Blog Updates

I have been without internet connection for over a week now, but I will have it in Prague. I then shall update the events that have occurred over the last two weeks.

Badass beer and french fries

As much fun as Amsterdam was we decided to leave a day earlier than expected due to the fact we could not find a couch surfer to stay with, and so we headed to Brussels. We were supposed to leave early Sunday morning, but we had a little to much fun our last night in Amsterdam. We missed the only one-way train to Brussels and so we had to make 3 or 4 connections which really did not bother any of us. When we arrived in Brussels we had to try to find our couch surfing hosts and it was a pretty easy task considering they lived in the middle of the city. We stayed with two girls Elisa and Sarah and they decided to show us around the city and grab some beers at the bar. Belgium of course is world famous for its beers and needless to say Kyle, Scotty, and I got pretty trashed our first night in Brussels. The beer there was dirt cheap and it was by far some of the best beer I have ever drank. I was unaware that Belgium was famous for french fries but I quickly found out, because after our night of drinking we headed to a fry place. The fries were the best that I have ever had and I mean nothing has even come close. The next day we kind of just laid around considering that none of us felt so great or were that motivated to do anything. That night our host made us dinner and it was awesome and of course afterword we went out and grabbed some beers. The next morning we were much more ready to go explore the city. Brussels has a very odd layout so it took us some time to figure out where everything is. The Grand Place was quite the site as all the buildings were laced with gold. We also saw the Manneken Pis which is just a statue of a little kid pissing, but it is the one of the most famous things is Brussels. We headed to a tall parking garage which is the best view in the entire city and climbed to the top, and it was quite the seen because you could see for miles it was pretty cool. We also found out that Brussels cops may be the most ruthless in the world. Many of them seem to walk around in street clothes and we saw on two occasions people get backhanded, choke holded, and slammed to the ground. It really made us think twice about trying anything while we were there. The next day we once again kind of just hung out and did very little sight seeing, but we saw quite a bit while we there so it was alright. Our last night in Brussels we went out and enjoyed the awesome beer for the last time and hung out with our excellent couch surfing host. The next day we woke up and were headed to rome to see what awaits us there. It is wild to think that we still have another month of this.

Red Light District!

After arriving in Amsterdam airport, which was the best airport I have ever been to there was no security really you just got off the plane and walked outside, we made quick action of letting everyone know we were definitely tourist. We tried to buy the train tickets to Amsterdam-Central and it was a disaster to say the least. We finally just asked for some help and women at the desk looked at us like we were the dumbest people alive, because we had this receipt we thought was the train ticket and was obviously not. So once we got that all sorted out we hopped on the train and got off at the stop we thought was Amsterdam-Central. We were wrong as we left the station we were looking at the map of Amsterdam and nothing was matching up, but that did not stop us from walking around without asking anyone for help. We probably were there for 20-30 minutes just confused as hell, and finally we asked someone and he just laughed and said we had gotten off the train one stop early. Thank God that was the case because when we got off of the train we were severely let down with what we thought to be Amsterdam. Once we got back on the train and got off at the right stop things were much easier. When we walked outside it was pretty awesome just seeing a city that is so much different than any that I have been to before. We made our way to the hostel we had booked which was in the middle of the red light district. At this point we have been up for 36 hours in a row with our ingenious idea to quickly get acclimated to the time change. By the time we went out to eat, had a few beers, and visited a coffee shop we barely were able to make it back to the room before we passed out. When we woke up the next day we were refreshed and able to venture out into the city. It really makes you realize how young America is when you walk around. Also seeing everyone riding bikes is pretty cool and we rented some ourselves and rode around. It would be like biking down Kingston Pike in Knoxville, but there are bike lanes on every road and also stoplights for the bikes. You would have to take a double take when you would see a girl dressed in designer fashion with high heels on riding down the street, but they were everywhere. Once we finally made it to the red light district we were in disbelief. Prostitutes are legal in Amsterdam and in the red light district girls are standing in these windows in front of everyone with themselves on display. The girls were some of the hottest that I have ever seen. Words cannot describe how wild it is to see in person. After staying in the hostel we moved to a super high class hotel right on a canal. It was by far the nicest hotel I have ever stayed at. We went to a few museums and just tried to drink in as much of the city as we could. It was definitely a great first stop and now we are excited to see what Brussels has in store for us. Check the pictures on the side if you would like.

Dirty Jersey

The first leg of our travels involved us embarking on an 11 hour car drive up to New Jersey to my sisters house. We made the drive with no snags to arrive and enjoy the fantastic hospitality of my family. We were treated with awesome food and a nice place to stay. After eating some badass pizza I was finally able to try some apple pie with American cheese, needless to say it was sweet. I also decided to put some beer on it after Scotty felt it was the most American thing I could do before leaving. We are now sitting in the airport with only our three bags and a mindful of
wondermont.