outside with my window open, I could hear the traffic and the birds and the breeze - the air coming in was a little cold, but in that nice fresh winter way. I couldn’t possibly not go outside. So, after my two hours of school this morning (Philosophy and English Literature), I decided to go on a little walk exploring:
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^A padlock fence I saw while walking along the river
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^This is one of the ol chimneys from the 19th-century factories in Troyes. Troyes has been a city famous for producing clothing and goods for hundreds of years, and you can see these bad boys pop up all around. I also met some cute new friends:
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So what if these new friends are paintings of cats on the streets? This is MY blong, you’re not allowed to judge me.
Since my last blog post, a fair amount has happened, I’ll catch you all up... Which won’t be too hard for me to do, seeing as I started writing a travel diary to keep up to date with what I’ve been doing - unlike Mr Alex Gasson it seems, as he wrote in his blog (which, by the way, you can find on this link here) Lets go all the way back to Saturday the 26th of January, the morning of which I wrote my last blog post. That afternoon we took a trip out to my host family’s house by the lake (called La Lac d’Orient) in the pretty, historic village of Géraudot only a little while away from Troyes. We went for a walk around the nearby forest, which was gorgeous. We heard a woodpecker, too.
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The lake is man-made, not natural, and is where water from the Seine is redirected to avoid flooding out Paris each year. On the shore, there’s a small plastic path down to the water to make the lake more accessible for those with disabilities. I thought that was good, I’m surprised I’ve never seen anythign like it before. 
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Following the walk, we went back to the house for a coffee and a board game. That evening on the way back to the city, we stopped by the outlet store shopping centre. I found a little bit of home there...
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(I pinkie promise that the bag has gifts in it! For other people!) Sunday the 26th was a slightly warmer day, which I suppose was a bit of a last hurrah, because the forcast for the following week was not so good. On that day I went out with my host mother Marie, we went to another museum. This is in a building called Hôtel de Vauluisant, which houses both the Musée d’Art Champenois, and the Musée de la Bonneterie. The art section was so phenomenally beautiful - filled with old paintings and sculptures and stained glass from the many many churches in Troyes. The section on Troyes’ factory and bonneterie history had many machines from the early factories of the city. This is the area outside of the building:
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After that, we went to a beautiful church just across the road from the museum. The inside of the church took me aback for two reasons. One, because if was so incredibly beautiful inside, filled to abundance with enormous paintings, sculptures, and flowers. Two, because it was so freaking cold inside. I coud see my breath cloud out probabaly more dramatically than it has during any winter commute to school in New Zealand. That said though, it was definitely worth the visit. I never knew churches could be so decked-out in beautiful things. I don’t think a picture could capture how pretty it was, but here you go anyway:
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Monday the 27th was a pretty standard French school day. I ended up with a bit of a migraine so had a quiet day. That evening we (my host siblings Lola and Antoine, and my host mother Marie) did some English revision for Antoine’s upcoming English exam, which was fun. Tuesday the following day was another good school day. I had a lot of free hours, so I went into town for a while. Wednesday was of course my short day. That afternoon I went out with two new friends, Cheyenne and Alicia, to the museum and town. It was good fun! Cheyenne and I at the museum:
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The weekend of the 1st/2nd was good. On Sunday in the afternoon we went bowling. The cousin of my host siblings, who’s from Boston and living in Paris for a year, came and joined us. Her name is Noa, and she stayed from Sunday to Wednesday to celebrate her birthday. On Monday I finally handed out the rest of my New Zealand souvenirs in my English class. At lunchtime I sat with Juliette and some others. Juliette lived in Christchurch for a year a little while ago! Tuesday the 4th was Noa’s birthday. School was interesting, with lots of free periods spaced out throughout the day (awkward timing!) We couldn’t find a spare classroom for French Literature which was weird?? That evening, we celebrated Noa’s birthday with raclette and then cake. On Wednesday she left back for Paris - I wonder if one day we’ll meet again in this big old world? That evening I went wandering around town with Marie for a while again, and I got a photo in front of the famous Cœur de Troyes:
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It lights up at night and the red light beats like a heart. I’ll be interested to see how many couples will be taking their pictures in front of it on Friday for Valentine’s Day! Last Friday I walked to the bus stop with a new appreciation for how pretty the city is. I start school at 9, so get to see the way the morning sun hits the old buildings so beautifully. The sky was so blue and the light so nice, I don’t know if a camera could capture it quite so perfectly:
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And on Saturday the 8th... Paris!!! I travelled over with my host sister Lola, and we met Marie there. The day seemed to last for so long while it was happening, but somehow I found myself suddenly sitting on the train back to Troyes again. Now, it feels like it went by so fast. We started with the Tour Eiffel, naturally, where I took a video - and unintentionally caught someone proposing! Everything there was so big and old and impressive - it sumultaneously felt surreal, and like it was exactly where I was meant to be. 
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Following the Eiffel Tower, we took a short cruise on the Seine on the Bateau Mouches to sightsee a little bit. It was so bitterly cold and windy on the water, but the sculptures and cuildings and bridges were pretty enough to make up for it. Here’s a picture of a scaled-down model of the Statue of Liberty, and the Eiffel Tower in the same frame:
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After lunch, we had our little indulgence in consumerism by going to the Galleries Lafayette, where all the expensive brands and rich are piled into one big, pretty shopping centre. It was sparkly and dazzling, and I don’t think I’ve every been surrounded by so many expensive things in my life before. It smelled like money and every kind of perfume all at once. Just how Jay Gatsby would have liked it. Here’s me on the roof:
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It was such a long way down! After that, we went to the Arc de Triomphe. It’s so incredibly huge in person. It was wonderful to see all of the avenues surrounding me while on the roof (getting rained on... am I making a habit of that?) The rain didn’t drain my spirits, however. It was so cool to admire the bustle of Parisian life happening all below me. 
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The view from the top:
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(I think the stairs were worth it... I’m not sure what the other two think though...   🤔)
I was so tired after that big day that on the train ride back home I just stared into space for the entire hour and a half! Throughout the day, I kept waiting for one of those slack-jawed tourist moments to hit me, a feeling of helpless amazement when I looked at some monument or the like. But it didn’t - perhaps I’m just better at enjoying travel in a slow, contented kind of way. The rain in Paris on Saturday would prove to be the beginning of a storm that would last a few days. On Monday the 10thI was very happy to be sitting inside, writing my travel diary, rather than outside in that rain and wind I could hear against the roof and walls. All in all, I’ve been really enjoying my time on exchange. Sometimes I do truly feel a little out of my depth - like I’m wasting my time here is I speak much English, but I just can’t always articulate myself fully in French. Sometimes I feel a little out of place and behind when I’m around my peers and they’re speaking such rapic French. However, it does get easier each day. I feel happy and comfortable here.
Here’s some more photos, just so I can flex on my people back in New Zealand about how pretty this city is...
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^A fountain the bus goes past each day, taken on one of the rare occasions that the bus isn’t packed to the brim and I manage to grab a seat!
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^A pretty sculpture in town
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^A church with a gorgeous roof that’s just behind the house
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^Some more pretty houses (gosh I must look like such a weirdo taking pictures of all these buildings)
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^A pretty street in pretty afternoon light
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^A very ~zenn~ little square nestled in buildings in town
Aaand last but not least...
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A prime example of the memes and doodles that are copied onto the blackboard during recreation. (Shh - don’t tell the teacher who drew what!) Until next time!
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absolxguardian · 5 years ago
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My Italy Vacation Photos Recreated in Assassin’s Creed
I’m putting them under the cut since they’re fairly large. I tried my best. A lot of times it’s not 1:1 because proportions were played with due to memory limitations. Oftentimes the piazzas certain monuments are located in aren’t large enough for me to get the same distance from the camera in the game as I did in real life. Also, the lack of a photo mode kept kicking me in the ass. Still, I’d like to think they returned out pretty well. I hope it captures the feeling I had when I was there in person, a feeling of familiarity.
FLORENCE 
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The Basilica of San Lorenzo, home of the Medici crypt. The street the basilica faces in-game is much thinner than it is in real modern life.
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A view of the river Arno and the Ponte Vecchio. In the time of the game, houses bordered the street parallel to the river on this side. Ezio is actually standing in someone’s yard. The bridge itself had too much foot traffic for me to take a photo crossing it.
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The Mercato Vecchio, Florence’s market. The covered area still acts as a market place today for street vendors catering to tourists.
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The Duomo/Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. The Baptistery near the Duomo is missing in the game due to technical limitations. The lack of detail on the facade is a combination of technical limitations and that some parts of the decoration had yet to be added.
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Palazzo Medici. While the game sizes the palace down, a lot of interior decorations were only added in the preceding decades as the Medici increased in power.
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The Palazzo della Signoria. While the shrunk down piazza was one factor that limited my ability to recreate the photos, the gallows that executed the Auditorie family prevented me from standing in the correct position. And that isn’t just something left in the game world from a story event, but historical accuracy. Public executions were held in that square, standard for the time, but a fact I had forgotten and my tour guide didn’t mention.
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The Loggia dei Lanzi. In Ezio’s time, it was a public meeting area. With the rise of the Medici dukes, it became an open-air museum of statues. The originals of those (most of) same statues remain there today.
MONTERIGGIONI
Oh yeah, Monteriggioni is a real town, if you were just as surprised as I was when you found out.
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Monteriggioni sits at the top of a hill, one that’s barely replicated in-game.
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For safety reasons, large sections of the walls of Monteriggioni were removed and the overall height of the walls were lowered. They are still very impressive in person.
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Tourists can walk on a small section of the wall. For some reason, walking on metal slats with gaps in them is more terrifying than centuries-old stone.
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Modern Monteriggioni feels a lot more open than it’s depicted in the game, even in the modern parts of Brotherhood. Speaking of which, there’s no equivalent to the Auditore Villa, historically or in modern times. And while in the game, Monteriggioni is focused around a main street with all the shops for gameplay reasons, the real center of the town is this piazza. I figured out the game equivalent based on the location of the church.
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 Attached to the church is a very nice small museum containing replicas of medieval weapons and armor for you to attempt to wear and wield. There are also some dioramas of medieval warfare. And since the town knows that a lot of Assassin’s Creed fans are going to be visiting the city, a good third of the merchandise in the museum gift shop is Assassin’s Creed merch.
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There’s also this. Because while the Assassin aesthetic is copyrighted, Templars are not.
SAN GIMIGNANO
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to visit San Gimignano myself and take pictures. I had to use the photos taken by my extended family members.
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San Gimignano’s very iconic city skyline. Except for the highways, the rolling hills and valleys of Tuscany and the Romagna in the game remain accurate to the real world. Riding from the Rome airport to Rome on my first day. This was the first time I felt a sense of Deja vu thanks to Assassin’s Creed.
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The church Santa Maria Assunta.
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Some of San Gimignano’s famous towers. Since I didn’t take the photo myself, I have no idea which specific towers these are supposed to me. I just ran around the city in the game until I could see a similar amount and height of towers.
L'AQUILA
Yes, L’Aquila isn’t a town depicted in Assassin’s Creed, but it should have been. Just look at the name! If AC lore doesn’t have Assassins using it as a base in its very early days, I would be very surprised.
