Hello lovelies, 

I left Amsterdam in the afternoon to go to Paris and I didn't book the coach for the first class because my SO had planned to join me. But because of his covid sickness he couldn't join and I had to go all by myself. The train was full and nothing like the thalys before with the good service. It's a fact that you pay more money for comfort and service in the trains. 

I arrived around 7.30pm in Paris and went straight to the hotel. After Amsterdam, Paris was quite the shock. There were only a few cars and so many cyclist. It was quiet and quite safe going around in Amsterdam, and as soon as I left Gare du nord I heard all the noise of the cars, inhaled the bad air and it made me so uneasy. 

The hotel was only a few minutes away from the train station and I could check in immediately. I was in dire need of something to trink and went out to get myself something at the next supermarket. I found a nice chinese restaurant just outside the hotel and opted for some take away. I came back to my room with two entrees, one main dish, one liter of arizona ice tea, and another liter bottle of water. It was a feast as I was starving. 

Day 8

I slept in and then went off to find the next mariages fréres because I wanted tea. I don't know what happened but my allergies hit with full force and my nose literally started dripping and my eyes burning. But only when I was near or in the hotel. When I was somewhere else, I was fine. 

When I reached the tea shop I chose what I wanted to get and tried to pay, just to realize, that I left all of my cards in my other bag. And the other bag was in the hotel. Oh no. 

I was so lucky and carried a bit of cash so that I could pay that, but it made me feel so bad. It was almost Italy 2020 all over again (I had forgotten my whole purse and had no cash or cards). The next stop would have been the Angelic Pretty store but without cards and cash I would not be able to buy anything. And therefore I went back to the hotel to get the cards. After I had them, I was finally able to go to Angelic Pretty. The staff was so nice and we chatted a bit. In the end I bought the lemonade float JSK in pink with a green ribboned delicious lemon necklace and the happy garland necklace. It was more money than I wanted to spend but that was my big spending instead of going to Disneyland, which I was really salty about. 

 

There was a Japanese restaurant just around the corner and it was there that I ate lunch. I hat takoyaki and a spicy chicken bowl. It was a bit too much but I ate it all. 

Then I just got some more water and then went back to the hotel. 

Day 9

Unsure of what else to do and because I didn't really want to do touristy stuff, I went on a small Jose Rizal hunt through Paris. I think, I even found all the places he worked and lived in. There was also a small bust of him that was relatively new.

1) Lariboisiere Hospital - just outside the gare du Nord. I didn't want to enter it because it's still a hospital and I felt that it would be disrespectful

2-4) Rue de Maubeuge 37+55 +  La place José-Rizal  - There was a plaque at number 37, but not at 55? I am unsure why and if I maybe missed something. The small bust is at the la place José Rizal, it's in front of a restaurant.

5) Le bon Marche - the market was just down the street of the hospital

6) Hospital Laennec - again, I only filmed and took pictures from the outside. This time I could not even enter if I wanted to, because there was an access control.

7) 55 Rue du cherche-midi - Rizal trained here under Dr. de Wecker in his clinic.

8) Historical Marker at 124 Rue de Rennes - where he stayed during his stay in 1883

9) 65 BD Arago - there is a plaque for Juan Luna who stayed at this adress. Rizal is not mentioned, but it is known that he stayed at his place for a short while.

The whole walking tour can be found here on google maps.

 

The bust at la place José Rizal

For lunch I ate pizza with salmon and white sauce and tiramisu, both were very good. But the waiter was a bit too flirty.

 

Day 10

The weather was to be hot, really hot and to combat the heat, I went to the Schiaparelli exhibition at the musee des arts decorativs. 

 

And wow, I did not know this designer but her dresses are just amazing. She took ideas from all over; astrology, religious aesthetics, historical dresses, etc. I loved the embroidery on the dresses, I wish I could do it too. 

This floral embroidered top was one of my favourite.

I will do a separate post with pictures of the exhibition, because I fear, it would be just too much for a travel blog.

The rest of the museum was nice too but just a bit confusing and I got lost a few times because I did not know were to go next as there were no signs or something. Also, I didn't have an audioguide and all the information was only in French, there was no English translation, except for the monitors placed in a few rooms.

