10/06/08-12/06/08; The Forgotten City Brugge

I say forgotten because one I forgot to include it in my earlier post and two because it actually really seems forgotten. It is a collection of very old buildings and amazing towers connected and surrounded by various beautiful canals. Brugge Is also host to magnificent beer and chocolate, both of which all three of us enjoyed. My only regret is that we didnt really get to explore it until the last day because of the weather, and I left my camera in our locker at the station. Below are the few measly pictures I did manage to take.

15/06/08; Enter Barcelona Spain

we dont get your hopes up. no big stories yet, however we are going out with a group from the hostel tonight and god willing tomorrow will have better weather. Their's something great about this city. I have yet to see it first hand, but I know it's here as Barcelona is the first thing other travelers talk about once you mention Spain.

13/06/08-14/06/08; Expencive, Artistic, and entirly to many tourists: Not my kind of place.

We’re in Paris today, so far I’m not at all impressed with the city and the meals are entirely too expensive. Tomorrow we leave for Barcelona; we will take a night train down from Paris. This should save us a considerable amount on accommodation's for one night and allow us to leave Paris late tomorrow. The main benefit to this s that we will be able to take the metro closer to the tourist attractions and take a tour from the same company which did the amazing one in Edinburgh. So far so good, the hostel we’re in right now is nice though it is far from the things you would want to see and in the middle of the slums. Honestly its completely opposite from most hostel situations. Usually the hostel is one of the worst things in the area. It is completely opposite here, It seems they built this amazing hostel in the middle of a bad area. We are all looking forward to Barcelona and a language two of the three of us can understand.

We did get to take the free tour of Paris today and see all the sights. Their are many beautiful things in Paris. i've only included a few of my favorites here. Unfortunately in my eye's the beauty of Paris is diminished because of the overwhelming complex detail of everything and the astounding number of tourists. One of which stood above all others; yes, thats right, George W Bush Jr the president of the United States was their staying in the American embassy on the same day we walked by it. Anyways, thats all their was for Paris. On to Barcelona!

09/06/08;

Not much to report today, I got out of that last forsaken Hostel in the godless town of Camden and came here to a nice little place just north west of Hyde park. Yes the the famous Hyde park, well I took part of the day to find out just what was so great about hyde park. It was perfect day for it and the park was beautiful. A wonderful only slightly modified landscape where any one of London's residents could come and congregate or find peace in a nook all to themselves. After that I ended up in Piccadilly searching for a way to the mainland which I found. Then I saw Buckingham Palace and returned to the room where I used the remaining time to find us a room in Belgium.

I'm back!

Unfortunately the last few days have been very rough and i have been left with out an internet connection. Also, I seem to have less down time to write now that I'm traveling with my brothers.
Even So, I'll try to continue as best I can. Here's whats happened so far....

06/08/08; A wonderful cursed day

Today started out great, I wondered around London tower (which I thought would be bigger), I was hoping for a free tour but the guide never showed. At first my problems were small, the abnormally warm weather easily made shorts an option and I was walking around in jeans. Then I began to notice the hidden danger; something was in the air. As my eye began to hurt I started to look for eye drops. Since it is Sunday and everything was closed It took me hours to find them. This was still ok, since I had to find the drops any ways I wondered through London and found a wonderful market with some very interesting creations being sold. Unfortunately I could only enjoy it so much because hey, my eye still hurt. The day went on like this even after finding the drops unfortunately, i did make it out to the British museum though only for 15 minutes because they were about to close, and I did find a steak and mashed potatoes with a side salad for rather cheap. These things were all nice except that even with the drops my eye continued to get worse through out the day (my right eye too, which is more bother some than it would have been had it been the left one). By the time I returned to the hostel my allergy's were going non stop and it is most comfortable to type this with the right eye shut.





......................oh well, at least it was warm, I got to eat steak, and it's only one eye.

07/06/08; what you hear is not always what you get

Camden town in London England sucks; this hostel is a money trap and Camden town is the choice place to life for anyone indulging in an "alternative lifestyle". While I was trying to find a place to eat yesterday I stumbled upon a place that served burgers and chips for cheap. what a find i thought to myself, and it was till I got upstairs and realized I was surrounded by gays and transsexuals. Needless to say I nearly jumped from one floor to the next. I have honestly never seen a place where you are unusual if your not wearing black, nearly everyone here makes me very uncomfortable. The market is a massive collection of strange products and art which would make any normal person cringe. The artificial body modifications created for raves are the worst, damn manikins nearly scared me out of my skin.
The one good thing about the market is the food, vendors are set up everywhere and you can literally eat a meal which is half Italian and half Brazilian. speaking of which, I'm off to get some food right now. hmm... brown shirt or black shirt?




...definitely Brown, god forbid they mistake me for one of their own.




Surprise... Camden turned out to be ok in the end after all. Not the locals so much as the other people traveling around. I found two wonderful surprises last night, and i say surprises because i really had very low expectations of my experience in Camden. First i discovered that just before the market vendors close you can get enormous proportions for only two pounds (great news for the money conscious college graduate). Second, as I sat down to eat dinner on the nearby stairs, I sat near another group of ignorant travelers. Ivan and Olivia from London, and Berta, Chris , Drew from Hungary. After only a couple minutes of conversation they insisted I join them; I did and ended up having a great night out with my new friends.