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The Basilica Santa Maria di Collemaggio. Why are my photos of it included here? Well according to my relatives who live in L'Aquila, this church was actually built by Templars (hence the red and white facade). At least in English, I can’t find anything online supporting that, so I have to assume it’s just local folklore. Said folklore also says that the Holy Grail is buried under it. In the ACverse, there has to be a Piece of Eden under the church. With the earthquake in 2009 damaging the building and several companies helping to fund the restoration efforts, it’s now my headcanon that Abestergo was one of them and they grabbed the piece.
VENICE
Again, I had to use my extended family’s photos for this. I was only able to use a few of the ones they gave me, simply because neither I nor reverse google image search could even figure out what the rest were, and checking several of the monuments in the game gave me nothing.
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The Doge’s Palace, the Basilica di San Marco, and the Campile San Marco. Despite not being there myself, from trying to recreate the pictures, I got the feeling that the piazza is much bigger in real life. And just like with the Signoria, the gallows got in my way as well.
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The Ponte di Rialto. Before construction began in 1588, the bridge was made of wood. Today you can see it in its full stone glory.
ROME
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The Colosseum. For game design purposes, the Colosseum is circular while the real Colosseum is ovular. The drastic difference in the inside of the arena is due to the fact that archaeological work to uncover the lower levels is currently ongoing.
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The area around the colosseum, the forum, is quite different from how it was in 1500. That’s because Rome is built on Rome, and while it was a prime area for grazing in the renaissance, most the classical architecture remained buried under the ground. Archaeological work has drastically changed the elevations of the forum. The last photo isn’t even of the same place, strictly speaking. It’s just a random place in the countryside to demonstrate what was under Ezio’s feet.
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It was taking these photos of the Pantheon that inspired me to start this photo project. The obelisk on the fountain was a later edition. Perspective is extra wonky for this one because of my own carelessness. Which I’ve only just realized typing this out as I remembered that the obelisk was on top of a fountain.
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“Apparently, most gods had this building constructed in their honour. I, however, recommend worshipping at the modern-day espresso bars surrounding it.”
The piazza around the pantheon didn’t actually seem to have much in the way of espresso. There was a sign for a McDonald's directly across from the pantheon, and that was some cool contrast.
The Pantheon is still an active basilica, and as such, I wasn’t allowed to take photos of the inside.
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Ponte Sant’Angelo. Unfortunately, I don’t have any other photos of Castel Sant’Angello because I hadn’t had the idea for this project yet. My dad took this photo for me because I’ve never been able to cross this damn bridge in Brotherhood because of all the guards (I’ve fully beaten the game now, so I just killed them to get the screenshot, but when I needed to get to the Castello I couldn’t).
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This was the only photo I was able to recreate from the Vatican, and even then it’s very rough. That’s because most of the Papal complex, museum, and apartments (now Vatican City) was built under later Popes.
So instead have pictures of things I saw in the Vatican that look like Apples of Eden
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(The last one is a modern art installation that the artist has refused to explain. It also spins around. Several versions of it exist around the world)
And one last thing is a painting I saw in my hotel in Rome that looks like Maysaf. The label was in Italian and reverse google image search can’t find it, so I can’t tell you what it really is or give you a better scan
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haydenandtrish · 5 years ago
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A tour of Brussels
From historic to hipster. Timeless beauty to rundown surroundings. Nestled within a country that was once a battlefield for World Wars, revolutions and rebellions – it has seen its fair share of bloodshed and misery. The French, Dutch, German, Austrians and British have all staked their claim to the lands at one point in time. They have rebuilt their city from the ruins of war and have created their own culture within Europe. Now an independent multicultural city flourishing with pride for their craftsmanship, food, craft beers, art galleries and more. Welcome to Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the unofficial capital of the European Union, we can’t wait to show you around. 
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All right, let's go. We begin in Koekelberg, north of Brussels. The outskirts of the city are more residential – just like anywhere. It is far cheaper to stay here and we were able to gain a greater appreciation and understanding for the city by being immersed in a more authentic area where few spoke English and fewer tourists were in sight. The area was more run down than the city, the cleanliness was subpar but renovations were happening down streets and we got a bargain breakfast of pastries for only 2 Euros, we can’t complain.
Anyway, back on track. Getting around. Our choice of transport in this city was the Metro. The stations are denoted on street level by a sign with a white M on a blue background. One thing to mention is that the Metro system in every city is exceptional – so far. Our Guide to the tram system. Admittedly it’s a little confusing at first, but the routes are displayed in straight coloured lines with dot points indicating each stop. So, as long as you know the destination you want, don’t freak out, take your time and read the lines until you see your stop. Which platform to be on is easy too because they will put one sign at two separate entrances and your particular stop will only be on one of them.  A little tip: Google Maps is a literal lifesaver. It tells you step by step where to go and it will list your suggested stops. 
All tickets purchased are valid for all public transport within Brussels including the tram, local city buses and Metro.
Ticket Price:
A single fare ticket is 2.10 Euros and valid for one hour from activation.
A full day is 7.50 Euros. Be careful with this one though as it is literally one day, it stops at midnight on the day of purchase.
If you are in town for a few days then a travel card may be of more interest to you. It is 5 Euros to purchase but you can top it up as needed. You can buy these form most Metro stations and you save up to 1 Euro per trip.
If you haven’t guessed already, Hayden and I elect to walk nearly everywhere we can. Yes, because it’s free, but also because this environment is completely new to us and we want to see every little bit. Walking gives us the freedom to make our own route, to stop where ever we want and admire every nook and cranny – and its Europe, so there’s many of those. Brussels is also a smaller city so the monuments, museums and galleries are all quite close to one another. 
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Food. A perk of staying outside of the main city is that it is cheaper than central. Le Familial is where we got our cheap pastries from. We ventured out for dinner on our first night at 5:45pm only to learn that most kitchens do not open until 6:30pm. Like I said in our last blog post, Europeans love their late starts and later finishes so definitely keep that in mind for your travels. We chose a restaurant/bar and ordered a couple of drinks to wait it out. Le Scenarios could also be slash night club because behind a makeshift wall was a small club with confetti all over the floor and tiny platforms for dancers. It turns out a lot of places replicate this same design so you are not short for options on a night out. For dinner we enjoyed some pasta dishes with a glass of red and a crepe covered in chocolate for dessert
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We also had the best kebab shop down the road from our accommodation too. If you are a potato lover like me, you’ll die over the fact they put fries on them. But that’s not surprising considering that the potato frites (fried potatoes) originated in Belgium. We cannot remember our exact shop, but similar ones are everywhere. On that subject, you cannot miss tasting the fries, there will be a huge line, yes, but they are worth it. Thick chips with a perfectly crusted outer layer that crunches and exposes a fluffy inside. I learned that it’s because they deep fry the fries twice. They are perfect. 
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What to see.
Our walk started off at one of the higher points in the city and we worked our way down. We caught the Metro to Louise where we saw Palais de Justice or the Law Courts of Brussels. It was under construction when we visited but the mammoth craftsmanship was evident even behind the piles of scaffolding. We then walked over to the Infantry Memorial which was beautiful and daunting in its own right. Behind it was an incredible view of the city which also had an elevator to get down into the streets.  
L’atelier en ville This place is a funky café that we thought was worth mentioning. It is a café, art gallery, clothes shop and wooden bench top store all in one. We later figured out this was the ‘hipster’ side to Brussels. So if you want a little more modern, less touristy, more artsy and more party, then this is the side of Brussels you want.
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Mannekin Pis This little guy is one of the best-known landmarks in Belgium. The fun thing about the mannequin boy is that he is dressed in costume to commemorate each major celebration, event or festival. You can view all of his costumes displayed at the Museum of the City of Brussels. There are actually three little statues. One of a boy peeing, one of a girl (Jeanneke pis) and one of a dog (Zenneke).  And a lot like Pokemon – you gotta catch them all, so keep your eyes peeled because they are not very big and can be around any corner. 
Brussels Park There are many parks in Brussels, but this is the one we escaped into when the parade for the150 years of the tram in the city got a little too overwhelming. Its entrance is directly across from the Belgium House of Parliament too. The park is pictured below and it is incredibly busy due to the parade but it was still a nice park to be in. 
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Belgium Chocolate Village For 6 Euros per person, you are able to explore the Belgium Chocolate Museum. We found this self-guided tour extremely informative and delicious. We learnt about the history and process of gathering the cocoa beans, how chocolate is made, and where nearly every different style of chocolate originated from. We were able to stand in a class where the chef showed us how to create ganache chocolate, and yes, there was a taste test too. Some of our favourite moments was seeing the sculptures made out of chocolate, they were huge and the smell of cocoa was euphoric. It’s no wonder we finished our tour in the café upstairs to subdue the cravings. Hot chocolate that was made with frothed milk and chunks of dark chocolate was my poison, whereas Hayden stuck to a chocolate milkshake. However, if you are not interested in the museum and tour, that’s fine. There is a chocolate shop on nearly every block anyways. Plenty of opportunities to treat yourself. 
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There is plenty more to discover in Brussels, but what we were not prepared for was stumbling across a fun little parade. Just our luck. Labour Day and 150 years of the tram parade. 
We continued on our walk with one destination in the back of our mind – Grand Place. It was almost humorous because I was asking Hayden to get photos of some trees because the branches were mended to create fences – honestly, I just thought they were cool. We walked alongside the tree fence around to the front and saw the most incredible looking building. I said ‘This has to be Grand place, or Kings Palace just look at the detail’. We tried to pinpoint where we were on the map to no avail. But alas, I spotted a young boy in a blue vest which symbolised he could help with information. We found out that no, this was definitely not Grand Place, instead it was Notre Dame du Sablon (Chuch of Our Blessed Lady of Sablon). A gothic-style Catholic church from the 15th century. 
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He went on to explain that we were standing in Rue de la Regence. The significance of this little street? It was lined with hundreds of trams. Why? Because the city was celebrating 150 years since the tram was introduced. There was every single model of tram that had ever been driven in Brussels laid out in order of year. 
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There was also going to be a parade beginning at 1400 hours. The trams were to be driven through the centre of the city. We walked past crowds of people, past a makeshift grandstand and behind it was at least 12 different food stalls. We got mojitos and fries and sat down to enjoy what was around us. By now we had been out for hours, and although I enjoy public things, I absolutely despise being in crowds, they just tire me out. I was ready to go home. I was a little disappointed we hadn’t seen Grand Place, but our day had been filled with so much excitement I was content. 
We headed back down to Brussels Central Station ready to catch the Metro back home when we spotted an exceptionally busy street, so of course something had to be down that way. We garnered up the energy and made our way down. We stepped around the happy buskers, we admired the street markets and then we were left completely and utterly speechless... We had finally found Grand Place. And it is most definitely its namesake. 
