KATE NASH in BRIGHTON

After Mom and Aunt Barb left I had quite a bit of homework, class, and internship to catch up on so that's what I did for a few days. Then by Friday, I was ready to do some more adventuring, aka I had booked tickets back in early February to go to Brighton, so was now actually going to Brighton!

I left my internship around 1pm and met up with Stacy to begin our journey to the UK. We took the Eurostar train, which was greatly different than the TGV. For Eurostar they made us go through security, they stamped our passports, and made us fill out a customs report. For the TGV, we simply took the escalator up to our train, got on, had someone stamp our ticket and we were in France in an hour. So, it was very bizarre having Eurostar train station be more like an airport than a train station. But cool things that I got to do on this train were go through the Chunnel! Its quite dark down there and your ear's pop. For some reason I thought I'd be seeing fish and the water surrounding the train, but alas no such luck.

When we got to London, we switched trains and took a more normal (aka a train I was more used to) train to Brighton. Once in Brighton, we stopped and got pounds. By the way, the conversion fee is killer! But it didn't stop me from getting cookies and a drink at the train station since I hadn't had time for lunch between my internship and leaving I was quite hungry. Then, we went in search of our hostel. It was beautiful, it was located right next to the sea! So pretty. We got all checked in to the hostel, I was staying in a 8 person mixed room which was full, so that in it of itself was an adventure. Stacy was lucky and was staying in a 4 person mixed room, not nearly as intimidating. After we got all settled, we went to the hostel bar and plotted out our plans for what to do in Brighton, since besides for seeing Kate Nash neither of us really had any idea of what to do there. Well before anything could be set in stone, we decided we were in need of food, so we went to a few different places, and at the last place where I got pizza I got sick. It was disgusting, and ruined my clothes for the weekend. Now they are all laundered, but at the time I did not think to pack laundry detergent with me, so they just sat dirty in a plastic bag then until Sunday. So after that incident, we returned to the hostel and I went to sleep right away.

Saturday (March 26th), I got up and met up with Stacy for breakfast. We had breakfast with this creeper Christopher who wanted to talk to us about Journalism, but frankly it was too early in the morning to deal with sketchy guys talking about politics and the world. After that delightful breakfast we changed and went to the Royal Pavilion.

Janice at the Royal Pavilion

 Next to the Royal Pavilion, we found the Brighton Museum where we learned a little about Brighton's history and saw some art! Following the museum, we got some coffee to help keep us awake and did some window stopping in the famous Lanes area. We passed by the Royal Theatre and saw that across the street at the Pavilion Theatre they were doing a children's show, "Storm in a Teacup" with puppets, so we bought tickets to see that for later in the day! Then we had lunch at El Mexicano, we went their purely for names sake. By the time we finished lunch it was time for "Storm in a Teacup." We were by far the oldest people there, and the only people there without children! Whatever, I loved the show. I don't think it was really Stacy's cup of tea, but she still went.

Inside the Royal Museum

Silly British props

Typical "I'm in the UK picture"

Other side of Royal Pavilion

Pavilion Theatre

Storm in a Teacup set

Stacy at "Storm in a Teacup"

 Following the show, we did some more shopping and wandering the city until it was time to head back to the hostel to get changed for our Kate Nash concert. Kate Nash was AWESOME! Even her opening act of Brigitte Aphrodite was good too! It was a very women empowering night with good music and good friends!

Stacy and Janice at Kate Nash!

Kate Nash singing her heart out

Kate Nash rocking it

Brigitte Aphrodite

After the concert, we were so whipped we just went back to the hostel and went to sleep.

Sunday (March 27th) I got up to Stacy's text of telling me she was on her way to breakfast, so I quickly gathered my luggage together and changed. We then had breakfast and went in search of Starbucks to get some coffee. Then it began to rain. Sigh. No good, but we braved it though and went to the Brighton Pier which consisted of a giant arcade and carnival rides. It was an odd pier. Since I'm not a big fan of carnivals I didn't really enjoy it, I did however enjoy being on the sea!

