EuroTrip part 2: SEEING EUROPE!
Since I can remember, I've wanted to go to Europe. I never really had any specific destination in mind, but I've just always known that I wanted to experience a completely different way of life. Even as a dumb american tourist :)
Well when crocodile asked me to go to Eurofurence with him over a year ago, I knew that I had an amazing chance to experience something I've wanted to for a long long time. I don't quite know how things worked out as far as money and getting time off, but somehow they all did. Granted, I am completely dead broke, but I'm on my way back home and will hopefully still have a job (albiet some bad job related news was relayed to me while I was gone).
So we planned on doing the whole EF thing for like 5ish days, and then we would immediately set off for an insane tight trip to 3 separate cities.... Amsterdam, Paris, and Koln. Honestly when I thought about where we could go I didn't really have anything set in mind, I actually had to go look at a map and see what was within a reasonable driving distance from where the convention was being held.
Our first stop was in the Netherlands over at henriekeg's house for a brief visit where her mother cooked us the most amazing lasagna... it was absolutely delicious! By far one of the best meals I had in Europe. Thanks Heinriekeg for allowing us to visit your home. It was wonderful!
Our first big city stop was Amsterdam, we met up at kenai's place about 45 minutes out in Den Haag.... somewhere that I've always wanted to go to. In fact I've been planning on going here with friends for quite some time. Honestly, everyone is going to say OMG BECAUSE YOU CAN SMOKE WEED THERE RIGHT? No, not necessarily. It's more about the openness, the smoke shops and red light district, and just the idea that the city portrays. It's something unique and I really really appreciate it. Lots of the European furs we were with, especially the ones from the Netherlands, really disliked the place... but I just loved it. Being a big city person that I am, the sheer amount of activity that was going on at all hours just sucked me in. The city felt more alive than just about anywhere else I have ever been.... and, while it wasn't necessarily a clean city, it still just had a feel to it that was amazing. Old, dirty. I wish I could describe how my mind works regarding these things, but it was really magical to me. Even the attempt at pickpocketing us was an interesting experience in some way....
And yes, if you must know, I smoked some dope there, but being on the move and in a gigantic group does not lead for much relaxation and chill time so I will be doing a better job of this next time. And no, I didn't pay a hooker for sex. We couldn't find the cute fursuit window in the red light district... ;)
Suiting also happened, with 7 people actually fursuiting up. I borrowed kuddlepup's fancy camera to take pictures of him and the other suiters, it was a really fun experience. I honestly didn't quite have the drive to suit at this point, being the day after the convention, so I didn't. My trip there was way too much about taking the whole city in, and I didn't want to share that with Bacon :P
I'm really not going to be able to do any of my experiences justice, and that really upsets me. But I HAVE to post something, I have to recap some of this..... it was just too amazing not to share some of my thoughts and feelings.
After Amsterdam we headed over to Paris to stay with timduru. I was really surprised at Timduru's location... it really was in a little French Villa type of thing outside of Paris. It was almost something out of a movie, something I didn't think would actually really exist, but it did. It was AMAZINGLY beautiful and peaceful... I was just wowed by it.
We set off into paris eventually and actually got to see the Eiffel tower. HOLY CRAP. It was absolutely breathtakingly gigantic. I never expect it to really be so big.... it was just beautiful. Believe it or not, we parked on a sidestreet in the middle of paris and SUITED up. Quite amazing to get fursuiting pictures from such a place. I had a good time suiting, but the children all over the place were hellacious! Holy crap I hate kids :)
Eventually we got out of suit and headed up to the top of the Eiffel tower. We climbed all 670 (I think) stairs of the tower and were pretty much dead by the top. At least Croc and I were :).. But the view..... it's indescribable. Paris has to be the biggest city I have ever been in, because for as far as the eye could see it was non stop buildings. Not just small houses but actual buildings. I have never seen anything like it. We actually paid the extra to make it up to the top of the tower and the view was even more spectactular. The images from the Eiffel tower will forever be burned into my mind. Simply amazing.
