The Netherlands - Amsterdam

Going to Amsterdam was a must for two reasons. One, Lydia had never been there before, and from my experience (I've been there briefly two times before), Amsterdam is a great place to visit, and not just for the party scene either, it's a really beautiful city, with some of the friendliest people in the world, the Dutch. Two, my 'African brother' is from Amsterdam, so I had to go pay him a visit.





















This is Gidon (my African brother). Now you might be saying, he doesn't look very African, and neither does Tyrone (name aside)......... and you would be correct. Gidon and I did, however, meet in Ghana, Africa, whilst living there for a few months with a shared host family (hence the national family relation). Gidon and I got to be really good friends in that time, first, while volunteering at our host family's HIV/AIDS charity, and second, when the two of us decided to pack our bags and head off to Timbuktu together. That's right, I said Timbuktu! The two of us backpacked up through Ghana, Burkina Fasso, and Mali together, sleeping on roofs, riding crocodiles (only some of the time....seriously), getting ditched in the middle of the Niger River, so that we could go on a camel trek from Timbuktu into the Sahara desert. As interesting as those stories are, they're from a different journal. The point I'm trying to make is, Gidon and I have a great history, so I had to pay him a visit, and introduce him to Lydia (who was just stories and pictures to Gidon previously).

















Unfortunately, we didn't take too many pictures of the city itself, so your just going to have to take my word for its beauty (it's not just weed and hookers)! There's canals scattered throughout the city of stacked historical buildings. I would recommend taking a canal tour if you get the chance. They run about 5-10 Euros, but they give you a good chance to take in a lot of the city, and give your feet a much deserved rest. That said, probably the second funnest (I'll get to the funnest thing below) thing to do in Amsterdam is to just walk around the city and take in the atmosphere. It's quite a mix of people in downtown Amsterdam; from drunken Englishmen on a bachelor's party, to an old seniors couple, just wanting to get a glimpse of the infamous red light district. The funnest thing to do in Amsterdam, however, is...........




















The Heineken Tour (a.k.a. the Heineken Experience). There's a lot of fun/funky museums and infotainment in Amsterdam (i.e. one of the two sex museums, the rijksmuseum, etc.), but what I have found to be the best, is the Heineken Experience. There, you get to learn all about the history of Heineken, and beer, how its made, what it's made of, and just about everything you would ever want to know about beer (i.e. what it's like to be a beer bottle). Oh, did I mention you get to drink a bunch of beer as you do the tour....





















mmmmmmm Heineken!

















After the tour, this is pretty much what your vision will look like (especially if you manage to scavenge some 'drinking chips' from other people taking the tour.
















Amazingly enough, this was Gidon's first Heineken experience as well (at least concerning the tour). I was really happy to be able to spend some more time with Gidon. Travel is great, in that you get to see a lot of neat things, but by far, the best thing about travel is the people you meet along the way. Another good thing about travel, with regards to the people you meet, is that the more you travel, the more people you'll know from around the world, and the more people you know from around the world, the more free places you have to crash! Ahh, budget travel :)
















Unfortunately, Lydia and I only had a couple of days to spend in Amsterdam, but we made the most out of our time there. We got to have a good catchup session with my long lost brother, and we got to have a lot of fun touring around the beautiful city (see above...I told you it was beautiful). After Amsterdam, Lydia and I caught the next train back to Bonn, where it was finally time to start work.

In case you missed it from my email, have a look at this Dutch music video, I think you'll get a kick out of the stars!

Tyrone and Lydia's Dutch Music Video

France - Paris

Our trip to Paris:






















"Fromage!"

After spending most of the day in Bruges, we were quite pleased to make our way to Paris with enough time to see the Eiffel tower that night!

















This is the view from the top of the Eiffel tower. If you are cheap, I would recommend remembering this picture, because it costs 11 Euros per person to ride the elevator to the top of the tower.....it's well worth it though.

















This will be going on the fridge back at home :)





















The tower looks absolutely beautiful at night. It was a surprise to us, but they have strapped on thousands and thousands of flashing bulbs to the tower, and about five minutes after we arrived, all the lights turned on at once and started flashing. It was really an amazing experience!




















That glowing orb coming out of my hand isn't a harduken, it's actually a giant rugby ball that is hanging in the middle of the tower to commemorate the World Cup of Rugby, which was going on in Paris as we were there (unfortunately, we had nor the time or the money to catch a game though).




These are the flashing bulbs that I was telling you about.




















On day two of Paris, Lydia and I got to go to Euro-disney (or Disneyland Paris, as it is called now).




















Me and my good buddy Lumiere.
















Lydia and I had a fantastic time at Disneyland Paris. It was Lydia's first time at any Disney resort, so that made it even more special for us. The picture above is Thunder Mountain, which was our favorite ride at the park.