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It’s incredible. A huge square that leaves you feeling minuscule. Gilded buildings that leave you feeling, well, poor. It is comprised of the Hotel de Ville (Brussels town hall) and Maison du Roi (Museum of the City of Brussels) famously facing one another and the Guild Houses completing the rest of the shape. There is detail in every little thing from the post lamps to the pillars, from the carved stonework to the gold decoration. Each building is so innately different but perfectly matching the grandness of their home. We literally spent an hour there, in that square, taking in each building, taking a million photos, looking up at the incredibleness of the Grandest place I’ve ever seen – so far ;). Being labour day, it was incredibly busy. Hundreds of people were in that square at the same time, but we never felt overcrowded. Now it was finally time to go. We had come to see what we had wanted to see. We walked back to the Metro and headed back to our beautiful Airbnb on the outer skirts of the town.
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Always with love  Trish
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wildflower8281 · 7 years ago
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On Traveling Alone - The Introvert’s Dream
For someone like me, traveling alone is a dream!!!!!!!!!!!! I laugh at how many people paused, tilted their head or looked at me quizzically when I told them I was going to Mexico alone. Surely, some of their questioning was safety, but some of it was also their disbelief that traveling alone was an enjoyable way to go. Well, for someone like me it most definitely is…
Introvert Life
I love time to myself and regularly create it during my normal weekly routines. I wake up at 5am, by choice, on weekdays, just because I enjoy & need the extra quiet time for myself before the world wakes up. It’s a grounding, centering feeling. I may read or write, or both or other rituals if I feel so led – oracle cards, art journaling, etc. But, always coffee, always my couch, recently with a warm blanket tossed over me… At least 5 days a week, this time also includes a good, sweaty workout, which always makes me feel great, even if it’s hard to start sometimes. I am someone who is completely comfortable spending time alone and actually need time alone in order to be my best self. I am just truly at home by myself, which I honestly think is rare for many people these days….I am most definitely an introvert by nature, even if at work or in social settings, I may seem like I can socialize and be charming or lovely. I can only engage in a lovely, sweet-energied fashion if I have carved out and made enough time for myself, alone that day or that week. Anyone who knows me well enough knows that if I do not have that time to ground myself, connect, be alone with me – then I can be a weepy, cranky or annoyed person or bitch. People-ing tires me out after a certain amount of time. Even with family gatherings, I can only usually do about 2 hours max, then my social energy tanks. I’m lucky because my position at work is a decent balance of quiet office time, mixed with people-ing so it rarely gets to be too much socializing in one day. For my personal social life, I am very picky with who I spend my time with and how often.
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Socializing twice a week is a lot for me! If I have a party or an outing scheduled for the weekend, that is probably all the socializing I will do, and the rest will be time for me. The people I choose to spend time with give me life and bring me even more alive, they do not feel like a drain on my energy and so I look forward to the mutual energizing and sharing that can happen. I do not hang with people that are a drag, negative or who I feel drain my energy or even are not on a similar frequency. This has been self-taught and I make a hard line about it because I honor my energy and my time. It’s easy for me now to say no and not attend things I know I won’t enjoy or say no to outings with people who are not my speed. Maybe that comes with age or maturity – despite the fact that I feel like I’m living through my 20s now (which in many ways I am…thank you #conventfor8years.) I am 36 and have at least the soul maturity to do whatever I want and not feel bad about it! When you start to tune into the energy created by people in your life, you can feel the huge difference btw those that bring you alive, those of similar frequencies, who vibe on your level….and those who do not, who lower or slow your energy and the life flowing through you…it becomes very clear and once you feel the lightness and brightness of those certain souls, you choose over and over again to be in their presence! 😊 #amici #tribe #fam
Traveling Solo
That all being said, however, I absolutely LOVE traveling by myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even before this Mexico trip.....
since I’ve lived in Phoenix, I’ve taken many a hike and road trip by myself, just because I needed or wanted to: Prescott, White Tanks, South Mountain, Jerome (well, I went with my dad, but I still would have gone alone had he not joined me!), etc.
To me, traveling alone is much simpler on the mind and less draining. There isn’t the constant seeking agreement or compromising that comes with traveling with another or others. Often in my travels through Mexico, I would hear pairs or groups pausing and “Are you hungry now?” “Do you want to go into that Church?” “Is it ok if we stop in this store first?”   I would wander by these conversations and smirk because it was so liberating to be able to do and go wherever the f*ck I wanted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I was hungry, I would search for a bakery. If I wanted to check out this street or that building, I would go. If I wanted to keep walking and keep exploring even after 4 straight hours, I did. When I was tired, I walked home. It was so very simple and easy on my mind! If I wanted to stop and linger at this site or watch these dancers for an hour, I did, without a worry about anyone needing or wanting something else. I took a zillion pictures everywhere and didn’t have to worry about annoying someone because I did that. It really was amazing and there was this lovely feeling of lightness each day. It’s my happy space when I can just wander and explore a place alone, linger where and when I want to without having to check-in with anyone else. Maybe that sounds selfish or maybe it’s just honest and mature, and the voice of someone at home with herself. I don’t know. But I DO know that I know myself well enough to know that I prefer flying solo in most cases like this because it’s just lighter and easier on the mind, overall less complicated – leaves me more mind space and ultimately more overall energy to continue exploring and seeing the things I want to see. Traveling in groups or even with another person, I feel you are always having to check-in, make choices, discuss directions or next steps….and that is a shit-ton of mental energy for me and sometimes emotional, if the group or person chooses something that you do not particularly care for, then you are wasting your time or just upset or both! At least I would be. Granted, with a loved one – sister, parent, lover, bff - anytime spend together in my book is quality time and sometimes we do things for them that we don’t particularly care for, just because we love them. And that’s ok and I honor that.  Sometimes, not all the time though. If I was in love, I’m sure I’d happily go see some boring museum with him because he would probably go see some pretty flowers with me. And that’s ok. I think we would also be happy to split up for a few hours to go be on our own!!
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The only time when I was like, “Mmmm, it would be nice to have someone else here…” was in the nighttime.  In other cities and in Mexico, I do not venture out at night alone. This is my safety thing and where my level of wandering draws a line, especially when I am by myself in a foreign country and my only local contact is my host. Usually my days of exploring would end around 5 or 6pm, I would make sure I had food for the rest of my evening, I would shower, eat, and revel in my photos. These are moments where, had I a companion, I would venture out maybe to an event or a restaurant downtown. Not every night though, but I would go out some nites. In fact, on my last night in Mexico, I did venture out with my suitemate upstairs, a lovely girl from Washington DC. We had made friends the day she arrived and actually spent a few hours together wandering the city, and then found a lovely rooftop restaurant to finish off my trip! Post dinner, we found ourselves in the center plaza again, where we watched more dancing, saw the Church lit up and got to experience San Miguel at night. So, there are some perks to having a travel companion!
Other than that, I’d still choose traveling alone most of the time. I do believe there are people with whom traveling would be easier for me, and people or types of people that I’d have a hard time traveling with. There are just some people who you easily vibe with, who have similar desires when it comes to what they want to do and, as important, how they want to do it. For example, I’m content just walking around a new city, with a few ideas of places I want to see, but otherwise, walking, taking photos of life, exploring – historic centers, churches, libraries, plazas. I’m not super interested in shopping or eating at fancy, famous places. I’m also not interested in doing the typical touristy things. I just want to blend in and witness how Life takes place wherever I am. I love gardens, city parks and plazas where you can walk, experience beauty and people. If you’re like that, then I’d travel with you. Maybe. 😉
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eurotraveltales-blog · 6 years ago
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Day 9: Lyon
The second day is every city is always the best one, and Lyon was no exception. The city actually reminded us of Portland in some ways, so it was great to have a little taste of home. It’s a relatively small city with a waterfront, a heavy art and culture scene, cute little shops and restaurants, and nice people. It certainly isn’t as flat as Portland though - we climbed a lot of hills, and went back down them. And Apriet whined and complained about her legs and how much she hated hills the whole time. (I wasn’t going to say it, but she told me to).
We woke up at 9, both took showers since we didn’t get to last night, and then played with Neva for a while. Everything is a game to her, and she always wants to play. She does this thing where she’ll run into an open room, grab some small garment of clothing that’s on the floor (usually socks or underwear) and then run off. When you try and chase her, she runs way, waits for you to get close, then runs away again. She gets a real kick out of it.
Virginie offered us a breakfast of bread and jam and tea. The bread was delicious - a buttery, soft loaf of brioche. I had a slice plain and a slice with fig jam - also delicious. I was able to choose from chai tea and green tea, both of which I love. I decided to go with chai this morning, and I’ll try to green tea tomorrow morning. The second I smelled the tea, I knew I needed to try the chai. I had never smelled such an appealing chai tea before. And tasting it put me over the moon. Unfortunately, I don’t think this particular brand of chai tea can be found in the states. At least, I’ve never seen it.
After breakfast, we sat at the dining table to plan our day. Virginie gave us some very helpful recommendations for things to see and routes to take. She wrote down the points of interest for us, and then we were out the door! First stop was a fresco down the street from the apartment. It had a very interesting history. In the 1800s, the side of the building was a derelict eyesore to everyone, so the city hired some fresco artists to paint a mural on it. The artists asked if they could use up the ENTIRE side of the building, and they were given permission, so they did. And every century or so, the mural gets updated to reflect the changing of the times. The people in the mural get aged, and the architecture gets modernized as the city becomes more sustainable.
Not long after seeing that, we came to a corner with a big beta fish mural painted on it, which was also very cool to see. We then came to a square with a statue of two lovers in the middle. We kept seeing cool art on the walls while walking around this city. One wall had fake human legs sticking out of it, as if a person had dived through the wall. There was another very purple mural with a character that looked like he could have been a great Disney villain. We came to an area with a pretty sweet lookout, and a building with ivy climbing all up the side, which we both thought looked really awesome. After taking some pictures of the city from the top, we descended Hill #1 and saw an old Roman theater through a gate. It was constructed in 1980 and it used to be a garden that was used by gardeners and artists to perfect their skills for the silk trade.
After that, we stopped at a pastry shop called La Croissanterie, because obviously we had to have croissants in France. I am the cheese on Darrell’s croissant, after all. Apriet ended up getting a croissant and a mini chocolate beignet, and I got a croissant and a water. These croissants taste so much better than American croissants. They’re flaky and crispy on the outside, and soft and buttery on the inside, without being too buttery, as American croissants are wont to be. After our little snack, we came to another square, this one with Bartholdi Fountain - a statue of a woman riding a chariot pulled by four horses. It was sculpted in 1889 by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, and the horses had steam coming out of their nostrils! It was pretty rad.
We crossed a bridge overlooking the waterfront, then ascended Hill #2 to come to Catedrale Saint Jean Baptiste. It was free to go in, so we sat in the pews for a bit, soaking it all in. We read in the information pamphlet that the church has an astronomical clock with figures that move at 14:00, 16:00, and 18:00. It was 13:05 so we decided to hang around and wait to see this super old clock move. Unfortunately, it did not. But either way, it was a good break because for some reason we were both super sleepy. After leaving the cathedral, we ascended Hill #3, passing by a second set of Roman ruins, to which we would later return. For now, we climbed to the top of the hill and took a leisurely stroll through Le Jardin du Rosaire. About halfway through the garden path, we went up some stairs to another overlook of the city that was right behind Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourviere. We took some pictures at the viewpoint, went to the bathroom, then went around to the front of the cathedral. This cathedral was magnificent. As you’ll see in the picture, every inch of the walls and ceiling were covered in detail and color. There was so much to look at that you almost didn’t know what to focus on. But no choice was the wrong choice, because everything was beautiful. We also explored the crypts underneath the cathedral, and watched a short video about the history behind the place.
