Last days of Europe

Apologies for the lengthy delay - Lo-Lin and I have been busy job hunting in Dubai. It really is a full-time job.

So, because I haven't set up a proper VPN or proxy server, we won't have Flickr for this post...so on to the text!

From Oct. 1 through Oct. 17 we traveled all across: France, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Italy, and Monaco. We stopped in: Paris, Annecy (France), Zurich, Bern, Geneve, Vaduz (Lichtenstein), Milano, Torino, Nice, Monaco, Cannes, Avignon (France), and Dijon. Yeah - lengthy trip.

Take-aways:

1. French people are amazing. I was surprised that few people would respond to me in English - but I really believe it has to do with not being confident in speaking English - or speaking with an accent. Everyone I met was extremely friendly and helpful. On wikitravel, we realized quickly that the areas that are more "dangerous" are just more ethnically diverse - OUR TYPE OF PLACE! In Paris, the place we stayed was alright - but the surrounding neighborhood was awesome. Very culturally diverse and open. Every time we ate out or bought food - the people joked in English and welcomed us with open arms.



2. Avoid Milano Shopping. Sure, it is the "capital of fashion", but everywhere we went, we were ignored and people were just plain rude. Luckily, Lo-Lin and I realized this after 3 hours and decided to go to Serravalle Designer Outlet (Click on English on the bottom). It is about 90 minutes southwest of Milano and WOW. The staff at each store were extremely nice. I picked me up a pair of Salvatore Ferragamo shoes. Oh yeah I feel stylish now wearing way too expensive shoes.



3. Annecy France is a beautiful town. A colleague from my MBA program recommended this town. Lo-Lin and I drove there not knowing what to see and found one of the more beautiful places on Earth. The lake area and downtown is quaint and relaxing. We could have spent a week here and just done nothing but relax. We had amazing food and really enjoyed our day here.



4. Switzerland is goofy and expensive. Driving into Switzerland, they charged you 30 Euros to get in, they stick a sticker on your window and don't check your passport. Switzerland is crazy expensive. We ate in most of the time, but had some really good food on the streets. One of the best things ever: bratwurst wrapped in bakery dough and baked. wow. too good. It is like France meets Iowa in a $5 walkaway.



5. Monaco and Nice are beautiful, but run down. It felt like Santa Barbara, CA, but it was great to put on shorts and wander around. The beaches aren't sandy, but still beautiful.



6. Dijon is the perfect place. We stayed on the edge of the city centre and walked in for dinner. The streets are tree-lined and the city centre compact and very - University-like. We ate at a nice place and really enjoyed the entire city.



7. Emirates Airlines isn't all that. Maybe if you fly first/business class, but cattle class - they are just like all of the other airlines. Oh and anything over 20KG PER PERSON (not per bag) is 30 EUROS per KILO

Overall, the trip was amazing. It will be a time that is never forgotten.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get pictures online someday soon.

Dubai/Sharjah

We have arrived in Dubai and are staying in Sharjah. Due to the government's lovely decency laws - Flickr is banned. I'll find a way around it - just give me an hour or two of free time.

Lo-Lin and I will update on our France/Switzerland/Italy trip very soon. For now - we are looking for jobs!

And we are OFF!

Good bye Brussels! Good bye Belgium! Land of wonderful beer, chocolate, cheese, and meat products! We bid you farewell.

Yes, our lovely 2 months in Brussels has come to an end. It was nice recharging the batteries here for a couple of months. Sadly (and not so sadly) our journey takes off tomorrow with a train ride to Paris. and from there:

1) Paris, France to Annecy, France
2) Annecy, France to Geneve, Swizterland
3) Geneve to Bern, to Zurich, Swizterland
4) Zurich to Vaduz, Liechtenstein to Milano, Italy
5) Milano to Torino, Italy
6) Torino, Italy to Monaco to Nice, France
7) Nice, France to Dijon, France
8) Dijon, France to Paris, France

Yep - a big roundtrip through the region. 15 days total with 12 or 13 in a car. This is the last "real part" of our honeymoon. Then, we are off to Dubai. no jobs yet, but we will work out something.

