Far Gone

Hello everyone, sorry for the big breqk ze hqd there. (Oh boy, the keyboards in France are wacky. the first two keys are az instead of qw, the m is to the right of the l... this is going to be a hard post) When I last left you I think I had just spent my first night in Berlin. Since then I did 2 more days there, about 4 hours in Cologne on my way to Amsterdam where I did 3 nights, 2 days in Brussels, and I just got into Paris last night. Its been a bit of a whirlwind, and Paris awaits me, so I'll give you a summary.

Berlin was amazing. The next day I took the walking tour through the city to see the major sights and to get a good dose of history. We saw several monuments, the place where WWII ended, Brandenburg Tor, the Berlin wall, buildings still riddled with bullet holes, the parliment building, etc. It was all great to see and very powerful. I met a few people on the tour and we all got together to go out that evening; Rick, Kaisa, and Steven (spelt that way too). We heard of a cool place from our guide so we went to check it out. It turned out that the building had been abandoned in the cold war and had been squatted by artists who are now the legal squatters in the building. It was about 6 stories high and every inch of the hallways was covered in graffiti. We climbed to the top floor of the building where there is a gallery space, and every day a different artist shows an exhibition. Then there was a terrace bar lit by backlight and playing hip hop that overlooked the city. It was an awesome night (even after I had to pull young Steven over my shoulders to carry him to bed). The next day as I was wandering the city I came across the Sony Center which is a massive domed enclosure and business park. They had a large cinema there, and I decided if they were showing The Dark Night in english without subtitles and it strarted in less than twenty minutes, then it would be a sign that I should take a break from walking and see a movie. Really oddly enough, that was exactly what the next show was. I am really glad I went though because I also got the German movie experience. Popcorn ("salty or sweet?") with no butter ("wouldn't that make your fingers sticky?), a half liter of weissbeir in a bottle (cheaper than the popcorn), and assigned seats (extremely overly comfortable).

The next day I took the train to Amsterdam and I stopped in Cologne to see the cathedral and chocolate museum on the way. Cologne was lively and fun and I wish I had more time there. Amsterdam was Amsterdam. Very unique to say the least. I was able to see some cooler aspects of the city thanks to my amazing friend Coco who gave me a deck called Amsterdam- 50 walking tours. I then made my way over to Brussels which I immediately fell in love with. It is a bit dirty and a bit ugly in places, but they like it that way. It actually reminded me a lot of Seattle, with a bit of grit to it (plus it was gray and rainy while I was there). It also has the Delirium Bar, which holds the Guiness World Record for most beers available at 2004 (they actually have nearly 2500, but only guarantee having 2004 in stock at all times). They even played classic rock. Needless to say I was in heaven. Then last night I hopped a train to Paris where I am staying with a friend I met whilst he was couchsurfing through Seattle last year, Julien. He lives right off the Champs-Elysées where I am going to begin my sight seeing for they day right now! Take care everyone, I'll try to get back to you a bit sooner next time.
-Jon