Saket Vora

As we got ready in the morning, I saw that Laure had sent me an SMS. It was great news – she gave us a meeting place and time where we can meet her for lunch. Hopefully check-in at the hotel will go smoothly and we should be able to make it ok. We took a taxi to Brussels Midi cause it’s a shady area and after a slight mix-up on the train (we were sitting in our numbered seats in train car 17, not 16 as our ticket said) we were on our way to Paris.

We arrived in Paris just fine and made our way to the metro. My mom says that when we were in Paris ten years ago, she was surprised at how easily we had navigated the Paris metro. After so many other cities under our belt now, it was no problem. We found the hostel soon enough and checked-in, though we couldn’t enter the room until after 5pm. The lady at the desk was quite weird…I asked if we could leave our bags somewhere and she just pointed at this sheet of Rules and said to read it first. I mean, this isn’t the first hostel we’ve stayed at. After I read the rules, I asked again “where is the luggage room” and she pointed me to it. Silly. We then went back out to the metro and we had about two hours to use up before meeting up with Laure. To the Eiffel Tower! We took the metro again to Bir Hakim and got out of the station and immediately the Eiffel tower loomed above us. It is quite an arresting sight. We walked towards it snapping photos every five minutes. It was partly cloudy, but as we moved out down the Champs de Mars, the sun began to break out above the clouds and slowly the entire tower was bathed in light. It was very nice. We walked towards the south-east, trying to find a café or something to have a cup of coffee, but no real dice. We didn’t have a good map, so we just wandered a bit. I spotted this building with its gold-leafed dome glinting in the sunlight. It is called Invalides, and it is a grand hospital that Napoleon built for his injured soldiers. Finally it was about time so we took the metro to St. Michel. Laure said for us to meet in front of the fountain at St. Michel, and we got there a bit early. Promptly at 12pm, I spotted her walking up the street. She had to quickly finish a call with her father then I introduced her to my sisters. She told that me that Kahina was coming too, so we waited a bit. Kahina then came and was so kind to bring some chocolates. I wish I had bought some flowers for them, but I forgot. I’m sorry! Hungry for lunch, they led us through some of the side streets where university students in Paris often frequent. Laure and Kahina helped decipher some of the menus and we found a nice place. We talked about Brussels and Amsterdam and our previous trip to Paris, and I touched base with them about people leaving in Lund. Marion and Helene were flying back today on the same flight from Copenhagen. Kahina brought this handy guide and she and Sachi looked through to see which museums were opened on Christmas Sunday. Laure and I sketched out a plan for the day, so we gathered up our things and headed out. We first headed north, across the bridge to the Cite, a small island where the city of Paris began. Kahina made an excellent point about train reservations for Caen and to Geneva. Kahina led us to this huge shopping mall where she knows of a SCNF office. It was amazing. Kahina led us down this maze of escalators and crowded hallways (full of holiday shoppers) and into the SCNF office. We got to the desk and Laure and Kahina talked with the clerk in French. She would look up some information on her computer, tell it to Laure and Kahina, then they would turn to me and translate it to me. I would respond, then they would tell it to the clerk. The best part was when Laure turned to me and started speaking in French, then suddenly caught herself. I really wish I knew French at that point. Poor Laure. She and Kahina were so amazingly helpful to us. Kahina had to leave us at this point, so we said goodbye. L Laure still had some time before another meeting, so we walked over to the Louvre. I forgot how truly enormous the museum is. It sits in the grounds of the palace that Louis XIV was raised in. We entered the Louvre and explored some of the wings.

