Vivian Goes to Bern

On Tuesday morning, I flew to Geneva and took a train to Bern where I spent the night. Bern is quite an underrated city. It has a very nice Old Town filled with cobblestone streets and magnificent architecture. It is a nice fusion between Italian, German, and French. I’m not sure why, but Bern has a large underground. There’s an entire mall built completely underground. In the Old Town, there are a lot of cellars/basements underneath the stores that they turned into more stores. It’s pretty cool thought. Bern is built on top of a hill and is actually surrounded by the Aare River so it basically has a moat, which is AWESOME. The river is very beautiful. One thing that Bern is very famous for is the Bear Pit, which no longer really a pit because of animal-rights activists groups. They have four bears in there, a mom, a dad, and two boys. The dad is separated from the other three though because apparently, he would kill the little ones. Overall, I really liked Bern, much more than I like Amsterdam and Brussels. I definitely recommend visiting it if you have the chance but the city is pretty small so a day here is more than enough. 

One of the older buildings in the newer part of Bern

Church

Too foggy to see the Alps 

 For lazy people who don't want to walk

 Swiss Government Buildng

 Plaza in front of the Swiss Gov't Building

 Front of the Swiss Gov't Building

 Streets in the Old Town -- they have a thing for arches

 On every block, there's a random fountain in the middle of the street

 YUM

 Zeitglockenturm

Zeitglockenturm

 Bern's Biggest Church

 They love bears

 Aare River

 Cellar store

 Bear Pit

Baby bear born 2 years ago

View of Aare from the top of the Bear Pit

Vivian Goes to Brussels

My friends in Norway wondered why I was going to Belgium because people generally don’t visit there. It is not a very popular tourist spot compared to all the other European countries. I had actually forgotten why I wanted to go other than it wasn’t too expensive getting there and that it was convenient to go from Amsterdam. Yesterday, however, I was reminded of why I ever decided to go in the first place. Two things: Belgian chocolate and Belgian waffles. Yes, my stomach led me to Belgium. The chocolate shops are amazing. Once you step inside, it is like you’re floating on Cloud Nine. And then you look at the prices and you fall back down to Earth… Unfortunately, due to the strict weight limitations of carry-on baggage for RyanAir, I was only able to buy 2 kilos of chocolate, 1 kilo of which I had to hide on my person so I wouldn’t get charged €40. Belgian waffles are amazing and I mean real Belgian waffles, which are very different from the so-called Belgian waffles found everywhere else in the world. I don’t know what the other differences are but I can surely taste it. Waffles were expensive as well, costing about €2 each.  I spent more money on chocolate and waffles in one day than I did on food, transportation, etc. in 2.5 days in Amsterdam. Brussels is quite an expensive city, mainly because it is the capital of Europe, home to the EU. This means that Brussels is extremely diverse. I really cannot tell you what a Belgian person looks like. They all look so different. They’re not very good-looking either, especially compared to Norwegians. People here smoke way too much and they sure love their fries. On every block, you can find at least one French fries stand or shop. It is scary how much French fries they consume. While their fries are good, I don’t think they’re any better the fries we have in America and they charge at least €0.50 for sauce. You can’t even free ketchup in McDonalds. It’s absurd I tell you.

Brussels is not very pretty. There are a few really amazing places, such as the King’s Palace, the Grand Place, and the Atomium but overall, there is not much that is spectacular about the city. It is quite dirty and crowded. You would think that since it is the European capital, they would spend more money and put more effort into beautifying the city but no.

Overall, my impression of Brussels is that it has some nice, distinguishing qualities, but there are so many better places in Europe to visit. It is not a city I would visit again. I might visit Belgium to go to Brugge and/or Ghent but it is unlikely. Not to mention, there is a language barrier since most people speak French and/or Flemish and no English. Luckily, I had someone to help me translate. Otherwise, I would’ve been screwed. There is just nothing really special about this place other than Belgian waffles and Belgian chocolate but I recommend just googling recipes for authentic Belgian waffles and spending some extra money to buy Godiva chocolate, which actually is not much cheaper here. 