In the afternoon I had a reservation at Laduree. I can't believe that I really made it to Laduree. I had always wanted to go there but had either forgotten or didn't have any time. 

I got the afternoon tea which included 1x tea, 2x finger sandwiches, 1x tartelette, 3x macarons and 2x special macarons to bring home. The waiter was so kind and explained everything to me in English even though she really looked stressed out. The cafe had probably also staff shortages, like everywhere else. I got a cold laduree tea, a pastrami and a spicy tuna sandwich, a strawberry tartellete, rose, marie-antoinette, and raspberry macarons. The spicy tuna sandwich and the raspberry macaron were my favourite. (The sandwiches look small, don't they?)

I took the Metro 1 to the Hôtel de ville and went to a few vintage shops, but sadly did not find anything. Weirdly enough, I found that the shops had more men's than women's clothing. Usually it is the opposite way round.

Then back to the hotel and try to not sneeze to death. If that is even possible. 

Day 11

Finally a lazy day! The booking for the eurostar was at 5pm and I didn't really want to do anything else, so I checked out late, went for lunch, then still had 3 hours at the train station. 

 

It was the first day for me to not reach 10.000 steps and I think my feet were really happy about this.

I got dinner on the train, and of course I picked the dish which had raisins in it. Yucky. But apart from that the food and service was immaculate again. 

I reached London with only a slight delayed and was very happy about the hotel being just the street across of the station St. Pancras.

 

Hello lovelies,

the next city I visited was Amsterdam. It was actually the city were I would meet my so and B. who would both fly in from Vienna. But no. My so god covid the day before he was to leave and had to cancel all of our plans. That meant Amsterdam, our trip to Paris and Disneyland. I was really sad but at least B. was healthy and decided to join me.

Day 3: Amsterdam

In my last post I mentioned of a small odyseey with the train. It was such a weird situation. While I was in Bruges I received an email that the Thalys the next day from Brussels to Amsterdam was cancelled and I should instead take an IC to Amsterdam, which would make my journey about an hour longer. Slightly pissed I cancelled the reservation and looked for a new train. There was an IC going just 10 mins before the Thalys would have left and that was the one I decided to take. 

So, the next day I stood at the, very, ugly train station (sorry to all Belgians) and what to my eyes see? The Thalys train was listed. Confused I asked the information and they said that they do not know of any cancellation but I should ask the conducter of the train. So I went up and waited in front of the train, as it already stood in the station. A security came and I asked her but she said, she knew nothing of a cancellation and should ask the conducter. Once again I waited until the conductor came. He told me, that the train was not cancelled and I could buy a new reservation on the train. 

It was almost eery how empty the train was. I was the only one in the first class and I just saw a small family boarding the train in the second class. But other than that, I didn't see anyone. It was after the train left the station that I found myself sitting alone in the compartment. That's a first. 

The steward was so friendly and we chatted a bit about the train and the mysterious cancellation. He then served me breakfast which, honestly, was so great that I felt like I could never fly again. Riding the train in the first class was so comfortable, I had space, I had good food, I could look out the window and enjoy the landscape. No pesky security controls and no freaking weight limit on the baggage. Train > Airplane.

But in the end, I had to take back my thoughts because the train didn't go further than Rotterdam and I had to leave the nice, plush and comfy seats :(. I took the IC to Amsterdam and arrived just a bit later than planned. But that was alright because I anyway had to wait an hour until B. arrived at the Amsterdam centraal station. 

It was so nice meeting her again and roaming around the streets of Amsterdam with her. The first thing we did was going to the hotel and boy that was farther than I though, plus, google maps sent us on a way longer route. I was so hot and sweaty when I finally arrived at the hotel. But the guy at the reception was really nice and we could rebook our room from a three bed to a double bed room. It was about 100€ cheaper and that was very kind too. 

The room was at the bottom of some stairs like a cellar flat and it was very cool during out stay. We didn't even turn on the fan. After a short rest we explored the city and even though Amsterdam felt small, there was so much to see. I am a big fan of small details and there were so many details hidden around the city. Usually my friend passed them without noticing them and I had to call out for her to stop so that I could take some pictures. 

