Oui, Fromage!

I'm in Paris!!!!!!! It's awesooome!!!!!!!! However, my hosts computer is taking forever to upload pics, so here's two. I'm pretty beat from a whole day of walking around Paris. And I'm getting up in 5 hours to go to the beaches of Normandy! So a quick recap of things I've done in the past 48 hours (with pictures to follow soon):

Met Seth Meyers (current head writer/Weekend Update guy on SNL) at Boom Chicago show, attended an awesome party on the banks of the Seine river here in Paris, toured Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower.

Here's one great picture and one dumb one. The first is of course the Eiffel Tower. I love my camera tripod - it enables me to get great shots like this in the dark. Click on it to get a bigger version and see if you can see the search light the circles the top. It's kind of pointing right at the camera.




Here's some dumb shop I took a picture of on the way home.



Off to Normandy in 5 hours!

Canvas and Bike Lanes

(SECOND AMSTERDAM BLOG - Don't miss the first below!)

Wow, I got on a computer two days in a row, sweet. My host here is really cool, although I don't think I've inhaled as much second hand smoke since I tried to make a phone call once outside a state building.

Today I pretty much spent alone. My host allowed me to take his bicycle in this very bicycle-friendly town (bikes have their own lanes) and go see sites. He also gave me a card to get into all the sites for free. My first stop was the Van Gogh Museum. Up until now, I guess I had been a casual fan of artists like Van Gogh, Manet, Picasso, etc. But now I am a really big fan of Van Gogh. And I guess I have the audio commentary to thank for that. Just listening to the tortured story of his life as an artist, from his youth, to developing his talent, to developing dementia to the point that after an arguement with a fellow artist friend he cut part of his own ear off, to admitting himself to an asylum for over a year. Wow, all the art that cam out of that time is truly amazing. Some of his most colourful and vibrant paintings came from a hand that was also holding his head in anguish.

Here's my favourite painting: "Wheatfeilds with Crows". Notice the three roads that lead off to nowhere, and the crows departing for some reason, as if they sense that that looming dark sky brings nothing good. Yet the grain is healthy and full, despite it's circumstances.



Here's me riding my bike around town! Yes, (sigh) taken with my tripod.




I spend a lot of time just sitting in squares, looking at maps, and people-watching. It's different, and yet the same, in all of the countries. I hate pulling out maps and looking like a tourist, but hey, I gotta figure out where I am.



I saw this sign today. Don't know why, but it fascinated me.




This is the Anne Frank house. Her and her family hid out in a section in the back of the house for two years. They were doing ok there - food was getting scarce tho - until an anonymous tipster alerted the Germans to their prescence. Everyone but the father died in concentration camps. No one ever found out who gave the anonymous tip.




So yeah, a whole bunch of happy stuff, all in one day! Hahaha, actually I really enjoyed it. I came to Europe with the intent of seeing a lot of WWII stuff. Naturally it's a downer, but I think it's important to remember that stuff and learn from it. Next week I'll be at Normandy. In Anne's hidout, her dad kept track of the progress of the Allied forces' movements at Normandy with push pins on a postcard-sized map. It's still there.

Well, I'm off soon to check out the Boom Chicago improv show here pretty soon. Josh and Seth Myers (Seth is currently head writer for SNL) will be improvising tonight - 0ne night only - to celebrate Boom's 15th anniversary. Should be fun!

This video is for my friend Phillip. If LA turns into a pumpkin, there's always Europe!

Flower Power

Ok, ok, it's been a few days and now the third degree! Haha, I try to sign on as often as I can. Sometimes I have a busy schedule of going to the supermarket or buying bus passes.

This is me on the bus in Dublin. We spent a lot of time in this bus seeing as it a) rained most of the time, and b) it was quite a walk around there, almost most people claimed it was "walkable". Yeah, well, New York is walkable from my house if I have 4 months to spare. Hey, I do!

Then I went to Brussels. Here's an example of how European streets are laid out. This is typical - city centre design. Easy and great because you have a central place to go to, but since it's usually set up circular this way, there are almost no square streets. So it's pretty difficult to go up and just take a left somewhere. So this is what I do: I take a photograph of somewhere I need to be from a street map. Then I use it on my camera as a map, and then delete it later.




There are some really random art pieces around town.




My host Bertrand and his friend Anna took me out to see the town. In Belgium all the beers are fruity and basically taste like sparkling cider.



There are so many people touring Europe in big groups. Mostly high school students actually. Here I found a group of old people - they all looked around like giselles at the same time everytime this guy pointed to something. They all just kind of follow the person in front of them to the next attraction. I actually find it really interesting to observe tour groups sometimes. A crash course in human behaviour.



Humans are cool. Didn't you hear?