After leaving the Basilica, we returned to the ruins. These ruins weren’t gated off like the last ones, and there was so much to explore, including a small stone tunnel, a private stone room with only a small opening to come in and out, and a stone amphitheater. They built a modern concert stage in front of the stadium so that people could actually utilize the theater. It could probably seat close to 20,000, and there were people setting up for some kind of performance when we went down, so we sat and watched for about 10 minutes. To be sitting on such a historical piece of culture was pretty astounding. Also, I got yelled at for climbing a stone wall, but what else is new? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ At this point, we were getting pretty hungry because it was about 16:00 and neither of us had had much to eat since breakfast at the airbnb, so we descended Hill #4 in search of dinner.
Sadly, most restaurants don’t open until 19:30, so we just randomly picked one that was open called L’epicerie, and it wasn’t super great. At least, my meal wasn’t. All the wait staff spoke English though, so communication wasn’t really a problem. Apriet got tomato, mozzarella, and pesto on bread. I got a burger because I was famished, it was one of the only things I could read on the menu, and I felt like my diet had been lacking in protein lately. The meat was extremely charred on the outside, and more rare on the inside than I prefer, though I wasn’t given the option to choose the level of doneness. It also came with a salad that was all just iceburg lettuce with a weird horseradish dressing. The chips were fine. And at least Apriet’s meal looked pretty good.
After dinner, we started walking back to the airbnb, deciding to stop by a dessert shop on the way, if we came across one. We did come across one about 30 seconds after leaving the restaurant, but it was too soon after eating, and we thought we’d certainly come across another. What do you know, we didn’t. But we did stop in a supermarket and pick up some snacks. Apriet got chocolate cookies and I got these mini strawberry tartelettes.
We climbed Hill #5 to get back to the airbnb, and then we played with Neva a little bit more. Now we’re just chilling in our room, and we’re probably going to watch a movie or something tonight.
A good day.
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golicit · 6 years ago
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Budapest on the Danube
The Hungarian Parliament Building on the Danube River in Budapest
The D&O Diary is on assignment in Eastern Europe this week, with multiple destinations on the itinerary, starting with a weekend stop in Hungary’s capital city of Budapest. With a city population of 1.7 million and an urban population over 3 million, Budapest is a large, sprawling place. The taxi ride from the airport into the central city cuts through some pretty scruffy parts of town, so it was startling to arrive at the river and encounter the Danube’s sweeping beauty as it rolled through the city’s middle.
  I have to admit Budapest completely confounded my expectations. I expected to see a lot of crumbling fragments of the Soviet era, along the lines of present day Warsaw, and I also expected to see remnants of Hungary’s long history, comparable to the many monuments and castles from the Middle Ages in central Prague. As it turned out, at least in the center of Budapest, there are relatively few Soviet era vestiges, and most of the historic buildings in central Budapest date only from the 19th century (and most of those now are post-World War II reconstructions).
  What Budapest has is the river, the beautiful Danube (or, as it is known locally, the Duna), the second-longest river in Europe. In his book, The Danube, a Cultural History, Andrew Beattie called Budapest “the loveliest and most elegant city on the Danube.” Budapest, Beattie writes, “takes the Danube to its heart.” By contrast to Vienna, a flat city that has turned its back on the river and where the river is heavily channelized and controlled, in Budapest, the steep hills along the city’s west side “allow an appreciation of just how much the river seems to be cradled by the city.” It is as if the Danube is “flowing, steady and implacable, through a cupped hand.”
    Along with the river, the city also has Old World European elegance. Buda, on the city’s Western hilly side, and Pest, on the more level  eastern side, were for most of their history separate cities. They were not combined into a single city (along with the separate community of Óbuda) until 1873, after the first permanent bridge, the Chain Bridge, joined the river’s two sides. The Chain Bridge (reconstructed after World War II) is now one of several beautiful bridges that join the city’s two sides (as reflected in the picture above). Along the river north of the Chain Bridge is the dramatic Hungarian Parliament building (as reflected at the top of the post), possibly the most beautiful building on the entire river.
  The two most distinctive features on the Buda side are the historic district of Castle Hill, crowned by a reconstructed Habsburg era castle (now the national art gallery), and the taller, more rugged Gellert Hill, which affords a great view across to Pest. as well as to the south toward the vast Hungarian central plain. Along the crest of Castle Hill just below the Mátyás-templom (Matthias Church) is the 19th century whimsy, the Fisherman’s Bastion, with viewpoints allowing great views up and down the river.
  Castle Hill, viewed from Gellért Hill
    Gellért Hill, viewed from Castle Hill
    Gellért Hill, viewed from the river’s far side, in Pest
    The Matthias Church
    Fisherman’s Bastion
    Looking south along the Danube toward the vast Hungarian central plain
  Across the river in Pest, the many beautiful pedestrianized streets in the central district are lined with cafes and restaurants, as well as innumerable souvenir shops selling stacking dolls and intricately embroidered lace tablecloths. Our hotel was on a quiet side street in Pest a block away from the famous central pedestrian boulevard, Vaci Utca. On our first night in Budapest, overwhelmed with jet lag fatigue, we stumbled into a terrifically atmospheric old Budapest restaurant along the Vaci Utca called Rustico, with live “gypsy music” and serving excellent traditional Hungarian food and Hungarian wines.
  Vaci Utca, the pedestrianized street in Pest
    St. Stephen’s cathedral, in Pest
    Now this is serious Chicken Paprikash. I particularly liked the way it was prepared. Rather than mixing the paprika and the sour cream together, instead sour cream was drizzled onto the paprika-covered chicken. It was great, particularly with a nice Hungarian red wine.
    This is Josef. He earned a tip of 2000 Hungarian Forint (about seven bucks) for playing the overture to Die Flederrmaus for us.
  On Saturday, we had excellent weather in the morning as we strolled along the city’s most famous boulevard, Andrassy út, to the City Park, a beautiful green space where Hungary hosted its millennial celebration in 1896. (The millennium festival celebrated the 1,000 years of Hungary since the Magyars conquered and settled the Carpathian Basin.) One of the remnants from the millennial festival is the delightfully campy Transylvanian castle replica, the Vajdahunyad Castle. There was a street festival in progress in the castle’s shadow, as well as a number of other interesting displays.
  The tree-lined boulevard of Andrassy ut, in Pest. The guide books compared it to the Champs-Elysee but it actually reminded me more of the Boulevard St. Germain, or even Unter den Linden in Berlin.
    Vajdahunyad Castle
    Saturday in the Park.
    One of the things we saw while we were in the city park was this very bizarre dance routine performed by several tough-guy looking Hungarian army soldiers. They twirled and threw their bayoneted rifles to the accompaniment of techno-pop music. The lyrics (in English) to the song that was playing when I took this picture were “I want your body.”
    These costumed performers staged a very convincing sword fight
    In the afternoon, we explored a number of the city’s other tourist destinations, eventually making our way toward Margaret Island, in the center of the Danube upstream from the Parliament building. Up until that point, we had been remarkably fortunate with the weather. But as we were crossing the bridge from the Pest side of the river to the island, our weather luck changed dramatically.
    That moment when you realize that your afternoon plans are about to change
    Within the space of less than five minutes, the wind picked up, whipping up swirls of leaves and grit. The temperature dropped ten degrees in the blink of an eye and rain drops started to fall. We ran to the shelter of an umbrella at an outdoor beer garden, along with a host of others with the same idea. Just after we made it undercover, the skies opened up and torrents of rain came down. Huddled under the umbrella with us were two married couples with two babies in strollers, and a youthful couple who basically couldn’t keep their hands off one each other. Everybody did their best to keep things as comfortable as could be in the close quarters under the umbrella, but it was pretty unpleasant as we all got soaked by the splattering rain shower.
  Just at the point where everybody was feeling pretty miserable and thinking that things couldn’t be much worse, a very drunk young man with a large beer in his hand and who pretty clearly had not bathed in a very long time came under the umbrella and greeted us all energetically in Hungarian. He was sure that what the situation required was a little music, so he began loudly singing Hungarian folks songs, undoubtedly about the beauty of the rain and the delight of human companionship. He couldn’t carry a tune. Eventually, he got bored and wandered off, conversing cheerfully with the raindrops and the cloudy sky. And eventually, the rain stopped enough to allow the rest of us to finally wander away as well.
  The sun was out by the time we made it back to our hotel and we had a pleasant evening strolling around the quiet pedestrian streets in Pest. The next morning, we were off to our next destination. We were aware as our train rolled away that two days were not nearly enough for a wonderful place like Budapest.
  The post Budapest on the Danube appeared first on The D&O Diary.
Budapest on the Danube published first on
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lawfultruth · 6 years ago
Text
Budapest on the Danube
The Hungarian Parliament Building on the Danube River in Budapest
The D&O Diary is on assignment in Eastern Europe this week, with multiple destinations on the itinerary, starting with a weekend stop in Hungary’s capital city of Budapest. With a city population of 1.7 million and an urban population over 3 million, Budapest is a large, sprawling place. The taxi ride from the airport into the central city cuts through some pretty scruffy parts of town, so it was startling to arrive at the river and encounter the Danube’s sweeping beauty as it rolled through the city’s middle.
  I have to admit Budapest completely confounded my expectations. I expected to see a lot of crumbling fragments of the Soviet era, along the lines of present day Warsaw, and I also expected to see remnants of Hungary’s long history, comparable to the many monuments and castles from the Middle Ages in central Prague. As it turned out, at least in the center of Budapest, there are relatively few Soviet era vestiges, and most of the historic buildings in central Budapest date only from the 19th century (and most of those now are post-World War II reconstructions).
  What Budapest has is the river, the beautiful Danube (or, as it is known locally, the Duna), the second-longest river in Europe. In his book, The Danube, a Cultural History, Andrew Beattie called Budapest “the loveliest and most elegant city on the Danube.” Budapest, Beattie writes, “takes the Danube to its heart.” By contrast to Vienna, a flat city that has turned its back on the river and where the river is heavily channelized and controlled, in Budapest, the steep hills along the city’s west side “allow an appreciation of just how much the river seems to be cradled by the city.” It is as if the Danube is “flowing, steady and implacable, through a cupped hand.”
    Along with the river, the city also has Old World European elegance. Buda, on the city’s Western hilly side, and Pest, on the more level  eastern side, were for most of their history separate cities. They were not combined into a single city (along with the separate community of Óbuda) until 1873, after the first permanent bridge, the Chain Bridge, joined the river’s two sides. The Chain Bridge (reconstructed after World War II) is now one of several beautiful bridges that join the city’s two sides (as reflected in the picture above). Along the river north of the Chain Bridge is the dramatic Hungarian Parliament building (as reflected at the top of the post), possibly the most beautiful building on the entire river.
