Namur

One of our profs here, Philippe, is from this town in the southern half of Belgium called Namur. Namur's about 2 train stops from Ottignies, the "big" gare (train station) 6 minutes from Louvain-la-Neuve. Pretty much if you want to go anywhere from Louvain-la-Neuve, you hop a train to Ottignies (it's probably a 6 minute ride) and switch at the station there. It's slightly smaller than North Charleston, and has a river and a citadel. As a treat, Philippe took us to his hometown and showed us around, because he's such an awesome guy! Prepare yourself for a bajillion pictures.

This is a part of the Citadel. I have no idea which part exactly it is, but it's part of it, hahaha. We had to climb a bajillion steps up a mountain to get there, so by the time we arrived at the top I was way too out of breath to pay attention to those kinds of things.


The city of Namur, as seen from on the Citadel. Chouette, isn't it? (that's French for "cool")

We also visited the citadel perfumerie. Why is there a perfumerie in a citadel, you ask? I'll tell you. The guy who started the perfumerie needed a place to keep his fragrances cold while they were in production. It gets really expensive to rent out industrial freezers, so why not just buy a space in the side of a mountain that's pretty much the equivalent of a wine cellar? Smart guy. That's Mike and Eliana, by the way. It looks like a warm, gorgeous day outside, but it was actually a freezing gorgeous day.

Nick, Karen and I had lunch at a little café in the town square while everyone else was lame and went to Pizza Hut. This is Karen here with her orvalette, a traditional Belgian dish. Orvalette is pretty much the same thing as tartiflette (a traditional French dish with potatoes and cheesy sauce), only they also put in BEER GRAVY. Needless to say, I ended up eating half of Karen's plate.

This is St. Aubin's Cathedral, a giant baroque church that WE DIDN'T GET TO GO IN. Do you know how sad my heart was? Y'all know how I love churches.

And here is Nick, sitting in the King of Fools' throne. Karen explained to us the deal about the king of fools: they crown a new one every year at some festival, and that's his throne. On the back of the seat of the king of fools is a statue of this guy Nicolas Bosret. Coincidence? I think not.

Namur is cool. It's quiet, it's cozy, it's got good food. What's not to love?

Back to Deutschland!

When we came back from Greece, we flew in again to Germany, which meant more time spent invading Nick's house. This time we mixed it up a bit and brought Karen along. We only stayed a day, but oh what a marvelous day it was. Actual showers and actual beds and POPEYE'S. Yeah. Nick's dad brought us Popeye's from base. I had never had Popeye's before and I was skeptical (as I am about every chicken joint that is not Bojangle's) but it was good. Oms noms noms.

We had a bit of an adventure at Nick's. There's an adorable baby goat that lives next door named Bobo that takes it upon himself to come frolic on the patio and play with the dog and eat Miss Lisa's flowers. He also likes to get in the house.







Yes, that was just an excuse to spam you with baby goat pictures.

We also went to the eiscafé down the road before getting on the train back home! Eiscafé = German for "ice cream parlor". Lots of fun ice cream was had: I had amaretto ice cream, Annie had curaçao ice cream, Karen had a banana split, and Nick had SPAGHETTI ICE CREAM MOST AWESOME THING EVER. No, it is not spaghetti flavored ice cream; that would be gross. They serve the ice cream in a way that makes it look like spaghetti noodles, and then they put strawberries or some other variety of red fruit on top to make it look like there's tomato sauce on top. It was super cute and we should import this to America.

All of us at the eiscafé!

And then Nick dropped us off at the station and we came back to Louvain-la-Neuve. Wee!

Yes, pretty much this post was an excuse to post pictures of baby goats.

Next up, Namur!

En Grèce!

Hey guys! I am made of fail, I know, but here's part 2 of the Spring Break series, entitled "En Grèce" (which means "In Greece" in French)!

We flew out of Frankfurt, Germany to Volos, Greece, and from Volos hopped a bus to Athens. The group parted ways there: Anna, Megan, Nick and Grace went to Skiathos, and Annie, Karen, and I went to Santorini!

