Paris and the Dam I look good.

Last I left you I was getting ready to begin some alone time in France. I was going to get myself a solid meal, walk around a bit and see where the night takes me. I decided on the consistent badgering of Josh I would finally try out Le Academie de Beire. It was only about a 10 minute walk from my hostel, so I figured if I drank a beer or two I'd still be able to make it back. I went to the place, got myself a bucket of mussels, some fries, and in the end 2 Belgian Beers. The first beer I had was a Grimbergen I think Optima ( truthfully I don't remember, but I took a picture for reference) and the second was a beer called Nostradamus (the 10% of content of the first beer left little options of what I could actually pronounce correctly without seeming drunk and what was easy to remember). The mussels, fries, and bieres were very good, I definitely enjoyed the first beer the most though. From there I stumbled back to my hostel and decided to take it easy for a bit.



After taking it easy I got real bored, so I thought why not wander the streets of Paris drunk! I started going down side streets I had yet to truly discover, probably not the best idea. I wasn't really lost, but as I was walking around a man started yelling at me. I thought it was just another you're a tourist let me sell you something deal, so I crossed the street. The man did the same and I kept walking faster, he came right up to me and all I could do was say no to everything he said. I don't know French and I wasn't in the mood to deal with him. He finally went away screaming at me for coming to Paris and not speaking any French, unfortunately for him there are quite a bit of my types around that city. After that awkward exchange I felt it best to find my way back to the hostel. It was about 10 and I figured I could pass out, but instead I got a call from the people I had met earlier in France. So I decided to do the next best thing, run to the metro and meet up with them. It was about a 25 minute metro to their part of town, the plan was to find the Moulin Rouge to just check it out (from the outside, 150 euros is a lot for a show). I met up with them and 2 Aussie friends they had met from their hostel. We walked around, as the man from Sydney claimed he knew where it was. About 15 minutes later we realized that the man did not know where to go. Finally after looking at a map and seeing the direction to somewhat head in we began a trek. We started walking when finally we were able to ask for some semblance of directions from a local. He sent us to the nearby metro. On our walk we noticed something strange, police in riot gear and a very quiet town. I hadn't seen police in riot gear since my days at MSU, but these cops seemed a little more intimidating as to not be here when whatever was to happen was going down. We quickly shot up to the metro station, watched nothing happen from a distance and got out of there to the sex district of Paris. We walked up the street, passing all sorts of sex shows until we reached Moulin Rouge. Many people were gathered outside doing the picture thing as we all did as well. We got back on the metro around midnight, got off at the riot stop where the clear smell of burning suffocated the air and got on our respective metro changes as we all parted ways for the last time as they were headed back to their studyin abroad.

The next day in Paris I was determined to get myself some solid French food and go to the Orsay. I immediately headed down to the Orsay and got myself a crepe before I waited in line for about 30 minutes. It was worth the wait, I really enjoyed the it there, it's more modern art and a lot of stuff I know. I did wonder though, how the man "guarding" the painting titled "The origin of the world" feels about his life. I mean it's a very well done painting, but having to stare at it all day has to make him a little disturbed (the painting is very famous and also of a hairy vagina for those wondering). After spending a couple hours there I decided my next stop was to get lunch. I had read about a place called L'as du Fallafel, it was written in one of my books (for real this time) and supposedly is pretty famous. They had all sorts of celebrity pictures on the wall and are known to be the best fallafel in France and possibly Europe. I'm not a huge fallafel fan normally, but decided why not. I got the fallafel special and it was awesome. It was fallafel in a pita with a lot of radishes, some sauce I put on it, and some other stuff that I can't remember now. I accompanied it with fries and an orange fanta, both excellent choices by myself.

