Adventures in Holland

We left Belgium for Holland.  First stop, Rotterdam.  We got out of the train station and looked for our hostel.  According to the directions, the hostel was 'right there in front of the station'.  And it was.  We just couldn't figure out how to get into our hostel.  So we roamed around the station and our hostel, looking for a way in.  Our hostel was the 'Cube Hostel', aka 'Cube Forest'.  It straddles the road, and the whole 'complex' is mixed use; residential and commercial.

The interior was pretty cool too.  Having it is a cube hostel, it's inevitable that there are some wasted spaces, but it was cool so it's all good.

Since we got there pretty late, we just grabbed a quick dinner in the neighborhood, walked around and planned out the itinerary for the next day.  What's great about Holland is that everyone speaks English!!  We found an Asian stir-fry place and were able to ask questions about the menu in English without having the guilt we felt in Paris.

The next day, we ventured out into Rotterdam.  The only problem was that it was a Monday; all the museums are closed on Mondays.  Some are closed on Tuesdays, but most were closed on Mondays.  This really put a limit on what we could do for the day.  We decided to rent bicycles and ride out to the Euromast, a very high tower in Rotterdam.  The bicycles were convenient in getting around town, but they were heavy, no gears and not like the bikes we have back at home.  Eventually, they became a pain to haul around.

The view from the Euromast was pretty amazing.  We had great weather so the panorama was pretty breathtaking.

Rotterdam has a lot of amazingly cool buildings.  Every building was so unique and different looking, it made me really jealous.  With nothing really open, we just took our bicycles for a ride around town snapping pictures of buildings and bridges for the rest of the day.  

The next day, we checked out of our hostel, left our backpacks in care of the hostel and made our way to the museums we wanted to see, before heading off to Amsterdam.  One of the museums was the M.C. Escher museum in Den Haag, which was a short train ride outside of Rotterdam.  We also visited the Netherlands Architecture Institute, and the Kunsthal Rotterdam, which had an exhibit on the upcoming Tour de France (the Tour starts in Rotterdam), which made Alex a very happy customer.

Amsterdam; the city of red lights and drugs.  The atmosphere was so different from Rotterdam; more tourists (for obvious reasons).  The only consistency that I could see was that when crossing the street, a pedestrian has to look out for several things; bicycles, scooters, cars and trams.  In Holland, there is the sidewalk for pedestrians.  Next to that is the Bicycle/Scooter lane.  Next to that is the vehicle lane.  In the middle, there is the tram line.  It's pretty mind boggling when crossing the street.

We checked out the Van Gogh museum and walked over to the ARCAM and NEMO.  The 'top' of NEMO is open to the public with a mini water park for little kids.  Architecture for the public, the way it should be!

The rest of the night was followed by roaming around the red light district, and catching the Germany vs. Ghana game at the hostel.

The next day, we rented bicycles and rode out into the countryside of Amsterdam, which is beautiful!!  I think this was the most relaxing, most scenic, most fun part of the trip, as the weather was beautiful and the scenery was just gorgeous.  Of course, I was too taken by its beauty and forgot to take pictures.  I think this place made it on the list of 'places Mina wants to live'.  

That night, Holland was playing Cameroon, a few of the last group matches of the FIFA World Cup 2010.  We decided to head over the nearby plaza to catch all the excitement.  There was a live band playing, everyone dressed in Orange, and the smell of beer and weed filled the air.  Holland won that night, and every time Holland scored, beers were thrown around the crowd.  It was pretty intense.

The next day, we checked out of our hostel and made our way to Utrecht, to see the famous Schroder House.  Of course, no pictures allowed on the inside (damnit!!!) but let me just tell you how amazing this house is.  So much detail, thought, re-configurability...I want my house to be just as functional as the Schroder House!

The paid tour was definitely well worth it, although I wish they would allow photography inside.  We left Utrecht feeling inspired, to catch a 5 hour train ride for Hamburg, Germany.

Karma

They say what goes around, comes around.  So when Alex got sick, I guess it was only a matter of time for me to get sick.  We've been in Copenhagen for a day now, and we've already had our little adventure to the Emergency Room.  I hate to jump back and forth between places (because I have yet to write about Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Hamburg) but I feel that this was a monumental moment in our trip, and it needs to be shared ASAP.  