It's a 7 hour ferry ride from Athens to the port at Santorini. When I say "ferry" I mean "big freaking cruise ship". I have never been on a boat before and promptly freaked out on the inside. Y'all saw Titanic; don't play games/look at me like I'm crazy. Pretty much if your method of transportation is not a car, I don't trust it.

That's the island of Naxos, as seen from the deck of our boat. Naxos is still a good 2 hours from Santorini, so we had a while to go after this.

On the island we stayed in the touristy town of Perissa at Anny Studios, a really cool/pretty hostel run by an American guy from California.

That's our hostel! There were marble steps in front of our room. It rained one morning. I wore flip flops. Do you know how disastrous that was? I couldn't sit down comfortably for 2 days. It was sad but hilarious (in hindsight).

Fun thing about Perissa: BLACK SAND BEACH. By sand I actually mean "pebble", but WHATEVER.
Welcome to paradise, right? That first day, we got to the hostel, ran to our room, changed into our swimsuits, and promptly fell asleep on the beach for like 4 hours. Words cannot express how black I was when we woke up. Yikes.

A lot of the places on the island were closed because we weren't there during tourist season, but all the restaurants were still up and running. Let me just say: Greece = CHEAP FOOD. I was so happy. A plate that would have cost me €12-14 in Louvain-la-Neuve cost me €7 in Perissa. Thank you, terrible Greek economy! You saved my pocketbook from certain death. Below is a picture of Karen with one such plate.



On the day before we left the island, we went up to Oia and Fira, the two main tourist cities. They're the ones where all the buildings are white with blue circle roofs! SO PRETTY. I'm not even going to talk about it; I'm just going to post pictures.

Fira



Fira is also forever endeared to my heart because I found €20 on the ground there.

The view at Oia







If you can be unhappy in Oia and/or Fira and/or on the general island of Santorini, then you just need to go on ahead and end it. I'm a pretty grouchy person, and even I was like, "SO PRETTY WANT TO STAY FOREVER." Pretty much all the place was missing was a herd of unicorns.

We left the island (sadly) and went back to spend a day on the mainland in Athens! Again, I won't talk: I'll just post pictures.



FUN FACT ABOUT GREECE/ATHENS IN GENERAL: there are random orange/lemon trees EVERYWHERE. They're just on the side of the road, chillin', growing fruit. Don't believe me? I have proof.

See the oranges?

The Acropolis!

The Parthenon! There was a little kid behind me; his dad was trying to explain to him that the Parthenon was very very old, and the kid goes, "...why hasn't it broke yet?" Bahahahahahaha

And here's a picture of the Alps from our plane back to Germany!


Greece is a blast in a glass. I like it!

Updates are going to start picking up. I only have 12 more days left here in Belgium, and there's a lot I want to cover. Check back soon/often for more junk!

Spring Break part 1

I'm late. I know. But I'm always late so y'all should have expected as much.

The first stop on our Spring Break Tour was Börnsborg, Germany, where Nick's family lives. It's in a quiet little corner of Germany; to get there we took the train from Louvain-la-Neuve to Luxembourg, got on a bus at Luxembourg,and his mom picked us up at the station in Saarbrücken, Germany. There's all kinds of rolling hills and greenery around their place; it's really gorgeous and when we got there we took a walk.



Pretty, isn't it? We chilled out that night (travelling sucks, btw), and ate a lot and watched tv in English. Not even gonna lie, it was kind of nice.

Nick's family went on vacation to Spain shortly thereafter, so for the most part we had the house to ourselves. One day we sat in the house literally all day in our pajamas. Another morning, Nick got up, fired up the grill, and made us Bavarian breakfast (i.e., sausage and beer) which we ate out on the patio.



I want to say that particular beer was cristal weissen (I'm pants at spelling German). It was the noms, and it took me until we left that afternoon to finish it. We drove out to the Japanese garden! The Japanese Garden had just opened and not everything was blooming yet, but it was still gorgeous. The gift shop had tea cups that said 茶 on them which I found funny/snarky because 茶 reads "cha" which means "tea".





The next day was Homburg for shopping and castle ruin exploring!






After having my camera for the better part of 7 years I've finally learned how to work it to take awesome shots like that last one. Win!