The weather in Brussels was not as cooperative as it was yesterday, but at least the weather in Brugges was good. We started off the day by walking to St. Catherine’s cathedral northeast of the Grand Place. This is very similar to Notre Dame in Paris and is done in the true Gothic style. It is a beautiful white cathedral that was recently restored to its old beauty. It took 300 years to complete, and I believe it. Intricate stained glass and great indoor lighting. This is the main religious building for Brussels. We then walked behind the Cathedral towards the Royal Palace and the Park of Brussels. It was barely drizzling and while the Palace building was sort of nice, we just had to imagine how nice the Park would be in spring. It has an enormous circular fountain in the middle of it. From there we took the metro to the EU part of town. Brussels is considered the capitol of Europe because it sits at the center of the three main powerhouses – England, France, and Germany. Just a day earlier the prime ministers were here hammering out the EU budget proposal, but alas we missed them. As the seat of government for the entire European Union, it’s not overly impressive like that of Rome. I figured the people wouldn’t be too happy if the ministers made these buildings very very nice. We hopped back on the metro and exchanged lines at Gare Centraal and made it to the Atomium park that is north-west of the city center. The Atomium lies in the ‘World Fair’ park and was built in the same spirit as when the French constructed the Eiffel Tower. Perhaps due to its location and admittedly geeky context, it hasn’t achieved the same fame. I personally think it’s really cool. It is an iron compound that has been multiplied in size 160 billion times. It is something like 100 meters tall I believe. Each nuclei has something in it, and there is an observation deck on the stop. We didn’t go inside it, cause it was so foggy around. In fact from where we were, about a third of the Atomium was shrouded in fog. It was just after 12pm at this point, so we decided to head to Gare Centraal to take the train to Bruges. After buying a sandwich baguette at the station and purchasing the train tickets, we boarded the train and an hour later we had arrived at Bruges. It is Bruges in French and Brugge in Dutch. The north-east part of the country speaks primarily Dutch, while the south-west of the country speaks French. Brugge is a quaint town (though touristy) that has been able to keep its medieval nature but still accommodate modern aspects. We took the bus to the city center (the buses are very similar to those used in Lund) and got out at a large square we thought was the Markt, the famous central square. It had a fountain the middle and then we discovered we got off too early. We started to walk to the Markt (Bruges is not very big) and walked through a crowded street with nice designer stores lining the street. We passed by one that had guild-like emblems on the top and I asked Sapana to take some close-up pictures of it. I thought I recognized some Masonic symbols and will e-mail a professor in Lund who I know is researching on the Freemasons for his opinion. We finally entered the Markt and were blown away. Belgian cities KNOW how to do their central squares. Like the Grand Place in Brussels, Brugge’s square features glorious buildings on each side of the square with impressive architecture. A Christmas Market setup dominated the center of it, with some small stalls setup and an ice-skating rink that encircled the large Christmas tree. But the building that continuously stole the eye was the breathtaking belfry that towered into the sky. 85 meters tall, 366 steps to the stop. I loved the architecture of this building – it reminded us so much of Orthanc, Saruman’s tower in Lord of the Rings, though not obsidian black of course. We climbed to the top and were treated to a breathtaking view of the town of Brugge. It was about 3pm and the sun had reddened the horizon, and at one end you could see both large churches with the red-orange horizon behind them and red-roofed medieval city in front. It was incredible. Also engraved at each window opening were lines which cities inscribed along with the distance to each. So that was pretty neat too. The bells started clanging so we went downstairs (Sachi slipped a few stairs in the beginning…it was rather steep). We tried buying some postcard stamps from this machine outside the post-office but instead I ended up with a single stamp worth 3.90 euros! D’oh! We continued to explore the city more, walking to the Berg square and over one of the canals. We stopped in a lace shop to buy some of the famous Bruge lace then ultimately made it back to the station then to Brussels. After getting back to Brussels we checked in with the travel information bureau and bought reservations for the train to Paris. We reserved an early one, the 7:10am arriving at Paris Nord at 8:30am, so that meant going to bed really early. We bought some falafel to go (the falafel was WAY too salty we discovered) and again bought some food for breakfast at the grocery store. We swung by a convenience store that had some computers setup to check e-mail. Our Normandy tour was set, and I got some responses from Laure. We should be able to meet her in Paris tomorrow. The internet at this café was something like 8 or 9 times cheaper than at the hotel. Back at the room we had dinner then watched ‘Enemy at the Gates’ that was coming on TV (earlier, they were showing South Park dubbed into French, which was hilarious, because part of what makes South Park so great is the insanity of the American voices). The movie could have been pretty good, except that practically the whole cast was British and didn’t make any attempt at masking their accent. The battle locations were done really really well I thought. I was completely convinced that they were fighting in the pulverized city of Stalingrad. I also downloaded the pictures off my camera and realized that we had taken more pictures in Brugge (we were there for 3 hours) than we had for the whole city of Amsterdam (we were there for 1.5 days). Heh.

