Europe Travelogue

Posted on December 17th, 2013 @ 14:06 in Uncategorized

Haha, this makes it sound nice and pompous, like I spent months on the road, rather than just a few days in the Netherlands and Paris each. But it did feel special cuz it wasn’t just Paris, and actually staying in Holland was quite emotional cuz it’s so very recognisable as European. So non-British. I miss Europe (but that doesn’t mean I will move back for sure. Maybe visit more to start with tho).

Anyway, let me write a report for the annals of Wamtrips.

Netherlands / Cindy visit

Friday I arrived on the 6th, quite late, so we didn’t do much but I had kruidnoten courtesy of Sinterklaas Cindy. 😡 Cindy’s cat Lola was not impressed with the arrival of that stranger in her home – she didn’t change her mind before I left either. :))
Saturday we went into town (Den Haag that is), mostly for shopping. Christmas stuff for Cindy and fun stuff for me. 😀 No kruidnoten tho 🙁
Sunday was Placebo-day! So this is what we did in Amsterdam, via a supermarket for food and… kruidnoten! 😀 =)) Very cute and lovely Cindy queued with me so we were in the front, and Brian was as perfect as ever. 😡 =P~
Monday we went to Amsterdam (again, but properly this time) for Anne Frank House and general wandering about. Amsterdam was okay (Cindy says Delft is nicer). Anne Frank House was also okay (I’m not sure if I expected a stronger emotional reaction… I was pretty obsessed with Anne Frank’s diary as a kid. She was kinda like an imaginary friend to me).
On all of these days we also watched various shows and videos, ate unhealthy and healthy stuff (I forgot to take a picture of Cindy’s houmous recipe!) and chatted. And listened to a lot of Watsky. :))

Holland photos: empty stage | Brian | Cindy reading

Paris

Tuesday I caught a train to Paris. 😡 I got to my flat and then went straight to Bercy, where unfortunately the box office didn’t open before the doors so I was waaaaaaayyy back at the concert, which was kinda crappy (damn those Frenchies for being such big Placebo fans lol), strengthening my resolve to suffer through early queuing in London. 😛 I left before the encore cuz I was itchy to get into Paris-mode instead of Placebo-mode and ended the day walking around for an hour.
Wednesday I walked. That’s pretty much it. It was very sunny and lovely during my whole stay so I was outside a lot. Despite finding out on day 2 that they had record pollution levels and people were encouraged to stay inside. :)) I walked around 25km Weds, seeing Montmartre, Buttes Chaumont, Père Lachaise, Marais, Quartier Latin, Tuileries and back home.
Thursday I was gonna cycle more but didn’t in the end – only about 7km vs 9km walking. I saw two exhibitions Brassaï – Pour l’amour de Paris (photographs) at the Hôtel de Ville (this was ok) and Erwin Blumenfeld at Jeu de Paume which I really enjoyed. And I went to Cimetière de Montparnasse – a cemetery a day! I also did some shopping – e.g. some kruidnoten. =))
Friday was already my last day OMG. Today 22.5km cycling. First I went to Montmartre cemetery of course. 😀 Saw Astérix exhib at BnF, which was fun but a bit loud. Also I’d never seen the library, that was quite impressive. Then I took my micro-particle-damaged lungs to the station. 😛

Paris photos: view from Montmartre | Sacré Cœur | Père Lachaise cemetery | Montmartre Cemetery | Notre Dame | dusky Eiffel Tower | foggy Eiffel Tower | Astérix names

London

Monday OK this doesn’t really belong here, but also kinda does cuz it was the final Placebo concert at Brixton. I queued from 2.30pm, which wasn’t so bad cuz it wasn’t that cold (and I had a loooot of clothes). I got chatting to some cute fans… and one of them used to work for Brixton Academy (he and his wife actually met there! While she was queuing outside, presumably for Placebo. Kinda cute) and so he found a guy he knew who said he’d get us in before everyone else. Except then he didn’t turn up on time so we actually ended up further back than if we’d just stayed in the queue. 😐 However we were still third row (right on front of Brian of course =P~ ) so that was okay. Met some more fans in the crowd – one guy from NYC (!) and one from Germany and a MFing Luxembourger!! This gig was well intense. :)) Sooooooooo different from Amsterdam where we were also 3rd row. But great. 😀 😡 Almost went back today… but then didn’t. Must be reasonable.

London photos: empty stage | big crowd

The End!

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