It was pretty cool. There was also a tower that Annie and I tried to climb up, but we got to the top of the stairs and it was roped off. Thanks, Germany. Thanks.

After that, it was on to the airport to get to Athens!

I like Germany. I pick on a select few of my friends all the time because they're OBSESSED with the place (I'm looking at you; Patty), but having gone there myself I now am forced to take back SOME of my teasing. Not all of it. Not even half of it. More like 1/5 of it. But I'm still taking some of it back. Take what you can get.

Next time, it's Greece!

What? Tease!

Hey guys! I'm back from my bajillion day long vacation, feelin' all refreshed and lookin' all tan (read as, "darker than I've ever been in my life") and what not. I've been travelling for 2 weeks none stop, pretty much, and, needless to say, I've got a lot to talk about and even more pictures to show. I'm pretty sure I have upwards of 300 pictures from Greece and Germany, and since I definitely can't do all of those in one post here's what the plan's gonna be:

1. Easter post tomorrow
2. Germany post Monday or Tuesday
3. Greece post Wednesday or Friday

Here's a little teaser so you know what you're in for:


The Japanese Garden at Homburg


Oia, Santorini, Greece

Be jealous :p

I made it!

I've made it to Greece! I'm currently fending off Mosquitos in the port café we're passing the night in before we catch the ferry to Santorini in the morning, but whatever: I'm here in one piece.

So Greece. The countryside is beautiful. The water's really beautiful. Athens? Sketchy. Sketchy looking and dirty. We think we may have found the nicer part of town on the train, but there was no time to investigate.

The ferry tomorrow is out at 7:55 in the morning, and it's SEVEN HOURS LONG. I will try not to cry. Y'all know I don't do water. After that, though, it's 4 days of beach and sun and wonderfulness. I'm excited.

Things I've Learned:
1: Greek food is cheap
2: Greek food is delicious
3: Greek food is filling
4: Greece is diverse. I've seen more different types of people here in 7 hours than I have in 4 months in Belgium

Deutschland Deutschland

Hey guys! How's it hanging?

Spring Break has officially begun! This week, Nick, Annie, Grace and I are in Germany staying at Nick's house. I'm not quite sure where it is, and he's gone on a run so I can't ask him, but the googling weather says I'm in Steinach am Glan. Either way, I'm close to Trier, which is where Clemson chemical engineering majors go to study abroad.

The weather. Here. Is. PERFECT. It's presently 19° C, which is close to 70° F. I FEEL LIKE I'M BACK IN SOUTH CAROLINA OH MY GOODNESS. Yesterday, we took a walk through the woods and sat out by a lake forever and played with Nick's dog. It was a good day. We even got to go to Ramstein, AND THERE WAS HAIR CARE PRODUCT I FLIPPED OUT ALL OVER THE PLACE. Seriously, I've never been so excited over hair grease. Ever.

Germany is so pretty I can't even stand it. It's all rolling hills and pastures and farm animals and deer and giant bunny rabbits and perfectly placed trees. Unfortunately, I can't put up pictures right now (not that I've taken many thus far) because I don't have my laptop on me, but they're coming. Oh they're coming.

Later this week, we're touring castles. A lot. Because it's Germany, and what is there to do? Tomorrow, we're going to Mannheim (I think)!

Check back soon for castle rants :D

Things I've learned:
1. Germany is gorgeous
2. Germany has perfect weather
3. Yes. They really do drive 80 bajillion mph--excuse me, km/h.

Napping on castles because I'm a boss

Last Saturday, Nick, Annie, Grace and I went on a day trip to Gand! Gand, of course, is the French name for Ghent. The Flemish name is Gent. Oh Belgium, you confuse me so with you interlingual politics.

Anyway, Ghent was great! It's got canals and awesome churches (y'all know how I love churches) and castles and parks and oh my giddy goodness! I can show you better than I can tell you.

This is Gand. Gent. Ghent. Whatever. It pretty much looks like a Disney movie threw up all over it, except for the lamp posts with Michael the Archangel slaying dragons on top of them. I love Disney movies, so I'm cool with that.