*(sorry this video was too big to fit in my blog, so I'll have to show you a different video in its place. Have a look instead at..........IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL!!!!!!!!)

This is a great video. It was taken during one of the many parades down the main street in Disneyland. It would take some effort to be so happy as your full time job, and to be this excited about a parade that you do every half an hour or so, but these guys make it work. Check out Goofy and Captain Hook in the middle of the video.























I really wanted to be King of Camelot, but unfortunately if I pulled any more, my head would have actually exploded.





















Mini!!!!!!!!!!!



















Night came and our experience at Disneyland was over. This is another place that I couldn't recommend enough! Yes, it's cheesy and touristy, but it really is a magical place to spend a day, regardless of your age.


















The next day, Lydia and I had an amazing crepe feast for brunch, that came with a jug of wine, and a crepe that was set on fire in the middle of our table!






















We managed to then make it to the Louvre; however, apparently the Louvre closes on Tuesdays of all days, and that day happened to be a Tuesday, so we weren't going to be able to actually go inside:( At least we got to see the outside (where the Holy Grail is supposed to be buried).






















Le Arc de Triumph! Instead of going inside the Louvre, we managed to do a grand tour of some of the famous sites around Paris.

















If you look closely, you may see Quasi Moto ringing the bell at this destination.

















The next site isn't for the squeamish. The Catacombs is the site of a mass burial ground that was used during the French Revolution. There were so many dead bodies at the time, that they had to stack their countless dead bodies in a series of tunnels underneath Paris. Now comes the strange part. Someone had the bright idea then, to turn it into a bit of a tourist destination, during that time, and so he decided to start making decorative patterns out of the human remains. What resulted is the kilometer or so of an underground bone tunnel, where on both sides of you, there is a wall of bone piled around 5 feet high! At first it was an amazing thing just to witness, being so close to these real human remains, but then after walking in this dark tunnel for a minute, after minute, after minute, it gets to be almost an unbearable feeling of disgust in mankind (the tunnel goes on for over a kilometer). I don't regret going to the Catacombs, in fact I would definitely recommend it; however, be warned, it is a very powerful experience. These next pictures are of the remains..




































This femur and skull wall was what lined the catacombs (as I said, at around shoulder level on either side of you).

This wasn't exactly the happiest way to end off Paris, but it was certainly an experience that I would not want to take back.

Belgium - Bruges

City population: 120,000
Nights Spent: 1
Accomidation: Bauhaus - budget hotel (also has a hostel)



http://www.bauhaus.be/

Description: "Bruges is called : 'the Venice of the North'. This splendid medieval city is one of Belgium's crown jewels. In no other European city the feel and the look of medieval times are so present as here in this city close to the North Sea."

http://www.trabel.com/brugge.htm

Our Trip:















One of the great things about staying at Bauhaus in Bruges, is that you get a coupon for a beer sampler at their restaurant (as long as you order dinner there). The beer there was the best I have ever had in my life! If ever you get the chance to drink a Trappist Beer, do so....it was made by the gods.....literally!
















Sorry about the blurryness, but those Trappist beers are around 10% (I still think this picture is pretty though. Bruges is an absolutely beautiful city!
































All throughout the night, there was a bell tower concert going on in the tower that you can see in this picture. The bells chimed throughout the entire city for hours (it was a truly amazing experience)! They even brought in some world renowned bell player for this concert.




















The next morning's view from the Bauhaus balcony.





















I then looked strait across from the balcony, and noticed that someone lobed a bag of poo on the neighbor's roof.....funny stuff

















More beautiful Bruges with beautiful Lydia!

















(No comment)
















Notice the bicyclist crossing the bridge - c'est tre bonn, no?























































The bell tower in the day time
















Lydia seems to think that the two of us look alike, but I just that that it's because we're both Leos.
















We got a chance to visit the Chocolate museum, which is a definite must in Bruges!
















There were many very cool exhibits all about chocolate in the chocolate museum, including this one, which proudly displays chocolate fetuses (those are the plants where chocolate comes from).




















Lydia noticed this statue made entirely out of chocolate, so she attempted to smash the glass to get at it.





















Unfortunately, when she tried this, we were met by the Chocolate Museum security guard, who quickly escorted us away from the statue.
















It's a good thing that Lydia and I didn't get our hands on the massive chocolate statue, otherwise we may have ended up looking like this guy!
















At the end of the museum, there is a presentation by a chocolateer, who shows everyone how to make truffles, and after which, you get to eat them!





















There was also a Salvdor Dali exhibit, which we were quite excited about, considering he's one of our favorite artists!




















He's a very eccentric artist, but I really like his works.





















Salvador's most recognizable piece, the melting clock.

















After the Dali exhibit, it was time to leave beautiful Bruges. The city is an absolute must for anyone in the area!