安妮之家 (The Anne Frank House)

7月8日 星期日 – Sunday, July 8

今天算是第一天在阿姆斯特丹,第一件事是去参观安妮之家。PJG在出发前就购买好了的早上9点半的票,这里的票需要提前在网上预定,否则到了再买应该是买不到的。安妮之家坐落在王子运河边,和西教堂相邻,离我俩的民宿走路大概只有5分钟。

Today is our first full day in Amsterdam, the first thing on our plan is to visit the Anne Frank House. PJG purchased the 9:30am tickets before we left;  tickets here need to be purchased online in advance, otherwise it is impossible to get in.

Continue reading “安妮之家 (The Anne Frank House)”

初到阿姆斯特丹 (Amsterdam by the Canal)

7月7日 星期六 Saturday July 7

早上收拾妥当坐40多分钟的城际快车去比利时的另一个城市安特卫普,在那里坐大力士高速列车去荷兰的阿姆斯特丹。时速高达200多英里的火车,1个多小时就到达了目的地。下了火车在一路走到我俩的民宿住处的路上,虽然看到很多典型的欧洲的古建筑,有些类似于比利时的阶梯式屋顶墙建筑,但是还是顿时感受到了一个和根特非常不同的城市。这里充满了游客,自行车,游船,整个城市贯穿着繁多的运河,空气里弥漫着大麻的味道,时不时看到稀奇古怪的人抽的纸醉金迷,市中心里遍地的酒吧咖啡餐馆供游客消遣,感觉在这里可以真正的随性的做自己 😁

In the morning we took an intercity express train to Antwerp which took about 40 minutes, where we connected with our Thalys high speed train to Amsterdam. The train went as high as 200 miles per hour and we reached our destination in a little over one hour.

Continue reading “初到阿姆斯特丹 (Amsterdam by the Canal)”

吃在根特 (Eating in Ghent)

Aa delicious English translation is inline below:

7月7日 星期六 – Saturday July 7

同样在比利时也没吃到什么惊艳的东西 😅  比利时华夫比较有名,还有就是比利时人坚信薯条是他们发明的,所以这里点餐给配的薯条!不像其它地方,配的是面包。 这里还比较流行吃青口贝,我俩没吃,因为我对青口贝并不感兴趣,而且看起来觉得非常没有味道 😁

Again there’s nothing to be surprised about in Belgium. Belgian Waffles are pretty famous and Belgian people believe that French fries are their invention, so many meals come with French fries unlike everywhere else, where bread is served. It is also popular to eat mussels, however we did not try them because first of all I am not interested in mussels, and it really looked very tasteless 😅 

Continue reading “吃在根特 (Eating in Ghent)”

Meeting an old Friend (见朋友)

(这篇中英文在一起) English and Chinese will be in the same post …

Friday, July 6

Today is our last day in Ghent. In the morning, we returned to our AirBNB and now the water situation has returned to normal. We enjoyed our morning tea and coffee on the roof balcony, washed some clothes, checked my autumn class schedule, etc. The morning was very relaxing.

At noon, I have an important thing to do, and that is to meet an old friend, Helen! She came to visit on an intercity train from a city in Germany called Aachen, near the border with Belgium. She and I first met when I had just arrived in California, and we were in an English class together at an adult school in Mountain View. She left California to return to Germany about six years ago and I was particularly happy to see her today in Ghent! We had lunch together, took a small boat tour in Ghent, and then drank a Belgian beer together to catch up on the time, to talk about politics and talk about life.

Continue reading “Meeting an old Friend (见朋友)”

My Hat (我的帽子)

中英文在一起

Thursday, July 5th

If you see me wearing a fisherman’s hat in later photos, it’s not because I particularly like this hat, but it’s because I have to wear it ~~~~ After more than 20 days of wind and sun, my face finally couldn’t hold up, especially around my nose and mouth. The skin under my nose became like leather and scratchy like a layer of cockroaches. 😭😭😭 I bought two bottles of PF50 sunscreen and moisturizer in a pharmacy in Paris but it seems that it still didn’t improve. Today I went to a pharmacy here in Ghent. The salesperson recommend a moisturizer for inflammation and post-operative skin care. She had a look of apology and even helped me to check if it was some sort of a disease. Finally, in order not to let my face get shackled by the sun, I bought this big hat, plus I added my own shoe lace hat band that prevents the hat from being blown away by the wind (really with shoe laces) … I feel a little more practical. 😅

Continue reading “My Hat (我的帽子)”

根特第二天 (Ghent Day 2)

What, you can’t read Chinese?!? You’ll find English inline below:

7月5日 星期四 Thursday, July 5th

当然今天早上还是没有水,房主的女儿说好9点会给我俩打电话,告知一下修水管的进程,9点半多了还没有她的音信,PJG就给她打了一个电话询问。她说咨询一下再回复给我们,过了一会儿,她说工人说下午两点也许会弄好,然后她给我俩定了一个附近的酒店。稍作整理,我俩带了一些必需用品搬去了酒店。终于可以洗个澡和上厕所了 😅😂😂😅

Of course, there is still no water this morning. The daughter of the landlord said that she would call us at 9 o’clock to inform us of the status of the pipe repair. At 9:30, there was no news from her. PJG gave her a phone call. She said that she would reply to us after a consultation. After a while, she said that the workers said that they might get it fixed by 2pm and then she booked us at a nearby hotel. We took some essential supplies to the hotel and I can finally take a shower and go to the bathroom. 😅😂😂😅

Continue reading “根特第二天 (Ghent Day 2)”

布鲁日 (The killer has no Holidays )

7月4日 星期三 Wednesday, July 4

今天坐了城际快车去了布鲁日,非常方便,大概有20多分钟的车程就到了。布鲁日应该是比利时很著名一座城市,整个城市可以说是一座水城,纵横交错并蜿蜒而行的古老的河道贯穿着整个城市,很多有几百年历史的建筑依河而建,这里经常被称作“北方的威尼斯”。走在鹅卵石铺的小巷中,众多的中世纪建筑,众多的哥特式风格的教堂,每个转角处都是一幅画般的景色;再点缀着众多的餐厅,蕾丝店,巧克力店,旅游纪念品店,糖果店,手工艺品,画店等等,使布鲁日似乎多有了很多的商业气息。布鲁日整座城市在两次世界大战中幸存,基本上保留了中世纪的样貌,很多建筑虽然有经过修缮,但是那种历史感是没有磨灭的。2000年布鲁日被列为世界文化遗产。

Today we took the Intercity Express to Bruges, which conveniently just about 25 minutes from Ghent. Bruges is a very famous city in Belgium, the whole city is criss-crossed with winding ancient river channels throughout the city and many centuries-old buildings built right on the river; which is why Bruges is often called, “the Venice of the north.”

Continue reading “布鲁日 (The killer has no Holidays )”

比利时的根特市 (Arrived in Ghent)

7月3日,星期二 Tuesday, July 3

今天早上离开了巴黎,乘坐大力士高速列车从巴黎直达比利时的布鲁塞尔,火车时长大概2个小时,然后转城际快车到达了根特市,大概1一个小时的车程。我俩会在根特停留4晚,这是一个非常小的港口城市,之所以停留4晚是要把这里当作中转城市,白天会坐城际快车去周边的城市,比如布鲁日。

We left Paris this morning and took the Thayles high-speed train from Paris to Brussels the capital of Belgium. The train took about 1.5 hours followed by the intercity express train to Ghent, about an hour away. We will stay in Ghent for four nights. This is a small port city. The reason for staying in Ghent is to use it as a home base. During the day, we will day trips to the surrounding cities, such as Bruges.

Continue reading “比利时的根特市 (Arrived in Ghent)”

吃在巴黎 (Eating in Paris)

7月3日 星期二 Tuesday, July 3

离开了巴黎,现在已经达到了比利时根特的民宿住处,简单的总结一下在巴黎的吃。

We’ve left Paris and have now reached the B&B residence in Ghent, Belgium. I had planned to simply sum up the food in Paris. Turns out, it is easier said than done 🙂

我想问~~是谁~~给了“法国大餐”那么高的名声的? 我已经尽力给法国菜一个公正的接受品尝的机会了,可是为什么我俩的感觉是没~有~味~道~??  PJG和我尝试了两次正宗的而且总是坐满了人的法国饭店的晚餐,两次的经验都是 “为什么菜没有什么味道?” 甚至似乎连盐都缺失? 总之,或许是因为我们没找到好的餐厅,或许是我俩已经被重庆火锅和味道超级丰富的泰国菜给毁掉了,我对“法国大餐”失去了兴趣 😂  PJG似乎也没有很享受他的法国餐,但是他还是不会放弃法国大餐的。

I want to ask this~ ~ Who is the one ~ ~ that gave the “French” such a high reputation for cooking? Granted, we never ate at a high end French restaurant nor even real “French Food” but I have tried my best to give French food a chance to accept the taste, but why do we feel that there is … no taste there!? We tried two supposedly authentic dinners at French restaurants that were always full of people. The experience twice was, “Why doesn’t the food have any taste?” It even seems to be missing salt! In short, perhaps because we didn’t find a good restaurant and maybe we have been forever ruined by awesome Chongqing hot pot and super-rich Thai food but I’ve lost all interest in the “French feast”. PJG didn’t seem to enjoy it either (nb but he tried his best to pretend), but he still won’t give up on the French myth.