  The two most distinctive features on the Buda side are the historic district of Castle Hill, crowned by a reconstructed Habsburg era castle (now the national art gallery), and the taller, more rugged Gellert Hill, which affords a great view across to Pest. as well as to the south toward the vast Hungarian central plain. Along the crest of Castle Hill just below the Mátyás-templom (Matthias Church) is the 19th century whimsy, the Fisherman’s Bastion, with viewpoints allowing great views up and down the river.
  Castle Hill, viewed from Gellért Hill
    Gellért Hill, viewed from Castle Hill
    Gellért Hill, viewed from the river’s far side, in Pest
    The Matthias Church
    Fisherman’s Bastion
    Looking south along the Danube toward the vast Hungarian central plain
  Across the river in Pest, the many beautiful pedestrianized streets in the central district are lined with cafes and restaurants, as well as innumerable souvenir shops selling stacking dolls and intricately embroidered lace tablecloths. Our hotel was on a quiet side street in Pest a block away from the famous central pedestrian boulevard, Vaci Utca. On our first night in Budapest, overwhelmed with jet lag fatigue, we stumbled into a terrifically atmospheric old Budapest restaurant along the Vaci Utca called Rustico, with live “gypsy music” and serving excellent traditional Hungarian food and Hungarian wines.
  Vaci Utca, the pedestrianized street in Pest
    St. Stephen’s cathedral, in Pest
    Now this is serious Chicken Paprikash. I particularly liked the way it was prepared. Rather than mixing the paprika and the sour cream together, instead sour cream was drizzled onto the paprika-covered chicken. It was great, particularly with a nice Hungarian red wine.
    This is Josef. He earned a tip of 2000 Hungarian Forint (about seven bucks) for playing the overture to Die Flederrmaus for us.
  On Saturday, we had excellent weather in the morning as we strolled along the city’s most famous boulevard, Andrassy út, to the City Park, a beautiful green space where Hungary hosted its millennial celebration in 1896. (The millennium festival celebrated the 1,000 years of Hungary since the Magyars conquered and settled the Carpathian Basin.) One of the remnants from the millennial festival is the delightfully campy Transylvanian castle replica, the Vajdahunyad Castle. There was a street festival in progress in the castle’s shadow, as well as a number of other interesting displays.
  The tree-lined boulevard of Andrassy ut, in Pest. The guide books compared it to the Champs-Elysee but it actually reminded me more of the Boulevard St. Germain, or even Unter den Linden in Berlin.
    Vajdahunyad Castle
    Saturday in the Park.
    One of the things we saw while we were in the city park was this very bizarre dance routine performed by several tough-guy looking Hungarian army soldiers. They twirled and threw their bayoneted rifles to the accompaniment of techno-pop music. The lyrics (in English) to the song that was playing when I took this picture were “I want your body.”
    These costumed performers staged a very convincing sword fight
    In the afternoon, we explored a number of the city’s other tourist destinations, eventually making our way toward Margaret Island, in the center of the Danube upstream from the Parliament building. Up until that point, we had been remarkably fortunate with the weather. But as we were crossing the bridge from the Pest side of the river to the island, our weather luck changed dramatically.
    That moment when you realize that your afternoon plans are about to change
    Within the space of less than five minutes, the wind picked up, whipping up swirls of leaves and grit. The temperature dropped ten degrees in the blink of an eye and rain drops started to fall. We ran to the shelter of an umbrella at an outdoor beer garden, along with a host of others with the same idea. Just after we made it undercover, the skies opened up and torrents of rain came down. Huddled under the umbrella with us were two married couples with two babies in strollers, and a youthful couple who basically couldn’t keep their hands off one each other. Everybody did their best to keep things as comfortable as could be in the close quarters under the umbrella, but it was pretty unpleasant as we all got soaked by the splattering rain shower.
  Just at the point where everybody was feeling pretty miserable and thinking that things couldn’t be much worse, a very drunk young man with a large beer in his hand and who pretty clearly had not bathed in a very long time came under the umbrella and greeted us all energetically in Hungarian. He was sure that what the situation required was a little music, so he began loudly singing Hungarian folks songs, undoubtedly about the beauty of the rain and the delight of human companionship. He couldn’t carry a tune. Eventually, he got bored and wandered off, conversing cheerfully with the raindrops and the cloudy sky. And eventually, the rain stopped enough to allow the rest of us to finally wander away as well.
  The sun was out by the time we made it back to our hotel and we had a pleasant evening strolling around the quiet pedestrian streets in Pest. The next morning, we were off to our next destination. We were aware as our train rolled away that two days were not nearly enough for a wonderful place like Budapest.
  The post Budapest on the Danube appeared first on The D&O Diary.
Budapest on the Danube syndicated from https://ronenkurzfeldweb.wordpress.com/
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simonconsultancypage · 6 years ago
Text
Budapest on the Danube
The Hungarian Parliament Building on the Danube River in Budapest
The D&O Diary is on assignment in Eastern Europe this week, with multiple destinations on the itinerary, starting with a weekend stop in Hungary’s capital city of Budapest. With a city population of 1.7 million and an urban population over 3 million, Budapest is a large, sprawling place. The taxi ride from the airport into the central city cuts through some pretty scruffy parts of town, so it was startling to arrive at the river and encounter the Danube’s sweeping beauty as it rolled through the city’s middle.
  I have to admit Budapest completely confounded my expectations. I expected to see a lot of crumbling fragments of the Soviet era, along the lines of present day Warsaw, and I also expected to see remnants of Hungary’s long history, comparable to the many monuments and castles from the Middle Ages in central Prague. As it turned out, at least in the center of Budapest, there are relatively few Soviet era vestiges, and most of the historic buildings in central Budapest date only from the 19th century (and most of those now are post-World War II reconstructions).
  What Budapest has is the river, the beautiful Danube (or, as it is known locally, the Duna), the second-longest river in Europe. In his book, The Danube, a Cultural History, Andrew Beattie called Budapest “the loveliest and most elegant city on the Danube.” Budapest, Beattie writes, “takes the Danube to its heart.” By contrast to Vienna, a flat city that has turned its back on the river and where the river is heavily channelized and controlled, in Budapest, the steep hills along the city’s west side “allow an appreciation of just how much the river seems to be cradled by the city.” It is as if the Danube is “flowing, steady and implacable, through a cupped hand.”
    Along with the river, the city also has Old World European elegance. Buda, on the city’s Western hilly side, and Pest, on the more level  eastern side, were for most of their history separate cities. They were not combined into a single city (along with the separate community of Óbuda) until 1873, after the first permanent bridge, the Chain Bridge, joined the river’s two sides. The Chain Bridge (reconstructed after World War II) is now one of several beautiful bridges that join the city’s two sides (as reflected in the picture above). Along the river north of the Chain Bridge is the dramatic Hungarian Parliament building (as reflected at the top of the post), possibly the most beautiful building on the entire river.
  The two most distinctive features on the Buda side are the historic district of Castle Hill, crowned by a reconstructed Habsburg era castle (now the national art gallery), and the taller, more rugged Gellert Hill, which affords a great view across to Pest. as well as to the south toward the vast Hungarian central plain. Along the crest of Castle Hill just below the Mátyás-templom (Matthias Church) is the 19th century whimsy, the Fisherman’s Bastion, with viewpoints allowing great views up and down the river.
  Castle Hill, viewed from Gellért Hill
    Gellért Hill, viewed from Castle Hill
    Gellért Hill, viewed from the river’s far side, in Pest
    The Matthias Church
    Fisherman’s Bastion
    Looking south along the Danube toward the vast Hungarian central plain
  Across the river in Pest, the many beautiful pedestrianized streets in the central district are lined with cafes and restaurants, as well as innumerable souvenir shops selling stacking dolls and intricately embroidered lace tablecloths. Our hotel was on a quiet side street in Pest a block away from the famous central pedestrian boulevard, Vaci Utca. On our first night in Budapest, overwhelmed with jet lag fatigue, we stumbled into a terrifically atmospheric old Budapest restaurant along the Vaci Utca called Rustico, with live “gypsy music” and serving excellent traditional Hungarian food and Hungarian wines.
  Vaci Utca, the pedestrianized street in Pest
    St. Stephen’s cathedral, in Pest
    Now this is serious Chicken Paprikash. I particularly liked the way it was prepared. Rather than mixing the paprika and the sour cream together, instead sour cream was drizzled onto the paprika-covered chicken. It was great, particularly with a nice Hungarian red wine.
    This is Josef. He earned a tip of 2000 Hungarian Forint (about seven bucks) for playing the overture to Die Flederrmaus for us.
  On Saturday, we had excellent weather in the morning as we strolled along the city’s most famous boulevard, Andrassy út, to the City Park, a beautiful green space where Hungary hosted its millennial celebration in 1896. (The millennium festival celebrated the 1,000 years of Hungary since the Magyars conquered and settled the Carpathian Basin.) One of the remnants from the millennial festival is the delightfully campy Transylvanian castle replica, the Vajdahunyad Castle. There was a street festival in progress in the castle’s shadow, as well as a number of other interesting displays.
  The tree-lined boulevard of Andrassy ut, in Pest. The guide books compared it to the Champs-Elysee but it actually reminded me more of the Boulevard St. Germain, or even Unter den Linden in Berlin.
    Vajdahunyad Castle
    Saturday in the Park.
    One of the things we saw while we were in the city park was this very bizarre dance routine performed by several tough-guy looking Hungarian army soldiers. They twirled and threw their bayoneted rifles to the accompaniment of techno-pop music. The lyrics (in English) to the song that was playing when I took this picture were “I want your body.”
    These costumed performers staged a very convincing sword fight
    In the afternoon, we explored a number of the city’s other tourist destinations, eventually making our way toward Margaret Island, in the center of the Danube upstream from the Parliament building. Up until that point, we had been remarkably fortunate with the weather. But as we were crossing the bridge from the Pest side of the river to the island, our weather luck changed dramatically.
    That moment when you realize that your afternoon plans are about to change
    Within the space of less than five minutes, the wind picked up, whipping up swirls of leaves and grit. The temperature dropped ten degrees in the blink of an eye and rain drops started to fall. We ran to the shelter of an umbrella at an outdoor beer garden, along with a host of others with the same idea. Just after we made it undercover, the skies opened up and torrents of rain came down. Huddled under the umbrella with us were two married couples with two babies in strollers, and a youthful couple who basically couldn’t keep their hands off one each other. Everybody did their best to keep things as comfortable as could be in the close quarters under the umbrella, but it was pretty unpleasant as we all got soaked by the splattering rain shower.
  Just at the point where everybody was feeling pretty miserable and thinking that things couldn’t be much worse, a very drunk young man with a large beer in his hand and who pretty clearly had not bathed in a very long time came under the umbrella and greeted us all energetically in Hungarian. He was sure that what the situation required was a little music, so he began loudly singing Hungarian folks songs, undoubtedly about the beauty of the rain and the delight of human companionship. He couldn’t carry a tune. Eventually, he got bored and wandered off, conversing cheerfully with the raindrops and the cloudy sky. And eventually, the rain stopped enough to allow the rest of us to finally wander away as well.
  The sun was out by the time we made it back to our hotel and we had a pleasant evening strolling around the quiet pedestrian streets in Pest. The next morning, we were off to our next destination. We were aware as our train rolled away that two days were not nearly enough for a wonderful place like Budapest.