Brighton Pier

Janice and Stacy on the Pier

Check it out, the sea!

We left the Pier and went to our hostel to collect our stuff as we were now going to take the train to London and spend some time in London cause why not? In London, we went to Chipotle and mostly just walked around seeing the sites, enjoying the sunshine by just taking a little sit down in Russel Square until it was time for our train back to Brussels. Then we left back to Brussels, back to our homes. Its weird, but having been gone from my host family's house for such a long time with Paris, then the passport fiasco, and now Brighton, I was just so happy to be back to a place that I could call home. Overall though, I would say super successful weekend and I would highly recommend going to see Kate Nash in concert if you ever have the time! She makes me very, merry happy!

Clock tower in Brighton

St. Pancras train station in London

Passport Fiasco

So after the Crescent Club left early Sunday (March 20th), I called Mom and Aunt Barb to see what they were up to in the mystical Brussels. They were heading off to mass at St. Micheal's cathedral, so I quickly got dressed and met up with them. I had visited the Cathedral earlier and it was just as pretty as I had recalled! But when we were trying to enter for mass these women stopped us and told us no tourists inside, and we simply scoffed saying we were there for mass making the women turn red and apologize. After mass, we went to Grand Place and walked through a flee market. Once I finally pried the two away from the market we found ourselves at the ever so wonderful Musee de Cocoa et Chocolat.

Ma Mere aime le chocolat!

Janice and Mom with the chocolate Manneken Pis

 Learning about chocolate and tasting chocolate gave us quite an appetite, so found some lunch at the Cafe Vaudeville. From there we walked to the store where Aunt Barb had seen a shirt in the shop window that she admired, but alas as it was Sunday, it was closed. We turned around and walked to the museum in Grand Place which is home to Manneken Pis's costumes. Every time a diplomat comes to visit Belgium, they honor Manneken Pis by bringing him a new costume. Today, he has over 300 costumes!

Manneken Pis in his St. Patrick's day garb

Manneken Pis in his Disney gear

After the museum, we returned to Vaudeville for they were putting on a show that night, but by the time we got there they were sold out, so we walked around to the Theatre Monnaine to see if they had any shows, but they just had an orchestra concert and Aunt Barb didn't seem to keen on that idea. Instead of seeing a play, we had drinks and saw the King's Speech in the movie theatre, to give Mom and Aunt Barb an idea of how the theatres are different than the ones found in the US. They seem much cleaner and classier if you ask me. Plus, the English movies have Dutch and French subtitles found, whereas in the US, you have to look pretty hard to find a movie theatre with any subtitles at all. Following the movie, we went out to dinner, then returned home.

Monday (March 21st), I went to my Econ class then met up with Mom and Aunt Barb for lunch. From lunch, we went to Congress, then to the Comic Museum only to find that it was closed! Boo. Instead we went to the store that we had tried to visit the previous day that was closed, but was now open and Mom and I sat while Aunt Barb shopped. After some shopping, we went back to the hotel to drop off their goodies, then went out to dinner at Grand Place in this basement restaurant for one final Belgian dinner. Or at least, we thought this would be their final dinner in Belgium. After dinner, we walked around Grand Place admiring it at night, then walked to Manneken Pis, walked to the train station to check times for the following day for them to take the train to the airport, and returned the the hotel.

Meow Meow

Mom and the Comic Museum

When the two began packing Aunt Barb came to the sudden realization that she was without her red passport holder case. Inside said case was everything of value to Aunt Barb, aka her passport, social MN driver's license, security card, 2 credit cards, 1 debit card, 200 euro, and 150 USD. What was supposed to be an easy night of packing and getting ready for the flight in less than 12 hours then became a frantic night of searching. Tearing apart all her packed items with no success, we went to the front desk of the hotel who called the restaurant. Then we set off to retrace our steps, we did the entire night over in reverse. Sigh, again with no success. We asked the restaurant and they told us to go to the police. We walked back to the hotel, who told us the same thing, then we walked back to the Grand Place to the Police Department. At 2am, my ideal place to be is not to be in the Brussels Police Department. Poor Aunt Barb, she had lost everything, her money and all forms of ID.  After the police filed out a report, we returned to the hotel where I slept on the floor and Aunt Barb called to cancel her cards and flight.

