I've lost Dan and Joe...
At first I had absolutley no idea where they were, so I waited. Thinking them only to be late... after waiting for some time I resolved to think they left without me, which I thought to be quite upsetting but I guessed that it happens all the time.
Then upon to returning to the Hostel in which we were staying I saw that their bags had been turned through and emptied. Worse still MY bag was MISSING. It was then that I saw the note. Fixed to the room table with a knife. It simply read as follows.
"D'Arti
You've been a very naughty rabbit."
Then, to my horror, I saw that the knife was an E.B.A standard issue knife. I felt the bile rise in my throat as realisation swept over me...
The E.B.A have Dan and Joe.
So.. I type this with a heavy heart.. as I have to flee the city in the hope the E.B.A do not follow me and set Dan and Joe free. My apologies to their friends and families. I can do nothing now.
D'Artagnan
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Sunday, 9 May 2010
DAY EIGHT!
Did some final walking around Brussels. I say final. I mean crazy ass amount of a-walking around various important parts of Brussels that we'd missed before.
Like the EU Parliment and Commision.
We also spent a good amount of the day wandering through some of the biggest parks and squares in Brussels, as well as checking out some of the museums. Something of note was the Belgian Museum of Art and History. Which was crazy interesting. The coolest thing?
The views are:
Myself: Musuems are boring...
Dan: MUMMIES! There were preservevd people! Which was quite terrifying, it was interesting seeing the way people treated thier dead. But actually seeing a mummy close up.. it unnerved me slightly... Which was fun!
Joe: ZWIEHANDER!!!
For those of you that need a translation of Joes view.. a Zwiehander is a MASSIVE two handed sword used by holy roman empire peeps in the 16C Which could cleave a man (in platemail) in two. NICE.
The tank museum was closed however, so that made for a Sad Joe.
After museums we found the ULTIMATE FRITERY, which sold the cheapest, but single largest nicest nommest amount of chips EVER. Win. Joe also had snails... Dan and I turned them down.
After this we found ourselves at a free street party in a skate park, with live music, which was very amazing. We saw a fantasitc live band but unfortunatly we have NO IDEA who they are. They were however one of the best bands we'd ever seen. The atmosphere at the street party was great and it was a lot of fun being there.
After crazy street party we found outrselves at the Hostel bar once more, which was this time frequented by some Dutch cyclists and an American barman. We all chatted and shared a laugh, we also (strrangly) saw Cloverfield on the bars TV start to finish... without sound.. Intersting.
Tomorrow, however much we love Brussels we have resolved ourselves to leave.
Next stop.
AACHEN!
Wish us luck and we'll talk to you soon!
Singing away
D'Arti!
Like the EU Parliment and Commision.
We also spent a good amount of the day wandering through some of the biggest parks and squares in Brussels, as well as checking out some of the museums. Something of note was the Belgian Museum of Art and History. Which was crazy interesting. The coolest thing?
The views are:
Myself: Musuems are boring...
Dan: MUMMIES! There were preservevd people! Which was quite terrifying, it was interesting seeing the way people treated thier dead. But actually seeing a mummy close up.. it unnerved me slightly... Which was fun!
Joe: ZWIEHANDER!!!
For those of you that need a translation of Joes view.. a Zwiehander is a MASSIVE two handed sword used by holy roman empire peeps in the 16C Which could cleave a man (in platemail) in two. NICE.
The tank museum was closed however, so that made for a Sad Joe.
After museums we found the ULTIMATE FRITERY, which sold the cheapest, but single largest nicest nommest amount of chips EVER. Win. Joe also had snails... Dan and I turned them down.
After this we found ourselves at a free street party in a skate park, with live music, which was very amazing. We saw a fantasitc live band but unfortunatly we have NO IDEA who they are. They were however one of the best bands we'd ever seen. The atmosphere at the street party was great and it was a lot of fun being there.
After crazy street party we found outrselves at the Hostel bar once more, which was this time frequented by some Dutch cyclists and an American barman. We all chatted and shared a laugh, we also (strrangly) saw Cloverfield on the bars TV start to finish... without sound.. Intersting.
Tomorrow, however much we love Brussels we have resolved ourselves to leave.
Next stop.
AACHEN!
Wish us luck and we'll talk to you soon!
Singing away
D'Arti!
Day 5... and 6... and 7
Day five was a long one.
Allow me to explain.
Big. Biiiiig. Biiiiiiiiiiiiig Walk around Brussels, seeing many an awesome thing such as the PALACE OF JUSTICE (which can only be said with a boomy voice)
On this big walk we saw many of the Palaces in Brussels centre and south, as well as a lot of war memorials. We ended up in the Royal gardens of the main palace, which had a collection of very spangly fountains. Win.