We both are excited to move on to the next adventure. Brussels has been extraordinarily chill and a great place to take a break. The people here are super friendly and our flat ended up in the best of places - St. Gilles Parvis. A very multi-cultural neighborhood that has a market every Wed through Sun. The people are great and friendly. No real negatives. We could have had a "better place" to stay - but it didn't affect us too much. Better than staying in a hotel and being on the move constantly.

We leave for Dubai on Oct. 16 and arrive Oct. 17. We will see you all around then! (with tons of pics)

Amsterdam! Sept. 19-21

Amsterdam. The land of (perceived) sin. The Las Vegas of Europe. Nah. Not really. ;) Lo-Lin and I don't party too much. Really - we go to bed well before midnight.

On Friday, we came to the city early and went to the Van Gogh Museum. It truly is a first class museum. In addition to the Van Gogh material, we both really liked the "Druskel Prints" exhibit by H.N. Werkman, a famous Dutch printer. We went to the Diamond factory across the street. Fun times. Then, off to our hotel.

Normally, hotels are hotels. But, we stayed at the QBic Hotel. Ala Japan capsule hotels, this is a bit bigger (not much) and has everything built into the "Cubi". A table, bed, tv, bathroom all in one unit. The hotel is almost fully self-service (check-in/out, food, etc.). It was neat, but I didn't like the lighting. I also didn't like that we had to ring up the caretaker every time we wanted in - because it was inside the World Trade Centre buildings and on the weekends. This was a really neat hotel though and I recommend checking them out. It was right on the metro and tram lines and provided easy access to downtown.

Friday night, we met up with C. Shaa, Justin, and Jeff for some drinks/dinner. Great times. I hadn't seen C. Shaa since my going away party in Iowa City (2005). She lives here with Justin and is a corporate lawyer. EVIL! Nah. It was a great time hanging out.

Saturday, Lo-Lin and I went shopping all day and bummed around. Lo-Lin had her first experience of the Red Light District. For those uninitiated - it really isn't that big and it really isn't as sleazy as you have heard. Yes, there are prostitutes in some of the windows and yes, marijuana is semi-legal - but really, the only thing that makes it crazy is the amount of tourists. Afterwards, we headed to Wynand Fockink....but more on that later.

We then met up Jeff and his friend Joy who was visiting from L.A. We took them down to Wynand Fockink. I discovered this place a couple of years ago when I was visiting Amsterdam - they started in 1679 and still make jenever - essentially gin, before the English taxed the French and caused chaos. It is in a back alley of downtown Amsterdam, near Dam Plaza and absolutely stunning. The staff are amazing well versed and treat everyone extremely well. After a few rounds, we decided to wander around and figure out food. We ended up at some Sichuan Chinese place - it was decent. After that, we went home. exhausted.

Sunday - WINDMILLS!

Before we headed to the windmills, we had breakfast at Pancakes Amsterdam. WOW. I ordered a savory pancake with spinach, pine nuts, garlic oil, and cheese. Lo-Lin, for some reason, got the American pancakes. Surprisingly - the American pancakes were amazing too! They had 3 stacks of pancakes with like...a 1/2 pound of bacon on top, covered in maple syrup. wow. GO THERE.

We then headed over to Zaanseschans...i.e. the land of the windmills near Amsterdam. ;) Lo-Lin, Jeff, Joy, and I hit the tourist destination early on in the day and had a wonderful time. The windmills were turning and you could go in (we didn't - 5 euros for a flight of stairs to stand on it didn't seem like a good investment). The whole place was quaint. Bought a couple of things and then headed back to Brussels.

Amsterdam is and always will be a neat place to go.

16 pictures

Sept. 13 - Bruges, Belgium

Lo-Lin and I had agreed to go to Bruges for a day when I got back from Dubai. On the plane back to the EU, In Bruges was showing on the flight. Hilarious mob movie based in Bruges with Colin Farrell. I highly recommend it -- plus the movie was shot in Bruges, so going there after seeing the movie was fun (he was shot here!).