It all started in Hamburg, Germany.  Some girl from Switzerland was coughing/puking in our hostel room the night we arrived.  This should've been the closest form of contact with this girl.  But I was an idiot and helped her pack the next morning when she asked me to.  Even closer contact.  I don't know if these are the exact reasons why I got sick, but I can't think of any other reasons.  So it started with a sore throat.  I had some Japanese gargling medicine with me which I gargled like crazy.  Then the sore throat turned into a really painful sore throat and chest.  I started coughing.  I lost my voice at one point.  I couldn't swallow my own spit without going through extreme pain.  We left Hamburg that day for Copenhagen.  To make all matters worse, I got my monthly that day.  I know that's a bit too much information for some people, but I need to let you know how miserable I was.  I was in pain.

The 5 hour scenic train ride to Copenhagen did make me feel a bit better.  We arrived at the apartment of the friends we were staying with in Copenhagen, dropped off our stuff and made our way to the hospital.  We arrived to the hospital and were told there was about a 3-4 hour wait, and that there was a general practitioner that we could go see instead.  We would receive free treatment at the hospital, but not at the doctor's office.  Since we had no Danish money and I didn't have the energy to walk around looking for a cash machine and the doctor's office, we opted for the long wait.  We sat down to wait around 9~10pm ish.  I finally saw the doctor at 4am.  According to my stopwatch, we waited more than 6 and half hours.  I saw the doctor for maybe 10 minutes.  She prescribed me with penicillin, as well as giving me one free dose to put me out of my misery.  We walked back to our friend's apartment as the sun was coming up in Copenhagen.  I took the penicillin and went to sleep, and woke up feeling a lot better.  Penicillin is a hell of a drug.  The prescription came out to about 65 Danish krone, or about $10.  Pretty sweet.  The waiting 6.5 hours part sucked, but feeling less miserable and not paying for the exam was sweet.  I've waited longer at emergency rooms in the US.

The Land of Waffles, Frites and the Pissing Statue…and beer

I'm really behind on my blogs.  We're now in Hamburg, Germany and I'm writing about my time in Brussels, Belgium which was about a week ago.  The lack of free internet in most hostels, the fact that there is only one laptop for both me and Alex, and the fact that we are just tired by the end of the day has really been putting 'blogging' at the bottom of my to do list.  But hopefully, I can keep everyone updated as to how my time was in each country.

So, Belgium; land of waffles, frites (fries), beer, the peeing statue, and prostitution.  Our one hour and thirty minutes train ride from Paris to Brussels turned into an almost half a day fiasco.  We decided not to reserve our train tickets online beforehand (BIG mistake) so when we arrived to the station, we had to stand in line with other backpackers who were trying to reserve seats for their train.  To make matters worse, there was only one ticket agent open.  The manager eventually saw the line growing and opened up more ticket windows, but we ended up waiting about an hour plus.  Our train was supposed to leave around 2:25pm, but due to ‘technical issues’, it left the station at 3:30ish.  We arrived in Brussels a few minutes after 5pm.  Compared to our hotel in Paris, our hostel in Brussels was much nicer; first of all it’s a hostel, so there’s a kitchen.  Which means you can buy your own ingredients for a cheap meal to cook in the kitchen.  It was definitely cleaner; no bed bugs.  It had free wifi, and computers with internet access to use(but since the lobby closed at 11pm, the computers were off limits after that).  We settled into our beds, and did the first thing we needed to do; laundry.  It needed to be done.  Did I mention that we accidentally bought fabric softener in Paris, thinking they were detergents?  Meaning the first time we did our laundry in Paris, they were washed only washed with fabric softener.  Gross.  We found a Laundromat nearby, and with the help of a nice lady who was also doing her laundry, we had clean towels and clothes for our trip.  We also found a ‘Carrefour Express’ next to the Laundromat, where we bought canned chili and instant rice for our cheap dinner in Brussels.  We wandered around town for a little bit and snapped some pictures, but we grew tired and cold so we headed back to the hostel to call it a night.

We started the next day with a mission; to get some good waffles.  The map the hostel provided us listed one café where they served very good waffles and that’s exactly where we went to eat our breakfast.  Located in a very expensive shopping district, this café’s waffles are only 2.90, and apparently it’s one of the best.  And let me tell you how good it was.  I don’t think I’ve ever tasted waffles like this in the states.  It was crunchy, moist, soft, gooey, deliciousness.  Paired with a delicious cup of ‘café crème’, it was a delicious breakfast.

