Fighting Terrorists in Belgium

So last weekend my roommate and I travelled to Brussels, Belgium and kicked the crap out of a few terrorists. Just kidding, we had a fairly uneventful weekend really. My parents were freaking out though.

I got in on Friday night and walked around a little, checked out the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, which is a neat looking cathedral. It was also raining a little, so I headed to my hostel pretty quick. 

The next day I walked through Le Botanique, which is really pretty, I would highly recommend it. You wouldn’t expect it to be so nice since it’s in the middle of a city, but I just walked around the garden and was pretty happy. Then I looked at the inside of the cathedral, which was also very nice. Nothing incredibly special, but a good-looking church. After that, I met up with my roommate in Brussels Park, which is a small but quaint park, and we walked down to Parc du Cinquentenaire. It’s a pretty long walk, and it was raining/snowing the whole way so we arrived cold and wet. We got lunch while we were there, didn’t go into any of the museums beyond the lobby of the car one though. Get the hot chocolate, they serve it as hot milk with chocolate on a stick, it’s great.

Afterwards, we walked back and saw the Galleries St. Hubert. We managed to find decently priced macaroons and speculoos, a Belgium biscuit, inside. Then we did the rounds of the peeing stature, Jeanneke Pis, Zinneke Pis, and Mannekin Pis. There are a ton of waffle places near Mannekin Pis, it’s great.

Then we decided to take the train into Brugges. This was a nice contrast, Brugges is known as “the Venice of the North” because of its narrow streets and canals. We got there while the Christmas concert was happening, so we were very happy and got fries and fried bananas. The stalls also had some really nice trinkets for sale. Other highlights are the City Theatre with its statue of Papageno out front, and the Minnewater Park.

The next day we wanted to go to the Musical Instrument Museum, but all the museums were closed due to the threats going on. So we wandered around Grand Place instead, and bought a ton of chocolate to bring back with us. Then we headed back to Scotland.

I really liked Belgium, it has very nice food which is always a plus. And people told me that since Brussels is a political city it isn’t that interesting, but I liked wandering around checking out all the comic strip themed public art. Pairing it with Brugges was a great idea because it gave a bit of contrast as well.

That’s my last trip for a while, as I need to get through finals now. Ugh.

Munich: Beer and Currywurst

Last weekend I went on a short trip to Munich! It was my first time going to Germany, and I was freaking out a little about the language barrier and all that. It ended up fine though, most people know at least a little English, so with my few phrases that I learned from a YouTube video before flying out I made it along just fine!

I got to Munich late on Friday, and then on Saturday had a full day of touristy things planned. First I went to the Frauenkirche, Munich’s most iconic church. I quite liked the outside, with the towers in front. The inside was mostly meh though. To contrast, there’s the Asamkirche, right down the road from the Marienplatz, or the center of town. It looks like it’s just part of the road, but when you enter there are intricate statues and marble everywhere! It’s a gorgeous church, and I like it much more than the Frauenkirche. After that I went back to the Marienplatz to see the glockenspiel go off around midday. I went up to the top of the bookstore across the street, which gave me a really nice view. The glockenspiel mimes two stories from Germany’s history, the first one is where this couple are getting married, and involves two knights jousting (the Bavarian one wins of course). The second is based on a story how way back in the day during the plague men would dance down the street to cheer up the locals. It’s reenacted every seven years or so (I think the next one is in 2019). That was crowded, but well worth it since the glockenspiel was pretty cool to watch!

After that I headed down the road to the Viktualienmarkt, the local food market. People said that it was pricey, but I shopped around a little and managed to find some cheap eats. I would definitely recommend grabbing some currywurst (basically a hot dog with sauce and fries), a bretzel (German pretzel), and a beer in the biergarten. Once I finished lunch, I walked down to see the Munich Residentz, the royal palace. It costs money to enter, so I didn’t, but the garden behind it is very nice and the building is pretty impressive. After that I went to the Alte Pinakothek, an art museum. When I went half of it was being renovated, which was a bit of a letdown, but the ticket was cheaper so that’s nice. It has mostly works by old European masters, which was interesting but not really my style so much. Still, it’s a nice museum.

Then I walked through the English garden. It’s a gorgeous place, and enormous! There’s also people surfing at this permanent wave formed by a bridge in Eingang, very neat to watch. Then I crossed the River Isar to see the Angle of Peace, a stunning statue. I had heard that there was another food market at Wienerplatz, but it was a bit of a disappointment because only one shop was open. Maybe I went on a slow day or something, but don’t expect anything like the Viktualienmarkt. I headed back to the hostel after that, stopping for some schnitzel (basically a chicken cutlet) and a doner kebap (a sandwich with Middle Eastern influences). Both were delicious, I was very happy!

I then had to leave the next morning, which was sad as I didn’t get the chance to see the Dauchau concentration camp just outside of town. But Munich was lovely, the streets are all quaint and gorgeous, and just being in Germany listening to people speak a language I didn’t understand was incredible! I am very glad that I went. 

(I Am)sterdam

Last weekend I went to Amsterdam! It was incredible! Despite the fact that I adore the UK and Scotland, I fell in love with that city. The way my travels worked out included taking an 8 am flight back to Scotland on Monday morning, so I had the Monday from hell and didn’t have time to write about it last weekend. (Seriously my Monday involved quietly getting out of the hostel at 4:30 am and then taking a train, plane, and a bus back to Glasgow in time for class where I had to act like my life was together enough to be dissecting a cadaver in anatomy. It was the longest Monday I think I’ve ever had.)

