Cause I'm your laaaaaaaaaaaaaady..............

We are back in the Netherlands in a city called Zwolle and I'd have to say this is an all time low for us. It is reminiscent of last years tour where I often found myself stranded at the hotel bored out of my mind. Our hotel is stranded out in the middle of nowhere surrounded only by fields and trucks. Although it is slightly amusing seeing two miniature ponies living right next to our hotel they don't provided us with any food or entertainment so they are useless.

Nothing is in walking distance so in order to sustain life we must pay for a cab to take us to food or have Domino's pizza delivered which we unfortunately had to do on Monday night. It tasted real good actually because I was so hungry.

On Tuesday we ventured out of containment and took a cab into downtown Zwolle. Our main purpose was food but we did walk around a little bit to somewhat see the town. I went into one store and ended up purchasing a new pair of pants that were on sale! After that we boarded a pirate ship where go ate some pancakes! It was this silly themed restaurant and their menus were solely in Dutch which was a problem. We basically asked our waitress to translate the whole thing to us and she slightly struggled with English so she kept having to go ask other people what certain things meant.

After that we went to the grocery store to stock up for hibernation in the Mercure Hotel. Our drive back was the highlight of my time in Zwolle. I had the pleasure of sitting in the front of the taxi with our driver who confessed his love of a good love ballad to us. He cranked up his tunes and sang along the whole ride back. The first song I was unfamiliar with so he switched the track and we all sang "The Power of Love" the whole way home!

Au revoir Francais

So today was the last time I will ever here our show in French! I realized half way through the last show….I’m sad about that. I got so used to it. I hope the Spanish is amusing!

Last night we had a little BBQ after our three shows as a thanks from the French Promoters for working our butts off. It was at the building and they were cooking burgers and they had drinks and chips etc. We stayed for a little and it was pretty fun. Adam taught us how to do the superman which apparently is the biggest dance craze in the states??? I wasn’t informed of this dance by anyone which makes me feel like everyone has been letting me down! Hahahaha It is a pretty silly dance though. Adrienne, Brittany, and I decided to peace out early and today we learned about the craziness that happened after we departed. The building resembles a huge warehouse so all week people have been riding bikes and skateboards around inside and last night people broke them out again. To get up to the lighting there is this huge staircase and someone decided it was a good idea to try riding a bike down the stairs………..Our stage manager, who is basically the head crew guy tried the crazy feet and ended up crashing to the ground! He is alright but was in the hospital overnight. He is really lucky nothing bad happened. I can’t believe how dumb he was and he is supposed to be in charge!

Where have all the Russians gone?

The Russians left us on Thursday so we are down 7 skaters!!!!! Their visas expired and the company is struggling right now with replacing them with new visas. We have had scares of this happening in the past but this time it’s the real deal. It makes me mad because it seems like they put it off until the last minute and they should have not let this happen but I guess it is a lot harder dealing with Russia and work permits. We have no idea how long they will be gone; I am hoping Spain will give them a permit and they can meet us in Bilbao in about a week.

So as you can guess the shows have been crazy. Everyone is covering all the numbers the Russians are in. With them gone we were also left with no Bob (Mr. Incredible) because the principal as well as the 2 understudies are all Russian and this is a HUGE problem considering he is a main character! Last year they had another understudy Adam who now skates on High School Musical as a principal. The company shipped him over to us to help out in this chaotic situation.

The extra things I am doing are opening as Mom and Irina’s wench in the Pirate number. I had done a different spot in the Pirate number before but opening night was slightly a hot mess in this spot! At one point I overshot meeting Mark to do our polka dance and ended up in the middle of a circle and was trying to bust through people to get to my spot which I’m sure looking phenomenal. Then near the end we do this huge kick line and then break off skate in a circle doing split jumps. Somehow during the kick line, Joelle’s pants got caught on my skirt so instead of doing our split jumps we had no choice but to skate around the circle, together, just waving; it was pretty funny! We finally got unattached and were able to finish the number.

Mosaics are fierce.

So I’m in Lyon now. Lately the trend has been climbing up hills to see things and that is what I ended up doing yet again here. When I came with mom and Deetee I had seen this awesome looking church way up on the hill so we found it today. The Basilique de Notre Dame is white and very beautiful; we could see all of Lyon from up there which was awesome but the best part was going inside. This is hands down my new favorite church because all of the walls inside are mosaics and it was really breathtaking. I’m a huge fan of mosaics in general and am really drawn to them. They used mostly whites, golds, greens, and blues and the tiles they used were teensy.