After the meal was complete I realized I had stumbled into the Jewish quarters of France. Surrounding me were delis, kosher pastry shops, and orthodox Jews walking up and down the street. I hung around the area checking it out and taking a bunch of pictures. I continued my trek through the neighborhood when I stumbled upon the Jewish art history museum. I wasn't gonna go in, but I was intrigued. Then I looked and it was gonna cost me 5 euros and I definitely didn't want to go in, however, I felt like a bad Jew cause I could pay money to these other art museums in France and this could go to a smaller place. Plus I was wondering what kind of art history, would there be paintings? sculptures? just old torah dressings? So finally I went in. After the strenuous security check point I finally got inside to pay. I went to pay and jackpot, it was free in the end. I walked around for about an hour, the traditional Jewish known pieces of art (seder plates, torah stuff, a special section on a bris in which I will never be the same) reigned supreme. I was slightly disappointed in that regard because I had seen much of that stuff before, however, the scarce paintings and drawings that did exist by Jewish artists were quite awesome. In the biographies of a lot of the painters they didn't seem to make Judaism a huge part of their lives, thus I think part of the reason they didn't feature stuff by them more so, but what can you do.

After that it was already getting late, I walked back and hung out at my hostel for a bit. Then I decided it was time for my meal. I had discovered a great restaurant area when I had been wandering around earlier in the day so figured I would head back. Of course I never actually do that and took a chance by getting off at a different metro stop. It worked out well, I was in the Bastille area where plenty of restaurants garnished the area. I finally found what I was looking for, stepped in and took a seat. I ordered a ravioli dish with foie gras... I figured if I was spending 20 euros on the very off chance I don't like it, I'd at least have some additional substance with my meal. I got myself a glass of red wine, toasted the night and went to eat. The foie gras was good, it melts in your mouth, which is always fun for food. I'm sure as an actual meal it's prepared a bit differently, but there was a good amount and it was all on top of the ravioli, so I was able to taste before mixing anything else with it. During my meal Ben and Jerrys were passing out mini tubs of ice cream to people, but I unfortunately didn't make it to them in time. I was going to get something else after my meal, but headed back to the hostel and realized the red wine I had was telling me it was time to go to sleep so I passed out for an early night (it was 11 at the time, so not that early).

The next morning I woke up, got myself one last pastry (some chocolate filled thing) and headed to the train station. I decided to mix things up on my train ride this time, watch some Boy Meets World on my ipod instead since I missed out seeing French Topanga while I was there, thought why not watch the episode. I was slated to switch trains in Belgium, my ticket was for the fast train there and a slow train back or I could try to pay to stay on the fast train. Instead I acted lost, met a nice conducter type dude, and he let me stay on the train for free. I got to Amsterdam a couple hours earlier than anticipated, walked 10 minutes from the train station, smelled an aroma in the air making me check to see if certain friends of mine had actually met me (realized it's just the way the city smells) and ended up at my hostel (which also happens to be a coffee shop).

I decided I'd explore the city, one thing I really liked was although they may not have a specialization of their own food tons of restaurants, cheese shops and street vendors exist here. After walking around for about an hour I realized I had only eaten some pringles and a chocolate thing that day so I stopped by a restaurant called Oorf. I ordered a club sandwich and cheese sticks. Now I figured they wouldn't be normal cheese sticks so I wanted to see their take. It was the best decision of my life. I'm not sure the cheese it was filled with (tasted like kaseri, the saganaki cheese) and the fried outside was the spring roll/egg roll/tempura type filling. It was 6 sticks of heaven, who needs to smoke when you can have shit like that here! After I decided to wander the streets some more, it wasn't dark yet, but was beginning. I walked pretty far away from my hostel, the streets are easy to navigate though. As I walked I had a flashback to the French dude on the streets. This time it was 2 punk kids hanging out who started yelling at me. I was sober this time and just left as they called me a motherfucker for not taking a second to chat with them.

