- USA
- Ireland
- France
- Belgium
- Back in France
- May 30, 2005Mexican Princesses
- May 31, 2005Versaille
- June 1, 2005Last Day in Paris
- June 2, 2005Coast of Marseille
- May 3, 2005Callanques of Marseille
- June 4, 2005Leaving Marseille
- June 5, 2005Busted Ankle
- June 6, 2005Healing in St. Raphael
- June 7, 2005Bongos on the Beach
- June 8, 2005Goodbye, St. Raphael - Hello Cannes
- June 9, 2005Antibes Daytrip
- June 10, 2005Chilling in Cannes
- June 11, 2005To Nice with the Finns
- Monaco
- Switzerland
- Germany
- Austria
- Hungary
- Poland Fun
- June 29, 2005Zakopane
- June 30, 2005Hiking in the Tatry Mountains
- July 1, 2005Trail of Wooden Architecture
- July 2, 2005Krakow Jazz Festival
- July 3, 2005Kazimierz
- July 4, 2005Goral Burger
- July 5, 2005Ciupagi
- July 6, 2005Czestochowa
- July 7, 2005Trainhopping
- July 8, 2005Happy Birthday Mom!!!
- July 9, 2005Happy Birthday Jack
- July 10, 2005Banana Riding
- July 11, 2005First Russian Embassy Visit
- Poland Family
- July 12, 2005Family, at Last
- July 13, 2005Mom's Schoolfriends
- July 14, 2005Muddy Ponds
- July 15, 2005Partying in Poznan
- July 16, 2005A Relaxing Day
- July 17, 2005Sheeshah Bar
- July 18, 2005Five Souvereign Lands
- July 19, 2005The Good News
- July 20, 2005Another Family Function
- July 21, 2005Just Chilling
- July 22, 2005The Best Bike Ever
- July 23, 2005Looking for a Home by the Baltic Sea
- July 24, 2005Copernicus and the Boyscouts
- July 25, 2005Visas are Set to Go
- July 26, 2005Luxury
- July 27, 2005A Day at Work
- Russia
- July 28, 2005Back in St. P Looking for 1UP
- July 29, 2005Peter's Pimpin' Palace and the Neverending Nights
- July 30, 2005Big Bad Moscow
- July 31, 2005Beating Birches
- August 1, 2005Off to Siberia
- August 2, 2005Drinking with the Guards
- August 3, 2005Big, Rolling Trans-Siberian Party
- August 4, 2005Pack up, Only Six Hours Left
- August 5, 2005Irkutsk
- August 6, 2005Swimming in Lake Baikal
- August 7, 2005Drenched
- August 8, 2005Partying with Uzbeks
- August 9, 2005I Love You Omul, I Heart Baikal
- August 10, 2005Pushed out of Russia
- Mongolia
- China
- August 26, 2005Chasing Buses
- August 27, 2005Looking for the Opera
- August 28, 2005Sleeping on a Wall
- August 29, 2005Trying to Find the Opera Once Again
- August 30, 2005Forbidden City and Searching for the Opera
- August 31, 2005The Opera Sucks
- September 1, 2005Hutongs and Strange Food
- September 2, 2005The Peking Ducks Incident
- September 3, 2005Beijing Shopping
- September 4, 2005The Dirt Market and Tiger Penis Vodka
- September 5, 2005Temples, Temples, and More Temples
- September 6, 2005The Amazing Summer Palace
- September 7, 2005Goodbye Asia
- Back in the USA
World Trip
Brugges
The plan for the day was to get up early in the morning and head out to Brugges for a day trip. We did not manage to get up early, but nonetheless went.
The weather was perfect. When the sun was shining it seemed to be in the 80's, but an occasional cool breeze gave a nice relief to the warmth of the day. Brugges is a beautiful city. It is full of churches, beautiful facades, and charming little streets. We walked around for a few hours, ate fries, and stopped in two of the oldest bars in Brugges. The oldest one has been in continuous operation since the year 1515.
Afterwards we needed to decide where to eat dinner, and decided to pick out a place called Tom's Diner out of Drew's Lonely Planet guide. We walked around lost for a little while, confused by the countless nameless streets and alleys (on the map) and confusing canals. We finally made it to Tom's Diner. The name does not do it any justice. It is a very nice rustic restaurant and I had a very tasty and good looking meatloaf with mashed potatoes, brown mustard sauce and rhubarb jelly.
I did something extraordinary today. It was such a drastic move on my part, that I do not even believe myself. At Tom's Diner they brought out nuts and olives before dinner, and I ate one... and I liked it. And then Drew and I proceeded to eat the rest of the olives. This was quite uncharacteristic of him as well since he hates olives just as I do (did?). I am not sure if my tastes are changing or simply the olives where marinated differently here, but they did not have the nasty flavor that every olive I ever tried before did.
We eventually headed back to Leuven, drank a few beers on the train, and talked to a group of French-Canadian students.
Quote of the day:
On the train back we were talking about what we all do with the Quebecians. I said I worked for an Internet company and Drew joked that I ran a porn site. The conversation then turned to a friend of his who really does. One of the girls obviously did not approve and mentioned that he exploits women. To which, Drew's reply is "No, no. Everyone gets paid." He's a charmer. Back in Leuven we went out to a few bars and had a few beers (they are usually smaller here, so it's not like we drank pint after pint). Should have went right to bed though after an exhausting day.
