Antwerp, Belgium

One of the best places I've ever been to. Antwerp has a cool, laid back vibe - all the while being an extremely sophisticated place. My friend Mike and I were there during Car Free Day, which means no cars whatsoever in the central part of the city.

Simultaneously, it was Free Sport Day, so there was a stretch of free sports activities, like rock climbing, kick boxing, martial arts, jump rope, and beyond. Here is a photo of a free rockwall next to a fort I enjoyed in Antwerp:



Yes, that IS an awesome statue, thanks for noticing.


One of the coolest things in Antwerp was the open graffiti park, where anyone can tag without fear:





Speaking of graffiti, this was a few blocks away on the side of the Jesuit church:



And thank Goodness for that, because when we got to Brussels, there was a single hostel available nor an affordable hotel room. We had to make our way to the shittiest place on earth - Charleroi, where our discount flight from the airport there awaited us the following morning. The pissing little boy fountain is Belgium's official logo.


But we didn't leave Antwerp without first going through the 1/2 km pedestrian and bicycle tunnel under the main river there:



Escalator waaaay down (tunnel constructed 1931-1933)



The tunnel itself.


Then we took the train to Ghent...

I'm sorry

I've been so busy having an amazing European time that I haven't had the time to update here.

Yeah, yeah...

I feel really happy to know you're all reading this silly thing, nonetheless.

So this is what I've done so far:

Started in Amsterdam, rode a bike with my homie for a day to Zandvoort, Holland, to the beach, which at about mile 30 KILLED my poor little legs for a few days. Then we went to Antwerp, Belgium - rocked my world. The 1/2 km pedestrian/bicycle tunnel under the river was a highlight for me.

Then to Ghent. Cool college town with fun old crap. I totally enjoyed it.

Then to Brussels, where the damn place had no hostels free and nothing affordable como hoteles. So we moved on to a semi-affordable three star hotel in Charleroi, where our flight to Madrid was awaiting us in the morning.

Madrid - short spell there, less than a day. Saw all the picassos:) Picasso is a tremendous artist and if you disagree you just haven't spent enough time with his art.

Salamanca, wow. Visually satiating. Yes. La marcha - the party. Stayed out till almost 5 dancing...yet that was still early. WTF. I was tired. But that was FUN.

Got sick with a terrible cold that knocked me out for a full day.

Made my way to Seville. Cool place. Hated the hostel.

Made a friend from Vegas named Theresa. She and I proceeded to Jerez de la Frontera. Sampled sherry. Yum.

I went to Cadiz alone on a day trip to the beach. Ohhh beautiful beach. Owwww, sunburn.

Today we came to Tarifa. But we didn't stay for very long because we went to Gibraltar. It's funny, you have to show your passport to enter Gibraltar, but they don't ask you to open it. We went up on the rock and saw tons of wild monkeys. We say one jump on an innocent hiker. He handled it very cool. I would have screamed for Jesus. Then we ate fish and chips and enjoyed the fact that everyone speaks English:) My head begins to hurt from speaking Spanish all day long.

And now I am back in Tarifa. I know I need to put up pictures but I need to firstly figure out what I'm doing in Morocco tomorrow or the next day.

Sorry again:P

I miss everyone:(

Inside the Dutch art deco theater

To prove to a Mr. Solis that I am really here in Amsterdam:P



I saw Inglorious Basterds here tonight...Unfortunately most of the movie is in French and German, and the subtitles were in Dutch. Fortunately, I could keep up with the French parts.



Very beautiful inside.

It's a good movie.

Inside the Royal Palace

The Dutch are f*cking wicked.

Peek-chores

There are painted elephant statues all over town. Here's elephant asses for you guys. I freaking love elephants so I took pictures of them (the elephants, not just their asses).



The house boats that line most of the canals remind me of trailer parks :D



Many of the houses are falling over or apart. This is an extreme case where they fastened these boards on it to keep it all together.



A bit crooked.



"The Invalid" - This is a bike-class vehicle. No license required. I want one.



That man behind this one is my uncle. He's pretty alright.



Raw herring. Dutch tradition. Bought it off a street vendor. Pretty standard. Saw the locals eating it without bread with a toothpick for a fork. I'm not that brave. It tasted...just how you would expect it to.



That green thing behind this AWESOME looking guy is a public pissing spot. It's just a hidden spot with a drain for urinating. Not really good for women. But I have to pay to piss in public restrooms. I scream discrimination. No one cares.



Bike parking at Centraal Station.


That's it for now. I take pictures of a lot of things but this is what I choose to share. There will be an exhilarating slide show at my place when I return for the full review (with a quiz to follow so come prepared to take notes).

Being so far from home feels lonely

So I just got done writing the postcards I promised and am happy to send. On each of them I sincerely included words of some sort basically to say "am having lot's of fun; wish you were here."

And I am having lots of fun. Well, at the very least I am having lots of interest. Things are different and interesting here. And I do wish everyone could be here with me. But the truth is, I wish everyone were here with me so I would feel less lonely.

I've done a lot of difficult things in life all by myself, with little help from anyone. Traveling abroad is not something that is supposed to be hard. It's supposed to be fun. And I just feel lonely and homesick. I felt confident and wise back home. Abroad, I feel tiny...I feel shocked that my confidence back home was perhaps artificial. Context-limited. Delusional.

Just want to be honest with everyone about how I feel about traveling so far. I don't want to put on a fake happy face and go on and on about how much fun I am having because that is what might be expected of me. I feel like I am letting my homies down - who don't get this awesome opportunity to break away from their lives for weeks and weeks to see something new in the world - because this doesn't quite feel "fun" yet.

Ok, enough of that, it's picture time (next post).

Love,
Eva

Amsterdam

This blogging thing is a little inconvenient. Perhaps I will cave and get a facebook afterall. heh