After that we headed over to a restaurant that Timduru had actually brought kuddlepup to the year prior. KP mentioned to me that I should ask Tim to take us there because the translation is called "The Smoking Dog". The restaurant had pictures of anthropomorphic dogs all over the place, including naked ones. FURRY PORN!
Well I have to say, the food in France was simply the best meal I had there. My food was absolutely amazing, and here we are, sitting in the heart of France outside eating at a relatively fancy restaurant. I can't believe it really happened.. it was pretty surreal.
Paris seemed really awesome and active as well. It was simply gigantic, but holy crap, one day in Paris was NOT ENOUGH. We drove past a million buildings that were incredible... a million buildings that I would have loved to stop and see. I most definitely WILL be back.
Next off we drove back to Cologne for our last few days in Europe. We did a heck of a lot of awesome things and hung out with some REMARKABLY cool people, but the thing that stands out the most for me was seeing the Cathedral in Cologne.
There's one point where we were walking around the shopping district, which is all relatively new and modern. I looked up into the sky and saw this incredibly detailed gigantic old building poking out behind a modern style store. OH MY GOD.
I don't think I've ever layed my eyes on anything so detailed and beautiful. I can't think of a single thing that can compare to the amazing beauty of that building, inside and out. It really really blew me away and wow, I will just never forget it. It really didn't even look real.... and the pictures I've taken, while pretty amazing, don't even come close to doing it justice. It was breathtaking.
We had some other amazing times in Cologne, but I just can't write anymore about this trip. My mind is still processing everything and doesn't even quite know where to go.
So much happened on this trip, I experienced so much, my mind was blown so many times, my eyes were opened to such a different yet sijmilar way of life, and I was just humbled by so many things that I encountered... I'll just never forget any of this. It was absolutely phenomenal and something I don't just WANT to experience again, but MUST experience again. This trip was exactly what I have desired for so long, and it was made amazing but not only my experiences, but the incredible people that made my trip doable and comfortable..... thank you all so much for being a part of something that will never leave my mind :)
Well when crocodile asked me to go to Eurofurence with him over a year ago, I knew that I had an amazing chance to experience something I've wanted to for a long long time. I don't quite know how things worked out as far as money and getting time off, but somehow they all did. Granted, I am completely dead broke, but I'm on my way back home and will hopefully still have a job (albiet some bad job related news was relayed to me while I was gone).
So we planned on doing the whole EF thing for like 5ish days, and then we would immediately set off for an insane tight trip to 3 separate cities.... Amsterdam, Paris, and Koln. Honestly when I thought about where we could go I didn't really have anything set in mind, I actually had to go look at a map and see what was within a reasonable driving distance from where the convention was being held.
Our first stop was in the Netherlands over at henriekeg's house for a brief visit where her mother cooked us the most amazing lasagna... it was absolutely delicious! By far one of the best meals I had in Europe. Thanks Heinriekeg for allowing us to visit your home. It was wonderful!
Our first big city stop was Amsterdam, we met up at kenai's place about 45 minutes out in Den Haag.... somewhere that I've always wanted to go to. In fact I've been planning on going here with friends for quite some time. Honestly, everyone is going to say OMG BECAUSE YOU CAN SMOKE WEED THERE RIGHT? No, not necessarily. It's more about the openness, the smoke shops and red light district, and just the idea that the city portrays. It's something unique and I really really appreciate it. Lots of the European furs we were with, especially the ones from the Netherlands, really disliked the place... but I just loved it. Being a big city person that I am, the sheer amount of activity that was going on at all hours just sucked me in. The city felt more alive than just about anywhere else I have ever been.... and, while it wasn't necessarily a clean city, it still just had a feel to it that was amazing. Old, dirty. I wish I could describe how my mind works regarding these things, but it was really magical to me. Even the attempt at pickpocketing us was an interesting experience in some way....