At dinner before the drama of the night began.

One last time with Manneken Pis!

 The next morning (Tuesday, March 22nd), I was awoken to the shouts of "Get up, we're going to the US Embassy." Awesome. There's nothing I love more than sleeping on the floor than getting up to go to the US Embassy in my clothes from yesterday to explain that my aunt has lost everything. Sweet. Well, Mom and I ate breakfast and Aunt Barb continued to call people canceling people and changing this and that, letting everyone know, making sure to cover the bases.  After about 4 hours at the Embassy, we finally got a temporary passport and we were good to start rebooking everything. We left the Embassy with Aunt Barb's new passport securely zipped in her purse and we returned to the hotel, where they luckily had an opening so they got a room for that night. Since they had missed their flight, Mom and Aunt Barb had to call their travel insurance and the airports to figure out how this would all work, luckily they got a flight for the following day (Wednesday). After lots of calls and emails we had lunch, then I left to go interview a fellow student for a french project. During this time, Mom and Aunt Barb actually made it to the Comic Museum. After the interview, I returned to their hotel and we had dinner at a restaurant right next to it so that there would be no losing of items again! Then, I waited for them to pack, and said goodbye before they went to bed. Despite, the hot mess that those two are, they are my family, and I miss them. I was truly sad to say goodbye!

DEAR MOM AND AUNT BARB, THANKS AGAIN FOR COMING TO VISIT ME!

Crescent Club Goes Brussels!

 So Friday March 18^th, 2011 was a day of celebration, for starters it was Alissa’s 21^st birthday and it marked the first time Gaffey, Alissa, and I had been together since July! Unfortunatley for us, this was one of those rainy days in Brussels, where it not only decides to sprinkle rain, but downright pour! 

I got done with my internship for the day and met up with Mom and Aunt Barb for a brief while just to check in and make sure they haven't lost their minds in Europe or anything silly like that. After that check in, I went in search of Alissa and Gaffey's hostel, but as my natural sense of direction is lacking, I had some trouble finding the place. After 45 minutes of aimless wandering, a completely soaked through coat, no minutes left on my cellphone, 6 Jupiliers, and countless waffles, I found the hostel that was honestly a block away from my friend's apartment! By then it didn't matter, I was just so happy to be reunited with my sassy Vis girls!

After we sat and dried in the hostel for a whole, we went off to Grand Place in search of food. We found ourselves at a cute little pizza place. After dinner, we went off to Delirium the famous bar which boasts a selection of over 250 beers. At the bar, we met a true gem who was schwasted like none other. He asked us to watch his drink for him, since when he went to the bathroom his friends kept drinking it, typical friends I thought, but whatever. After he returned from the bathroom, he thought it was best for him to then sit with us and tell us about his life as a flight attendant. Awesome, not! Once we realized he wasn't going anywhere, we quickly finished our drinks and left claiming to be quite jet lagged from our long trip over from Canada. Following that, we just took the metro home.

Saturday (March 19th) I had done some research of where to take these sassy ladies to show them the best of Brussels, so we started with the ever classic Antonium, then went to Parliament, the Royal Palace, lunch outside next to Bozar, Grand Place, the Galerie St. Hubert, Manneken Pis, and Le Cinquantenaire. Along the way we had chocolate and waffles; typical day in the life! After having seen so much, we went back to their hostel, kicked up our feet and chatted it up for a good long while. Once the while was over, we were hungry so went out for a traditional Belgian dinner of schroumps (sausage and potatoes). Then, we went to Grand Place to meet Gaffey's friend from Madrid, Robert, who was visiting Brussels with his family. Once we met up, we rubbed the girl for good luck, saw Manneken Pis, got waffles (yes we did this twice, whatever, don't judge!), then ventured to O'Reiley's to meet up with some friends from Vesalius. From there we went to Celtica, and simply called it a night. What a wonderful CC Reunion!