After that Brittany, Adrienne and I spent a few hours chatting in a Starbucks. Brittany is obsessed with Starbucks and has been deprived for months now. She looks up all the cities we are going to and scopes out if there is going to be one and there have hardly been any here in France. She was oober excited about finally getting her favorite coffee!

I went on an amazing run today too. There is this awesome promenade along the river that I could get to right near the hotel. It took me right parallel to the downtown area we were walking earlier so I caught glimpses of the basilica and the big Ferris wheel. (By the way I find it so crazy because every city I have visited in France has had a huge Ferris wheel downtown other than Nantes. I guess they really like em here?) It was pretty warm out so I wore shorts which excited me thoroughly. There were so many people out on the promenade walking, biking, and just sitting and relaxing. I was especially amused by the couple I saw playing “ricola” type horns and a guy I saw practicing his juggling skills.

Nice view of Nice.

Today we were leaving Nice and I hadn’t even seen it yet! We spent not even three days here. This whole split week thing is crazy. This am we woke up early to go in and see a little bit of Nice right before departing. We also finally got to eat the breakfast that is included in our room rate that we were informed was not. Am I bitter? Yes because I hate when people don’t do their jobs properly and inform us wrong! Then we asked the front desk for directions to the bus stop. I don’t know why but they really stink at giving directions. She did speak perfect English so a language barrier couldn’t even be used as an excuse. Anyways, after awhile we finally found it no where near where she described

Downtown we visited the Chateau which marked the birthplace of the city of Nice. It actual is just the ruins of the once chateau that was built on top of a hillside but then destroyed in 1706 by Louis XIV. I’m not really sure why he wanted it destroyed but because of him only a few crumbled walls remain. The reason you visit this site isn’t to give at the chateau itself though. You go there to see the hill top view of the city and coastline. It was a really awesome view. I’m pretty sure all the postcards of Nice were photographed from up there.

Hiking Monaco Hill

I am sad our time in Nice is sooo short. I still haven’t even seen Nice! Today Adrienne and I ventured to Monaco and were hoping to squeeze in Nice after we returned but train delays didn’t allow for that. Monaco is magnificent and so posh and high class. The whole concept of it being its own state is just crazy in my eyes. The city is so hilly and somehow we ended up going up and down and up and down, probably due to our planning or lack there of. We started off at Port Hercule where we got to gaze at some of the fanciest yachts I’ve ever seen. They were all shining in the sun and looked immaculate. We then hiked up Monaco Hill and saw the Palais Princier aka the Princes Palace which had silly guards manning the entrance marching back and forth. The vegetation around was so beautiful and tropical. Palm trees lined all the streets and I also spotted quite a few aloe plants and orange trees and I so tempted to pick an orange but I was behaved and didn’t! It was so fun being in a beach area especially in contrast to last week’s Alps. When the sun was beating on you it got pretty warm too which was very pleasant!

Nearby the palace we also saw the Cathedrale de Monaco, white Neo-Romanesque Byzantine church where the famous Prince Ranier and Grace Kelly got married. It is really an awesome looking church! And right down the road from there was the Oceanography Museum which is also an exquisite building. There were so many nice gardens all around we got to walk through but we had really wanted to see the Jardin Exotique. We went on quite the uphill journey to find it only to realize it was closed because they were doing work on it. Later we went to the Japanese Garden which had a pond filled with large fish of all different colors which was really fun.

Our hiking gave us quite the appetite so we ate at a little place right along the water called La Bambi, and yes the sign had a picture of Bambi on it! Hahahaa Then we went to Larvotto, the main beach in Monte Carlo and stuck our feet in the Mediterranean Sea!! The water was really blue and so pretty and also wicked cold! Then we walked around the big casino Monte Carlo is so famous for.

I like how Europeans don’t put so much value as American do on cars. For such a ritzy area I was surprised to not have seen more Bentleys and Rolz Royce and other super expensive cars. There were quite a number of people sporting ridiculous fur coats though!

Another eventful travel day.