Continue reading “吃在巴黎 (Eating in Paris)”

塞纳河游船和巴黎街景 (Boat tour & Paris streets views)

Sprechen sie Deutsch? Inline translation below:

7月2日,星期一 July 2, Monday

今天是在巴黎的最后一天,我俩决定去坐那个站点停靠间随上随下的塞纳河游船。今天上午天气多云,又下了些小雨,所以意外的气候宜人,我俩便下船上船又有机会看了卢浮宫周边的景色和一些没去过的街区。意外的发现了一片儿有很多日本饭店,非常思念亚洲菜的我俩就在那里解决了午餐。傍晚时分,我俩又在一个咖啡馆来了两杯这里流行的超浓咖啡,坐在那里欣赏过往人群。晚上,又去了蒙马特高地,欣赏了一下红磨坊的夜颜 😁😁 话说这里太阳下山的真晚,快到11点了才有些夜晚的感觉。今天没有进行什么大项目,所以贴一些大街小巷的照片以作纪念。

Today is our last day in Paris and we decided to use the Hop-on-Hop off Seine River cruise. It was cloudy and drizzled a little this morning so the weather was pleasant and we had a chance to stroll around the scenery near the Louvre and some neighborhoods that we had not been. One area we were surprised to find was a large asian restaurant area. There were many Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese restaurants and I very much was missing Asian food so we decided to have lunch there.

Continue reading “塞纳河游船和巴黎街景 (Boat tour & Paris streets views)”

巴黎歌剧院,万神殿葬礼 (Opéra de Paris, Pantheon Burial)

7月1日,星期日 – Sunday, July 1

今天记录的顺序有些颠倒,其实是万神殿葬礼在上午发生,参观巴黎歌剧院在下午发生的。

Today the order of this post is reversed. Visiting Pantheon Burial took place in the morning and visiting the Opéra de Paris was in the afternoon.

Continue reading “巴黎歌剧院,万神殿葬礼 (Opéra de Paris, Pantheon Burial)”

这次旅行中见到的独特的地方 – Unique things we’ve seen in each country

We’ll update and re-up this post as we find new stuff … this post will include both English and Chinese …

我们会时时更新这个帖子用来记录在各个地方看到过的新鲜独特的东西。这个帖子包含中英文。

Continue reading “这次旅行中见到的独特的地方 – Unique things we’ve seen in each country”

徒步慢游 – Paris Walking Tour

6月30日 星期六 – Saturday,  June 30th

PJG和我今天决定进行自己的巴黎徒步慢游,四处看看巴黎的大街小巷。虽然今天天气很热,我俩还是斗志昂扬 💪

We decided to do a walking tour today to leisurely look around the streets in Paris. Although it is very hot today, we are filled with excitement.

Continue reading “徒步慢游 – Paris Walking Tour”

蒙马特高地 (Montmartre)

6月29日,星期五 – Friday,  June 29th

今天PJG和我去了一个拥有艺术灵魂的一座130米高的山丘-蒙马特高地。这里可以说是浪漫与艺术的完美结合体,曾经有很多著名的画家,莫奈,毕加索,雷诺阿,梵高等都在这里生活和创作过,他(她)们很多著名绘画也都在这里诞生;很多电影也都在这里取景拍摄过,艾蜜莉的异想世界,红磨坊,午夜巴黎等;白色圆顶的圣心堂圣和彼埃尔教堂显示着浓郁的宗教气息,在小丘广场作画卖画的众多画家们散发着这里的随意的艺术气息,狡兔酒吧(很多像毕加索般著名的画家的常去之处)和洗衣船(毕加索很穷的时候居住的地方)使这里弥漫着神秘的气息,爱墙又见证了现代人的浪漫气息。 漫步在这里的有百年历史的鹅卵石的大街小巷,想象着当年那些或落魄潦倒的艺术家们在这里创作和挣扎,感觉似乎和他们擦肩而过一般。

Today we went to Montmartre, a hill 130m above Paris with an artistic soul. This area is said to be a perfect combination of romance and art. Many famous painters from here: Monet, Picasso, Renoir, Van Gogh, etc., all lived and created here and many famous paintings were born here. Also many movies were filmed here: Emily’s Wishful World, Moulin Rouge, Midnight Paris, etc.