  The post Budapest on the Danube appeared first on The D&O Diary.
Budapest on the Danube published first on http://simonconsultancypage.tumblr.com/
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sheentravels · 7 years ago
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It’s already November
I know what you’re thinking…where have you been!? 
I’m sorry my friends, but after an AMAZING reading week, I’ve just gotten busy with all the “studying abroad,” meaning essays to write, presentations to present, and also preparing myself for next semester’s registration back at UH Manoa. It’s already November and I only have one month left of London :( This makes me sad truthfully because I feel like I started this school year just like any other fresher. I started a life here, I’ve made so many new friends, experienced so many unbelievable things I never would have thought I would, and as the last month here occupies my time with earlier nights and upcoming deadlines, I just can’t believe that this amazing experience is soon reaching its end.
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So, READING WEEK. It was amazeballs. The first half of our UH Group had traveled to Barcelona first on Friday, Oct.20 because they didn’t have classes on a Friday. That left me, Chelsie, and Erin to head to Barcelona the following Saturday night. We fit everything we could into ONE BACKPACK, yes, ONE BACKPACK, and made our way to Gatwick Airport and left for Spain. We got there at midnight on Sunday, and it was upon walking out of the terminal did we realize that we were officially in a country that had a foreign language: Spanish. The signs were in Spanish (some had English translations underneath, thank god) but everything was dominantly in Spanish. The weather wasn’t as cold as the cold we left in London, but it was bearable. We had paid for a bus to take us to this plaza near La Ramblas, a 10-minute walk away from our Youth Hostel. When we got dropped off, I’ll admit it was scary. It was dark, there were drunk people roaming the streets trying to talk to us, and we were all just tired and eager to get to our Hostel. After minutes of walking and following the guidance of Google Maps, we had found it. It was called the “Alternative Youth Hostel,” but we didn’t see that much youth LOL. There were mostly men in there and we were the only signs of actual youth. Nevertheless, it was a pretty clean and tidy Hostel. We were given keys to lockers to put our stuff in, and for our sleeping quarters we were in a room with 4 bunk beds and we all had the top bunk. It was already 2am by the time we checked in, put away our stuff, got into our clothes to wear the next day, and fell asleep. We were going to meet up with the others early in the morning, aka 5am. Tired from the journey but excited for being in a new country, we fell asleep.
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After roughly 3 hours of sleep, we got up and got ready to head out into the early morning. It was still dark out and it looked the same as it did when we first arrived. We were going to meet the others in front of this market that was supposedly the halfway point between our hostel and their Airbnb, but when we got to the meeting point it seemed as though it was entirely blocked off. We were confused. The meeting point was near the middle of this long strip known as “La Ramblas,”
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 which was empty and barren and filled with drunk young adults walking up and down it. It was too early for me to deal with, plus it was cold, so we were all just lost. Eventually, Jenny had sent Chelsie her current location and we spent a good hour walking around alleys and buildings until we actually got to them at a bakery. Serena’s grandpa had flown to Barcelona too to hang with her, so we had him and Serena as our tour guides for the day. We had caught a cab to go to Park Guell, which was featured in Cheetah Girls 2 LOL. It was still dark out by 8am, but the place was beautiful and colorfully decorated nevertheless. There were tile pieces covering the buildings and chairs, and since we were there before they opened we got to go in for free. We actually watched the sunrise there, and it was beautiful. Afterwards, we caught a cab to get to the Sagrada Familia, which was the most beautifully constructed church I’ve ever seen. It was made by the same guy who built Park Guell, so his art definitely spoke everywhere in Barcelona. The church was tall and we even had the chance to tour inside of it. Inside the glass windows were colored a variety of colors, purposefully made that way so that when the sun shined through the window the light would illuminate the inside. I was amazed.
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We left on Tuesday, and headed to Rome. Serena stayed back with her grandpa.  I’d been to Rome already back in the Summer of 2015, but it was so nice being back. Rome is the home of my favorite historical landmark: The Colosseum. Rome was colder in the night, but our airbnb was definitely much cuter compared to Barcelona haha! 
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We had eaten so much gelato, pasta, and walked over 10 miles every day. We bought tickets to see the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, The Vatican, The Sistine Chapel, and a new personal favorite: The Orange Garden. Melky had taken us up a huge hill to Orange Garden where we could see the best panoramic view of the city. It was so beautiful to watch the sunset from there, and we had all sang our hearts out walking back to our airbnb one night.
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By Friday it was time for us to leave again, but this time the group was split again. Melky, Max, Jenny and Kristel were heading to Venice, whereas me, Chelsie and Erin were off to Santorini! This was the best part. Once we landed, it was even more foreign than ever. The signs looked like hieroglyphics, but of course every sign had at least an English translation right below it. We got picked up at Santorini’s small airport by our AirBnb host, Dima. He drove us to Perissa, the small town our airbnb was in. 
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Dima told us all about how chill everything in Santorini was, how everyone’s really nice and trustworthy, how the police is so chill that there’s only one that can be seen around and when he is seen you can only see him drinking coffee, and he even told us how you don’t need a seat belt to drive in Santorini. They were wild! LOL. The place we were staying at was really cute though, and it was only minutes away from Dima’s family restaurant (where we get 10% off), and the Black Beach. We definitely headed there first. It was drop dead gorgeous. To finally see a beach again after having been deprived of it for so many months, we were almost crying. We ate Greek dishes such as deep fried tomatoes with Greek yogurt (Tzatziki) and Moussaka (meat and eggplant lasagna). It was soooo good. I love Greek food. After we ate, we went back to our place to change into our bathing suits and tanned on the beach. We arrived to Santorini at it’s low season, so there were absolutely no tourists ANYWHERE. It was AMAZING.
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That night we traveled to the other side of the island known as Oia (Ee-a) to watch their famous sunsets. That’s where we saw all the white houses with blue roofs that people see on Social media. We also got to see the views of the ocean and the volcano the island harbors and let me just tell you, it was unbelievable. Everything we looked at had some glimmer or mist around it, so it felt like we were looking at heaven. The sunset was also amazing to watch alongside everything. We even got our feet eaten by those fish that are supposed to clean the dead skin off your feet haha! It was a weird, tingling, ticklish experience but my feet felt so soft afterwards. I couldn’t believe we were there.
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The next day (Saturday) was Chelsie’s 21st birthday! So we arranged a wine tasting tour. It was super fun and very informational. I finally understand why people pair wine with cheeses and such LOL. Also, for Chelsie’s birthday wish, we traveled to Fia (Santorini’s capital) to ride donkeys. It was...an experience LOL. I truly felt bad that the donkeys had to haul us down and up a hill. I feel bad that it was a scary but fun experience. Let’s just say I don’t plan on doing it again ;P
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We were there til Monday, which was when it was time to head back to reality. We left Santorini Monday morning and spent the entire day flying until we got to London at midnight. It definitely got way colder while we were away, because we started to see our breath fog whenever we talked. It was the best week of my entire life.
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Sorry if you noticed I got less into detail during this blog, I just have to get back to working on my essays if you’d excuse me haha. For example, I have to write five 1000+ word essays for just one of my classes. *le sigh* Well, it’s reasonable. If I am granted the once in a lifetime opportunity to study abroad and travel to other countries, why can’t I work for it through school in return?
Until we speak again my readers :)
Sheena
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kellyramaeker-blog · 7 years ago
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Amsterdam, Netherlands
In the early hours of Friday morning, Jacob, Grady, and I were waiting outside of a bus with a mob of other people eagerly waiting to begin their adventure in Amsterdam. We booked the night bus with the intention of sleeping until we arrived at our destination. We left Mannheim, Germany at about 1:30am to arrive in Holland by 8:00am the following morning. Unfortunately, on the lower level of the large bus we sat behind a rowdy group of middle aged people that came prepared for the bus ride with bottles of wine, crunchy snacks, and a playlist full of crappy songs from the 2000’s. There was a total of 2 hours (MAX) during that bus ride that they weren’t telling stories, laughing, taking flash photography, playing music from their phones and singing along. It was rough. None of us got much sleep. Nevertheless, we arrived in Amsterdam shortly after the sun rose, and we quickly settled into the first coffee shop we saw (Starbucks) to prep for the day with some caffeine. After a proper amount of caffeine was in our system, we were ready for the day – we also FINALLY were awake enough to see how gorgeous the train station was. There were arches, details on the ceiling, art everywhere. But our jaws dropped open as we stepped outside the doors. The city opened in front of us. There were towers, canals, a Ferris wheel in the distance, and GORGEOUS buildings.
At this point, it was about 9:30 am, we still had a few hours until we could check into our hostel. So, with our backpacks on our backs, we took off towards the Ferris wheel for some exploring. We found a shopping center that looked like a castle, next to a church that looked like a slightly bigger castle, next to canals with bridges and boats. I don’t have the proper adjectives to describe this place. It’s breathtaking in a way that kind of fills you with possibility and excitement. At any given time, we heard a handful of languages. We wandered the city center until check in time at our Hostel. Since we had taken the chance to explore the city a bit in the morning, we decided to stay in and go to the Halloween party in the bar at the hostel. Lucky for us, we ended up in the same hotel as a group of Italian hip hop and break dancers. They quickly scared all of us away from the dance floor, but it was way more fun to watch them dance along with the DJ. It felt like we were in a Step-Up movie. They were incredibly passionate about what they were doing. You could see it clear as day. This first night was one of my favorites.
The following day we had tickets for the Heineken Experience. Basically, we walked through the historical brewing building, played games, and drank beer. It was incredibly tourist-y, but we had fun! We concluded that Heineken is like the “Coors” or “Budweiser” of the Netherlands. It’s not particularly good, but people drink it because they’re proud of where it was made. Afterwards we set out to find dinner and ended up at an Indonesian Steakhouse – Don’t ask me what an Indonesian steakhouse is. The food was very similar to anything you would find in America. I ordered a chunk of meat with a side of potatoes. The only notable thing that happened here was that instead of mints at the end of the meal, they gave us cough drops. I’m not really sure why, but it gave us something to laugh about that night.
The rest of the time in Amsterdam was spent exploring more of the city. We saw the buildings and bridges all lit up at night, and those lights shining on the water as you passed over a canal. The most notable adventures were the 2 museums, and the restaurant Jacob and I went to on his birthday.
The Van Gogh museum was Monday morning, and it was PACKED. You couldn’t look at a painting for one second without a tourist breathing down your neck. It was packed for good reason though. It expertly tells the story of an incredible painter with a tragic life. You get to look at a ton of his paintings and see how his technique changed throughout his life. It was worth going to, despite the crowd.
The Maritime museum was the following morning. I was relieved to see that it was not near as crowded as the Van Gogh museum. It was much more fun. They had a lot of interactive stuff (for kids and adults), and facts about boats written on the walls. They have a virtual reality thing where you’re in a room surrounded by screens, and they reenact pirate and sailing stories. My favorite part though, was a full-sized ship model. I have a few pictures of it below. We were able to explore the entire ship and pretend to be pirates for a while. I definitely feel like I could have been a pirate for real.