This morning before leaving Geneva I went for a longer run which felt really good. It has been sooo long since I have done anything longer than 7 miles. I ran from our hotel to Lake Geneva and back and it was a very pleasurable run. The only thing that would have made it better would have been having a nice running partner with me 

Then a boarded the bus for yet another eventful travel day. The Russian took a separate bus and left extra early because last travel day they had such a hard time getting across the border. This left us with two very spacious buses. Carlos got out of rigging this week so he was on our bus and brought catch phrases! It brought fond memories of playing at 141 in college. We literally played for 2 hours straight and it made for the best bus ride ever! I was getting so into it I couldn’t sit still. It was Christy, Brittany, Adrienne, Janessa, Carlos, Skyler, Galen, and Todd. We first played in random groups and then were playing girls vs. boys. The boys ended up winning best 2 out of 3 but it was so close. Skyler kept saying it’s a bomb and was trying to mess up the other team.

After that we watched Almost Famous which I had never seen before and I really liked it! Mid-movie I noticed that there was a cop with its lights on in front of us. I was wondering who they were trying to pull over but then got back into the movie and forgot about it. Then all of a sudden our bus was pulling to the side of the road. I guess they go in front of you to pull you over in France?!?! We were all pressed against the windows trying to see what was going on. I guess our bus had been speeding but I hadn’t even noticed. The cops had us pulled over for at least 30 minutes! After this happened our driver didn’t slow down at all and we ended up catching the other buses and zooming past them again. Our driver definitely has a winning complex or something!

Boooooooooooooooooo

So today mom and Deetee left and it was VERY sad. It was way too nice having them around and I wish they could have stayed. On Friday I learned a lot with them. We went on a tour of the United Nations and then went to the Red Cross Museum. Both were very informative. After that we were famished so we decided to try to find some fondue since it is a Swiss thing. We got two pots and probably would have been good with just one. At the end I was so full of cheese it wasn't even funny. I gave Mom and Neana a brief synopsis of the show so they would have an idea of what was going on later that night seeing as they don't speak French! I was so thrilled because I actually spotted them when I was skating, in the big character head too! They really liked the show and Neana said her favorite part was me being Dale!

Saturday, in the am I went with them to ARIANA, a museum of ceramics and glass. It was really neat. Their was an exhibit of Jean-Claude de Crousaz's work that I loved. It was all these white ceramic vases that to me looked like bustiers. I think it'd be really awesome to make them into clothes. After that I had to head to work while they got to go and do fun things all day :(

I got to the arena to find out I was in the Pirates number which I had never done before. I had learned it way back when but we are half way through the tour and I had yet to have gone in. It was really fun and I was pleased with how it went aside from me messing up the jump. This was the first time I had ever gotten the opportunity to jump in a show so I think that made it quite pressure-filled. The other thing I was really nervous for was shooting the cannon but I did it with much success! Smac told me I was very sassy!

Later Mom and Neana watched another show and they got to see me do Mom in opening and a wench in pirates again. This time I nailed my jump but didn't have such luck with my cannon shooting. I was premature on one and the second one didn't go anywhere. After the show Mom and Neana got the pleasure of meeting Dale and getting their picture taken with him! hahaha

Bernese Bears and other fun things.

We took a train to Bern today. It wasn’t until we stepped off the train that I realized we had entered the German part of Switzerland. I don’t know a lick of German and this predicament always provides for much more of an adventure when you don’t know the language. It felt like we were in a totally different country! It was awesome weather out so we walked everywhere. We went to the Paul Klee Museum which was designed by Renzo Piano. I am a big fan of his work. This building was built into a hill and it looked like three waves coming out of the ground.

After that we got to admire the Bernese Bears! They are the cities mascot and they have a bear pit in town which highly random. Two of the brown bears came out of their houses which I was so excited about. We had walked by it earlier and none of them were out and I was scared we weren’t going to get to see them.

That town was really nice. The roads were cobblestone and there were lots of trams going every which way. Mom was very scared of crossing the roads because of this so we had to coax her across. There was this awesome clock tower we just missed getting to go inside and there were lots of fountains around. There was this one that had a bear that was eating a little child. It was really creepy!

We got cocoons!

Mom can now say she has been to both Switzerland and France because today we went over the border to Lyon. Upon arrival we ate at Creperie D’or because naturally eating crepes was a must while in France. I ordered us a carafe of water but we were never given glasses. We did have bowls on the table but were confused as to whether we were supposed to drink out of these bowls or not. But we were so thirsty we gave in and drank out of them even if it was silly.

