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:(