“I
don't know Lloyd, the French are real assholes“ - Harry Dunn
Arriving
in Paris gave me a bit of culture shock, no longer was I in an
English speaking country and our walk from the train station to the
hotel yielded some challenges. First; we were farther away from the
hotel than we thought we would be so we had to get in a cab. Second;
the cab driver we waived down spoke no English, so I proceeded to
reach into the cab and show him on the map where we wanted to go. He
looked at me and said something; so I said “yes”, and we got in
the cab not knowing where we would end up. Driving in Paris is
thunder-dome; anything goes! Around the Arc de Triumph there is a
rotary about seven to eight lanes wide, none of which are marked in
anyway but our driver barreled into it with no reservations. While I
was clutching my seat and clenching my jaw, the driver had one hand
on the wheel while talking on the phone to his friend. We got out
alive and he actually brought us to where I had pointed on the map.
We met up with our friend Matt at the La Meridan hotel where we
stayed for two nights. During our time in Paris we saw most of the
tourist attractions; most impressive being the Notre Dame Cathedral.
It was enormous on the outside and when you walk in, it seems even
bigger because the whole cathedral is one room. With the dim
lighting and the ever present statues, I felt like I had walked into
the 17th century.
Are
Parisians Welcoming? - No. Are Parisians pretentious? - Yes. Did I
enjoy the Parisians? - Not really, but that may have been because of
our simple differences or because we were only there for two nights.
I would be ignorant to think I could judge a population so briefly.
One thing is for sure though; the handle sizes on their coffee cups
are borderline absurd – either have a handle or don't!
After
Paris, we caught a train to Amsterdam. What an interesting city;
they have a canal system like Venice and use them for transportation
and recreation. It was relieving to finally get away from the huge
cities like London and Paris, and to be in one of Amsterdam's size.
It's not big and it's not small; just cozy. The people reflect an
attitude appropriate for the way the city looks. They are laid back
and very friendly, not to mention they speak near flawless English –
a welcoming aspect after Paris. That we only had one night did not
stop us from enjoying the city's questionable behavior – let's
leave it at that! From Amsterdam we took a train to Brugges, Belgium
where we stayed at a backpacker hostel known as the Snuffle Hostel.
We watched some more soccer; Barcelona v Chelsea, played some chess
with a local and then went out to drink that famous Belgium beer.
The guy we played chess with was a Belgium national champion when he
was younger, suffice it to say he beat us, but then he decided to
show us around ( maybe he felt he needed to after embarrassing us so
much ). He took us to a cellar pub and we enjoyed some of the best
beer I have ever had. Not only did it taste amazing, but it had
almost 10% alcohol. We talked a bit about Belgium culture versus American culture, which was interesting if nothing else; then it was time for foos-ball!
I have always considered my self a good chess player and a great
foos-ball player, but man, that night was humbling. The two guys we
played didn't let us even touch the ball, and I think
through three games we scored maybe five goals.
Next
we have a nine hour train ride to Interlaken, Switzerland via Belgium
and Luxembourg. Nice it is to finally get some down time considering
the trip's elevated rate of movement. Pardon the expression, but our Blitzkrieg through Northern Europe is at an end. Here come the Alps!
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