Handlebar Mustache = NO
In other news, I'm just a tad bit excited about the Olympics. I'll be rocking the 2 am viewings over in this corner of the world.
Friday, August 8, 2008
URGENT MEMO
Michael Phelps!!!!!!!
Handlebar Mustache = NO
In other news, I'm just a tad bit excited about the Olympics. I'll be rocking the 2 am viewings over in this corner of the world.
Handlebar Mustache = NO
In other news, I'm just a tad bit excited about the Olympics. I'll be rocking the 2 am viewings over in this corner of the world.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Brügge
Brugge is in Belgium and is known as the Venice of the North, mostly I think by those who want to attract tourists there. A group of us FZJ people took a bus there for the day a couple of weekends ago.
Our first (real) view of Brugge.
The group (sans me) by the canals. Will, Akash, Rehan, John.
Wide-angle seeming view of the canals.
In a restaurant’s upstairs window, just outside of an (austere, pretty) convent. I really like the expression on the nun’s face.
Yep, Brugge was touristy. And yet, who wouldn’t want boat rides through canals and carriage rides? I suppose.
More canal pictures. Yep, I liked the canals.
Tourists on the canals. Throughout the day, we got sporadic, intense rainstorms, which would start without warning and last anywhere from 5 – 45 minutes, after which the sun would come out again almost instantly. Quite bizarre. Anyways, I was pretty amused by all of the canal tourists with their matching umbrellas. Either they were tour groups or the boats came armed with their own umbrellas for this very reason.
Pretty canals. Maroon umbrellas this time.
Trolling the streets of Brugge, with my trolls. Just kidding.
In the city square.
We had fries. The braver ones of us had fries with mayonnaise, a Belgian specialty.
Mmm, fries and dip, a balanced diet. Don’t worry, we had chocolate too. And… beer.
We went and saw the ruins of an old church, which are located underneath a ritzy hotel today. Will had acquired an insiders knowledge of Brugge before we went there (probably to get his money’s worth :-P); this was the only reason we knew that the ruins were there, or accessible in such a swanky hotel. Anyways, they had this painting they had unearthed that I quite liked.
Rehan: “Do something crazy!”
The canals again.
We found a cannon! (again, inside know-how). Noone knows how this cannon got upended and embedded in the sidewalk; the challenge is to spot it on this corner (apparently hardly anyone notices it). John and I saw it right away, and we had a fun 10 minutes watching the others try and spot it. “Warmer! No, colder. Colder.”
We visited the oldest bar in Brugge (est. 1515). There I had a Leffe beer (I asked the bartender what she recommended), which was pretty much the most delicious thing ever, and in fact blew most of my expectations about Belgian beer right out of the water. They still have an old stove and kettle in the bar, and lots of paintings of famous people (think: royalty and the like) who have visited. Fun.
Inside a candy shop that Will had heard about run by a 80-something year old woman. Discipline + Respect!!!
Would a tour of any Belgium town be replete without a windmill picture? I think not.
Our first (real) view of Brugge.
The group (sans me) by the canals. Will, Akash, Rehan, John.
Wide-angle seeming view of the canals.
In a restaurant’s upstairs window, just outside of an (austere, pretty) convent. I really like the expression on the nun’s face.
Yep, Brugge was touristy. And yet, who wouldn’t want boat rides through canals and carriage rides? I suppose.
More canal pictures. Yep, I liked the canals.
Tourists on the canals. Throughout the day, we got sporadic, intense rainstorms, which would start without warning and last anywhere from 5 – 45 minutes, after which the sun would come out again almost instantly. Quite bizarre. Anyways, I was pretty amused by all of the canal tourists with their matching umbrellas. Either they were tour groups or the boats came armed with their own umbrellas for this very reason.
Pretty canals. Maroon umbrellas this time.
Trolling the streets of Brugge, with my trolls. Just kidding.
In the city square.
We had fries. The braver ones of us had fries with mayonnaise, a Belgian specialty.
Mmm, fries and dip, a balanced diet. Don’t worry, we had chocolate too. And… beer.
We went and saw the ruins of an old church, which are located underneath a ritzy hotel today. Will had acquired an insiders knowledge of Brugge before we went there (probably to get his money’s worth :-P); this was the only reason we knew that the ruins were there, or accessible in such a swanky hotel. Anyways, they had this painting they had unearthed that I quite liked.
Rehan: “Do something crazy!”
The canals again.
We found a cannon! (again, inside know-how). Noone knows how this cannon got upended and embedded in the sidewalk; the challenge is to spot it on this corner (apparently hardly anyone notices it). John and I saw it right away, and we had a fun 10 minutes watching the others try and spot it. “Warmer! No, colder. Colder.”