Lyon is known for playing a large role in the silk industry back in the 19th century. I learned about it in costume history and other classes in school so I was excited to go there. We visited the Musee de Tissus et des Arts decoratifs which had this special exhibit called a La Frontiere du Vetement which was pretty nifty. There were some garments that used felting which I had learned how to make this summer.

After that we went to Le Maison des Canuts which is one of the silk making houses. We went on tour that was given mostly in French and I was hardly following any of it. But then our guide would give us a briefing in English. They had all these massive looms set up that was like the Avoca handweaving loom I visited with Dick in Ireland this past summer except that these looms made the most intricate jacquard designs and other lavish prints. Today they still produce most of the silk for the royal families and castles and there are around 30,000 weavers still in the area. In general 30 cm of fabric come out of a days work but the craziest most intricate fabrics can be more like 2 cm a day which is just ridiculous!

They let us each take a cocoon as a souvenir. It is kinda gross but cool at the same time. There is apparently 1 km of silk somewhere in this little white blob.

To wrap up our day, we walked through the Vieux Ville, the historic cute area and I bought the largest meringue cookie I’ve ever seen. We split it three ways and couldn’t even eat it in one sitting!

Swiss fun in Lausanne.

Today Mom, Neana, and I went on a trip to Lausanne which was about 40 minutes away and is right on Lake Geneva. We did A LOT of up-hill walking in this quaint medieval city. We hiked up to check out the Lausanne Cathedral and got to use this cool covered staircase to get there. Then we headed down towards the water to see the Olympic Museum. Unfortunately it was closed for the month of January but there was a garden with some statues in it that we got to see. There was one of a runner, cyclists, and a sumo wrestler which I highly enjoyed. We walked along the lake which had a beautiful view of the Alps before headed back up the massive hill to the center of town. At the start of the our trek, I was distracted by the trees that were filled with men in bright yellow suits. I guess this is there tactic of pruning the trees in town. It was such a funny sight and they looked liked monkeys.

After that we ate some scrumptious quiches and fresh-squeezed juice which they are so into over here and I love it. I got kiwi and apple because I am on the kiwi kick lately. Later that night back in Geneva we went out to dinner downtown at a brasserie called Bagetelle. Mom is having trouble dealing with the whole not having tip over here. She felt very funny leaving and thought they were going to run after her. Every time we pass that restaurant we joke that our server is shaking her fist at mom through the window.

Journey to Switzerland

Yesterday I was mulling over the decision if I wanted to take the train to get to Geneva early or not. Our last show was cancelled so I could get a train at 7:08 and get in at 10:33. If not the company was traveling on Monday and I wouldn’t get there until 4:30 Monday. Mom and Neana would have already been there for a whole day and I just didn’t think I could deal with knowing that they were there so I decided to pay for the ticket and go early. Skyler was going early as well so we traveled together.
I was so beat tired on today. I had stayed up late packing and also watched MADE that was filmed at Rockland Rink which was ridiculous. We got into Geneva but had to get a connecting train to the other station that was near our hotel so this made me get to the hotel even later. When I arrived Mom and Neana were sitting in the lobby waiting!! It was amazing seeing them finally!

They then broke the news to me that we were given a room with two single beds. We attempted to change it but this girl Elise and the reception desk refused to let us! It was very absurd but we were all so tired we could put up a good enough fight so we forced to have a slumber party. We pushed the beds together and all lay perpendicular to the proper way to sleeping on them. Neana put the crease above her ass while I opted for it to below. Hahaa it was fine for the night but we had to change out of it ASAP!

This morning we ventured downtown to see Geneva. We walked by the water and saw the Jet de L'eau this fountain like water fixture in the lake. There were also lots of ducks and swans by the edge of the water that we were admiring. We walked through the old town and got some sandwiches for lunch.

Later when everyone got in at the hotel I talked to Paddy about our room situation and she helped me talk to them and get it all squared away. It was a different lady working at this time and she said we could change but was annoyed that it hadn’t been taken care of when this am. I explained that we had tried but that her employee Elise refused to let us change and had been rude about it. She seemed pissed but it wasn’t our fault. I didn’t care at this point because it was their fault for not letting us change originally. She was like this leaves us with a dirty room. I wanted to be like well that’s your problem!

So we got to the new room and it was soooo better. We have two big beds! YAHOOO

I'm wearing dirty clothes.

