Dorothea Dix is on a motherf**king boat
The thing about my job is, I find myself tracking down information about truly random digressions in history. Like Dorothea Dix's crusade to...send a lot of boats to an island in Nova Scotia to save people. IDEK, but it made for an entertaining afternoon?
I got back from my trip to Belgium and Amsterdam earlier this week. Things I learned and/or did during the ten days I was traveling:
1. My nose really, really hates dry recycled air, such as found in airports & on airplanes.
2. Having Belgian friends who have Belgian friends comes in REALLY HANDY when you miss the last train from Ghent to Brussels & need a place to crash for a few hours.
3. You really probably can get a contact high in Amsterdam, and the city really is apparently mostly populated by British tourists on stag parties.
4. I am a far, far more confident traveler than I used to be. Like, even since last year.
5. It's okay to squabble and get pissed off with your friends, because they're your friends and are squabbling and pissed off with you, and then you end up drinking beer across the street from a church older than the U.S. has existed as a country under an awning while the rain falls at midnight, sharing stupid blogs to read when you're bored at work and need a five minute break. Or you're tickle-attacking on the bed while trying to pack, or in the midst of a deep philosophical discussion about the reason and need for history, but that's another story.
6. I need to live in a city with canals. I also need to visit Venice, like, stat. And go back to Germany for a cuckoo clock for my mom. (That's just an excuse. I really just need to go back to Germany. And get to a lot of other countries too, but that will be another year.)
7. Blame T for everything. Everything. She might be in the bathroom getting a shower, but that broken bowl in the kitchen is still totally her fault.
8. Belgian chocolate really is just that good. As are wasabi peas, especially when one's nose really, really hates dry recycled air.
There's more. It was good, and I haven't really had time to process yet, but that's what this weekend is for. I might even get around to posting pictures. In sum, My Summer Vacation in Belgium: we ate a lot of fries, drank a lot of beer, and bought a lot of chocolate. And it was good.
I got back from my trip to Belgium and Amsterdam earlier this week. Things I learned and/or did during the ten days I was traveling:
1. My nose really, really hates dry recycled air, such as found in airports & on airplanes.
2. Having Belgian friends who have Belgian friends comes in REALLY HANDY when you miss the last train from Ghent to Brussels & need a place to crash for a few hours.
3. You really probably can get a contact high in Amsterdam, and the city really is apparently mostly populated by British tourists on stag parties.
4. I am a far, far more confident traveler than I used to be. Like, even since last year.
5. It's okay to squabble and get pissed off with your friends, because they're your friends and are squabbling and pissed off with you, and then you end up drinking beer across the street from a church older than the U.S. has existed as a country under an awning while the rain falls at midnight, sharing stupid blogs to read when you're bored at work and need a five minute break. Or you're tickle-attacking on the bed while trying to pack, or in the midst of a deep philosophical discussion about the reason and need for history, but that's another story.
6. I need to live in a city with canals. I also need to visit Venice, like, stat. And go back to Germany for a cuckoo clock for my mom. (That's just an excuse. I really just need to go back to Germany. And get to a lot of other countries too, but that will be another year.)
7. Blame T for everything. Everything. She might be in the bathroom getting a shower, but that broken bowl in the kitchen is still totally her fault.
8. Belgian chocolate really is just that good. As are wasabi peas, especially when one's nose really, really hates dry recycled air.
There's more. It was good, and I haven't really had time to process yet, but that's what this weekend is for. I might even get around to posting pictures. In sum, My Summer Vacation in Belgium: we ate a lot of fries, drank a lot of beer, and bought a lot of chocolate. And it was good.