City Hall (I think)

King's Palace

Right wing of King's Palace

Belgian Parliament Building

 Streets of Brussels

 Cinquatenaire -- Arches of Triumph, built to commemorate Belgian independence from the Dutch

 REAL Belgian waffle

 

Other side of the Triumph Arches

Right wing of the Arches

 Belgian chocolate

 

Grand Place

They call this the "Tourist Waffle"

The Atomium

 

Vivian Goes to Amsterdam

I spent two and a half days in Amsterdam, flying in from Oslo Tuesday night and taking a train to Brussels Friday morning. When I arrived, there was a torrential rain and I was drenched. Apparently, it rains quite a lot in Amsterdam, all year round. The few days that they have no rain, everyone goes out and rejoices. That’s a sad sad thought. Amsterdam is a very beautiful city and the architecture is very different from Oslo. All of the buildings are built side-by-side, and since Amsterdam was built over water, they have to lean on each other for support. The buildings move because of the water and I actually saw quite a few buildings that were tilted side-to-side or forward. They all look like they’re going to fall apart any minute. People actually live and work in these buildings, too. The canals are really awesome. I just love how the water runs through the entire city. It adds so much to the appeal of Amsterdam. I was going to go on a canal tour of Amsterdam but of course it rained, rendering my plans moot. Everyone here rides bikes. On every lamp post, railing, etc., there are tons of bikes chained to it. I’m pretty sure I saw more bikes in here in two days than I have ever seen in my entire life. Wednesday night, I rode a bike into the city center from where I was staying. It was about a thirty minute ride. I was surprised that I made it to the center in one piece, considering I am extremely out of shape and nearly passed out when I reached the center. Also, I was using a huge bike that was really hard to navigate so I kept bumping into other bikers and falling over. The Dutch people were kind enough to not cuss me out. Despite this, I enjoyed the biking. It is a fantastic way to explore Amsterdam. I even biked back to where I was staying. Of course I ended up paying for this the next day and am still paying for it. My legs are ridiculously sore. To boot, I had gone to a Salsa dance club and tried to learn bachata, a type of Spanish dance. I have never ever moved my hips that much. I used muscles that I didn’t even know I had. After one song, my hips were extremely sore. Yeah, I really need to get back in shape…

Amsterdam is like the antithesis of the U.S. Everyone knows that marijuana and prostitution is legal here and I figured it would be more of a big deal to tourists because it most likely is not legal where they come from. I figured it was just a small part of the Dutch society that everyone around the world just focuses on because it is so different, but it is actually a HUGE part of the Dutch society. It is seriously all about sex and drugs here. Just walking through the city I got a contact high from all the people smoking weed in public (even though it’s illegal). The coffee shops were all crowded even though it was the middle of the day. They have many shops that sell cannabis seeds. I went to the flower market and they had cannabis plants right next to the tulips. They also have shops that sell mushrooms (the drug).

My tour guide took me to the Red Light District. OMG. It is so different when you actually see it all in person. They actually have women dressed in very skimpy outfits behind glass windows, trying to seduce every person that walks by. It is almost like they are zoo animals. It seems so demeaning and demoralizing. I really feel sad for these women. A lot of them were really young and beautiful and I just can’t help but wonder why they would choose this profession. Maybe I’m just naïve but I can’t see how anyone could be happy living like that. I’m still in awe that the Dutch government actually permits this. I don’t care how much they regulate it. It does not justify putting women on display like this. Seriously, the Dutch government must be filled with misogynists.

Overall, my impression of Amsterdam is that it is a beautiful city but there is just too much sex and drugs for me. Also, I apologize for the poor picture quality. I left my camera back in Oslo and was stuck using the camera on my phone.