It is a known fact that travel days can be long and taxing. Todays was especially un-pleasurable. We were making our move from Rouen to Marseille which are at the exact opposite ends of France. Our day started 7:30 and we loaded up and drove to la Havre airport which is teensy and I'm pretty sure we were the only people in the whole place. The flight was fine and we all got our luggage and loaded up the buses. Cory and Keiji's bags were missing though so we sat on the bus for a good hour waiting for that to get sorted out. And then the drive to our hotel seemed like it was taking forever as well.

From what I have seen gazing out the window and the hotel surrounding Marseille is gross. Homes looked dilapidated and streets are dirty. On the bus someone said it resembled Mexico City slightly.We are staying at a glorious Citidine Hotel and I am totally being sarcastic. We were all excited for this hotel because we heard we were going to have little apts. with kitchens. But little did we know this would be one of the worse hotels. I was supposed to room with Brittany Drury but she hurt her foot last load in and will be out for 3 weeks. To save money she flew home for that time leaving me roommate-less.

When we arrived they were not prepared for such a large group and one lady was dealing out all the keys. I was one the last on the list and I stood there the whole time just to find my room wasn’t cleaned yet and it was almost 4 at this point and check in is at 2. This is a disgrace I feel. I had an agenda to get my laundry done today. So I dropped my suitcases off in Adrienne’s room while we went out to find a laundrymat. They gave us directions at the front desk that lead us to a dry cleaner; not what we had in mind. I asked on the street and people either didn’t know or were guiding us to other dry cleaners. I was beyond aggravated esp. since I had my heavy bag slung over my shoulder while walking in circles and went back with a bag still full of dirty clothes and I literally have nothing left to wear.

My room was done at the point so I got my key (a real key, mind you) and literally spent 15 minutes trying to get the bloody door open. I was on the verge of tears and had to go find Brittany who then assisted me with getting into the room. It is super tricky and I still struggle each time! My room reeks of smoke and makes me want to barf! The past two weeks we have had crummy foam beds and my back is so achey from it so I was looking forward to a real bed but no such luck; I have a pull out couch here!

We do have kitchens so I get to cook a little and we have FREE internet!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO When I got on I had some fabulous that the one and only Leslie Wason will be visiting me in Barcelona and that news brightened up my day!!

What Rouen had to offer:

I saw Rouen today. I lot of the building reminded me of the same style as in Stratford-Upon-Avon. It’s an old looking style with wood trimming done in a highly contrasting color. There was this underpass downtown that had “the Great Clock” on it that was really beautiful. Like Paris they also have a Cathedrale Notre Dame which Simon informed me last night I had to go see because the cathedral was mental (which in Simon’s words means awesome.) The outside had such intricate detailing that may have even been more ornate than the one in Paris. Joan of Arc was executed here in Rouen so we got to see the site where that happened as well.

Make it work. Sightseeing plans that is.

Adrienne and I were determined to go to Mont St. Michel after seeing pictures and hearing about its coolness. In the middle ages it was called “Paradise on Earth” and how can you pass up visiting paradise? The island was created by a huge wave and the abbey was built on appealing piece of land by St-Aubert, the bishop of Avranches after the Archangel Michael told him to. So to get to this place, it was looking like quite an ordeal. It involved taking the metro into Rouen, a train to Paris, changing to another train to Rennes, and finally a bus to Mont St. Michel. This process would take us about five hours in each direction, cost a hefty sum, and just be the biggest head ache of a day. Our other option was renting a car which was also very expensive but it would get us there directly in only two and a half hours. We talked others into joining us and filled a car which helped lower the cost some. We also just had really had our heart set on seeing and had to make it work.

It was Adrienne, Brittany, Jarrod, Todd, and I. I so wish I knew how to drive stick better because I was longing to drive. I have had two lessons but never have had an opportunity to practice therefore I still am not so good at it. I instead had to settle as being the navigator.

As we started approaching the island was so thrilled. It looks just as cool as it sounds and I was just so proud that we made the trip happen. Tasha had gone earlier and knew we were making an attempt this week. I feel like she thought we wouldn’t be able to make it happen so I can’t wait to tell her we saw it. The tide was low when we got there so it was surrounded by sandy marsh grounds that apparently have pockets of quicksand in it! I have never felt quick sand so I really was intrigued by this but don’t worry I refrained from checking it out. It would have liked to have gotten to see it when it was totally surrounded by water.