I also fell in love with the canals, or gracht as they are called in the Netherlands. We often sat down near the water and enjoyed our drinks. I had enjoyed them in Denmark too when I visited back in...was it 2012? 2013? 

It was after lunchtime and we hadn't eaten yet and decided to get some Burgers. 

 

Because for an unknown reason, Amsterdam has a ton of Burger joints. The burger was not that great though, the meat was not seasoned enough but it was fine. We walked around and somehow landed in front of the Anne Frank house.

 

We returned to the hotel and rested a bit. Then went to a bar for a beer and snacks. I finally had some nice cherry beer again, yum!

I ate bitterballen for the first time, even though I didn't know what it was the first time. I thought it was mushed and fried champignons. Oops. 

Day 4: Amsterdam

We wanted to go for a ride in the canals and went to the next boat station in the south. It must have been one of the more expensive ones because we paid 20€ for 75mins. The tour was really nice though, our captain had a really great humor and we went all the way to the other end of the city. 

There was more traffic in the gracht than I had expected and we were even rammed once by a small boat driven by a tourist. Our captain took it with a lot of humor and lectured the man that driving a boat was like driving a car, then turned to us and told us, that he had a lot of hair when he started to work as a captain and pointed at his bold head. 

After the tour we went south to the inner city again and suddenly we were in the red light district. I was flashed a few times by women who suddenly appeared behind a red curtain wearing nothing but underwear. And of course, it was then again that my feet died again and we both needed a bathroom break so we stopped at a cafe and I had a scoup of ice-cream. It was Kinder Bueno flavoured! I love all Kinder chocolate. Good it doesn't sound that weird saying it in english. Later on I also bought a bubble tea but the flavour was a bit boring, probably because I got a strawberry tea as I didn't want to risk getting something with milk and maybe upsetting my poor tumtum. 

We turned back after a while and at landed at Kalverstraat and in the Vans store. My friend wanted to buy shoes and I just followed. And there I saw...

the Vans X Sailor moon collection. DAMN. And it was there that I bought my first Vans. B. teased me a bit about never having had vans before but I am used to her teasing. We tease each other a lot. 

After spending 140€ for shoes, we sat down at a Gracht and I put them on. It was really nice walking in them even though it's always a bit weird walking in flat shoes. I am really only used to walking in my higher heeled shoes.

For dinner we went to a greek restaurant called meat & greek and I accidently ordered a big portion of the hot greek and I coudn't finish it. 

The food was amazing and the sauces were really good but it was just too much. 

After dinner we took a short walk then returned to the hotel

Day 5: Amsterdam

 

 5 hours. We stayed in the Rijksmuseum for 5 hours. Although I have to admit that we had longer sitting breaks and had a small lunch at the cafe. I finally had a portion of Bitterballen and I thought it was mashed and fried mushrooms. Turned out it's meat? 

There was so much to see and I am pretty sure we only saw 2/3 of the museum. They had a wonderful medieval collection and of course Rembrandt/Vermeer. The rococo collection was a bit small and more centred on furniture than on paintings. Nevertheless, it was a great day at the museum I had longed to visit for such a long time. My poor feet had to drag me back to the hotel where I tried to elevate them a bit. But that didn't really help.

For dinner we ate Indian food which we both really enjoyed. I had a chicken thali and it was a bit different than I was used to.

Just around the corner of our hotel was a small ice cream shop and we treated ourselves to two scoops.

Day 6: Amsterdam

It's funny, after four days in the city my friend still got lost and didn't know where we were. I often took charge and told her were to go and were we'd land.

For breakfast we wanted to eat pancakes and there were a few shops in the south of the city. We went there but didn't find the shop we were looking for and just went to the next cafe. The food was not that great but it was food and I was so hungry that I didn't really care. We went north again and there was a vintage store that had really great clothes. But they were so expensive that I left without buying anything. At Kalverstraat we bought Bubble teas and tried to loose ourselves in the city. Later on I finally got pommes frites and B. got herself coffee at Dunkin Donuts. 