Brussels has been wonderful so far. We arrived at the Gare Centraal station, and after a little difficulty at getting our bearings, we were able to find the hotel. Sachi gets big props for finding this hotel – it is fancy! The room rate that was listed in our room was 230 euros for one person: we are three persons staying in the room for just 90 euros a night! It’s just barely more expensive than a youth hostel, yet is more comfortable. The location is good as well, just a five to seven minute walk to the Grand Place. We also over-paid for the hotel’s internet terminal, but we were having so much trouble finding an internet café in Amsterdam I just wanted to get it done. We had to confirm our Normandy tour reservations and I had to communicate with parents and my friends in France too. After dropping our things off we headed to the Grand Place, which we had crossed while trying to find our hotel. The Grand Place is the central square in Brussels, and by all rights it is the most breathtaking square I’ve ever seen in Europe. Gorgeous buildings with beautiful detailed facades surround you, while two Gothic buildings that stand opposite to each other soar into the sky. Brussels also had a Christmas Market going strong while we were there, so the Grand Place was accordingly decorated. A large tree stood at one end, while throughout the square they had put smaller trees into ornament balls. It was a really nice sight. We strolled through the Christmas Market and I had my sisters try from glühwein, a warm mildly alcoholic beverage that Frieder introduced to me. Sachi liked it, but Sapana doesn’t like anything bitter, so she was non-plussed. We continued to walk through the Christmas Market until we got to a famous cathedral. The exterior was in the black-white-gray starkness similar to St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Prague. The inside was nice but I got the feeling it was no longer used for serious religious service…it felt more like a community hall. Around the perimeter they had models of the Manger nativity scene from different ethnic communities in Brussels, so each had their own style of the nativity scene. There was a group of kindergarten kids on a field trip that enjoyed it. Behind the church was the real Christmas market setup, with an enormous Ferris wheel at one end and an ice-skating rink in the middle (and one that was in serious need of a Zamboni!). I was really glad the sisters got to see a proper Christmas Market, because I doubt there will be one around when we finally get to Munich. As the sun had set, we strolled back to the Grand Palace and took care of some souvenir shopping along the way. We bought some the famous Belgian chocolate to try, and while we were in the store we heard an instrumental of the theme from Bombay, the decade old Indian movie. How bizarre is that. Wanting to have dinner quickly, we went to a Pizza Hut (I know, I know, not very interesting). Afterward we stepped into a grocery store to buy some bread and cheese for breakfast tomorrow. Tip to travelers on budget: grocery stores are a great resource to use. We found the Grand Place dark as we approached it, but we discovered that they had a side-show presentation that they were projecting onto the city of Brussels museum (the towering white Gothic structure) along with some nice music. In the true ‘European’ Belgian manner, it was an acknowledgment of all the countries in the European Union with a holiday flair. At one cool part they had a sequence in which the intricate façade of the building was being traced in white lines, then the whole thing was colored in to look like some demented birthday cake finished by some four year old. Then the whole building was plunged into darkness except for a sole spotlight illuminating the very top of the spire. It was a great moment, but I missed it with my camera so we will stop tomorrow. After the show ended we returned to our hotel where we watched the Bayern Munich – Hamburg game. It was a fun game to watch, especially after I had learned a bit from Christian and Frieder. I tried to teach the sisters as much as I could about it. It was surprising to see Bayern Munich have so much trouble scoring. Later they showed highlights from the rest of the Bundesleague matches and I rooted for Frankfurt too. Mom called the hotel so we talked with her for a while, though I was worried it was going to cost a fortune. It’s cool though, it was good to talk with her and dad. Tomorrow we will see more of Brussels then in the afternoon go to Bruges.