The little village surround the abbey is so cute. You walk these narrow cobblestone streets that wind back and forth up to the entrance of the abbey. We ate at Restaurant St. Pierre and I had some good pizza with veggies on top of it. It turned out to be an amazing day with a really blue sky! The abbey was beautiful. At one point it was converted into a prison which I just can’t imagine because it was far too pretty for a prison. Near the end the sun started to set and we got some really good pictures.

On our drive back we stopped mid-way to see the D-Day beaches. It was dark at this point and they weren’t lit up so we didn’t get to appreciate them fully but we at got to catch a glimpse which was better than nothing. At Omaha beach there were two memorials we saw and then we walked down by the water. I was running on the beach frolicking away. It was cold by the water though so our stay was short. When we were looking at pictures later Jarrod noticed a plague had read that you were not allowed to walk on the beach after I had run all over it!!!!!! So basically I am a criminal ruining part of our US history! I swear I didn’t know though! UGHHHHHHHHHHHHH We also saw a U-Boat and some big guns that were outside the museum.

It was a long day. On the way back Jarrod drove. He was new to the whole roundabout thing and was very hesitant about them. He would come to a complete stop and wait until there was nobody which sometimes is forever. I’m so used to barreling right into rotaries at home just look you merge onto the highway. In my tired state I may have snapped and was like, “Go Jarrod! Yield doesn’t mean to come to a complete stop!” I wish I could have driven. Todd had a freak out on the way home as well. Jarrod wasn’t sure how to turn the lights on. Todd started freaking out about how dangerous it was for us to be driving right now without them but it wasn’t even dark yet. He wanted us to pull over right there but that would have been even more dangerous. We were telling him to calm down and deal until we could get somewhere and figure it out but he got so nervous over this and I’m not really sure why. On our journey back we ended up on a back way for far too long in which we had to drive slower and I felt like we would never get back. Finally we got on the main highway and were back in no time. We got some food at this chain Hippotomas for dinner. I made a horrible choice and got this salad that had chicken on top that was covered in a mayo type sauce I found disgusting. It is just highly unfortunate to spend money on food you don’t end up liking and not getting satisfied by your meal.

Disney on Ice stuck in an alleyway.

This is one of our wacky split weeks. We are spending a whopping three days here in Rouen, France. Our bus rides here ended in quite the adventure when the GPS system led us astray. It directed our driver down this skinny residential side street that was definitely a place a bus should never go. We got to the end of the road only to find a sharp turn on another alley of a road that would be impossible for the bus to make. Sooooo, that left us with no chance but to back up the whole length of this pretty long street. This event was such a highlight in lives of this neighborhood because literally every person who lived on the street came out to see the spectacle. Turning out of that street was quite the ordeal too because there was this wall in the way. A French lady who had emerged from one of the homes took charge and was directing our driver. She saved us! We all were yelling for Paddy to give her something for her good deed so she got her 6 tickets to our show for her and her family.

Monkey Thieves!

So I loath people that steal things!! Today I got to work and was unpacking my costumes. I noticed my monkey head wasn't where I keep it. I looked everywhere for it and it was nowhere to be found! Then Cory realized hers was gone too! Someone stole our monkey heads! HOW RIDICULOUS!

So I couldn't skate the monkey number. I was quite bummed. I guess I enjoy skating it. It is also my first number of the show so my show started to much later and this arena in Lille is a cold one. That number really gets me going so without it I was literally never warmed up.

This week we were back to French. When I heard the music playing I got really exciting. I really enjoy hearing the French version. The Dutch was amusing but it didn't flow as nice in my opinion. We have internet again at the building which feels so fantastic. It had been far too long since I had gotten to be online for longer than 15 minutes! Oh another thrilling thing is Charlotte is visiting so I had a running partner this am! WOO HOO

Belgium….check!

So yesterday I was so sleep deprived, running didn’t happen but today I found a really nice place to run. There is a park in Lille called Parc de la Citadelle that is awesome for running. It isn’t like all the other parks I have seen in France thus far that are lovely and picturesque but so small for running that you just do circles. This park was larger and had many different trails that I can explore! WOOO

Lille is in northern France almost on the border of Belgium so we figured we would take this opportunity to see another country. Multiple people including Neana advised me to go to Bruges over Brussels so we took that advice and were quite pleased with it.