 

Day 7: Amsterdam

B. and I finally ate pancakes for breakfast! Hooray! I ordered them with cheese and ham and it was quite good. 

After breakfast I brought B. to Amsterdam Centraal and walked back to the hotel, picked up my own luggage but took the tram to Centraal. A ticket was 3,20 which was so freaking expensive for just one ride. (it's 2,40 for a ride in Vienna, and 1,90 in Paris) But I bought it because I did not want to walk all the way back with my very heavy suitcase. B. was at tthe airport 4h before her flight because it was recommended as the security lines were so long, but in the end, she only waited an hour and then had to wait 3h for her boarding. Oh well. 

I waited two hours for my Thalys train to Paris but the ride went smoothly and I was at the hotel in Paris around 8pm.

 

 

Hello lovelies,

the day has finally come,....

my 2 months Interrail tour has officially started!

On the 19th of July I took the night train from Vienna to Brussels and slept in a sleeping coach. Normally when I travel with the train I get tired super quick and fall asleep. 

 

No idea why but I just could not fall asleep, I tossed and I turned (quietly, because I had another woman travelling with me and sleeping above me). At midnight I decided to go to the bathroom and after returning, I found out that the key card for the room did not work. I turned the handle, shook it, but nothing happened. 

The train was completely empty, it was night, and the light was scarce. I looked for the stewardess but she was not in her compartment, so I tried the next coach. Nothing. And the next. But just as I stood between the two trains and pressed on the button to open the next coach door, the button didn't work either. Horror movie? yes, maybe. I hope the button going back would work and it luckily did. Then I stood in front of my cabin and twiddled my fingers and hoped that the woman would come look for me. And she did! After 5minutes, the door opened. And you know, what I did wrong? I didn't press the key card hard enough into the door and there was 1cm left of the key card that should have been inside. Doh. 

I think I fell asleep between 4am and 7am because I woke up as we stood in Aachen, right before the Belgian border. We got breakfast from the stewardess and about 90mins? we were in Brussels. I wanted to get some ham for breakfast too but my so discouraged me to do so, as he claimed the meat could be open and unfridged the whole time. He was right but the breakfast was quite sad with only my cream cheese and cheese. At least I got a cup of green tea too!

Day 1, Brussels

The hotel was easy to find even but the area didn't look that nice. The room is tiny (but I stayed in smaller ones with more people at the same time. Stockholm, I am looking at you) and had a bathroom, toilet, a fan and a table. I was actually promised an AC on the hotels homepage so the fan was a bit disheartening. (I checked; the AC is broken not missing but still...) Having a hot day in Belgium without AC would be fun. 

I repacked my belongings and then went to the old town. The first thing I saw was the mannekin pis. It was a bit weird. I get that it's old and a legend and a few places use it almost like a mascot but it's..just weird?

But afterwards I landed at the grote markt and it was simply amazing. There was so much to see and the buildings were beautiful. 

Am I the only one who never touches statues?

Next I went to the Lace museum and it was a bit smaller than I thought but I could get a reduced entrance fee with my students card. Lucky me! And holy cow, the lace was amazing. I had never seen lace that delicate with my own eyes before. Pictures don't really do them justice. I don't even know how one did lace with such a small thread. The museum also had a special exhibition about childrens' clothes which was not my favourite, but it was interesting nevertheless. 

I made pictures of everything and I will probably make a separate post about it because I have so many pictures! 

Afterwards I went to St. Michaels cathedral. The glass-stained windows were simply amazing. The interior of the church was a bit plain but the windows! The windows! 

I got hungry and decided to go for lunch, and the restaurant was so good. I got orecchiette with tomato sauce, tomatoes, eggplant and shaved burrata. Absolutely delicious. The prices are a bit higher than in Vienna as I paid 23€ for my lunch and a drink incl. tip. 

