Monday, August 24, 2009

Farewell Europe

Sitting at my last hostel, early in the morning due to lack of the ability to sleep, this is going to be a long day. But I'm super excited to going home, which might explain the lacking of sleep.

Let recap the past few days.

After Amsterdam I made my way over to Brussels in Belgium. I wasn't expecting much from the city as, honestly, I went there more so to catch my train back to London than to sight see. But instead I became cativated once more by an interesting mix of ecclectic architecture, a tourist culture, delicious waffles, beer, and chocolate. I made sure that while I was in Belgium to have the cliché waffel (it was tasty), get some good chocolate, and amply sample thier amazing beer. I'm a bit sad that I won't be able to get good Belgium beer for the price I did there, as they had plenty of amazing options. Oh well.

The city was fun to walk around, I feel as though a good bit of the city wasn't much to see, but occasionally I'd just stumble upon a a gem. In my wonderings I managed to stumble upon an large outdoor concert, a mini carnival, and an outdoor rave/dance party that filled a small park. It's always amazing just how many things go on at any one point in time across big cities.

I made a bit of time, the day of my departure to London, to swing by the Magritte museum. It was a cool museum filled with just his work. A lot of his artwork doesn't exactly make sense to me, but then again who knows what was going on in that mans head.

Anyways, coming back to London was almost like returning to a home I left long ago. I got into the city, was briefly outraged at the 4 pound fare for a single metro ride, and felt a sense of familiarity. It was good to be back in city that I had some previous knowledge of, as much as I do enjoy exploring new cities.

I had my 'buffer day' yesterday, I put it in there in case something went wrong with transportaion from Belgium the day before. It was spent meandering through familiar sights and sounds in London. As well as seeing a few new things. I briefly popped into the national gallery, and even though I had visited it before, it was like seeing a whole new museum. Partly because I had forgotten everything that was in it (not that I could ever remember) and partly because I now have a much better sense of what periods and people that I like.

I also managed to catch some odd performances in one of the sqaures. Ok, well one of them was odd, as I was an art performance with bizzare concepts, paper people, and a small shed that had a huge face behind it's doors (and a giant inflatable arm). Yep, no idea what was going on. The other act was a lot more fun as it was a mix between Austin powers, British comedy, and a magic act. I use the term magic act loosely, as there weren't any actual illusions performed. Entertaining none the less.

Well, it's now offto breakfast, then off to the airport. Next update from stateside! As well as a good photo post, seeing as how I've not been able to do one of those lately.

Europe out.

2 comments:

outrage makes you feel at home?
what a unique attribute. :)

Magritte's museum sounds interesting.