After this crazy amount of a-walking, we all felt a little tired. So... *sigh* back to O'Riellys we went.
Where.
The biggest reverse spesh happened.
Dan realised that they had been working all of thier money from sterling... and that they had done all the math WRONG. With a sigh and a calculator, they re-worked thier money and realised theywere FINE. AND woulld probably be fine for the duration ofthier trip. I laughed heartily as I watched them both facepalm, double facepalm TRIPLE facepalm and then laugh themselves.
OIn returning to the Hostel. There were no rooms. As a group of about 100 million children had decended on the hostel for a trip of some kind. Natalie the wonderful hostel lady we loved so much told us there was no room but bless her she did try her hardest to find other hostels and hotels until she found us a room, which we thought was very kind. It was however, pitifully expensive, so we resolved....
To stay awake all night.... yay.
On wandering the streets of Brussels until 2 in the morning we found an ALL NIGHT ROCK CAFE/BAR! WIN!
On entering this bar we were generally ignored until two nice german girls named Hanna and Anna (!) came and sat with us, until Anna realised we were english and told us she hated speaking our language and buggered off. Which made us laugh. Hanna however sat with us all night and we had a right laugh. It was brilliant. We ended up leaving the bar at about 7 in the morning.
After 7, we wandered Brussels some more until finding a Hotelthat said "cheap rooms still available!" With a sigh we checked in and it was cheap.. but the room was AMAZING. The staff were lovely!
DAY 6
Although day 6 had technically already started we werent awake until about 7/8PM Upon waking we went for food, found food, ate food, returned to the Hotel watched an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (which WAS in english) Then fell asleep... I however fell asleep shortly upon returning to the Hotel... rabbits arent built for NOT SLEEPING.
Day 7
Upon waking very late, we NOMMED on the Hotels breakfast (that was Brllnt) and then checked out, checking BACK into our Hostel that now had room. Natalie, the kind hostel lady mocked us.. FURIOUSLY. Seriously.. the mocking was relentless. Which we all enjoyed.
Day 7 involved doing very little. We did a tiny bit of walking, but spent most of the day vegging out in various parks and then spending the night in the Hostel Bar talking to a Belgian, an Aussie and a Scottish barman ("Bloody english we heard him cry!). It turns out, Current british politics has got SHIT on Belgian politics.
Apparently, accoring to our belgian comrade, not only has Belguim not had a central government for 2 YEARS but they have also never had a stable goverment last longer than a year and a half! GO TEAM! He also told us that the idea of Britian having TWO major parties confused him as Belguim has 7 on the french speaking side and 5 on the dutch and NONE OF THEM WORK TOGETHER. We'll say it once more... GO. TEAM.
Singing off
D'Arti (+ Dan + Joe)
Allow me to explain.
Big. Biiiiig. Biiiiiiiiiiiiig Walk around Brussels, seeing many an awesome thing such as the PALACE OF JUSTICE (which can only be said with a boomy voice)
On this big walk we saw many of the Palaces in Brussels centre and south, as well as a lot of war memorials. We ended up in the Royal gardens of the main palace, which had a collection of very spangly fountains. Win.
After this crazy amount of a-walking, we all felt a little tired. So... *sigh* back to O'Riellys we went.
Where.
The biggest reverse spesh happened.
Dan realised that they had been working all of thier money from sterling... and that they had done all the math WRONG. With a sigh and a calculator, they re-worked thier money and realised theywere FINE. AND woulld probably be fine for the duration ofthier trip. I laughed heartily as I watched them both facepalm, double facepalm TRIPLE facepalm and then laugh themselves.
OIn returning to the Hostel. There were no rooms. As a group of about 100 million children had decended on the hostel for a trip of some kind. Natalie the wonderful hostel lady we loved so much told us there was no room but bless her she did try her hardest to find other hostels and hotels until she found us a room, which we thought was very kind. It was however, pitifully expensive, so we resolved....
To stay awake all night.... yay.
On wandering the streets of Brussels until 2 in the morning we found an ALL NIGHT ROCK CAFE/BAR! WIN!
On entering this bar we were generally ignored until two nice german girls named Hanna and Anna (!) came and sat with us, until Anna realised we were english and told us she hated speaking our language and buggered off. Which made us laugh. Hanna however sat with us all night and we had a right laugh. It was brilliant. We ended up leaving the bar at about 7 in the morning.
After 7, we wandered Brussels some more until finding a Hotelthat said "cheap rooms still available!" With a sigh we checked in and it was cheap.. but the room was AMAZING. The staff were lovely!