We walked up the hill towards the museum areas, but for some reason we didn’t read the map correctly and totally missed the museums we wanted to see.  Instead, we wandered off to the section of town where they had some Art Nouveau buildings, mostly by Victor Horta.  Our other mission was to try the ‘frites’ in Brussels.  We headed to one of the few remaining original ‘fritekot’ in Brussels; also the located at the center of street prostitution.  As the map had warned, those single girls were not waiting for the bus.  Alex got his fries with Andalouse sauce (it tasted like the sauces they use on Big Macs) and I got mine with simple mayo.  We ate and watched the prostitutes blow kisses to the men walking by.  I enjoyed my fries, although it felt like it was a bit too much mayo for me.

After doing some research back at the hostel, we decided to catch a glimpse of the Horta Museum before it closed for the day.  Unfortunately, they don’t allow cameras inside the museum.  And Alex and I both wished they would’ve allowed it.  The house is beautifully designed, planned and ornamented with Art Nouveau features.  Horta’s play with lights throughout the spaces is just breathtaking.  I just wanted to sit in his staircase forever, just to admire his details. 

We ate dinner at a restaurant where we had gotten a couple of recommendations for.  Alex got ribs and I got ‘sausage and mashed potatoes’ (apparently a Belgium dish)...which became my downfall of the night.  Later that night I was lying in bed, but couldn’t sleep for the life of me.  I had a terrible feeling in my chest (perhaps heartburn?), a huge headache, and nausea.  I never had to make myself ‘throw up’ in my life, so it took a couple of tries of the ‘finger down the throat’ method to purge out all the evilness that was making me feel so sick.  I ended up feeling better, but I think it’s safe to say I won’t be eating that particular dish at that particular restaurant anymore.

Next day, we woke up early and we left for Bruges.  Well technically, we first walked around town, looking for a currency exchange office because we had run of cash.  We needed the cash because we had decided to extend our stay in Brussels by one night, and had to pay for it in cash (it was under 100 Euros so we couldn’t pay with a credit card).  On top of that, we had to check out of our room because we weren’t sure of which room we were getting for our last night.  We ended up getting the same room, so we had to bring our backpacks all the way back to our room.  Mind you, we were in room 302, but we were on the 5^th floor.  So we woke up, packed up, walked around until we found a place where they converted the Dollars into Euros.  Then we took our stuffs back into the same room.  This all took about 2 hours.  But it was also in the morning, so I was very cranky.  Anyways, onto Bruges.  If you've ever been to a pretty town who's sole purpose is tourism, then you'll know what to expect in Bruges.  It reminded me a lot of Kurashiki in Japan.  Pretty buildings and lots of tourists.  We walked around, buying Belgium-ish gifts and snapping pictures of pretty buildings.  The central plaza was dominated by some sort of triathlon registration event, with lots of sponsors and supporters; Alex fell right into place when he saw this.

On our last day in Brussels, we took a visit to the 'peeing statue'.  It was sad to say how underwhelming this was, as it is just a statue of a boy peeing.  But it wasn't dressed up in any costumes, as we had hoped it would be.

We also hit up the Musee Magritte Museum and the Musical Instrument Museum.  Rene Magritte was just a super cool artist and I love his work.  If you like Salvador Dali's work, you'll like Magritte's.  The Musical Instrument Museum is an Art Nouveau building designed up Victor Horta, but the museum itself is really cool.  They give you headphones, and at certain locations in the museum you'll hear the musical composition consisting of the instruments you're viewing.  Pretty neat.

Paris (Je t’aime…?)

They say Paris is one of those cities in which one either loves it or hates it.  As an American-English speaker and having an American passport, I was dubious of the attitudes that Parisians emanated towards Americans.  I prepared myself mentally for all the rudeness a Parisian might send toward an American tourist (it’s only natural, as New Yorkers give tourists the most unpleasant time in New York City) and played back every unpleasant travel tale I’ve heard from colleagues and coworkers from their trips to Paris so that I could prepare myself for the worst case scenario. 

But one can’t help but be excited about being in Paris.  I started taking French class in 5^th grade.  Even before taking French, as a little girl, I would dream of going to Paris, dressed like a little Parisian, eating baguettes.  Taking French class from grades 5 through 12 made Paris into a fantasy wonderland.  My French teachers filled my head with monuments, parks, boulevards, food and drinks in France, and over the years France became one of the top places to visit on my list of ‘places to go before I die’.