We got a full rest last night and started the day well. We pack sandwiches made at breakfast which saves us money for lunch, leaving more for nice dinners. We first went to Vondelpark and strolled through it a bit. It is alright…closer to Varoslighet than Hyde Park. Afterward we headed into inner Amsterdam on foot, crossing the four main canals that encircle the city. Our first stop was the Amsterdam Historische Museum. It tells the history of the city over the past 1500 years. It was quite interesting to see how the city started from a few dozen homes along the Amstel river, grew into a bigger city, and the development of the unique pattern of canals that run all around the city. It was a good museum, lots of varied presentations and information. Afterward we walked over the main square in Amsterdam, the Damrak, and then crossed into the southern edge of the ‘Red Light District’. I know we weren’t in the heart of the district, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. There were normal people there with kids and such. A slighter higher concentration of ‘coffee shops’ than normal, but that’s about it. We got to the place where there is currently a LOT of construction going on. The only Metro line that goes into inner Amsterdam runs out of the central station going east by southeast. There are construction a north-south Metro line, which would be rather nice, because most of the main Amsterdam sights lie in that direction. We took it pretty leisurely after that, strolling through some of the shopping areas and picked up some extra things to eat for lunch. We went back to the hotel to eat. If it were spring and not cloudy/dark, I would have headed directly to Vondelpark for a picnic in the park. It’s ok. Tonight we will eat at an Indian restaurant. If you walk along Leidsestraat just north of Leidseplein and simply look to your left and ride down the side streets, you can see 8 Indian restaurants in two blocks. I’ve been telling my sisters that we shall avoid Italian food or pizza as long as we can. Amsterdam is quite impressive for its multicultural nature. The current trendy culinary habit for people are take-away Asian noodles eaten with chopsticks. There are innumerable ethnic restaurants to visit.

We are currently planning on taking the 9:30am train to Belgium scheduled to arrive in Brussels at around 12:30. We will go to the hotel, drop off our bags, then immediately head out into the city. Brussels is not as big as Amsterdam, so it should be easier to see. The following day we will take a day trip to the city of Bruges, which is lauded for its charm and beauty. I desperately need to check my internet. I have not yet found one of those internet cafes that isn’t in a drug haze filled ‘coffee shop’. Sigh. Maybe tomorrow. We need to call home tonight too.

Woke up at 6:00am today and we all got dressed. We were down for breakfast at 7:15am. The breakfast included in our bill is surprising full featured. Breads, cheeses (including this different but really nice cheese I hadn’t seen before), cereal, etc. We also made some light sandwiches and kept it with us, thereby saving us the cost of a lunch. We took a tram to the Centraal station and bought tickets to Den Haag. We timed it fairly well, didn’t have to wait more than 15 minutes. The trains here in Holland are double-decker, so we took the top level to get a better view. The train ride was uneventful. I read my Economist and such. Sachi slept a bit, which was a good idea. We arrived in Den Haag but forgot to pick up a map or something at the train station. The Europe guide doesn’t have a map of it, so it was a bit of just free exploring. Once again, someone came by and asked us if we needed any help. We just started walking to the city center. I wanted to see Den Haag (The Hague) because I had read about it a lot in the papers and I heard from Frank it was a nice city that wasn’t so touristy like Amsterdam. I dunno if it was because it was Monday, but the city didn’t really feel busy. It was ok. It was nice by the canals. We did not get to see the International Criminal Court because it is located out side the city. WE did see the Peace Palace and some other old buildings. We learned that the town of Delft was reachable by tram ride, and that city WAS mentioned in the Frommer’s guide to Europe that my sisters brought along. We rode a tram to Delft and walked around a bit. It is a nice small town that has canals running all through it. We read that there is some famous blue and white porcelain made here, but unlike in Prague where they were selling bohemian crystal on every street corner, we couldn’t find anyone selling the porcelain. We must have spent 15 or 20 minutes following these signs to a porcelain place, but really didn’t feel like it was going anywhere. We took the tram back Den Haag and then boarded a train back to Amsterdam. It was about 3pm when we got back to Amsterdam, which meant it was the first time we saw the main city with light. Fortunately for us it was both not very cold and not rainy. The city along the canals does look rather nice when the sun is out. We set out west of the ‘Red Light District’ and worked our way down until we reached the King’s old palace. There was this very impressive very large structure that turned out to be a shopping mall! We turned westward and started crossing some of the four main canals that encircle the old city of Amsterdam. We soon found Anne Frank’s house and took the tour inside. When my parents were in Amsterdam so many years ago, they did not see Anne Frank’s house and my mom has always wanted to. It was a good museum – not a huge variety of information because the topic is so focused, but I mean come on, we got to stand in Anne Frank’s room and see the pictures and postcards she put up on the wall. It was a good experience. Afterward there was only one hour left before the van Gogh museum was to close so we made our way back to the ‘shopping mall’ and took a tram back to the hotel. The Frommer’s Europe guide has to cover all of Europe, so the restaurant recommendations are quite limited. One inexpensive vegetarian apparently made the list in Amsterdam, so went there after a brief stopover at the hotel to drop off the backpack and such. We were able to re-use our tram ticket. The restaurant had dishes for about $11-13 per plate, and had Mexican, Indian, and middle eastern dishes. We had one of each. The food was good and we ate our fill. We walked back from this restaurant at Fredicksplein to our hotel, which is a short walk from Leidseplein. We felt rather tired today, so I had some Tylenol and spent a bit of time downloading pictures from the camera and writing entries in this journal. Tomorrow I must find an internet café and also call home. Since none of the museums open before 10 and the sun doesn’t come out until 8:30, we are going to push back our wake-up time from 6am to 7am. Ahh, one more hour. Tomorrow we will walk through a bit of Vondelpark, go to the Amsterdams Historische Museum, take a peep at the Red Light district, take a canal tour, and probably try an Amstel and a Heineken, both local brews. Then off to bed early so we can catch the earliest train to Brussels. ‘Night.

