germany

and then there was germany, the last country in my mini winter trip.. and there's where winter got real!

i was there for 4 days, mostly with rain, and i wasn't going to stay in, so i adventured myself and got wet.. wet, cold and sick! like i said on the post about belgium, if only i knew what was about to come...

anyway, i was able to enjoy.. my couchsurfing host was great, we cooked a lot (spanish omelet, german auflauf and some sort of asian creation with western ingredients), listened to good rock and roll, talked about arts.. good times..

i wasn't adventuring myself alone.. i met another couchsurfer who hung out with me every day i was in germany.. we didn't see much of hamburg, as the day we met was the most rainy, but we did manage to see the beautiful rathaus (the town hall), the saint pauli landungsbrücken (harbor) and the mönckebergstraße (commercial area)..

next day we took a train to lübeck, 1 hour northeast of hamburg.. it is a beautiful medieval city, with a lot of gothic churches and historical buildings.. we went up saint petri's church tower for a panoramic view of the city, including a great view of the holsten gate (one of the original city gates)..

20 minutes from the city there's the borough of travemünde, a harbor town in the baltic sea.. it was 5ºC, but as soon as we arrived, the sun decided to show up for an hour, and it almost felt right to be on the beach (but not really)..

on my last night i still met a group of couchsurfers in reeperbahn, home to the hamburger red light district and center of the city's nightlife.. we saw an early music performance at a bar, and when we left the streets were (kinda) crowded.. it seemed like a great party, but i was sick and had to go home.. maybe next time..

just like in amsterdam, i had one last free morning, and the weather helped a little bit, so i could at least take some pictures.. i visited pretty much the same places as before, plus the lake binnenalster..

when i was on my way to the airport, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky, and by the time i was boarding my flight back home, the day was the most beautiful of any day of this trip..

well, i saw gorgeous places, i met amazing people, i ate great food.. we can't have it all, can we? so the bad weather was just one negative after so many positives.. it made (almost) no difference! *cough, cough! time for my medicine..

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the rathaus (town hall), hamburg

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having some auflauf with my CS hosts

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next to the lake binnenalster, hamburg | the sun (when i was leaving)

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view from the tower of saint petri's church, lübeck

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the holsten gate, lübeck

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the beach, travemünde | rain + sun, lübeck

amsterdam, netherlands

after a couple of days in belgium, the next stop was amsterdam.. and for new year's, no less!

as expected, my time there was pretty crazy.. i was hosted with 3 other great people from couchsurfing, and after a free 4-hour walking tour (given by a kiwi couchsurfer), we got home only to find people were already there for the huge CS NYE party our hostess was throwing..

well, about the party, i'm going to leave it to your imagination.. i'll just say it was.. memorable (what i remember of it, anyway!)

the weather was bad when i was in belgium, but it was a little worse in amsterdam.. still, during most of the tour, the worst it got was some intermittent light rain..

we still managed to see/walk through dam square (with the royal palace and the new church), the red light district, spui, the jewish district, nieuwmarkt, chinatown.. which is almost all i had on my 'to see' list.. all that with some interesting information and fun facts/stories given by our guide..

did you know every year around 10 thousand bicycles are removed from the canals of the city? did you know the longest bridge in amsterdam is right beside the narrowest house? did you know there's a church in the red light district (this one is pretty well known)? well, yup.

also, after the NYE party, we managed to go to the leidsplein, where the nightlife happens.. it was crowded, despite the rain.. most of the clubs and bars were charging unreasonable entrance fees, so we ended up leaving after a while.. and the battle for a taxi was a hard one (no worries, we won!)

i still had a free morning before taking the train to hamburg, and the weather helped for a couple of hours, and i could finally take some pictures.. blue skies, sun and all.. but by the time i was leaving, heavy rain and even some light hail.. crazy amsterdam..

i lost my voice there, and it didn't come back for about a week.. also, i'm pretty sure that's when i got sick (i finished the mini eurotrip with a nice cold), but still, i loved the vibe of the city, and i'll definitely be back, hopefully with some sun!

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the good old cliche shot (sorta)

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dam square: the royal palace and the new church (actually, the oldest one in amsterdam)

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church | canal

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statistics say there are 3 bikes for each amsterdammer

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street art next to the few remaining squat houses

belgium

so for new year's, i decided to do a mini eurotrip, going to belgium, netherlands and germany in 10 days..

following recommendations, i skipped brussels and took a train to ghent, a university city about 1 hour northwest of the capital.. the weather wasn't great, cold and windy, but if i knew how worse it would get the following days, i wouldn't have complained..

ghent is a cute city, with a very compact center.. i saw everything i planned to see in just about 2 hours walking.. the main places are the sint-baaf cathedral, sint-niklaas church, the gravensteen (a medieval castle) and the beautiful patershol district behind the castle..

the city wasn't exactly empty, there were tourists, but i heard normally it's full with students, but because of the holidays (and the exams week ahead), the locals weren't really out and about.. i went out for a beer with my couchsurfing hostess and her brother, and now i can officially say belgian white beer is the only one i actually like (so far!)..

next day i took a train to brugge, only some 30 minutes away further northwest.. the city is more well known, so there were a lot of tourists, but still, i was blown away.. it's the most beautiful city i've seen so far..

the center is also quite walkable, and the medieval streets, the canals, the gothic architecture, it's all so amazing i was walking around wearing a big, silly smile.. people must've thought i was crazy.. but oh well..

brugge has some historical places (the basilica of the holy blood, the burg square, the grote markt), but i think just getting lost and appreciating the beauty of the city is where the magic is.. there are also four windmills along one of the canals bordering the main part of the city..

when i was already tired of walking, i met another local couchsurfer for some hot chocolate (with belgian chocolate, delish!) and went to see some other parts of the town i wouldn't have discovered by myself, like this great underground beer cellar with some interesting beer labels..

i spent only two days in belgium, and it was a destination i almost skipped, but i'm glad i didn't.. i met some great people, and some of the most beautiful cities i've been to so far.. and tried good beer! it's a win-win+win!

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korenlei, ghent | ghent by night



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werregaren, awesome graffiti alley in ghent

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korenlei, ghent

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brugge

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markt square, brugge

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the begijnhof (the convent), brugge