DAY 6
Although day 6 had technically already started we werent awake until about 7/8PM Upon waking we went for food, found food, ate food, returned to the Hotel watched an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (which WAS in english) Then fell asleep... I however fell asleep shortly upon returning to the Hotel... rabbits arent built for NOT SLEEPING.
Day 7
Upon waking very late, we NOMMED on the Hotels breakfast (that was Brllnt) and then checked out, checking BACK into our Hostel that now had room. Natalie, the kind hostel lady mocked us.. FURIOUSLY. Seriously.. the mocking was relentless. Which we all enjoyed.
Day 7 involved doing very little. We did a tiny bit of walking, but spent most of the day vegging out in various parks and then spending the night in the Hostel Bar talking to a Belgian, an Aussie and a Scottish barman ("Bloody english we heard him cry!). It turns out, Current british politics has got SHIT on Belgian politics.
Apparently, accoring to our belgian comrade, not only has Belguim not had a central government for 2 YEARS but they have also never had a stable goverment last longer than a year and a half! GO TEAM! He also told us that the idea of Britian having TWO major parties confused him as Belguim has 7 on the french speaking side and 5 on the dutch and NONE OF THEM WORK TOGETHER. We'll say it once more... GO. TEAM.
Singing off
D'Arti (+ Dan + Joe)
Day 4
Crappy hotel granted us a decent nights sleep but this is pretty much it. The room was pretty gross.
We were all feeling very achy and tired from the wandering and walking but resolved to get a train to wherever we were going to next. Turns out that place was Brussels. On a high speed train. Win.
ON arriving in Brussels we were automatically in awe of the city, it was full of so much grandure and just amazing we decided to stay for a few days there and then to try and see as much of it as we could.
We began wandering the capital of Europe. Technically. As you can imagine, we got a little lost. But, with the help of a free tourist map that was, to be honest, pretty good we found our way to the hostel. However DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN The hostel had no rooms. We died a little. But they put us on the waiting list and told us if we were back by four we may be in with a chance. We did just that and thankfullly got a room!
Room was lovely, as were the Hostel staff, who made us feel welcome and did their best to befriend us. We loved them all a lot.
After being safely in a hostel we wandered Brussels once more and found an Irish bar. Now. Dan and I didnt wanted to go into an IRISH bar in BRUSSELS, we wanted to sample local beer and nightlife. Joe however... wanted... Guinness. Sigh. So we ended up staying in the Irish bar for most of the evening.
More soon!
D'Arti
We were all feeling very achy and tired from the wandering and walking but resolved to get a train to wherever we were going to next. Turns out that place was Brussels. On a high speed train. Win.
ON arriving in Brussels we were automatically in awe of the city, it was full of so much grandure and just amazing we decided to stay for a few days there and then to try and see as much of it as we could.
We began wandering the capital of Europe. Technically. As you can imagine, we got a little lost. But, with the help of a free tourist map that was, to be honest, pretty good we found our way to the hostel. However DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN The hostel had no rooms. We died a little. But they put us on the waiting list and told us if we were back by four we may be in with a chance. We did just that and thankfullly got a room!
Room was lovely, as were the Hostel staff, who made us feel welcome and did their best to befriend us. We loved them all a lot.
After being safely in a hostel we wandered Brussels once more and found an Irish bar. Now. Dan and I didnt wanted to go into an IRISH bar in BRUSSELS, we wanted to sample local beer and nightlife. Joe however... wanted... Guinness. Sigh. So we ended up staying in the Irish bar for most of the evening.
More soon!
D'Arti
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Day 3
DAMN
GOOD
NIGHTS
SLEEPAGE
Morale now rather high, we set off to explore Dunkerque. We got to the Dunkerque war memorial and it was very very very moving.
Then joe explained to us what actually happened in Dunkerque in WWI and WWII and it became even more real and even more moving.
Dunkerque was also much nicer than Calais, as in it wasnt so much of a dump, but we decided to leave for Lille. Which took the travelform of a surprisingly cheap train. One hour later we find ourselves in Lille
LILLE
Archetecture is amazing, everthing is very forboding and grand, you can FEEL the buildings looming over you. Morale picked up even more as this is what we had in mind. We found a cheap, survivable hotel and wandered Lille for most of the evening (despite aching) taking in the city and looking for Nom.
Hotel was a bit crap but it is only one night and tomorrow we push for Belguim.
GOOD
NIGHTS
SLEEPAGE
Morale now rather high, we set off to explore Dunkerque. We got to the Dunkerque war memorial and it was very very very moving.