Continue reading “蒙马特高地 (Montmartre)”

巴黎周边教堂 – Cathedral Towns North of Paris

6月28日 星期四 – Thursday, June 28th

开车巴黎周边教堂游 – Driving Through Church Towns

PJG租了一辆车,我俩要去看巴黎周边郊外的几个教堂,还可以看一下法国郊外的景色和小镇。PJG的父亲在他1949年的旅行中,也是和朋友们开了一辆车去了更多的教堂,当年他们在巴黎周边开车转了两天,我俩今天只去转一天,所以只能去他们去过的其中的几个教堂。在巴黎开车似乎比英国容易些,至少是在和美国一样的同一边开车。 大家也都遵守同一个驾驶规则,右边车道开车,左边车道超车。唯一一个难点是带文字的交通路牌看不懂,哈哈 😅  一些国际通用的标示的路牌没有问题,幸亏有google地图啊!

We rented a car and we went to see several churches in the outskirts of Paris. We also had marvelous views of the scenery and the small towns in the north of Paris. In 1949, PJG’s father also drove a car with his friends to these churches on his trip. While they took two days for their drive, we only had one day, so we could only go to about five churches. Driving in Paris seems easier than in the United Kingdom, at least they drive on the same side as in US. Everyone also follows the same driving rules as in the UK: the right lane is for normal driving and you pass using the left lane. The only difficulty is that there are many traffic signs we couldn’t read, although there was no problem with most of the internationally-recognized road signs – Also many thanks to Google Maps! 🙂 Our biggest problem was driving in the city of Paris – I think there will be a post of this later. (it was more similar to driving in China!!!)

Continue reading “巴黎周边教堂 – Cathedral Towns North of Paris”

卢浮宫, 埃菲尔铁塔 (Louvre, Eiffel Tower)

6月27日,星期三 Wednesday, Jun 27th

终于在巴黎了,PJG的许诺终于实现了 😀

I’m truly in Paris! PJG’s promise finally came true 😅

昨天下午离开伦敦,坐了欧洲之星火车直达巴黎,火车的行驶时间大概2个小时,非常轻松,一路上有很多隧道。到了巴黎后,我俩买了2套10张一套的地铁车票,坐了两班地铁到了民宿的住处。房主来到楼下接我俩上去,简单的介绍了一下她的公寓,厨房,卧室,洗手间看起来都不错,她还给我俩准备了一个法式面包棍。 这里的床是一个特别的床因为它是圆的! 还挺舒服的。 房主好像是一个专门给小丑演员化妆的,所以她的房间有很多各种小丑的画,海报和小雕塑等,很有意思。 这个民宿位于拉丁角,是一个比较热闹的地方,5分钟走路的路程就有很多咖啡馆,饭店和酒吧等,特别方便。这个楼里有一个老式的电梯,只能容纳两个人,和赫尔辛基那个差不多,稍微先进一些,因为电梯门是自动开关的。我俩的房间在三层,有一个小阳台,可以坐在那里喝杯茶或是红酒,然后观赏楼下来来来往往的行人和车辆,很有意思。

Continue reading “卢浮宫, 埃菲尔铁塔 (Louvre, Eiffel Tower)”

汉普顿宫,泰晤士河游船 (Hampton Court, River Boat)

6月25日,星期一 Monday, June 25

今天是在伦敦的最后一天,PJG和我上午去了位于伦敦西南方的汉普顿宫,做火车大概有一个小时就到了,往返车票14.7英镑。

Today is our last full day in London and we went to the Hampton Court Palace in southwest London. It took about an hour to get there, and the return ticket was 14.7 gbp.

Continue reading “汉普顿宫,泰晤士河游船 (Hampton Court, River Boat)”

吃在英国 (Eating in England)

6月25日,星期一 Monday, June 25

The United Kingdom, or London itself, does not seem to have much local food, but here you can taste different restaurants around the world because there are immigrants from all over the world. Before the tour departed, we were full of expectation of food everywhere, but after coming to various places, due to various factors, such as long distances, such as the passing of time, such as fatigue, etc., PJG and I are basically close to where Where to solve, the end of the long journey to tasting has disappeared. In short, this time in the UK, the most we eat is the famous fish and chips, deep-fried food is really unrequited. Some of the food we have tasted.

英国,或是伦敦本身好像没有什么特别多的本地食物,这里倒是可以品尝到世界各地的不同餐饮,因为这里有来自世界各地的移民。旅游出发之前,我俩对各地的美食充满了期待,但是到了各个地方以后,由于各种因素,比如路途遥远,比如时间已过,比如疲惫不堪等等,PJG和我基本都是离哪里近就在哪里解决,那种要长途跋涉去品尝的尽头已经消失了 😅 总之,这次的英国之行,我俩吃得最多的就是大名鼎鼎的炸鱼薯条,油炸食品真是百吃不厌啊 😅 下面记载了一些我俩品尝过的美食。

Continue reading “吃在英国 (Eating in England)”