Wow. What a week. Well it was more like 10 days but, who’s counting? My break started with my girlfriend arriving in Brussels on Saturday afternoon. After meeting at the airport I showed her around Leuven on the way back to the room. Since she was exhausted from her travels we took a nap upon arriving at the institute. We then went to the local Irish pub so I could introduce her to the staff at the school and watch a six nations rugby match. Afterwards we went over to one of the Flemish pubs so she could get a taste of Belgian culture. We ended up meeting some very interesting locals and had a good laugh or two over a few beers. We then went back and rested for a while before diner. We went out to one of the nicer local brasseries to get some quality Belgian mussels. That night we went out for a little while but not too late as Janine was tired from her travels.
The next day we slept in and then ventured over to Brussels so she could see some of the city before we departed for Paris. We walked around Brussels for a while but it was raining very hard and we both ended up drenched to the bone.
Our limited time in Paris of only one full day severely restricted our ability to see much of the wonderful city. We really spent the whole time walking around, snapping pictures, and seeing as many sights as we could cram in one day. We saw the outside of the Louvre and Notre Dame. We walked through the gardens and went to the Palaise de Invalides. Afterwards we went to the top of the Eiffel so we could see as much of the city as possible. It was a real shame that we didn’t get to see the top two things on my list, the Musse D’Orsay and Sacre Couer. They will have to wait for another time. That night we ate a restaurant that I spent quite some time picking out. It was by far and wide the absolute best meal I’ve ever had. I can’t begin to describe the quality of the food we ate.
Between getting caught in the rain in Brussels and the walking around in the wind and cold in Paris, I became very ill the next morning. This was a giant nussance as we had to travel to Amsterdam that day. It was a miserable day, but we were going to see a music festival of American bands playing there. Some friends from the States had traveled to see this event so I got to see a few people whom I hadn’t in a while.
Amsterdam was nice. It was my second time there in only a few short months and I don’t care much for the city. It is ridiculously touristy and aside from the well known trappings there isn’t much to do there. In addition the nightlife is almost nonexistent. The clubs and bars close when most European establishments open. In addition I still felt terrible so we spent a lot of time resting in the hotel which was fine by me because my girlfriend is much more beautiful than the city of Amsterdam.
After a few days in Amsterdam we flew to Copenhagen. We were there for 5 days so we decided that forking over a few extra dollars for an apartment instead of a hotel would be worth it. We ended up saving money in the long run as we cooked dinner two of the nights and ate all of our lunches and breakfasts in the apartment. It was well worth it. The place was centrally located and perfectly tailored to our needs. We spent time visiting Janine’s family in and around the city. She was born and raised there before moving to the States in middle school. It was nice to have a pseudo local to show me how Danes do Denmark. We saw her grandfather, aunt, cousins, and uncle who all had delicious food for us. Danish open-faced sandwiches may be the best tasting thing on bread ever made. We spent a while walking around Christainia which is basically an extreme version of a hippy commune. We went to the Geology museum, she showed me a great view of the city from the top of the “Round Tower,” and we walked around the trendy shopping and bar districts at night.
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