CASTLE. I love castles! This is the Gravensteen which is literally just sort of hanging in the city center. It was built in 1180, and was falling apart until the 1880s when the people of Ghent started reconstructing it. Now it's a museum with lots of castle-y weapons (spears, maces, GIANT SWORDS WITH 5 FOOT BLADES; y'know, the usual) and pretty rifles. Seriously, the rifles had ivory-looking panoramas carved into them. Ridiculous.

And this is me. Laying out on the lawn on top of the Gravensteen. I definitely fell asleep there. That's right. I napped on a castle. Be jealous.

There are a couple of interesting churches in Gand. One of them is Sint-Jacobskerk, which we passed by but didn't go in (it has purple window shutters!), and then there's Sint-Niklaaskerk (which is a MONSTER oh my goodness it looks like a castle but it's a CHURCH), and, my favorite, Sint-Baafskathedraal. This is Sint-Baafs:

Impressed already, aren't you? I know. I know.

Y'all know how I love big old impressive/imposing churches. We walked up to it and my mouth was open. It was really undignified. It got worse when we went inside. Pictures aren't allowed inside Saint Bavo's (the English way of saying Sint-Baafs) but I love it so much I found some on the internet to show you. Seriously, this is my favorite church in Europe thus far and I must share it with you folks back home.

That is the altar. Just the altar. There's a big walk around the altar that you and it's got all these little side cubbies with shrines (I use the term loosely, and only because I have NO IDEA what to call these little rooms that are everywhere in Europe) with impressive sculptures and paintings of Jesus and one of them had a narrative painting of the crucifixion and oh my.

I love Saint Bavo's. Everything is black and white. More specifically, everything is black and marble. You heard me. Marble. Think the altar was something? That's not even the best part. This is:

THAT IS THE PULPIT. THAT IS THE PULPIT. THAT IS THE PULPIT. DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW EXCITING THAT IS? IT IS OAK AND MARBLE AND THE SERPENT IS A DRAGON AND THE APPLES ARE GOLDEN AND THERE'S A DOVE ABOVE WHERE THE PREACHER'S HEAD GOES DO YOU SEE THIS.

I wanted to curl up in a ball and live in it. I still do, actually (just in case you couldn't tell).

We ended the day by sitting in a park near the train station. If you didn't notice, it was a gorgeous day. It was 75° and perfect, and lying on top of the Gravensteen was the most peaceful moment I've had in the last 8 or so months--heck, let's make that in the last year. Someone build me a castle at home so I can nap on the roof when the going gets tough (or when I otherwise feel like it).

Easter Break starts this weekend and goes through the 22nd! Friday I leave for Germany for a week, and then I'm on to Greece (Santorini, specifically) to lay on a beach and drink fruity drinks all day. Updates will be few and far between (or nonexistent) until I get back because I'm not taking my computer. I will, however, take lots and lots of pictures and post a good percentage of them here so you guys can see :]

Things I've learned:
1. Ghent is the city of French Bulldogs, epic mustaches, pregnant women, and people who speak really really good English.
2. It does get warmer than 55° in Belgium
3. 70° F is 20° C
4. Canals are cool
5. Castles are good places for naps

Day trippin' : Leuven

Hey guys! Long time no post, I know, but I've been sickish lately (yayyyyy sinuses!) and therefore hiding in my room, not doing anything exciting (like taking over Europe). Gear up though, because this might be a long one.

Yesterday, I was supposed to go to Brussels with Grace but we didn't so I ended up on a train to Leuven with Nick and Annie instead. Leuven's about 50 minutes from Louvain-la-Neuve if you catch the fast train, and it's the site of the original UCL (the university I'm studying at). The only problem is that Leuven, and, consequently, the university, are in Flemish country, and the Flemish and the Walloons (French speaking Belgians) hate each other, so they kicked the French students out of the university. I'm not joking. I couldn't make this stuff up. We wandered around Leuven for about 5 hours, getting into mischief, chasing ducks, and meeting funny Irishmen in restaurant/pubs named after Nostradomus.

Random river/large creek that ran through the city

Saint Michael's church

The canal!