We visited the oldest bar in Brugge (est. 1515). There I had a Leffe beer (I asked the bartender what she recommended), which was pretty much the most delicious thing ever, and in fact blew most of my expectations about Belgian beer right out of the water. They still have an old stove and kettle in the bar, and lots of paintings of famous people (think: royalty and the like) who have visited. Fun.
Inside a candy shop that Will had heard about run by a 80-something year old woman. Discipline + Respect!!!
Would a tour of any Belgium town be replete without a windmill picture? I think not.
Frankfurt (am Main)
When I’m getting photos sent via snail mail from overseas containing complements to these photos, I know I have taken too long to post. Nearly a month too long, to be precise.
Here’s the Römer Square in Frankfurt; I actually have a (better) duplicate of this image in the form of a free poster I got while in the square.
The other side of the Römer Square. Apparently, the first set of buildings are all the originals, repaired former homes to some wealthy people in Frankfurt. These buildings are all new since the war, but built in the old style (so the square would look authentic? I guess).
In the square, looking for soveniers. I’m guessing you’re telling me not to take a picture of you, aye?
The Main river, after which Frankfurt am Main takes its name. There’s another, significantly less famous Frankfurt on the banks of some other river, but it seems both need to be distinguished.
By the Main River. Aww!
What’s that?
A bird, a plane. A flying dinghy?
The M: “You just took that photo of us huffing up the stairs to blackmail us with later.” Mission accomplished!!
Frankfurt am Main, as seen from a very cool architectural museum we visited. This was not the only reason it was cool.
Kayaks and cathedrals.
And a barge. I couldn’t decide which picture I liked better, so you get both.
A paper flower? That’s what it seemed like. This was in the botanical gardens in the park we visited. There were lots of cool plants, but unfortunately we got to the gardens only half an hour before they closed, so we didn’t get to see too much.
In the botanical gardens.
More pictures from the gardens. This patch resembled the plants you’d see in Texas, with its dry, rocky (or rock) soil. We all wondered how they got these plants to grow well in rainy Germany.
Foxgloves? Cool, anyways.
Space alien giraffe plant!! Truly bizarre.
Sitting in the gardens.
After everyone else left for Greece (lucky people) I ended up taking the slow inter-country (IC) train back to Jülich. This turned out to be a whole lot prettier than taking the express train (ICE) because for most of the trip back the train tracks ran along the Rhein River. Thus:
And:
This reminded me just a bit of the Marlborough Sounds, which is perhaps why I liked it so much.
Well, it was like the Marlborough Sounds, except for, you know, with castles.
Le sigh. Very cool!
Here’s the Römer Square in Frankfurt; I actually have a (better) duplicate of this image in the form of a free poster I got while in the square.
The other side of the Römer Square. Apparently, the first set of buildings are all the originals, repaired former homes to some wealthy people in Frankfurt. These buildings are all new since the war, but built in the old style (so the square would look authentic? I guess).
In the square, looking for soveniers. I’m guessing you’re telling me not to take a picture of you, aye?
The Main river, after which Frankfurt am Main takes its name. There’s another, significantly less famous Frankfurt on the banks of some other river, but it seems both need to be distinguished.
By the Main River. Aww!
What’s that?
A bird, a plane. A flying dinghy?
The M: “You just took that photo of us huffing up the stairs to blackmail us with later.” Mission accomplished!!
Frankfurt am Main, as seen from a very cool architectural museum we visited. This was not the only reason it was cool.
Kayaks and cathedrals.
And a barge. I couldn’t decide which picture I liked better, so you get both.
A paper flower? That’s what it seemed like. This was in the botanical gardens in the park we visited. There were lots of cool plants, but unfortunately we got to the gardens only half an hour before they closed, so we didn’t get to see too much.
In the botanical gardens.
More pictures from the gardens. This patch resembled the plants you’d see in Texas, with its dry, rocky (or rock) soil. We all wondered how they got these plants to grow well in rainy Germany.
Foxgloves? Cool, anyways.
Space alien giraffe plant!! Truly bizarre.
Sitting in the gardens.
After everyone else left for Greece (lucky people) I ended up taking the slow inter-country (IC) train back to Jülich. This turned out to be a whole lot prettier than taking the express train (ICE) because for most of the trip back the train tracks ran along the Rhein River. Thus:
And:
This reminded me just a bit of the Marlborough Sounds, which is perhaps why I liked it so much.
Well, it was like the Marlborough Sounds, except for, you know, with castles.
Le sigh. Very cool!
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