I finally headed back to the hostel as the darkness set in and the red lights of the city shined brightly. I wasn't sure what I was going to do for the evening, hadn't really met anyone, but decided to walk the red light district. I wasn't sure how people would react to the kid with the black hoodie walking by himself. I tried to join along with the old people tours (so many of them, kind of insane) that would go up and down the alleys with amusement. There were some beautiful women, lots of them smoking or on their cellphones in the window. There were also some really ugly women and most just stood there. Every once in a while you'd see a man slide up secretly to negotiate some prices, but not too much. After an hour I got hungry again, decided to hit up some "New York Style" pizza joint on the street, was pretty good and walked around some more til I was tired. Went to bed around midnight after mapping out the next day.

I woke up this morning with the intent of getting some breakfast and then to go straight to the Anne Frank house. I stopped at the cheese shop next to my hostel, grabbed 3 euros worth of gouda (which turned out well, I ate about 3/4 throughout the day until I realized by 6 p.m it probably was not good to still be eating from my pocket). I wasn't sure how I'd react to Anne Frank, especially by myself. I got there in the cold weather in about 15 minutes after walking from my hostel. I waited in line for about 15 more minutes and got in there. I was hit pretty hard by it, I read the book as a kid and the holocaust has always had some effect on me (I still remember my most terrifying dream in 8th grade after reading that book of being taken by the Nazis), but I was a kid so it's not the same. I walked through looking at what remained, the quotes, and the steep staircases to walk through. I didn't cry (I don't do that in front of people), but something definitely hit me emotionally. It was an awesome place though, I recommend it to anyone. I feel like maybe I should read it again, but I don't know if I could handle it mentally to be honest, it was pretty intense in there. I decided to go to the Van Gogh museum afterwards, it was about a 30 minute walk, but much needed and worked out great. By the time I was there my mind was cleared, I had thought through everything and made it to the museum.

I wasn't gonna go to the Van Gogh, but then I saw the adds for a special exhibition of Colours of the Night of Van Gogh. They had borrowed Starry Night from New York and had a special exhibit of how he built up to that painting. The whole museum as a whole was great, I really enjoy his art, but the exhibit made it more than worth the price of admission. I had always wanted to see Starry Night (with the whole Boy Meets World connection of course) and it was pretty awesome. After the hour or so I spent there it was off to the Rijksmuseum. It's under heavy construction so it was actually a pretty short trip as to what you could actually see. It did have some amazing paintings, but worked out well with the amount since I had just been in another art museum anyway.

I grabbed a hot dog on the street (decent, not great) and headed what I assumed was either for real lunch or the hostel. Instead I bumped right into the Heinekin brewery and thought what better time than now with a pretty empty stomach to get free alcohol. It was a pretty sweet tour, taking you through their history, tasting the beer in different steps, tasting the barley, getting a couple free drinks, stealing a free coaster (I was drunk, nobody noticed) and they even had a motion ride of the beer making process. Afterwards I headed up the street, grabbed a bagel with tuna (I thought I was at Brueggers I guess), they put capers and olives on those sandwiches, was good tuna on it's own, it don't need that stuff! I quickly sobered up with food and finally headed back to my hostel. It wasn't too hard to find, I used previous places I ate at to guide my way back.

As for the smoking, the brownies, the spacecakes, I'm still undecided. I have one more day here. I think if I was with someone else or had met more than the one guy in my hostel (he's just staying here to look for a place to live in Haarlem) maybe I'd do it and I still may. It's not a lack of knowledge or afraid of what I may accidentally put in my body, I'd like to think I actually know a decent amount about the stuff for someone who doesn't smoke thanks to unnamed people, but it just doesn't have that same feel by myself. Of course tomorrow, a day I basically have of freedom maybe I'll mix things up and go for it, we shall see. Anyway, it was a long one, but hope you enjoyed what you read. Berlin on Saturday, Amsterdam tomorrow, and who knows whereelse I'll be headed.

I be out (and yes I'm in a coffee shop using their internet and probably am high off the 2nd hand smoke cause I just started smiling randomly, eeeeeekers)

B K