Saint Gertrude's Cathedral at twilight

Leuven's pretty great. It's slightly smaller than Greenville, area-wise. It's about the size of two Mauldins. There is Mexican food there, which has endeared it to my heart forever, and cool old buildings, and it's got a cozier feel than Brussels. There's some huge mansion/castle/thing on top of a hill that we didn't make it to before dark, so we're going to see that next time! I count this day trip a success.

Next week, we're going to Waterloo, where Napoleon had his last stand. I like Napoleon. He was tiny and powerful and didn't take anyone's crap. Like me!

Now I'm gonna go off on a tangent!

So, I love French hip hop. It's AWESOME. Kayna Samet, Soprano, Sinik; they're all great. When we go out, however, they play house music (i.e., techno) and not hip hop, so I'm all pouty and going through francophone rap withdrawals. I was having lunch with Nick yesterday before we jetted off to Leuven, and he played me a song by this group Sexion d'Assaut called "Désolé" ("Sorry"). It's got your bread and butter of rap songs (I had to go find myself in the streets, etc.) but some parts of it are also really political. One of the guys (Adams; how random is his name) calls Paris ALCATRAZ, and talks about war and how he wants to be with his people in Senegal.

Here's a link to the lyrics in French and in English so you can follow along!
http://lyricstranslate.com/en/desole-sorry.html


SO. MUCH. AWESOME. IN. ONE. SONG. When Nick played it I was sort of "Buhh" about it until the guy who does the chorus started singing. LISTEN TO HIM. I LOVE HIM.

I am now on a quest to find more French rap, preferably of the Belgian variety because I think these guys are based out of Paris. Wish me luck!

Valumtime's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to you lot! I hope you had an amazing day full of chocolates and/or general splendor. I had a great day getting haircuts and lunch with my Valentine Kim (one of the girls here from Clemson), and going to the movies with my other Valentines, The Karens and Nick! Nick was even a darling and brought chocolate.

I know y'all are like, "I DON'T CARE ABOUT CHOCOLATE WHAT DO YOU MEAN HAIRCUT." Calm down. It's not that big a deal. Kim and I spent Saturday scouring Brussels for hair salons because she really wanted to do something to her hair, and I figured, "You're in Europe. Why not get a fashionable bang/layer combo?" so I went along. Turns out it's cheaper to get it done here in Louvain-la-Neuve, so today we went to CN Celini to get our hurr did. Kim's hair looks great. The girl that did it, however, was nervously eying me the entire time she was washing Kim out, and when I said, "Just do a side bang." because I was not going to risk layers with Nervous McTwitcherton, she seriously cut 2 strands of hair and declared herself done. Thank goodness I told her to cut it long, so I don't look ridiculous. I'm just going to have to suck it up and find my way to Matongé to get my hair done, it seems.

We went to see Rien à Declarer, a comedy about these French and Belgian customs officers who work in a town directly on the border between France and Belgium. The Belgium officer hates French things/people, and the French officer is having an affair with his sister. It was hilarious! It didn't help that the only song in the movie was "I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly. Yes. The song from Space Jam. I almost cried I was laughing so hard. The cinema is 5 € for everyone on Mondays, so we just made a date of it.

I think that's it... I made garlic green beans for Sunday dinner and they were apparently a smash hit! Before this is over, I will know how to cook. Watch.

Things I've learned about Belgium:
1. PDA is everywhere. People will stop in the middle of the road to start kissing. They don't need an excuse like Valentine's Day.
2. Rain is to Belgium as fog is to London. I will just have to learn to live with it
3. The SPAR is the only grocery store in Louvain-la-Neuve that is open on Sundays apart from the White Knight, but that is all the way up the mountain (i.e., very far from me)
4. Dogs here pretty much have free reign, but they're pretty well trained
5. In Belgium, it can go from being gorgeous and warm outside to raining to freezing. In the same day. In a 5 hour period.

I call shenanigans.

It has been beautiful for the last 2 days in Louvain-la-Neuve. Pleasant weather, sun shining, fluffy clouds... Clearly God is rewarding me for something. Probably for not doing what I'm about to tell you about.

Also, that hair salon I thought I found? Not a hair salon at all. Disappointment.