The buildings in Bruges have amazing style with so much character. I think it is called gabble style buildings that was what I found so charming. We didn’t really do much of anything while there but I loved our visit anyways. We ate at this little restaurant called Craenenburg where we all had soup because it was frigid out today. We were definitely not in France proven by this dining experience because they were rushing us along and gave us our bill with our food and even brought the next people over to take our table and we hadn’t even left. It was just so different then in France where they never rush you when it comes to eating. You will never even get your check unless you request it. You couldn’t literally sit in a café all day and not be bothered.

Belgium is very well known for their chocolates and I literally don’t think I’ve ever been somewhere with some many little chocolatiers before. Ever few steps there was yet another one! It is hard to choose which one to pick when the options are endless. I ended up sampling some at Stef’s chocolatier for the sole reason that my sister’s name is Stephanie! And Stef has proven to make some mighty good chocolates!

There were also tons of cute little lace shops because Bruges has long been known for its homemade bobbin lace. We walked by the canal and were enjoying admiring the city but it was just far too cold for us to last much longer so again we took refuge indoors and got to sit right by a fireplace and drink some hot chocolate. Inside this restaurant the ceiling was adorned with these very weird spinning wreaths. I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything like it.

Pure Maddness. Fireworks in Dam Square followed by Mauricio craziness.

Last night was the craziest night ever. When asked how New Year’s was I didn’t even know what to say because it was fun up until a point and then went plummeting downhill so fast it was unbelievable. Weeks ago when given the choices for New Year’s, we could either go with a group into Amsterdam or stay in at our hotel in Den Bosch. Hotel bars are the lamest thing in the world and no place to ring in the New Year, especially when you traveling Europe so Adrienne and I signed up for the Amsterdam trip. Over the weeks many people dropped out of the trip causing the bus to get cancelled but we still planned on going, we just had to take the train instead. Taking the train made the group get split up even more but I was comfortable with this that because I was with who I wanted to be with: Adrienne, Mauricio, and Brittany. We also started out with Todd and concession’s Carlos but lost them along the way.

To start from the beginning, I think I’m going to quit shopping all together, especially under time constraints because I just can’t do it. I wanted to get a new dressy top to wear for New Year’s so I went in a bunch of stores and didn’t see anything I remotely liked. I felt like nothing was on the dressy side. I found this one top I kind of liked but was hesitant to purchase it. I literally left the store and started walking back then turned around and talked myself into just getting it. I bought it on an impulse and when I got back I so regretted it! The stripes were crooked which as a fashion major totally disgusts me. It was so horrid I could not bring myself to wear it. I was so mad at myself for buying it especially since I thought I could return it today and get my money back but it is New Year’s day so nothing was open and we are leaving the Netherlands so I am stuck with this gross, poorly made top. I am going to try to fix it and salvage it but it may be a lost cause.

On the train, Todd was acting like a 13 year old screaming things and causing a scene. He has this catch phrase “Damn Gina!” that I guess he got from Martin Lawrence. He thinks is the funniest thing ever and would yell it at the top of his lungs. We were not amused though. After arriving in Amsterdam, Todd was trying to meet up Christine and JJ and somehow wondered off while talking to them on his phone. I thought we would never find him again and considering he had all our tickets we were going to be screwed if we didn’t! I don’t know how but we did find him and made sure to get our tickets off him before he ran off again and we found a place to have dinner. We ate at this tasty Italian place right near Dam square.

New Year’s in Amsterdam is crazy. I wasn’t expecting anything less but seeing it first hand is still just such a spectacle. I have been in Time Square on New Year’s before and in comparison there were way more people in NYC but there were also policemen on every street corner so it was so controlled. Dam Square wasn’t quite as large but extremely out of control and pure madness. I’m sure there were lots of people on all different kinds of drugs around me but what fazed me most was the overabundance of fireworks being shot off by individuals. You’d be walking along and all of a sudden one would go off right next to you. I had never been so close to them; it was neat seeing but it also made me cover my head when they were literally right above me. The streets looked as if it was fall and all the leaves had fallen all at once. But instead of leaves it was the red paper shredded remnants of fireworks. It was just so crazy seeing! I didn’t witness anyone get hurt nor did I hear any ambulances but I’d be blown away if nobody got hurt that night.