This morning was the hardest I’ve had in Lund, more difficult that when I had my digital communications final. This morning I had to say goodbye to my corridor mates, who have ascended to my dearest and closest circle of friends over the past five months. This was a morning where I could feel the seconds ticking away. Christian and Frieder saw me to the bus station and Pablo, Marion, and Helene gave me a wonderful sendoff from the balcony. My mind is not ready to let go yet, so I will have more to write later.

After a mad dash to the 7-Eleven to buy pepparkakor and julmust for my sisters to try, I boarded the train to Copenhagen. The airport is a good airport – airy, clean. It was extremely busy when I arrived, with a very long line stretching out from the SAS check-in desks. This was the first airport I’ve seen were they show you which ticket counters you can go to for your particular flight. After trying one of the computer kiosks, I was resigned to wait in line, but it was surprisingly efficient. After only 30 or 35 minutes I was at the front and the check-in went smoothly with no problems. After security, one fines many many shops and tax-free shopping. They had a lego store too which I thought was a nice touch for the kids. As I boarded the plane I picked up a complimentary copy of the International Herald Tribune to complement the latest issue of The Economist that I had bought back in Lund. Flight was fine, with a group of middle school girls cheering when the plane touched down to the amusement of the adults and more seasoned travelers in the front. If I thought CPH was nice, the Schipol Amsterdam airport is quite a sight to see. It is easily the best airport I have been to in Europe. There are enormous, easy to read instruction signs everywhere with English as the primary language. The airport is never feels crowded, looks sleek and clean, and offers well laid out and spacious shops. The area above the trains is enormous…difficult to describe. There is also a full fledged grocery store there too. I checked up on which receiving area my sister’s EasyJet flight would be arriving so I camped out near the entrance.

