Since the last blog, well, except for the Heidelberg announcement, I've been around a bit. I had an awesome time in Paris with friends, then helped some other friends moving apartments and spent about a week exploring Brussels. I took a day trip to Brugge, and was a little disappointed. I had heard so many recommendations about going there that it was perhaps overhyped. I would have to say that everybody that puts that much emphasis on visiting Brugge, didn't have the right person showing them around Brussels (or Bruxelles). Brugges is a quaint little town, and has its charm, but you could compete with it by spending an extra day in Brussels other than the canal experience (in which case Amsterdam or Venice have much more to offer on that front). I have truly had a first-class experience in Brussels. The city has history (its been stuck between the major European superpowers and yet somehow came out independent), it has unique architecture, it has modern buildings, it has a very diverse population, it has a great variety of food, and one might say it has an obsession with Beer. After a week in Brussels I feel like I need to go back and study the different types of beer so that I might gain an even better appreciation. I was introduced to a few friends of friends, who consequently showed me even more places around Brussels, and I talked to even more people living there who weren't originally from there but had ended up settling there for quite some time.
And it's location for additional travel...I'm now taking advantage of that. I visited Cologne for the weekend, and wish I had known more about it beforehand (another personal assignment to visit wikipedia and such). It was actually quite a nice city and one of the key cities in Europe during the middle ages (and less than 2hrs by train from Brussels!). This was my first venture into Germany, thus ticking another country off my list. I also got to visit Munster, which I yet again didn't do enough research beforehand and had earned the most livable city award for the world in 2006 (amongst cities with populations 200K-750K I think). It's got equal bike vs. car trip percentages and an average of 2 bikes per capita, hence considered the biking capital of Germany. Unfortunately it was pouring rain for 2 straight days so I may have to try biking there next week to really get a feel for the city. I biked around Heidelberg today, and it's got quite a nice set of bike paths around the river that you could see a lot of residents enjoy. I may have to try renting a mountain bike tomorrow if I've got enough time by myself to go explore the countryside.
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