When we were walking from a side street into the square, a guy was making these awful “cook-a-doodle doo” sounds. I didn’t want to look back and give him the pleasure, so I was ignoring. Then he did it again right in my ear. I have no idea why, but he chose to pick on me out of the crowd. I hadn’t been super fazed by him but he really ticked Adrienne off. She took her bottle and slightly bopped him on the head and asked, “Why are you so weird?” It was hilarious but then he got mad and chose me again to be the one he hip checked. He then ran off into the crowd yelling in some crazy language.

In the square there was a stage set up and a jumbo screen in which they were counting up. One would have expected them to be counting down but they just do everything so different over here. They did do a count down for the last 10 seconds at least. At New Year’s people all cracked open champagne bottles and were spraying them everywhere. This, of course, made me scream, duck, and cover. As I was crouched down under the sea of people I looked over only to see Mauricio also huddling down there! It was hilarious because we both had the same great idea.

It took us probably a half hour to break free from the mass of people. As we were pushing through we made a pit stop and I ate myself a white chocolate covered waffles. We finally made it out and took a cab to the Delirium party we had tickets for. It was basically at this huge warehouse set up for a massive party. There were suppose to be some of the best DJs there but I don’t really follow such things so I didn’t expect the names to mean anything to me. When we got there Erick E was DJing and I totally have a song by him on my computer so that was kind of exciting.

We were having fun dancing and even found Christine and JJ. Mauricio got really drunk though. He drank far too much absinthe which is just so crazy strong. Apparently that is what Monet was drunk off of when he cut his ear off so that is proof enough that absinthe is the devil. We realized far too late how his bottle was about 2/3 empty. At that point, we decided we had to get him out of there. While waiting for a taxi, he was in a state of silliness and this was the period of funny drunk Mauricio. Brittany has a video of him which is priceless. He kept shewing Brittany away with overdramatic hand motions and yelling GO! He then got so over-zealous with the hand flinging that he smacked me in the face and got my nose real good. The first taxi wouldn’t take us because of his state but thankfully we found another one that would. When stopped at a light, Mauricio decided we were there and jumped out of the car. Luckily, we were close enough so we walked the rest of the way to the train station. We got to the train station probably around 2:45 and our train wasn’t until 4:20. We figured killing the time would be beneficial considering the state he was in anyways.

We went to one of the platforms so we could sit on benches and this is when chaos began. Mauricio snapped and started acting like a belligerent mess. He didn’t know who we were anymore and didn’t trust us. Everything that came out of his mouth made no sense. He sang a rendition of “Spice up your Life” but his version needed a parental advisory sticker slapped on it with all the swears he added in. Thank god there were three of us to take him on because his size is definitely deceiving. It took all our strength to hold him down. At one point I was holding him by the waist while Adrienne was pushing against him from the front so he couldn’t run back over by the tracks and freak us out again. He kept trying to break away and run from us.

He ended up puking in the station before we could get him all the way outside. He was such a mess. After he finished we brought him back inside and forced him to sit down; we literally pulled his knees out from under him. A security guy then forced us to take him back outside because he claimed you aren’t allowed to sit on the floor. Outside he fell asleep but he started shaking because it was so cold out. I was so pissed because there were plenty of others sitting in the station. We huddled at a bus stop for a little and he was back to trying to run away from us. We finally went back inside and at this point everyone in there was sitting on the floor. We went to a different spot and sat him down.

We then had a money dilemma. I had 20 euro, Adrienne had nothing, and Brittany had 10 and this was NOT enough for the four of us to get home. We felt totally screwed. We knew Mauricio had money but he didn’t trust us and refused to give us his wallet. Instead he started throwing up again. Later I was able to stealthily get his wallet from him but with his money we were still short. He had an ATM card but he was in no state to be able to recall his pin. So we missed the 4:20 train and were now shooting for the 6:30 one.

It was horrible. We went outside a third time for him to puke and were about ready to call for an ambulance when Todd, Christine, and JJ show up. I don’t think I had ever been so happy to see them before. I was thinking at that moment they were our saviors. We handed Mauricio over to JJ and were hoping he could take over holding him up and looking after him but Christine and him really sucked at it. JJ kept just letting him stumble and try to leave us and was like he’ll come back.

We finally got on the train and we totally let them deal with Mauricio. It was not a direct line though so we had to get out and change. During our half hour lay over Mau was trying to run away again and we had to take over again because JJ was just letting him go. I was so disgusted and he got spit all over my nice jacket and my nice jeans and shoes were so dirty from the whole night it was so gross! We finally got back at 8 am. What a crazy absurd journey!