We arrived in Paris after a train ride from London.  Unlike the weather in England, it was hot and humid in France.  We made our way through the station and onto the Metro, where I had to whip out my poor French in order to buy train tickets.  While we waited in line, we were asked a couple of times by people who I think were Gypsies, if we spoke English.  Foolishly, we answered honestly the first time.  They then begin to try and sell you train tickets so you don’t have to wait in line but they were so shady that no one was buying tickets from them.  Then there were the Gypsies who held up a sign asking for money in English.  They walked up to a tourist and asked them if they spoke English; if the tourist was foolish enough to answer honestly, the Gypsy help up the sign and waited for the tourist to read it.  It probably said the same bogus stories that every homeless/drug addict in Newark, NJ says when they beg for money.  I don’t know what the signs actually said because every time a Gypsy came up to me, I told them that I didn’t speak English or told them to go away. 

Eventually we made it to our hotel.  Yes, we stayed in a 2 star, budget hotel because all the hostels in Paris were either booked or too expensive.  Our hotel was right outside of the ‘Periphery Boulevard’, meaning it wasn’t located in the heart of Paris.  I didn’t care, as long as there was a metro stop nearby.  Our neighborhood was a predominantly Middle Eastern neighborhood called Malakoff, with plenty of sidewalk cafes and kebab/pizza/hamburger joints.  They had a park nearby, where they had a flea market on some days. 

Each morning we took the Metro to our various destinations: Versailles, Montmartre, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumphe, and the Louvre…there was a lot to see in Paris.  We splurged on the ‘museum pass’ which lets you free access into selected museums for 2, 4, or 6 days.  For 4 days, we paid 48 Euros per person.  In the end, it was worth it because we it got us into many museums and saved us a lot of time from waiting in line to buy tickets.

We had 6 nights in Paris, which meant really planning out our time.  I’ll jot down what we did each day in a nutshell, and if there’s anything worth going into details, I will in future posts.  Our itinerary was as follows:

Day 1: Arrival.  Check-in at budget hotel.  Explored the ‘Malakoff’ area and lunched in the park with baguette, meat, cheese and wine.  Watched the world up at the hotel café, before heading to bed.

Day 2:  We had the unfortunate opportunity to be bitten by BED BUGS!!!  Aside from itchy arms, the thought of bugs in my bed disgusts me.  Thank goodness we had silk sleep sheets and sleeping bags to substitute.  Didn’t let those bed covers touch our skin ever again.  We took the Metro to a stop along the infamous Champs-Elysee and walked along the Seine River to the Louvre.

We bought the museum pass and used it to access entry into the Louvre where we caught a glimpse of the Mona Lisa.  I’m guessing “The Da Vinci Code” had a lot to do with bringing the fame of the Louvre up a couple of notches because people were crowded around other paintings that were mentioned in the book.  After another Parisian lunch of baguette, cheese and meat, we walked over to the Pompidou Centre by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers.  Again, the museum pass gave us free access.  The façade of the building is so different from the surrounding Parisian apartments, it’s almost comical.  I guess the French accept it because it’s a museum that houses contemporary art, and the building is contemporary architecture.  The plaza in front of the building is dominated by vendors and artists, trying to catch the attention of tired, seated tourists. 

After we explored the Pompidou Centre, we walked over to the Notre Dame, but as all the tours were done for the day as were our feet, we decided to head back to the hotel to catch the England vs. USA soccer game before we called it a night.

Day 3:  It turned out to be a gorgeous day so we decided to head out to Versailles.  Aside from the place being incredibly crowded, the chateaux are highly ornate and detailed; a little too much gold decorations in my opinion.  The gardens are beautifully planned with axes and lines of symmetry.  I didn’t care much for the palace; most of the wings were just a long room with shiny chandeliers, mirrors and exaggerated paintings of all the kings of France.