Alissa, Janice, and Gaffey at the Antonium

Alissa and Gaffey at Parliament

Gaffey, Alissa, and Janice at Grand Place

Janice, Alissa, and Gaffey at Le Cinquantenaire

Alissa, Janice, and Gaffey at a fountain

Janice, Alissa, and Gaffey on the steps of the stock exchange

Janice and Alissa at dinner!

WAFFLES!

Janice, Alissa, and Gaffey at Manneken Pis

 

France, not all the movies make it out to be!

Movies that tell you lies about France:

Hunchback of Notre Dame: tells you its chill to be hunchbacked and sing on top of a famous church. True life, you try singing up top of Notre Dame or talking to the gargoyles people are going to think you've gone cra cra.

Anastasia: gives you quite a few bad ideas for instance, when you think you can't you'll find you can-can. Or the ever classic: When your hearts says don't, the french say do. What does this even mean? This lyric right here is why Anastasia is not a Disney movie. Ladies of night are not allowed in Disney movies. Also, Anastasia convinces young girls that they will find love in Paris instantly, false. As a 21 year old who recently went solo to get a glass of champagne on top of the Eiffel Tower, its not instantly the place for romance.

Beauty and the Beast: the moral of the story is if you love someone ugly they will transform into someone beautiful, real world doesn't work that way nor does it seem to include giant libraries or talking furniture. Sigh.

Passport to Paris: when I went to Paris for the first time age 16, I thought cute boys on Vespas were going to drive me around and show me the city, instead I got dragged around by my french class. Not quite the exciting tales that the Olsen twins had. But they did tell me the joys of having McDonalds in Paris. Yes, its tacky, but also delicious.

An American in Paris: told me people would love me if I were American, that they would find my accent simply irresistible. Simply arrogant seemed to be more of their train of thought.

Ratatouille: convinced me it was ok for rats to be part of the cooking process in France. If you see rats anywhere near your food in a French restaurant don't stop and think Remy, NO, run away. Do not stay to see what other surprises the cooks have waiting for you.

Artistocats: told me jazz what the cat's pajamas. Frankly, I don't think this movie misconstrued my image of Paris in any way. But it did bring to my attention just how many Disney movie are set in France!

Moulin Rouge: convinced me for the longest time that its ok to drink absynthe and that its ok to work at the Moulin Rouge, neither of these are things that you should do when trying to figure out your life!

Paris Holds the Key To Your Heart

Saturday, March 12^th I awoke with great excitement for on this day Mom, Aunt Barb, and I were going to take the super fast TGV train to Paris. With TGV it only takes about an hour to get from Brussels to Paris, that’s pretty darn fast!

First thing we did when we arrived in Paris was we had some sketchy man convince us that he knew where our hotel was. I assured him that I knew were it was, but some of my fellow travel companions were not so sure, so we followed him. He had us walk in a giant square to get back to where we needed to be, and then he asked us for money. I was not about to give this man any money, but Aunt Barb in her infinite wisdom did, this is when I first started to worry that perchance Aunt Barb wasn’t quite ready for big cities, little did I know.

But, we got checked into our hotel and then we were quite hungry, so decided it would be best to go downtown see what we could see and eat there. After some confusion with the metro, where we learned you had to pay with coins or a credit card, but the card had to have a special chip in it because it had to be a French credit card, we arrived at the Louvre. It was so nice out when we first arrived! It was sunny and warm and we were in Paris! It was just like how I remember it from when I was 16 only this time I felt like I was appreciating it more. Also, I came to the realization of how little French I actually know. Being in Paris with two people who definitely don’t know any French, and one person who kind of knows French is a little bad news bears, but luckily everyone everywhere speaks English. So we walked around the garden of the Louvre for a while, then spotted a cute little sandwich place outside where we had lunch.