Anyways so I got to Amsterdam on Friday night, and it was an incredible first impression. I got a little lost in the Red Light District, but surprisingly enough no one bothered me at all. And it was interesting to see that side of the city as well. I eventually made it to De Oude Kerk, and then from there to the National Monument and Royal Palace. From there it was pretty easy to find my hostel. After checking in, I decided to check out the nightlife. Turns out that where I was staying (Amsterdam Hostel Orfeo) is right in the middle of a pretty bustling area since it’s next to the Liedseplein, a square with a bunch of shops in it. There’s a really cool jazz club, Jazz Café Alto, right down the road that I’d recommend.

Oh yes and the coffeeshops. That’s where you can buy marijuana really easily. You can get pre-rolled joints or by the gram. If you go for the pre-rolled, then there’s either ones with tobacco or a “pure weed” joint. Be careful, weed there is stronger than in the states. There’s also space cakes, pro tip, don’t eat the whole damn thing, those take a few hours to go through your system and you don’t want to overdo it. It’s a pretty cool atmosphere inside the coffeeshops though, maybe check one out just for that.

Another pro tip: bikers are everywhere, watch out while you’re walking! (Especially after visiting a coffeeshop.)

Then on Saturday I started off my going to the Max Euplein square, which also has some nifty shops. Afterwards I walked to Begijnhof, which is this tiny square that dates from the 18^th century and is a great place to get away from the bustle of the city. It’s also free to walk around in! Then I headed to the Bloemenmarkt, a floating flower market! There weren’t any flowers in bloom, since it’s November, but it was still a pretty sight. After that I walked to the Hotel Droog, this quirky interior design store. From what I understand, there are Droogs all over Amsterdam where you can look at the furniture, they’re pretty cool. Another market in the area is the Waterlooplein market. This one is mostly clothes, objects, and food, a great place to wander around. One other tourist destination is the Magere Brug, or the skinny bridge. I didn’t think it was that special, the canals and bridges look gorgeous all over the city. Finally there’s the Albert Cryup market, in the southern part of the city. Also clothes and food, this one seemed a bit more lively than the Waterlooplein market, but they’re both excellent really. And that’s just down the road from Vondelpark, a gorgeous and huge park that’s wonderful to walk around in.

Sunday then started off with the Anne Frank Huis. You have to pay for all of the museums in Amsterdam, so I decided to just go for one. (The Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum look excellent as well.) Get there early as the queue can get very long. Other than that, it’s a wonderful museum, really brings a different perspective to Anne Frank and her story. The Anne Frank Huis is just next door to the Jordaan district, which is filled with interesting little artsy shops and beautiful houses. I then spent the afternoon in Noord Amsterdam, since taking the ferry behind Centraal Station is free! There’s not much in Noord Amsterdam besides the Eye film museum, but still nice to see a more residential area. Also they say that you have to pay to get into the Eye museum, but if you walk in and go downstairs you don’t need to pay to see their 360 degree theater and video pods down there.

Then Monday was just get up and go, so that was my weekend in Amsterdam.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the food though. The Dutch cheese is amazing, seriously if you need a snack walk into a cheese shop and sample a few. I mean, if you’re spending a ton of time there then buy something, but it’s cool to just walk in and sample a few and then leave. The pancakes are also amazing! Buy a ton of their mini pancakes, poffertjes, since they are the best thing I ate all weekend. And raw herring is a bit of a specialty, so grab some of that in a market. Stroofwaffles are also a specialty, they’re two waffles with caramel between them and sometimes chocolate spread on top. There are also these stores called FEBO all over the city. It’s similar to a vending machine, and most of the options are basically fried gravy. It’s an interesting experience, if nothing else.

I would definitely 2195678463% recommend visiting Amsterdam, it was an amazing weekend for me and I fell in love with the canals, people, and food there. Ugh, I want to go back so badly, but on to the next adventure!

“Taggerung” by Brian Jacques

I think of this story as the counterpart to “Outcast of Redwall”. In that tale, a weasel (I think, a vermin species anyways) is brought up at Redwall and then proceeds to prove that he is still a jerk. In this tale, an otter is brought up in a clan of vermin and hen proves that he is still good and eventually returns to Redwall.

It gives more of an insight into different tribes in the Redwall universe, such as the otters and the Juska clans of villains. Which is pretty cool, since previously we had more insight into the Guosim shrews than the otters. The vermin no one really cares about.

Abbess Song is mentioned a lot, but really the only character from previous books is Lady Cregga, who is still kicking as the badger of Redwall. She’s awesome.

Really the only aspect of the plot that I had an issue with was that at the end a clan of vermin come to attack Redwall again. And then Russano and his gang of hares show up and basically conveniently drive them off. There isn’t even a battle. How quaint.

So that’s a little too convenient for my liking, but the rest of the story mostly involves small gangs of characters running around, not large armies, which is an interesting change.

One thing I did expect more of was Fwirl’s mother. Fwirl tells her story, and then Tagg meets her mother in the forest, but then that plot line isn’t brought into it any further. It would have been nice to have another family reunion or something like that.

And then there’s something about both this story and “Outcast of Redwall” that bothers me. Jacques never shows that the characters are capable of changing. Sure, someone like Cregga can go from being a bloodthirsty warrior to a creature of peace, but hey never go from bad to good or good to bad. Their basic nature is set from day 1. And if you are a stoat, then you’re a horrible little creature, but if you are a mouse, then you’re a hero. It doesn’t seem fair or accurate to life. (Of course, a better way to put it would be to say that if you’re good you’re a mouse and if you’re bad you’re a stoat, but once again, why can’t this be changed?)

But this is also a series of kids’ books, so I’m probably looking at it too intensely. Being too black-and-white is something that a lot of children’s series do.