We left Versailles around 3pm and decided to hit up Villa Savoye, which is located outside of Paris.  This turned out to be quite an adventure as we didn’t buy the right tickets and as a result, we couldn’t get out of the train station at Poissy.  We explained to the station manager where he told us that we were ‘lucky’ that we didn’t get caught with the wrong ticket, as we would’ve been fined a huge amount of money.  I don’t understand why France doesn’t allow you to add money onto your tickets at your destination train stations like they do in Tokyo, so that in the end, you’re still paying the amount of fee required.  As it was a Sunday, the buses weren’t running as frequently as they would on a weekday so we decided to walk to Villa Savoye.  Poissy is a really lovely suburb of Paris, and I wish I got to see more of it while I was there.  But we were in such a rush to see the infamous villa by one of the most famous architects ever existed, I can only recall a few details.  The place closed at 6pm, and we got there exactly at 5:50pm.  I consider ourselves lucky because we actually got to go in, see and experience this masterpiece.  Some people got there and were turned away without having to even go inside the building.

We took the train/Metro back into Paris to the famous Arc de Triumphe.  Our museum pass gave us access to the top of the structure where we caught a magnificent panorama of the city of Paris at dusk.

 

Day 4:  If you’ve ever seen the movie “Amelie”, you’ll know that the movie was based in Montmartre, an artsy neighborhood in Paris.  Being a geek and a big fan of the movie, I dragged Alex off to this hilly neighborhood.  It worked out really well because we took the Metro to Abbesses, which has the original Metro Station entrance designed by Hector Guimard.  It’s one of the three originals left in Paris, so we had to get a glimpse of it. 

We then walked up the hills to Coeur Sacre Basilica (Basilica of the Sacred Heart), a beautiful building perched up on top the highest hill of Montmartre.

We walked down the series of stairs and down the hills to grab lunch at “Les 2 Moulins” (The 2 Windmills), where Amelie worked in the movie.  The café is now a tribute to the movie, and there were many fans at this place just to snap photos.

After our over-priced lunch, we took the Metro to see famous residential buildings like 25b Rue de Franklin Apartment by Auguste Perret.  Remember the images from history class, my fellow architects? 

Nearby is Trocadero, in line with the Eiffel Tower across the Seine River.  There, if one visits the Cite de l’Architecture, one will be pleasantly surprised at the variety of exhibits they have on display.  I know I was.  They have replicas, models, analysis of traditional French architecture, collected from all over France.

In the back room, however, was where I had the most fun; an urban analysis of various cities.  Also the “Paris-Tokyo City into Pieces” exhibit was really interesting; I bought myself a book of the exhibit.

Day 5:  We ventured off to the Musee de Rodin, a museum dedicated to the French sculpture, Auguste Rodin.  If the name doesn’t sound familiar to you, his work will.  Most people are familiar with his most famous sculpture, “The Thinker”. 

This was our last day with the museum pass, so we made the best of it, visiting the Musee d’Orsay (where we caught Monet’s Water lilies and Van Goh’s Self Portrait).  Unfortunately, it was also a Tuesday, a day when many museums were closed.  We wanted to visit the Louvre one last time, but I guess we’ll have to come back to Paris for that.  We saw the Notre Dame and the Arab World Institute (designed by Jean Nouvelle).  The latter building is very pretty, and if you get a chance, visits it on a nice day.  The sunlight makes all the difference in my opinion.  Unfortunately, the museum was closed for renovations.

We also walked on the Promenade Plantee, a case study for the Highline in New York City.  I've been to the Highline, and has had my likes and dislikes for the structure, but I really think the Promenade is much more successful (it is older), and fits elegantly into the urban fabrics of Paris.  Businesses are tucked underneath the Promenade to utilize space efficiently, and one would feel as if they were walking through a park in Paris, not a raised walkway.  You're literally surrounded by greenery, its very calming.  Definitely worth a visit if you're in Paris.

Day 6:  Last full day in Paris.  And we were exhausted.  We took it easy by sleeping in and re-exploring our neighborhood.  We wandered over to see the Cartier Foundation, another building designed by French architect Jean Nouvelle.  Unfortunately, they wouldn’t allow photos inside the building.  We made our way toward the Eiffel Tower one last time, as I wanted to have the ‘picnic in front of the green of the Eiffel Tower’.  Call me cheesy and cliché, but I got my picnic of wine, baguette sandwich and beautiful weather.

We tried going out to Montmartre one more time to look for cheap souvenirs but nothing really looked worth buying.  My family is all about the food as gifts but I figured I’d find something cheaper, yummier and better in Belgium. 

We arrived in Belgium today.  You can smell the waffles in the train stations, it’s amazing.  Our train ran late and we couldn’t really explore the city of Brussels today, so hopefully tomorrow will bring more sites seeing and yummy foods from Belgium.  Until then, au revoir!