Mom outside the Louvre

Mom and I outside the Louvre

Aunt Barb and Mom at lunch in gardens of the Louvre

 After lunch, it was starting to get a little darker and chiller than I would have liked, but we saw l’Arc de Triomphe and decided that it didn’t look too far away from where we were, so we began the treck there. In case you were thinking to yourself, “Wait you walked from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe, I thought that was a pretty long walk.” You would be correct! That is indeed quite a long walk, approximately 3 miles according to google maps. Now I don’t know how many of you know my dear mother and aunt, but they aren’t big walkers and it was getting to be quite rainy out, so this was definitely an experience to remember. By the time we got to the Arc, they were too tired to climb up it, so we just walked around it. Only later did we discover that it had an elevator inside! After the Arc, we took a little sit down where we snacked on some waffles and gave our legs a rest.

Mom found the Eiffel Tower!

Aunt Barb and I found some fountains

Walking to the Arc

Janice and the Arc de Triomphe

 Next, we decided it only made sense to continue walking to the Eiffel Tower because clearly that’s the one thing people go to Paris to see! We got to the Eiffel Tower and then waited in line for the elevator up to the top, there would be no walking up the steps for us, it was elevator all the way. When we first got to the Eiffel Tower it was again sunny out and warm, but the sun was getting ready to set. By the time we got to the first level, it was getting dark and cold again. But by the time we got to the top, it was freezing! We were all huddled in line together waiting for the next elevator shivering telling ourselves it would be worth it, and you now what, it was! Feeling all sentimental and old enough to drink, I ordered myself a glass of champagne, just to say that I had champagne on top of the Eiffel Tower, but the man who sold it to me judged so hard. He literally asked me, “Just one? Really?” Rough day, Monsieur, rough day.

On route to the Eiffel Tower

Inside the elevator going up the Eiffel Tower

OH NO! Its real cold up there! Mom looks displeased.

Janice and her champagne.

 We finished with the excitement of the Eiffel Tower quite cold and tired, we returned to the area near our hotel ate some Chinese food, went back to the hotel and went to catch some Z’s.

The next day (March 13^th) we woke up and had breakfast at the train station before we set off on another grand adventure in Paris. On this day, we decided to visit the Musee d’Orsay home to many impressionist paintings such as Van Gough’s “Starry Night” and Manet's “Olympia.” We spent a long time admiring many great pieces of artwork and then we got hungry. So being the wise tourists that we made the executive decision to eat at the classy restaurant in the museum and you know what, it was some of the best food I’ve ever eaten! I had a cheese platter that was truly delectable and some espresso with raspberry for dessert: completely the European meal.

Cheese Platter!

Aunt Barb and Mom at the Musee d'Orsay

 After our fine lunch, we went off in search of the Point Neuf where our boat tour would be later that night. Somehow along the way, we found ourselves back in the Toulieres gardens near the Louvre. Eventually, we found where we’d be heading for the boat tour and went in search of Notre Dame cathedral. What a site! First, we went down to visit the crypt of the church. Its always fun to see the ruins of what ancient cities used to look like, it definitely gives you a better understanding of the way life used to run. After the crypts, we came up and tried to find the entrance to get to the top of Notre Dame to see the gargoyles first hand. Secretly, I wanted to go to the top to pretend I was Quasimodo and sing “The Bells of Notre Dame” or “Topsy Turvy” like they do in Hunchback of Notre Dame. Sigh, if only my life were like a movie. But, instead of getting to the top we circled the entire cathedral only to then enter the church just in time to see the Vesper service, following the vespers was mass, so we stayed for that enjoying the rich heritage of the church service.

Aunt Barb at Notre Dame

Mom at Notre Dame

Janice at Notre Dame

Janice inside the crypts of Notre Dame

Aunt Barb and the backside of Notre Dame

Once mass let out, we went to the Pont Neuf for our night boat tour of the city. Unfortunately for us our tour consisted of some bratty American high school students who were quite loud and rude to our tour guides for their poor English. They were trying so hard to speak clearly, but those kids did not make their jobs easy. Either way, it was nice just to sit and look admire the city all-light up! Following the boat tour, we returned to the hotel in search of some more sleep. 