Today, I'm going to get political on you guys. I've been typing this post for a few days now at the suggestion of a few people, but nothing important like Sunday Dinner has happened so I can finally upload it today. I've probably told this story a thousand times since it happened (okay, 4; whatever), but one more time won't hurt. This, ladies and gentleman, is the story of last Thursday night.

WARNING: if you want to keep believing that I'm not a snarly beast, stop reading right now.

Thursday, Nick decided that I was going out; no excuses. To be fair, I've had a lot of excuses. I've been sick since before I went to Prague and I just don't like parties, especially ones where you're told to "dress to get dirty". I don't own things that can get dirty. No thank you. It was a convenient excuse. After a bit of half-hearted kicking and screaming, I gave in and sacrificed a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, and a pair of shoes to the great kraken known as The Cercle Party.

Let me explain. The "cercles" are fraternities here. They throw crazy insane parties Sunday-Thursday, and none on the weekends because everyone's gone home to recover. According to our Belgian associates, Thursday is the biggest party because it's the last one of the week. These parties, from what I've been told, are disgusting. There's beer on the floor, some may get on your body, and there's a good chance you will be vomited on. There is no way you can convince me that this is fun. It's just not going to happen.

But I went, mostly so I could say, "That was miserable, I'm never doing it again." and never do it again. I digress.

We started the night at Kate's apartment. Kate is one of the girls here from Clemson; her roommates (all guys) are cool people, and they do a pretty good job of taking care of us poor, hopeless Americans. This is especially pathetic as half of them are American freshman age. I am being chaperoned by high school seniors: look at my life; look at my choices. Anyway, we hang out at Kate's for a few hours, playing card games and generally enjoying ourselves, and when the time comes we head to Casa, which is where the night's big shenanigans were supposed to happen. We're a pretty jolly bunch, all skipping and singing down the road.

And then it happened.

We're walking down the street in a mob acting like your typical 18-22 year olds on a Friday night only it was Thursday. Dylan (on of Kate's roommates), and I are making up the back of the line; we all love each other and everything is wonderful, and when Romeo, the only other black kid with us, makes what I assume was a joke (I honestly have no idea what he said), Dylan laughingly responds with, "Somethingsomethingsomething, you crazy n-word-which-I-refuse-to-say."

Oh no. He. Di'n't.

Yes. In fact, he did.

And I went from 0 to 500 in a very impressive half second.

Nick, bless him, was in the middle of Dylan and me, and I think he knew exactly what was about to happen because he looks at me with this miserable look on his face as if to say, "Oh God we are all going to die."

Me being me, which is to say an ill-tempered hoodlum prone to violent outbursts (no, really; it's true), reached across poor Nick and shoved. Hard. And then I stomped off, glaring and still pretty unhappy (to make the understatement of the year and it's only February), to the front of the group with Grace and Karen O., who I think saw me shove but did not hear what happened, and who now want to know why Dylan is looking after me, horrified and afraid for his life. (mild exaggeration; but if he wasn't he should have been)

I got over it in record time, and that says a lot because I get mad and stay that way for at least 3 days (no exaggeration). After a minute or 2 I stopped snarling, and I was almost okay with the world again when I look up and who is in front of me but Dylan, with Nick behind him for what I assume was moral/physical support: moral because the kid still looked petrified, and physical in case I decided to break his nose for funsies.

Dylan, poor boy, tried to explain to me that he didn't mean it like that, and it doesn't mean bad things here in Belgium, and he's not a racist (exact words: "I love black people!"). I'm not hearing it. I'm about to pound on dude's face, and I think Nick can sense this because he starts saying to him, "Say you're sorry. Say you're sorry. Tell her you're sorry." It was a step in the right direction, but we're a bit past sorries, love. Sorry. (see what I did there?)

Eventually, Dylan and I hugged it out in the street, but he spent the rest of the night coming up to me at random intervals and apologizing, even after I told him it was okay. We ended the night dancing together at Casa, and we all agreed to come out again together this week.

Now let's get down to business.