After lunch I sat down in the park of Brussels and enjoyed the nice weather. It was hot again and very humid. The next thing on my list was the royal museum of fine arts. And I enjoyed it immensely. I love practicing everything I learnt at iconography and it's a special kind of serotonin if you know what is depicted on the picture without reading the name first. Too bad I lost my entrance ticket because I like keeping them as souvenirs for my travel diary. But I got an amazing book at the museum shop on "The flemish primitives" and it's heavy. very heavy. 

Apollo skinning the Satyr Marsyas alive

Ecce Homo, my brain always translates it to: behold, the homo instead of behold, the man. And yes, I will go to hell for that lol.

It's a wonderful burgundian gown in deep black

Me in the morning

Hello, it's me. The only one wearing a mask.

 

On my way back I found a spar express and grabed dinner and snacks. Comparing the prices to Vienna of food and groceries I do have to say that it's a little more expensive. Coca cola Vienna: 1,30€, in Belgium: 1,60€. The pasta dish was also 18€ which is way more than in Vienna but I think that I just chose a restaurant that was a bit pricier?

For now, day 1 is over and the hotel wifi is really bad so my videocall got cut off several times, we switched to audio call only but it was quite as bad. 

Day 2, Bruges

In the morning I took the train to Bruges and it only took about 60mins with the train to reach the destination from Brussels. It was a very cold summer day and felt more like autumn than summer. I wore my new rain jacket I found at H&M in the children's department. But it fits perfectly. At least in length, my big tummy is a bit of a problem though. (Too many sweets and chocolate and sodas. oops)

I then followed the signs into the centre (big mistake because I was following a rather new and boring path going outside of the city). I just thought to myself that it was super empty and void of any tourists or locals. But I didn't think about it and went around the church and to a canal.

I found a shop that was open and selling waffles, so I got the waffles with strawberry, ice-cream and Nutella for breakfast. What else? Can there be a more sugary breakfast? I don't think so! *wink wink*

There was a souvenir shop right next to it and after breakfast I popped into the shop. I bought postcards and a beautiful piece of Belgian lace. They did no sell stamps and instead directed me to the next post station. 

The weather was overcast, and it often showered before the sun came out. I was really cold and didn't even wear a stocking. I was cold all day and was really scared to get sick. But the city was really beautiful. I loved the small buildings and the cute canals.

 

I walked to the Kantmuseum and it was then that I found out that the day I was there was the Belgian national holiday and most of the museums were closed. No wonder there was no one around in the morning. But during the course of the day, the tourists came out and there were quite a few of them around after noon.  

Actually I wanted to go to the stadhuis but it was closed too, therefore I walked into the Basiliek van het Beilig Bloed church, cathedral and then the treasure room. It was nice and they also had a fashion book on dispay. I may or may not have taken a picture of every page. Maaaaybe.

 Afterwards I saw that the Historium Bruges was open and decided to get out of the cold and try it out. It was quite expensive but there were three attractions in one - the VR tour, a walking tour and a walk to the tower. 

I really liked the VR tour through old Bruges. I felt like in an old Assassin's creed game. The walking tour through the rooms was a bit ridiculous though. But good points first, the rooms were really nicely made and well decorated. But I felt a bit deceived because it was advertised as 500 years of Brugge history and then the tour was just a kind of love story about the apprentice of Jan van Eyck with his model plus a stray parrot? uhhhh, ok. They didn't even manage to close the loose end with the woman and the children who made the rosaries, which really confused me. Or I just didn't see what purpose they had. And after all that walking, I walked up a flight of stairs that was so steep and narrow, that I almost didn't get through with my rucksack. But the view over the grote markt was really magnificent. 

Look how narrow it was!

 

 

Slowly I really got hungry and decided to stop at a chocolate house. I ordered the ruby chocolate with marshmallows, and I like it, but it was a bit sour. The place was really nice, and it felt good to just sit down.

 

I stumbled upon a shopping street and bought dark brown leggings, which I wore immediately; I was still super cold.  It was then that I decided to go back to Brugge and leave the wonderful city, I thought it was nicer than Brussels even though I could not really go into the museums and look at the history. 

 I took the train back to Brussels and got ready for my travel to Amsterdam. It was a small Thalys drama in three acts but more about it in my next post!

All the best,

Auris Lothol