Tuesday was Jacobs birthday (22! Woohoo!), so we ditched Grady and Heath to find a restaurant away from the city center. We reserved a table at “Vlaming.”. We took our time getting there from the Central train station. We left early, leaving plenty of time for wandering. We ended up in a simple, beautiful residential area, away from the crowds. We passed a few locals that told us hello (At least, I think that’s what they said. I don’t speak Dutch.) We arrived at the restaurant about an hour early, but they greeted us warmly with some tea, and a nice quiet seat outside where we could chat until our table was ready. The restaurant was lovely. The wait staff was incredible, the neighborhood was beautiful, and the food was delicious. I highly recommend.
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The Central Train Station
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Believe it or not, the building at the end of this road was a shopping mall. It looks like a freaking castle.
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Waiting in line at the Heineken Experience
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Cheesy tourist pictures - We had a great time
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#selfiespot
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Random street art - There was a lot of this!
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The city was lovely at night.
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A view of the National Theater.
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Many of the streets had lights hanging over them. You can see it here!
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This is the view of the castle shopping mall at night. The ENTIRE front is lit up.
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Almost all of the canal bridges had lights around them.
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This is a better picture of the castle shopping mall - It was a little more breathtaking in person - but still, wow.
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This is a park in an area by a few of the large museums in Amsterdam. The large gray building is the Van Gogh Museum.
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Jacob and me being weird.
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A view of the Rijksmuseum...Unfortunately it was a little too expensive for us. So we just enjoyed the view of the building.
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This is the OTHER side of the Rijksmuseum. Still gorgeous.
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Yet another view of the Rijksmuseum. Look at those details...
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We didn’t go here either...but it looks good!
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Unfortunately, I’m not a photographer.. so I couldn’t capture the church in the background very well. 
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This was one of the only times that we saw the sun - It rained almost the entire trip!
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This is the Maritime Museum - It has a bridge going to it because it’s standing alone in the water.
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There’s the pirate ship on the left!
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This is the front of the “royal boat” that the queen used to use.
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The moment we decided we were actually pirates
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I thought this chain of pictures was funny....
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We were able to climb onto this giant boat and explore the cabins! It was way cool.
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This is the skylight ceiling of the Maritime Museum. If you look closely you can see lights on the vertices. It was all lit up as we left the museum. 
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justforustravel-blog · 7 years ago
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Vienna Center for Culture and the Arts - #Austria, #HistoryMuseum, #Sachertorte, #StStephenSCathedral, #StephansplatzSquare, #Travel, #TravelGuide, #Vienna, #ViennaAirport, #ViennaTravelGuide
New Post has been published on http://justforustravel.com/2017/10/08/vienna-center-for-culture-and-the-arts/
Vienna Center for Culture and the Arts
Vienna travel guide
Vienna, Austria’s capital and the most populous city. 415 km2 and has a population of 1.9 million. Measurement a hundred, looking at think that it’s a small city, and very short if you plan a trip, be sure to experience a big regret on the day of return. Because of the enormous artifacts of the city each Street and each corner is filled with places where you can spend time without getting bored. Gotta at least from a cultural aspect to this city exceptionally beautiful or architectural advice from my side to plan a trip 7 night.
Vienna’s transportation
let’s get transportation in Vienna, especially for people who will be abroad for the first time it’s hard and scary I can imagine. You know, it’s not like cities as Vienna but it sure is in every area of the city, even the subway stations and subway lines to a street made of separate exaggerating, all I can say. Named with the symbol numbered according to the region where u will go to metro lines U1 , U2. The subway line being connected to each other due to the numbers without even looking to ride any subway line will take you to definitely by making a transfer to where you want to go. Subways are usually empty and making it available to sit in for a period of more than 5 min a new one is coming. In the same way on the surface of the city tram lines, which allows them to provide transportation to each area is available on 0-1-2-3. Ours does not have a tourniquet system as we are used at metro stops. So your hands and arms shaking all subways, trains and trams you can ride. But never, ever, ever do that again don’t. Binislik Metro stop at only every 48 hours , 36 hours and weekly tickets are sold. Since there is a language option on some machines you can easily buy. Located at the entrances of subway stations to one unit at a time it will be enough to stamp your ticket. In summary, Vienna’s where don’t think of how far I could go, every place in one metro stop. Many car rental companies available, you can easily rent a car and explore places outside of Vienna.
  a map of the Vienna Metro
  Vienna’s accommodation
as I mentioned above, the most central point transportation within the city is very easy as you don’t necessarily need to select for your stay. You can stay anywhere that fits your budget. Air BNB for accommodation, we’we preferred yi. Unlimited home options available in our home and room with beautiful views of the subway, we were lucky to stay right at the foot of.
  Vienna’s eat – Drinking
the variety of the Turkish cuisine, flavors and proud to say here. But Vienna’s also does have its own flavor. Sure the first thing you hear when you start to do research the Vienna Schnitzel Vienna. World’Introducing or Schnitzel come to this city and would not eat. Very ambitious in a way like I have eaten a schnitzel in my life I can say I ate here. The master was also famous Figlmuller Schnitzel. Chickens and pigs has the option. We preferred the chicken one, and he was a legend! Movies that are very close to each other it’s passage I’d advise you to choose one. But like I said, they are a myth, therefore, necessarily Turkey’s make your reservation before they leave the den. Apfelstrudel; Yes, Vienna’s world’s gained or another flavor. This is the perfect dessert cafe is a registered. Excellent coffee and sweet varieties, both in Vienna, you’s also 1900’Lu, a historic Cafe that will take years. So, Vienna’s one of the most famous pedestrian streets
Sachertorte; Vienna’s another famous dessert. This chocolate Paradise made famous Café de “Sacher”. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to go to this cafe after spending 8 days. But with all these sweets you can find all the cafés in Vienna for ozdeslestik. So I did and it is really good, I recommend.
Cafe Sperl; immediately before sunrise watching the movie carefully, the audience will remember. It lives a long time a legend that two lovers cafe. Vienna we’s when we went either, first it was here in the cafe we were looking for. Dishes , drinks and desserts very good, but the atmosphere was unspoilt fascinates us. You can reach this place with 3-4 minute walk down in the subway station Museumsquartier.
Cafe Central; maybe Vienna’s most famous restaurants. During the day, mostly in the front we saw that there was a line. Like all the other restaurants, the delicious dessert and coffee is waiting for you. But with a difference, accompanied by a live piano recital!
all this is available in melange cafe named coffee, if like me if you like mild Coffee, you can drink the cup of the cup. I love very much. Wandering away from the buffet corner, you have the possibility even drinking.
similar to a large number of bakery and pastry available in the US. You can make both breakfast and within days, a relatively small place where you can get dessert and coffee and the prices are very reasonable.
places
Yes, now that we know how to feed ourselves, now we can’t finish writing Vienna’s attractions and sights to we can move on. As soon as I say writing, because in each corner magnificent monuments,statues and museums are waiting for you. We start we must.
Vienna; Austria’s largest Summer Palace of the Habsburg dynasty dynasty is referred to as. I think as the house built by Maria Theresa, the garden is also worth a visit.For 16 euros you can visit the inside of the palace with the electronic guide. Both dynastic and famous monuments and lots of information about you can reach the Queen side. Europe in the big garden of the Palace’s one of the oldest zoos. There is an entrance fee. Also available in a grass maze. I would definitely recommend if you have your child with you if you try. The house and garden with gorgeous landscaping and a spectacular work.
St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom) ; Stephansplatz Square, the massive Cathedral. Entry is free but a small fee if you want to go to the top and make a course, you must provide city. Especially I advise to visit all the streets in Stephansplatz square.
St. Stephen’s Cathedral
the Hofburg Palace ; the Winter Palace of the Habsburg dynasty and the main. Covering a large area, especially I recommend to visit the museum inside the Palace Sisi.
Belvedere Palace ; present this palace is a palace which was the Dodger with the success of the Ottoman siege commander. As much as I’m concerned is a spectacular place to Garden. Already Vienna’s also nice to have a garden that you will encounter the most beautiful thing for every house.
Karlskirche , Karl Church ; which you can listen to a classical music concert in Vienna with extraordinary architecture’s also one of the works will not be returned without being seen. There is a beautiful pool in front. As you can see from the picture, especially in the evenings in frontreputation is very pleasant to spend time in. Paid concerts was given by a small group in the immediate area as you can come to coincide with a free concert.
hostel accommodation; is a region which we know is very similar to the field Sunday. Thin, in an area long occupied by shops on both sides, and most of them Turkish field Sunday in the shop of the seller. Vienna’s outside of the usual image is very, very authentic, a current of air. Vienna’s a must-see while you’re in either place.
Vienna’s Art History Museum ; Vienna’s also the name you’ll hear often commissioned by the king Frank Joseph, Vienna’s most visited Museum. I can’t count right now in so many valuable artifacts are located I would recommend a visit to this museum.
Hundertwasser ; Vienna’s partly an apartment in the poor district. It was restored by a famous architect and brought to its present form. By tram it is possible to pass in front.
Stadtpark ; Vienna’s every corner is surrounded by parks, and, I think, among them one of the most beautiful Stadtpark. There is a natural pond. Swans and ducks in the pond are flying freely. So much of the park and the pond to see the ducks flying from one to the other it’s very natural. A duck with the sound of the squirrels running around this park if you want to walk while you don’t don’t pass.
How do I get to?
Vienna’or scheduled aircraft from Vienna airport approximately 2 hours 10 minutes from our country’can be reached by a flight of. From the airport to the city centre, the cat (City airport train) is the so-called round-trip fee of 19 Euro you can reach by taking a ticket. At the same time it is possible to choose the bus, but my advice due to both the comfort and ease, the cat.
In summary, the transportation is very easy in Vienna , not too crowded , chirping in each corner parks , historical monuments , statues , palaces and museums surrounded by a city steeped in art and history.
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thatsbaloney · 8 years ago
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June 2016
  Now that 2016 is finished, Brodie and I thought it would be a good time to recap the month-long trip we took earlier that year. We bused south through Colombia to Quito, Ecuador, spent a week with my brother-in-law and his family there (we saw our nephew in person for the first time!), then went to the States and spent two weeks there. The trip lasted from June 23rd to July 30th, so a month and a week, actually.
Our first stop traveling south through Colombia was Manizales. After that we went to Pereira (Brodie’s last post). Manizales is a small city in the mountains and a popular stop for visiting Colombia’s coffee region and enjoying the area’s hot springs.
We booked a stay through Airbnb with a lovely empty-nester named Beatriz, headed to the bus terminal in Medellín, wandered around reading signs until we found a bus company that went to Manizales, and embarked on our trip!
We weren’t on a big bus or anything; it was one of those vans that seats 10ish. And since the trip takes 4 hours and 45 minutes, it wasn’t long before we made a pit stop in the middle of nowhere between two villages. There was a typical roadside parrilla (grill) restaurant readying for the lunch rush we had beaten by too long to eat there, and in addition to the sausages on display and the usual meat-and-starch dishes, they had a counter where they sold traditional sweets and snacks, one of which had a not-so-traditional name. Now you all know how Pennsylvania is spelled in Spanish!
