You probably thought that after my last post that it would be the last of me blogging, but the title of my blog is 'Barbados meets France and beyond' and this my friends, is beyond. We all know that I cannot keep quiet for too long. I have to be doing something or going somewhere and this time I went to Belgium, Amsterdam, Germany and London. Brussels was the first stop, or what we (the crew) call it; the 'Chocolate City'. I mean, we couldn't go to Belgium and not have Belgian chocolates...that's like coming to Paris and not getting a picture by the Eiffel Tower... Madness!! Anyways, besides the chocolates, there is more to Belgium, like waffles, lol, the Manneken Pis ( a smallllll statue of a little boy peeing) and of course the skyscrapers. I mean, those buildings were hugeeeee. Going back a little to me stressing on the word 'small' to describe the statue....think of the Mona Lisa painting, now think smaller, lol. I guess the saying 'big things come in small packages' can apply to these. Nonetheless, Brussels was a beautiful place and I loved the atmosphere. Going back to the chocolates...our hostel was close to a chocolate factory and every time we walked past you could just smell the chocolate. I left there with two boxes of chocolates; one is a mixed box, where I can taste all the different kinds and the other one is a box of truffles. I'm not done there because I have to take home a box of Jeff de Bruges chocolates from here (Paris) and when I get to London, I have to get a box of Cadbury chocolates as well, lol. Judging my rant about chocolates it is evident that I'm a chocoholic and I'm not shame to admit it and I'm going to share them when I get home....I think...🙈. Anyways, the point is, I went to the chocolate city and I got my authentic Belgian chocolates.
Sin City- Amsterdam
Next up was Amsterdam. It's unbelievable how I'm going to these places that some people only thought about, but here I was, in Amsterdam. The first thing I noticed was the amount of bicycles there were. I thought the French had the bicycles, but in Amsterdam...they won that hands down! It was actually quite interesting to be in Amsterdam to be honest. Of course there was the Red Light District, the 'Condomeries' (condom shop), obviously sex shops and an actual sex museum and who can forget weed and there was also a weed museum. You can understand why then that Amsterdam takes the name 'Sin City', lol. However, I have to admit that Amsterdam is beautiful as well. Their buildings' architecture is simply amazing, it gives off this Venice like feel to it. Honestly, while in Amsterdam, we felt like going to Venice, like we were making plans, but that was short lived because it was expensive to go, but another time :). In addition to seeing the beautiful architecture, we went to the 'I Am Sterdam' letters, to Anne Frank's house and also to the bench that was in that famous movie 'The Fault in our Stars'. There was also Van Gogh's museum and who can forget the beautiful tulips? I also admired Amsterdam for their tulips :). However, like all journeys, this one had to come to an end and it was yet again, on to the next one.
Church City- Cologne
The next one was Cologne. This one is termed as 'Church City' because looking at the map...well...all we saw were churches, lol. There's no doubt that Cologne is beautiful, but we didn't do as much, compared to the other two countries. Nonetheless, we still had fun. I remember the night we had an 'impromptu soirée'. We were to go across to the bridge during the day, but instead we went back to the hostel and slept and before we knew it, it was night (midnight). However, it was suggested that we still go, lol. It was crazy, but spontaneous decisions are always the best (and the most fun), so...that's what we did, lol. As much as I have seen the churches/ cathedrals in the past countries I've visited, I'm still amazed at the new ones I see and Cologne is one of them. The details, the architecture, just everything about the cathedral is amazing and I'm glad I got to see them with my eyes :).
London baby!!!
Of course we couldn't travel around and not go to London! We went to Buckingham Palace, to Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the London Eye, went on the London Bridge (and there was no doubt that I started to sing 'London Bridge is falling down' in my mind, lol) and from the bridge we could also see the Tower Bridge. Believe it or not we walked around London. The only time we took transportation was when we were going shopping and we took the London Underground, but on our way back to the hostel, we walked. It was long, but it wasn't too bad. I mean I'm accustomed to walking because that was what I was doing since I went France and traveling around, so that part was fine. Although it might be a lot of walking, I still think you get to see more things than if you were driving around, so not bad. I also saw my last name on a street :). I had to go to London to see my last name, lol...well...it was worth the trip, even though I didn't know I would see my name :).
Overall all the traveling I did was AMAZING!!! I went to France, did what I had to do and now that chapter has come to an end. This post is actually the last post for this blog. A bit sad, but... I'm still glad that I got to share my wonderful experiences with you and I thank you for reading all about them. This is as I said is the end of this chapter, but it's certainly not the last of me traveling around the world. This is only the beginning :), so until then...thank you.