Bruges is a city that still has much of its medieval architecture and is what I remember as being "classic Europe" in my grade/high school textbooks. I think they took every picture from German castles and Bruges and put them in the textbooks. The city is stunningly beautiful and is filled with canals. Wandering through the city, you could tell the people there tried to keep it "the old way". I highly recommend going there for some relaxation.

A couple of the highlights

• The Belfry of Bruges. For 5 Euros a piece, we went up the 366 steps - luckily stopping at points in between. The stairwell starts wide and then narrows so that only one person can go up (or down) at a time. A logistical nightmare. I imagine many people have taken a spill down those narrow stairs. The views were amazing and the bells started going off as we got to the bell tower (my ears rang all day).


• Canal tour. I've been on the ones in Amsterdam before and this way, by far, better. Open boats through the canals let you see an inaccessible side of Bruges.


• Friet Museum (and Chocolate Museum). I liked the friet museum (potato fries) way too much. The museum showed the history of the potato from its North American roots all the way through today's friet shops. It was fun, cute, and, at the end, delicious. We had some fries - mmm good. The Chocolate Museum was neat for historical value, but way overcrowded.

Now, for some pictures. 27 pictures
This first picture was taken in the morning.

Sept. 1 - 9 - Dubai Job Hunt

I went to Dubai, United Arab Emirates from Sept. 1 through 9th for a more in depth job hunt. The time I was there was the beginning of Ramadan. Yes, it is a religious holiday and everything slows down, but my primary purpose was to meet people I had talked to electronically already (all expats) and to see if I could turn over any stones while I was there.

A brief Muslim religious lesson about Ramadan. Ramadan is a Muslim religious observance of the time during which the Qur'an was revealed to Muhammed. It is a time of personal reflection, worshiping God, self-discipline, and sacrifice. Therefore, Muslims fast during daylight hours and break at iftar - resulting in obtaining of food during the day being difficult. From a non-Muslim experience: no drinking of anything, eating of anything, smoking, or chewing gum in public. There are also no movies at the theaters. On the other hand, iftar is a nice relief to the day's fasting. I went to proper iftar dinners at a few hotels. Very extravagant and rich food. It was really good.

I spent most of my time on the phone, meeting with people, or applying for jobs...and not much time taking pictures. In addition, it was really hot - between 105-110 F the entire time. I made the mistake of going for a pre-dawn run and was wiped out.

Here are the 3 photos I took:



BTW - if anyone knows of a economist/financial analyst/consulting position in the Middle East or North Africa - my email is mike AT triple-zero DOT net =)

August 22-24 - Rotterdam and Den Haag

Before I headed out to Dubai, Lo-Lin and I wanted to take a quick trip to the Netherlands. Some stuff fell through, so we decided on Rotterdam and Den Haag rather than Amsterdam. I had been to Rotterdam previously, but never Den Haag. This time, due to being "lost in my head" because of the Dubai job search - I didn't take that many pictures.

Rotterdam is a neat place. It has a unique balance of class, along with an industrial infrastructure. It kind of reminds me of Chicago. The weather wasn't so amazing the entire time: cold, drizzly, windy - but it was nice to have a weekend away from Brussels. We didn't really do much besides walk around and explore, but that was more than satisfactory for us. As per usual, we stopped at Pizza Hut to check out the menu - and were sadly disappointed. Very Americanized. We had "all you can eat" at the Japanese restaurant. The food was decent, but we had to go RIGHT when they opened - they have a reservations list that is filled well in advance. Our hotel, NH, was super nice and comfy. On the Sat. night after Den Haag - we ate out, got some beer and came back to watch some TV.

Den Haag - we didn't know what to expect. You hear about the place all of the time because of the international courts, so we expected a very opulent place. It was. The city was pretty relaxed, food was crazy expensive, and the shopping was even more expensive. We didn't buy much - just wandered around and took pictures. We ran into an outdoor sculpture art show (see pics).

The time has come for pictures:
9 pictures, mostly of Den Haag