Grafftii in Belguim is basically all just cartoon characters. Not much tagging going on here. In fact, there is a tour you can follow around town to see all the comic page art on the sides of buildings.

On to Holland! The land of flowers!

I had to pay a bit of money on the train to have it validated because they told me to do it on the train. Well, not exactly. I could have done it for free in the station. Oh well. It's one of those things you only have to do once, but it's an expensive mistake.

I got to Amsterdam right at 4:2o. Haaha. It took me a minute to unclip my bag so I could get to my camera though.

This is what the streets of Amsterdam look like. Lined with made-made canals that used to be used for travel. Now there is a special lane for bicycles here. I got "jingled" at today because I was walking in them.

The Netherlands has a long history in WWII. Holland was occupied for 4 years and sent 110,000 people to Auchswitz. Here is a memorial to that. I also toured a whole museum solely dedicated to the Dutch resistance. There was a special section for 3 girls who did a lot of resistance fighting and passing secrets, that sort of thing. One was ultimately executed. Her last words, after the first shot fired at her by a N.S.B agent missed, were "I'm a much better shot."

There is a lot of tourist junk in all the countries. I love checking out what tourists are "supposed" to love.

Right next to the Red Light District, there was this kids carnival. So crazy. This was like 2 streets away from where all the girls are in windows.

This is what an example of the windows that the girls stand in look like. But obviously this is different - no girls here. The government has in fact been closing down a lot of "work windows" and converting them into windows to advertise clothes in. They get a lot of looks and people are usually pshyced out because obviously they are expecting a live person to be in there. In fact, my host says that's it possible in two years all the girls will be gone and the Red Light District will be all expensive shops like in Vegas' most expensive hotels. The RLD could soon become a worldwide destination for shopping and exspensive vacationing.

This is one of the streets in the RLD. It's just down the streets from the heart of it. Can't see anything questionable here. You're welcome to click on it though to see for yourself! Notice the guy walking in the red bicycle lane on the right. probably an American ;-)

It's pretty relaxed here in Amsterdam. My host took me in on less than a day's notice because my original host cancelled on me with less than 24 hours notice. I haven't paid to stay anywhere yet, so I figured I had to at some point. But this guy Hans, a middle-aged Turkish guy, was so awesome. He's hosted over 300 times, so he's got all kinks worked out. He even works for the national rail, and gave me a card to get in for free to all the museums. So cool. i think tomorrow I'm going to see a performance of Boom Chicago's improv group. I almost got cast in that this year - guess I'm gonna see what I missed out on! Paris in 2 days.........

Cheers and Jeers....then Ireland

Ok, it's time to complain. I can't take it anymore. Nothing earth-shattering. Some things about this trip are pretty freakin great, and some things blow. So here's a short list I have to get off my chest: (and yes, I'm starting with Jeers)

Jeers

-It's FREAKIN cold. I'm tired of it. Done with the cold. Seriously. A scarf only goes so far.

-No street signs. Anywhere. Sometimes there is a plaque on the side of a building with the street name, sometimes not. And they're never in the same place.

-The streets may/may not be in a straight line, making it harder to keep a sense of direction.

-The whole 'driving on the left' thing. I've almost been hit several times in a crosswalk.

-Pedestrians do not have the right of way. Already seen a girl get hit by a bicyclist. A bicyclist.

Cheers

-Everyone's pretty helpful. Real helpful in fact. Strangers will come up and ask if I need help finding something.

-My hosts are really cool and feed me and show me around town.

-Different food and drink taste real good.

-Buses and trains are real handy and dependable.

-Girls are interested in Americans.

Ok, not the end of the world, but seriously, where are the street signs?

Ok - Ireland!

Don't come to Ireland in the Spring. Just don't. You think Chicago is windy? Try Dublin. It's not neccessary the coldest place I've been, but it chills you to the bone. You just can't get warm, really. So that's why people go into the pub. There's something in there that warms you up...what could it be?

So when it's miserable outside, you stay inside and mess around with settings on your camera.

My host has done the Free Hugs thing. Check it out!

I feel this way sometimes.

A very touristy bar in a very touristy part of Dublin. We went here later and it was all drunk travelers singing along to American music, shouting, and smoking. Boo. Why is it that some people come all the way to the other side of the world, just to go do something they can do at home? Being in there didn't feel like Ireland at all.

This is a famous statue here....hard to tell why....they call her "The Tart with the Cart".

The Guinness Brewery was pretty freakin great. It was shaped like a huge pint glass. I wished Sean McCleish was with me.,

Try not to cry. I know, it's beautiful.

This was right before the wrestling match. That small girl won.

Tonight we're gonna go out to a pub for some "craick". That's what Irelanders use to refer to "great conversation and atmosphere".