Pont Neuf boat ride on the River Senne

Eiffel Tower at night

 Monday (March 14^th) we got up and this time had breakfast at a little place next to our hotel. Our waiter clearly did not appreciate that we were American or the fact that we wanted breakfast, so that was a little rocky of a morning as we were overpriced for a simple cup of coffee and croissants. Once we finished with that high quality meal, we went off on our hop-on hop-off bus tour for the day making our first stop at St. Madeline’s Opera house to then get onto the bus which dropped us off at the Louvre. The bus was a nice way to see the city since you had the option to ride up top (it was a double-decker bus) or inside if you were cold. Plus, they provided you with headphones to plug in to hear all about the various landmarks that we were passing by. 

We got off the bus at the Louvre and from there did the whole Louvre scene. We took pictures of the glass pyramid, got our tickets, went in search of the Mona Lisa, saw some great works of art, got lost, ended up in African art, exited the museum, and then had lunch at the food court area. Not quite what we had envisioned for lunch, but overall still tasty! Then, we ventured back into the museum to see some German art, but since it was sunny and warm out we ended up leaving the museum early to go bask in the sunlight. We did this of course, by hopping back onto our tour bus and seeing the city that way! When the bus was done for the day, we wandered around near Notre Dame for a while and found ourselves some tasty crepes! NOM NOM NOM. Then we went in search of some shopping, I ended up with a new navy blue and white striped shirt and a pair of jeans, and Mom got herself a very French looking “Paris” beret.  By then, we had been walking for a while and decided it was once again a good time to grab some food. We ended up finding a cute little Italian place. After dinner, we headed back to the metro in search of our hotel and showers.

Checking out some art at the Louvre

Chillaxing with the fountains and the sun outside the Louvre

IT WAS SO NICE OUT!

Bastille

CREPE NOM NOM NOM

Mom and her Parisian beret

 Tuesday (March 15^th), our last day in Paris. We got up and packed up all our stuff and went off in search of Sacre Coeur in Montemarte. We found it easily enough and took the elevator-type dealy up the giant hill. When we reached the top we were in awe of the city-scape. It was such a lovely morning and there were almost no tourists out yet, so we decided to plop ourselves down on a bench and eat our breakfast of croissants enjoying the sunshine and the view. Sadly when I opened the bag with our breakfast I came to realize that my breakfast was not there, so I simply enjoyed the view and the sunshine.  While we were there, we obviously went inside the church and were in awe of its beauty and décor. We had hopes of visiting its crypt, but it was closed so instead we walked around the church and found ourselves in the Montemarte shopping/ food area, so got ice cream! Then we walked around looking at some of the artists works, then went back down the elevator dealy and took the metro back to our hotel. By now it was around lunch time and we felt the need for some lunch, and what did we spy with our little eyes? McDonalds, that’s right, we went to McDonalds. I got a Happy Meal and Mom kept trying to convince me that she wanted to cut out the box and use it to tile our kitchen. Please Mom, no. But then Aunt Barb began to encourage her, so that was quite the little excitement we had there for lunch.

Janice at Sacre Coeur

Mom at Sacre Coeur

Aunt Barb at Sacre Coeur

McDonalds in Paris!

 After lunch, we went back to the hotel to collect our luggage and walked back to the train station for our TGV to take us back to Brussels. Once we got to Brussels, we got to take another train to get Mom and Aunt Barb to Antwerp where they stayed for two nights. After about an hour we finally made it to Antwerp, got them checked in, and we ate dinner at a cute little Belgian place that served a fair amount of traditional Belgian food. Mom had Flemish stew, I had lasagna (not Belgian, but delicious), and Aunt Barb had some sort of sausage I believe. Following dinner, they walked me back to the train station where I had to take another bus back to Brussels. Its funny how the high speed trains can get you from Paris to Brussels in an hour and a half, but from Brussels to Antwerp with the national trains it takes about an hour to get from A to B. Eventually, I made it back to Brussels and collapsed having been so tired from all the traveling that that day had entailed.