Back from Europe

"We call this gourmet, but the French call it 'tourist crap'." --Adam during dinner in Paris.

I'm back from my 2 week trip in Europe (Ghent, Amsterdam, Berlin, Interlaken, and Paris). There's just so much to say that I won't say too much here, but I'll answer questions if you want more info.

First, the photos. They have been posted on winkflash. If you don't know the username and password, just email me and I'll be glad to tell you the info so you can see them very easily. I only posted selected photos, not all 300 that I took (about 1.5GB).

Despite what others say, I thought that 2 weeks was the perfect amount of time. Its just the amount where I got tired of looking at cities. Also, 2 days in each city was the perfect amount of time to get a feel for them but not get bored in them. I was walking around each for 12 hours most days and essentially saw everything that is cool to see.

In brief:

Ghent: Nice city, and not touristy. We had a break during the conference on Tuesday and they paid for a guided tour in which we went to the castle and the Lamb of God and other notable sights. The conference was the best I've been to so far, probably because it is specialized. I had lots of conversations with some interesting people. I'll never forget the first words Neil Sloane said to me (before I said anything to him): "Ahh, you speak English."

Amsterdam: Absolutely outstanding to see all of the canals. Like everywhere, the photos don't do it justice. There is the smell of pot in certain spots, but not everywhere. The red light district gives a whole new meaning to window shopping.

Berlin: Very modern city as everything is either <15 years old or full of bullet holes. Went on an "8 hour" walking tour that ended up being 10.5 hours long, all for 12 Euros. The hostel (the Circus) was the best one ever and there were 3 others from there that went on the walking tour, along with 3 others from another hostel and several other tourists. The next day, 5 of us got back together and wandered around the city together. Good times.

Interlaken: Sadly, it rained most of the time I was there, but I did get some good pictures. The fog from the rain made for some interesting photos because the mountains were taller than the clouds. Walking out to the farms was cool as well. The alps were shorter than I imagined, and appeared like the rockies. The water in the lakes and ponds was an outstanding clear blue aqua color due to the glacier water.

Paris: Adam decided to surprise me and bought a plane ticket to meet me in Paris for the weekend! We had a great time seeing everything and we walked all the way from the Louvre to the Grande Arche (quite a hike). We also wandered around many parts of the city by taking the metro to a spot a few times and seeing what was there. Montmartre provided some outstanding views. The Eiffel tower is shorter than it seems from photos I had seen, but was still neat. We tried to avoid the tourists and wandered through the side streets to see the real Paris.