It wasn’t long before we hit the road again…
…only to then hit this loveliness. We were stopped dead for like 20 minutes until it was our turn to crawl, so some of us got out of the van to take advantage of the opportunity to stretch our legs. At least the jam was along a pretty country road with trees and farms around to enjoy. I checked out the bugs and plants and cows until I got called back to my motorized bubble.
The reason for the backup was construction. Above is the map of the main route we took. We took our trip over six months ago, and this map is from now. They were working on the road then, and they’re still working on it in at least two places.
We hit traffic on the outskirts of Manizales too. We got there right at dusk, which also happens to be rush hour. Same time as the States, around 5-6:30pm.
Since we arrived at our host’s apartment after dark, all we did that night was go out for a quick dinner in our neighborhood and turn in. It was one of those perfect first nights once you get to where you’re going after a day of traveling, warm and cozy inside with the chilly Manizales mountain air hovering outside. We slept like babes.
The next day we naturally wanted to get acquainted with the city. We figured it wouldn’t take long because it’s pretty small—221 square miles (572 km2) for the whole city with a population of 400,000—but we also only gave ourselves one full day, so we couldn’t dilly dally too long with the breakfast our host was kind enough to provide us, a luxury you rarely get with Airbnb hosts. We ate and chatted and pet the ancient cat. Then we headed into town trying not to forget our host’s instructions for taking the bus.
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We caught the right color, but didn’t know when we should get off, so we asked a random person on the bus about Parque de los Fundadores, which is where our host suggested we get off and start walking around to explore downtown. On the way, I stared out the window and took in the graffiti, restaurants and universities. After living in a city of 3 million, they all seemed smaller and closer together in Manizales. We got off at the right parque, and started looking around.
It was too cloudy to see the mountains, so I snapped a shot of the closest statue (Ernesto Gutiérrez Arango, 1918-1997, mayor, doctor, cattle farmer, bull fighting enthusiast (ew…), and university founder extraordinaire) and we headed towards the pretty white and wood church down the street.
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It’s the Basílica de la Inmaculada Concepción and overlooks Parque Caldas, which is named for Francisco José de Caldas y Tenorio, Colombian scientist and patriot who didn’t just give his name (posthumously or otherwise) to this park, but also to the entire department of which Manizales is the capital. He was born in Popayán, Colombia, a city we also visited on this month-long trip, was a lawyer, naturalist, military engineer, mathematician, geographer and inventor, and was executed by the Spanish crown for his efforts as a forerunner of Colombian independence from Spain. The Count of Cartagena, who gave the order for his execution, responded to appeals for Caldas’s life with, “Spain does not need savants.” And Caldas is said to have drawn the Greek letter theta (θ) on a wall before he was executed. Theta is a symbol for death, and his writing it on the wall has been interpreted as him saying goodbye.
Founders of universities, executed savants, they’re all about revering smart guys in Manizales. Statues of area educators  and writers are even tucked away in clumps of bamboo to be discovered by curious passersby.
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 We headed further into downtown Manizales along one of the main thoroughfares, Carrera 23, or just La 23. It’s always interesting to see what kinds of names the local entrepreneurs choose for their businesses. Plus, their security style with the street lifeguard chairs. Never saw any lifeguards, though. It would have been cool. I like to imagine them blowing whistles at jaywalkers or clumps of friends blocking sidewalk traffic while they chit-chat.
We took a detour to see more of the city.
Cobwebs of wire over valley views
Improvised clothes lines, or an aerial dumping ground for unwanted stuff?
Then we headed back to La 23 and passed by the city’s bigger and fancier historic buildings.
Mil telas means 1,000 fabrics. Sewing and clothing manufacturing are huge in Medellín, so it doesn’t surprise me that it would be popular just a few hours away in Manizales too. The pink building is DIAN, the taxman.
Next stop, Plaza de Bolívar (virtually every town and city has one named after him, and Manizales is no exception), Manizales’s main square.
This is, by far, the coolest, most badass Bolívar statue I’ve ever seen. Part man, part condor, 100% awesomeness. The Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) is a national symbol for Colombia and many other Andean countries.
Photo credit: Emilio del Prado. Originally posted to Flickr as “Con aires de abuelete.” CC BY-SA 2.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10005571
Some may think it’s ugly, and I say that’s just not nice. Some may say it looks like one of these bad boys:
Photo credit: Muppet Wiki. http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Skeksis
and I say that’s just being nostalgic.
I mean, they’re amazing! Just look at that wing span!
Photo credit: Dutchbaby. http://godutchbaby.blogspot.com.co/2009/06/el-condor-pasa.html.
They even hunt wolves!
Photo credit: Eco-nonlogical. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG8ZB4akl6w
Given how dramatically the statue does break from tradition, however,
it’s not very surprising that it has caused some controversy. I’m glad the city was ultimately bold enough to move past it and embrace the sculptor Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt’s dynamic and powerful vision.
The sculpture represents many things. One is the combination of heroism (the human aspect) and freedom (the condor aspect), and the details tell us much more. In the pictures you can see that the wings have holes in them. The chest is damaged too, and it all represents violence. Down below, carved into the pedestal, you can see a face. There’s one on the front and one on the back. These represent the Bolívar of the shadows, a Bolívar we don’t often get to see in the more traditional, unquestioningly (even superficially) patriotic sculptures of the same old guy on a horse with a sword, one possible exception being the Naked Bolívar in Pereira, which, incidentally, was done by Betancourt too! Ha!
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Another detail you can’t see in these pictures is that the condor has holes where its eyes should be. This signifies, according to Spanish Wikipedia, the blindness of life and existence. And finally, the mask you can see jutting out from the pedestal also represents Bolívar, but this too is having eye issues. One eye is missing and the other is damaged. In this way the mask of Bolívar represents peace and freedom, but in suspense.
So, yes. This sculpture was…amazing! Also, there’s a basilica, which you can see behind the condor-man in the picture to the right. It’s called the Catedral Basílica Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Manizales. It’s in the neo-Gothic style, which part of me thinks should have married it well with the cloudy, gray weather, but that was lost on our camera.
The best we could do with our camera.
One thing we neglected to do was go to the top of the cathedral and see the main square from above. It would have been cool, but we decided to do other things instead. There was a lot of art just around the square, and other parts of the city to see.
To the left is the sculpture Adam and Eve by the artist Guillermo Botero (not to be confused with Fernando, whose art can be found in this post of ours and this one). And to the right are two details from one of two murals by Guillermo. It’s called Vientos de Libertad (Winds of Liberty), and tells about July 20, 1810, the date of Colombia’s declaration of independence from Spain. It was done in glazed ceramic. I love the wide open eyes and crazy angles of the people’s joints.
I love walking past doorways, peeking in and being surprised with a spacious courtyard I wasn’t expecting to see. Sometimes they have fountains and palm trees, sometimes they house cafés or restaurants, sometimes there are families relaxing in them. The one that inevitably caught our eye in Manizales’s main square was the government building, and since this courtyard is open to the public, we thought we’d go in instead of just taking a peek.
It did not disappoint!
Now, off to check out the cable cars of Manizales. Like the Metrocable of Medellín, the Cable Aéreo de Manizales was created more as a means of public transportation than tourism, but it would behoove any tourist to go for a ride because then you get to see more of the city, and from the inhabitants’ point of view to boot. Plus, one of the stops on the cable car is a charming little town called Villamaría. Our morning spent and our stomachs growling, we decided to ride up and have lunch there.
Off we goooooooooooooooooo!
Rising hills with expanding city creeping into their green, the south side of Manizales, waterfront shantytown
We made it! But then it was raining and we were starving, so we set out to find food. We found a little place on a street off of Villamaría’s main square. It was packed, which was good and bad. Good because it probably meant the food was decent, and bad because we had to wait. It wasn’t long, though, before two seats opened up, but the catch was that we’d have to share the table of four with two other people. We didn’t even blink before saying yes. Coming up on two years abroad, we weren’t strangers to sharing tables with strangers. We quickly ordered the lunch special (soup, chicken, rice, beans, salad, juice), and started up a conversation with our tablemates after they gave us a few awkward glances. We talked about horses and I don’t know what else. Perhaps our other chitchatting topics were overshadowed by the discovery that one of the guys was a prestamista, or, cultural and legal differences from one country to another notwithstanding, a loan shark. He kept track of his debtors on a makeshift portable Rolodex: a pile of business card-sized pieces of paper that he could flip around a ring. He kept it in his pocket, and consulted it before leaving the restaurant. Brodie and I waited until the two guys left to let our mild shock hang out. It’s weird when you hear stories of “types” of people, and then you actually meet one of those “types” of people and talk them. They instantly go from being a story to a real person just like you.
We finished our lunch and, the rain thankfully having (mostly) abated, headed back to the square to wander and take pictures. We had our rain jackets, so we didn’t let the shower deter us.
Iglesia Nuestra Señora del Rosario, Villamaría, Caldas, Colombia
The municipal building, which extends out to the left of the church
“Primer Conversatorio: Hablemos de paz en el territorio”
(First Discussion: Let’s talk about peace in the territory)
We were in Manizales around a month and a half before the Colombian government and the FARC drew up their first peace deal of 2016 (they had to do a second one because the first one didn’t pass the plebiscite that was held). We have seen signs and literature in every place we’ve visited about how to bring peace to the country ever since we first came to Colombia. Being able to witness the peace process happening in the country it’s for, and talking to people about it and hearing people say how they feel about it in person is both intense and powerful, even for outsiders like us.
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To end our lunch trip, we took a coffee break in the square before heading back to our apartment.
We people watched while we sipped our brews. I wonder what was in that guy’s sack…
We had time for one last activity before we ended our day, but we don’t have any pictures of it because it was nighttime and we just didn’t feel like worrying about our cameras while we relaxed in some glorious hot springs. There are multiple places to go for hot springs, and we chose one recommended to us by a friend. It was called Tierra Viva, and was smaller and more low key than the most popular place in the area, which definitely appealed to us. I mean, how fancy and extensive do hot springs really need to be if all you want to do is sit in hot, sulfur-y water until your fingers get pruney and then go home warm and happy? We were really pleased with Tierra Viva. The staff were nice, the place was clean, the pools were nicely laid out, you could order food and drinks at any time. You could even drink in the pools, and there were no problems with spills or empty cups strewn everywhere. We got there just before it got dark, and there weren’t many people, but the place had filled up pretty well by the time we left. Hot springs are most popular at night. We chatted with a college professor and his nephew while we floated around in the water, ordered giant, crispy patacones with hogao for dinner by the hot spring pools, and had the staff get us a taxi home.
Our whirlwind tour of Manizales was finished!
The next day, as our bus left the city, I saw this graffitied wall next to the road:
Before the graffiti went up, there had been a mural about slavery on the wall. It just struck me the way the graffiti covered up the recently freed slave in the upper right corner, slapped up over his body with his arms and legs sticking out, as if he had been squished against the wall by it.
  Until next time!
  Shannon
2/18/17
Medellín, Colombia
The Mini-mountains of Manizales June 2016 Now that 2016 is finished, Brodie and I thought it would be a good time to recap the month-long trip we took earlier that year.
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