Then joe explained to us what actually happened in Dunkerque in WWI and WWII and it became even more real and even more moving.
Dunkerque was also much nicer than Calais, as in it wasnt so much of a dump, but we decided to leave for Lille. Which took the travelform of a surprisingly cheap train. One hour later we find ourselves in Lille
LILLE
Archetecture is amazing, everthing is very forboding and grand, you can FEEL the buildings looming over you. Morale picked up even more as this is what we had in mind. We found a cheap, survivable hotel and wandered Lille for most of the evening (despite aching) taking in the city and looking for Nom.
Hotel was a bit crap but it is only one night and tomorrow we push for Belguim.
Day 2
Rain.
Rain.
Raaaaaaain.
Sad.
It rained all night and all day. Leaving us drenched, low on morale and even achier. We walked another 16/17k finding ourselves in the proximity of Grand Fort Phillipe (Dont you mean Phil?) Gravelines and Petit Fort Phillipe. Which are all centered around an amazing historic star fort. (cue Joe military history ramblings :p)
We also raided a supermarket named SUPER U! for supplies, picking up much in the way of Nommage. We then pushed on into Gravelines in search of a Hostel/hotel, there was ONE, which was so very expensive we ran away screaming. So we decided to move on spirits even more crushed than before.
Then.
A miracle.
In the form of;
GERALD AND PASCAL!!!!!!!!!
Who saw us plodding, saw our sad, then went out of their way to a) pick us up and b)drive us to Dunkerque!!!!
They were also, quite possibly the nicest people we have ever met. Ever. They also gave us (free of charge) a map of Calais to Brussells and a tour of Dunkerque as well as the locale of the Hostel and various cheap hotels.
They have our infintie thanks.
Hostel.
Showers.
Nom.
Happy :D
Rain.
Raaaaaaain.
Sad.
It rained all night and all day. Leaving us drenched, low on morale and even achier. We walked another 16/17k finding ourselves in the proximity of Grand Fort Phillipe (Dont you mean Phil?) Gravelines and Petit Fort Phillipe. Which are all centered around an amazing historic star fort. (cue Joe military history ramblings :p)
We also raided a supermarket named SUPER U! for supplies, picking up much in the way of Nommage. We then pushed on into Gravelines in search of a Hostel/hotel, there was ONE, which was so very expensive we ran away screaming. So we decided to move on spirits even more crushed than before.
Then.
A miracle.
In the form of;
GERALD AND PASCAL!!!!!!!!!
Who saw us plodding, saw our sad, then went out of their way to a) pick us up and b)drive us to Dunkerque!!!!
They were also, quite possibly the nicest people we have ever met. Ever. They also gave us (free of charge) a map of Calais to Brussells and a tour of Dunkerque as well as the locale of the Hostel and various cheap hotels.
They have our infintie thanks.
Hostel.
Showers.
Nom.
Happy :D
Day 1
So, I met two rather interesting blokes on the ferry to Calais. They are named Dan and Joe. I realised the next few months were going to be a little lonely so they agreed to let me join them.
After leaving the ferry we were instantly shocked as to how industrial and shabby the place was. We instantly felt out of place and if we are honest, a little scared. We also met a nice Estonian bloke, who said he was meeting his brother in paris, we also met an old aussie on the ferry who was wishing us luck and chatting to joe about various things, (Dan was in his own little world and doesnt remember this);
After realising how terrifing Calais was we left rather sharpish.
We then walked stupid, oopid amounts of walking away from Calais (around 20-22km) and the one thing we noticecd was how EMPTY everywhere was on a saturday. However our spirits were occasionally lifted by motorist beeping thier support shouting good luck.
Joe was giddy at the sight of WWI and WWII bunkers and fervently explained the military history of france.
We eventually ended up in a small collection of houses called Waldam where we pitched up the tent for the night, achy, tired and hungry!
After leaving the ferry we were instantly shocked as to how industrial and shabby the place was. We instantly felt out of place and if we are honest, a little scared. We also met a nice Estonian bloke, who said he was meeting his brother in paris, we also met an old aussie on the ferry who was wishing us luck and chatting to joe about various things, (Dan was in his own little world and doesnt remember this);
After realising how terrifing Calais was we left rather sharpish.
We then walked stupid, oopid amounts of walking away from Calais (around 20-22km) and the one thing we noticecd was how EMPTY everywhere was on a saturday. However our spirits were occasionally lifted by motorist beeping thier support shouting good luck.
Joe was giddy at the sight of WWI and WWII bunkers and fervently explained the military history of france.
We eventually ended up in a small collection of houses called Waldam where we pitched up the tent for the night, achy, tired and hungry!
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