Sachi and Sapana’s plane arrived a bit earlier and I finally met up with them right as they were coming out of the doors clearing customs. It was nice to finally see them again. Sapana’s bag was ridiculously heavy and unlike Sachi’s, did not roll. I hoisted it on my shoulder while Sapana took my rolling back. We talked about their morning at London and Luton and how Sapana’s first impression of the residence hall was. While Amsterdam’s Schipol airport is spectacular, it’s city train system definitely leaves something to be desired. I found it a bit confusing and not as well run as the airport is. Kind of curious. We got off at the Centraal Station and first located a map of the city. We quickly saw that the metro doesn’t serve our part of town, which would have to be only accessed by trams. We walked over and after some hunting around find the right tram number. The trams here at 1.60 euros and they are valid for 1 hour. So you can go someplace, check it out, then take another tram ride in under an hour. We got to the Leidseplein, a big, bright, active square with lots of restaurants and shops. The nice tram driver repeatedly said ‘Vondelpark’ for us to inform us that it our stop. Oh yes, while we were looking around for the trams a lady saw us and asked if we needed any help, then she did. It was kind of weird to see that. The optimist in me was happy to see such a nice person, the cynic in me thought she was a distraction for some pickpocketers. Anyway, we made it to the hotel fine. We checked in and went up to the room. The room is kind of small but entirely functional. It’s better than a hostel room, let’s put it that way. We did some unpacking and I had some debhra that Mom packed with Sapana and they had some pepparkakor and julmust. They realized what I meant when I said how pepparkakor goes by really really quickly. They also couldn’t wait to see Klovvika so I showed them the movie too. Great reactions, especially to the DVD. Sachi loved Yuko’s screaming after she got possessed. We then watched the outtakes, and they had a good laugh. We wanted to do something so we got dressed and walked over to the Leisdseplein. We decided to have a bite of falafel so we walked down this street (a little shady, yes) and went into this store. A nice looking cat sitting on the stool and an elderly person took our order. They had their own system and manner of doing it. He carefully cut the tomatoes, lettuce, and onions, then slowly made each falafel. They weren’t the ‘burrito’ style you find in Lund, but they were filling. We got them to go and went back to the hotel to eat. As we got into the lounge, they were showing the Indianapolis Colts vs. the San Diego Chargers on TV. I was excited cause it was the first time I got to see NFL football live since leaving the US and it was the Colts at that, who are undefeated. And guess what. They LOST. Poor Peyton Manning. Anyway, we finished the falafel and went to bed. I forgot my pajama pants in Lund on accident so I will have to go buy some here or in Brussels. I haven’t find a suitable store yet. Maybe on Tuesday.

Well, it’s time for the European trip. Today was wonderful. I did some packing and then went to Malmo with Frieder, Christian, Paul, Marion, Helene, Yuko, Masao, and one of Yuko’s friends from Scotland. We played laser-tag! It was great fun. We stopped at an indian fast food restaurant named Ganesh and Christian, me, Helene, and Marion had a bite to each. Marion and Helene were having a tiny bit of trouble with the spicyness, but it really wasn’t bad! Heh, they just have to train more.

After coming back we chilled for a bit then went outside to burn the Christmas goat! It is of course a Swedish tradition! Frieder found this Swedish song, and outside once we finally got the straw goat to start burning, we locked arms in a circle around it and started dancing and singing this silly Swedish song. Ahh, these crazy Swedes.

Afterward I went into the lounge to spend time with people, and the French girls were having a pre-party. We talked a bit, and then Amalia came in and we said goodbye, because I won’t see her tomorrow morning. After everyone else left for the nation parties, Frieder and I had a long talk first reminiscing about our experience here then to a wide range of more serious topics….the aftermath of WWII in Germany, war in general, the middle east, etc. I will really miss talks like this.

I leave for Amsterdam in 12 hours. I’ll head to the train station at around 11am tomorrow, then catch a train to Copenhagen airport. Sapana and Sachi are in-flight now towards London.

Though some ‘goodbyes’ have started, I’m NOT ready to say goodbye yet! It’s going to be hard.

There will likely be no real updates on this site until January 1st or 2nd. I will be writing my notes each day of my European trip then I will upload them all to this website with pictures once I arrive back in Lund. See you all soon!

I woke up late today on accident. I got some pictures ready for Laure, then later biked out to the hill to watch the sunset over Lund. Nice spot for reflection.

I’m going to finally finish this term paper of mine. I finished off the ‘Religion for the Palestinians’ section yesterday, and now have the ‘Religion as a Means to Peace’ section left.

My working title is “Pslams and Suras, Shields and Swords in the Holy Land”. It’s kind of long, but I like the alliteration. However, it says something about my state of mind regarding this topic when I just KNOW that someone is going get offended by the parallelism in that title. I mean, I’m instantly conscious about these kinds of things now.

I’ll add more later.