And yes, if you must know, I smoked some dope there, but being on the move and in a gigantic group does not lead for much relaxation and chill time so I will be doing a better job of this next time. And no, I didn't pay a hooker for sex. We couldn't find the cute fursuit window in the red light district... ;)
Suiting also happened, with 7 people actually fursuiting up. I borrowed kuddlepup's fancy camera to take pictures of him and the other suiters, it was a really fun experience. I honestly didn't quite have the drive to suit at this point, being the day after the convention, so I didn't. My trip there was way too much about taking the whole city in, and I didn't want to share that with Bacon :P
I'm really not going to be able to do any of my experiences justice, and that really upsets me. But I HAVE to post something, I have to recap some of this..... it was just too amazing not to share some of my thoughts and feelings.
After Amsterdam we headed over to Paris to stay with timduru. I was really surprised at Timduru's location... it really was in a little French Villa type of thing outside of Paris. It was almost something out of a movie, something I didn't think would actually really exist, but it did. It was AMAZINGLY beautiful and peaceful... I was just wowed by it.
We set off into paris eventually and actually got to see the Eiffel tower. HOLY CRAP. It was absolutely breathtakingly gigantic. I never expect it to really be so big.... it was just beautiful. Believe it or not, we parked on a sidestreet in the middle of paris and SUITED up. Quite amazing to get fursuiting pictures from such a place. I had a good time suiting, but the children all over the place were hellacious! Holy crap I hate kids :)
Eventually we got out of suit and headed up to the top of the Eiffel tower. We climbed all 670 (I think) stairs of the tower and were pretty much dead by the top. At least Croc and I were :).. But the view..... it's indescribable. Paris has to be the biggest city I have ever been in, because for as far as the eye could see it was non stop buildings. Not just small houses but actual buildings. I have never seen anything like it. We actually paid the extra to make it up to the top of the tower and the view was even more spectactular. The images from the Eiffel tower will forever be burned into my mind. Simply amazing.
After that we headed over to a restaurant that Timduru had actually brought kuddlepup to the year prior. KP mentioned to me that I should ask Tim to take us there because the translation is called "The Smoking Dog". The restaurant had pictures of anthropomorphic dogs all over the place, including naked ones. FURRY PORN!
Well I have to say, the food in France was simply the best meal I had there. My food was absolutely amazing, and here we are, sitting in the heart of France outside eating at a relatively fancy restaurant. I can't believe it really happened.. it was pretty surreal.
Paris seemed really awesome and active as well. It was simply gigantic, but holy crap, one day in Paris was NOT ENOUGH. We drove past a million buildings that were incredible... a million buildings that I would have loved to stop and see. I most definitely WILL be back.
Next off we drove back to Cologne for our last few days in Europe. We did a heck of a lot of awesome things and hung out with some REMARKABLY cool people, but the thing that stands out the most for me was seeing the Cathedral in Cologne.
There's one point where we were walking around the shopping district, which is all relatively new and modern. I looked up into the sky and saw this incredibly detailed gigantic old building poking out behind a modern style store. OH MY GOD.
I don't think I've ever layed my eyes on anything so detailed and beautiful. I can't think of a single thing that can compare to the amazing beauty of that building, inside and out. It really really blew me away and wow, I will just never forget it. It really didn't even look real.... and the pictures I've taken, while pretty amazing, don't even come close to doing it justice. It was breathtaking.
We had some other amazing times in Cologne, but I just can't write anymore about this trip. My mind is still processing everything and doesn't even quite know where to go.
So much happened on this trip, I experienced so much, my mind was blown so many times, my eyes were opened to such a different yet sijmilar way of life, and I was just humbled by so many things that I encountered... I'll just never forget any of this. It was absolutely phenomenal and something I don't just WANT to experience again, but MUST experience again. This trip was exactly what I have desired for so long, and it was made amazing but not only my experiences, but the incredible people that made my trip doable and comfortable..... thank you all so much for being a part of something that will never leave my mind :)