Truth be told, I was waiting on it from someone. Not from anyone in particular, but I was waiting on it because I've been around people and I know what to expect. People never grow out of that good old trial-and-error "let me see what I can get away with" thing kids do. The n-word is a big shiny diamond of "I might get my butt kicked for this but I'm gonna see how far I get", and who do you know that wouldn't go for a big shiny diamond? Exactly. NO ONE.

I do not expect this from everyone. Really I don't expect it from most people. But you never know. Even I've been wrong before. (EGO)

Moreover, I, for one, am having a hard time believing that the n-word is not offensive here. Everyone has their own version of it, and it's horrible in any language; you tell me it's not and I'll call you a liar. I fully realize that "punk" was originally British slang that referred to prostitutes, but the n-word was created to dehumanize and demoralize an entire race of people--it worked, too, and it looks to me like it's still doing a pretty good job of working to this day. It's an evil word, and I've never known evil things to reform themselves. I'm going to look into this, and if I'm wrong then I'm wrong, but as of right now, I call shenanigans.

If you don't know what movie that's from, you're obviously neither my age nor in college.

Photo bomber!

Soooo I know I promised a photo dump last night and I didn't do it. I'm sorry. But you're getting it now!

Czech money! The ones that are copper-looking around the edges are 50 kč, and the silver ones are 2 kč. I have 20s too; they're gold, and look like the 2s. I saved some to bring home!

St. Nicholas Church in Old Town Square, right behind our hotel. It's so pretty! And it's in the Baroque style!

Those things poking out of the top of those buildings are actually the towers of the Church of Our Lady before Týn (Kostel Matky Boží před Týnem in Czech), also in Old Town Square, which is, quite frankly, the most terrifying church I've ever seen. It is tall and spiky and it literally scares me. Go to Wikipedia and look at it and see if it doesn't scare you too. Of course, because it is ancient and huge and impressive looking/generally imposing, I also love it with all my heart.

Old Town city hall, also in Old Town Square

The Prague astronomical clock (Pražský orloj in Czech) on the side of Old Town city hall! The astrological clock on the bottom supposedly has a lot of cult symbols in it.

One of the statues on the Charles Bridge (Karlův most in Czech)! 30 statues decorate the sides of the bridge, and they're all really intense looking and full of religious imagery (2 of my favorite characteristics in art/architecture).

THE PALACE. The two main statues on the gate (the ones in the center) were intense and murderous: homeboy on the right has a bat and is about to bludgeon someone; dude on the left has a dagger and is about to stab the other guy in the neck. INTENSE. Don't mess with the Czechs, man.





That, my friends, is Saint Vitus Cathedral, Katedrála svatého Víta in Czech. Yes, it's the one that took 600 years to build. The original architects died, leaving the building unfinished, and it wasn't until the 19th century that the Czechs hired new architects to finish it. The 2 guys who finished the cathedral actually had themselves sculpted into it; there are 2 statues hiding out over the front door of 2 men in 19th century clothes!

Inside of St. Vitus Cathedral! I walked in and just sort of stared with my mouth open. I repeat: old, impressive church = love it.

I assume this was a minor altar in the cathedral.

This was just in the middle of the street. I'm not joking. Look at that blue sky! O Sunlight, how I miss thee.

Coolest synagogue ever! THE ROSE WINDOW IS THE STAR OF DAVID. We found this on accident, trying to get to... I don't even know where we were trying to go. It was on a street called "Jeruzalémská". Prague has a huge Jewish quarter; I think this may have been on the fringes of it.

The National Museum!

The main staircase in the National Museum! It looks JUST LIKE the opera house in the Disney version of Anastasia.

My favorite building was hands down Saint Vitus Cathedral. Old gothic/Baroque churches make my life, and it was done in BOTH styles because of the gap in construction. Plus (this is completely superficial), I just like to see the church glorified.

I should have been an architect so I could make important looking churches. I have realized this, and am coming to terms with it.

In other (good) news, I FOUND A BLACK HAIR SALON IN LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE ON THE WAY TO CLASS TODAY AND I THINK THEY SELL MY BRAND OF HAIR CARE PRODUCT YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH THIS EXCITES ME OR MAYBE YOU DO.

Okay. I'm gonna go calm down now.