More Europe – Page 2 – Our Trips Around The World

柏林的一点儿感受 (Berlin Impression)

Some graphic English inline below …

7月18日星期三

今天就要离开柏林，PJG开车去往下一个目的地捷克的首都布拉格。想简单表达一下对柏林的感受，抛去它所经历的独特的历史，我觉得柏林是一个很独特的地方，它没有伦敦，巴黎的华丽，没有阿姆斯特丹的灵气，但是我感觉它很随性，很自由，很具有挑战性。在这里见到了最多的梳脏辫的人，见到了最多的有纹身的人，见到了最多的走在马路上手举啤酒瓶的人，见到了最多的随性自由的人们席地而坐，或自己或和朋友一起享受美食美酒聊天叙旧。这里也是见到了最多的涂鸦，涂鸦有时候会让城市显得混乱，迷茫，甚至会破旧不堪，如果阿姆斯特丹的一个运河会给城市增加绚丽的一笔，柏林的河道却被涂鸦蒙上了一层说不清楚的烦躁，散乱和抑郁，也许正因为如此，这个城市才让我感觉有挑战性，它挑战我的审美，挑战我对常态的理解，挑战我对自己的认知。

国会大厦，游船 (Reichstag Dome, Boat Tour)

See English inline below…

7月17日，星期二

德国国会大厦穹顶

德国国会大厦的穹形圆顶参观不需要买票，但是需要提供真实身份信息并提前预约，因为那里需要控制游客流量。PJG在我俩刚到的第一天就预约了今天的下午1:30，本来希望更早些，但是上周一周那里都进行清洁维护，所以不向游客公开。今天也只是能上去看，不能在那个穹顶里面走动。不过能上去看看就很好了。

什么也没干 (Did nothing)

7月16日星期一

上午我俩根本没有出门，在民宿休整，并计划明天取租的车和开车去捷克共和国的布拉格的路线，中午终于出去吃了一顿中餐午餐，吃完午餐后去买了一张电话卡，结果这买张电话卡基本消耗了两个小时。我俩货比三家后，在一个土耳其人开的小店里买的，他那里有性价比最高的流量套餐，结果各种问题，没想到折腾了将近两个小时！我的天 😂😅 顶着大太阳在外面转了一会儿，越走越热，越走越困，我俩就坐下来在一家咖啡馆喝了杯咖啡，吃了块小甜点，终于感觉提了点神 😂😅

Monday, July 16

This morning we didn’t go out and just stayed at the Airbnb resting and making planning the route for our drive to Prague on Wednesday. We went out for a lunch at a Chinese place and then went to buy a new SIM card for internet access. It turned into a big hassle.

勃兰登堡门, 追踪Isabel的足迹 (Brandenburg, Isabel in Berlin)

Achtung! Der English ist inline below!

7月13, 14, 15 星期五 , 六，日

星期五

雨停了，今天我俩打算按照民宿房主的建议去那几个知名景点。PJG在网上买了5天柏林欢迎卡，在5天内可以随便坐公共交通系统，并且有些景点门票会有25%的折扣。网上买完后我俩遇到了一个问题，根据使用说明，需要打印出来。附近的打印店还没有开门，我俩就放弃打印，决定就用手机里的版本。这边的地铁和其它我俩去过的城市一样，基本是诚信制度，上车前需要在一个机器上验证一下票，之后基本没有检票的。所以在地铁上我俩的卡没有遇到问题，在今天所坐的公共汽车上，上车给司机看卡，他们基本都不在乎，这里也没有问题。在买电视塔门票的时候，用手机出示了我俩的卡，他们也只是看了一下，所以最后鉴定是根本不需要打印！总而言之，说了太多的柏林欢迎卡了，哈哈。

思维车游 (Segway Tour)

Navigate your eyes to the English inline below….

7月13, 14日星期五，六

决定把今天和昨天的一并记录，因为一部分是单独记录勃兰登堡门的，那个要明天才能完成；一部分是今天参加的思维车游重复了我俩昨天一部分步行的范围。

A Rainy Day in Berlin （下雨的一天）

Thursday, July 12th

Sorry to those waiting for another awesome collage of pictures and thoughts from Zhaoyang but today in Berlin it rained all day and we stayed home to catch up on things and get some much needed rest (vacation is tough!) Zhaoyang ventured out for a little bit for some shopping and then we both went out with our umbrellas to scourge for some Pork Knuckle; unfortunately we only ended up eating some mediocre Thai food.

We’ve got a full day planned for tomorrow. Going to head over to the Brandenburg gate area … hopefully will take a lot of pictures!

See you tomorrow.

7月12日星期四

今天算是我俩各自记录的，虽然大意相同，具体细节略有不同 😂 今天柏林下了一天雨，我俩没有出门，正好可以休息一下（休假旅游不容易啊 😅😅😅）我在民宿附近转了一转，发现这里有好多超市，而且相隔不远，竞争相当激烈啊。晚餐的时候，雨还在下，但小了很多，我俩本来打算去一家德国菜饭店尝试德国菜，比如猪肘子，德国肠，酸菜什么的，结果最后不幸的是在一家味道很一般泰国菜餐厅解决了晚餐。下雨正好在家计划明天的行程，明天打算买4天的柏林欢迎卡，可以随便坐公共交通。很期待明天看到不同部分的柏林。

柏林第一感 (Our Arrival in Berlin)

Chinese graffiti got you confused? See the English below!

7月11日星期三

今天下午到了柏林，说起柏林之前，一定要记录以下我俩在阿姆斯特丹住处的一个“地下党”的行为 😂😅 我俩的房间是民宿主人家整栋房子的最底层，属于半地下状态。主人每天早上都会给我俩放到筐里一小袋面包（基本都是四个面包，有时候还是热乎的），他从来不会打扰我俩，就是快速地偷偷的放进面包筐里，我俩起床后去到那个隐蔽的角落，就会看到面包躺在那里。真的感觉就像地下党一样，他是每天唯一给我俩生命补给的人，哈哈 😂😅

吃在阿姆斯特丹（Eating in Amsterdam）

You can chow down some English below …

7月11日星期三

今天是旅行的一天，早上坐轻轨和高速列车赶到阿姆斯特丹希普霍尔机场，坐1个多小时飞机去德国柏林。我俩都不喜欢迟到，所以提前很多到了机场。现在在候机室，正好总结一下在阿姆斯特丹的值得记录的几餐饭。

运河游船（Sex and drugs and Rock and Roll）

See in line for some English … the actual title of this entry is Canal Boat Tour …

7月10日星期二

今天上午下雨，基本没做什么，整理完毕后徒步去寻找几个PJG父亲拍过照片的地方。经过询问，终于找到了其中一个地方（我不在这里记录了，他自己写吧 😀）。吃了午饭后，我俩坐了运河游船。来阿姆斯特丹怎么能不坐运河游船呢？雨还是时断时续，但是感觉凉爽，比晒在太阳下好很多。游船沿着几个运河游了1个小时，沿途介绍了几处运河边的建筑。阿姆斯特丹总共有165个大大小小的运河，1281个架在运河上的桥。

漫步阿姆斯特丹，梵高博物馆（Wandering about, Van Gogh Musuem）

You’ll find some English neatly aligned below …

7月9日星期一

今天多云，天气其实非常宜人，我和PJG决定在阿姆斯特丹市中心四处转转，看看这里的大街小巷。除了追踪了PJG父亲当年的足迹之外（他应该自己会记录），在这里记录一些阿姆斯特丹的独特吧。

阿姆斯特丹周边 ( Marken, Volendam, Monnickendam）

Skip the jibberish below to find some nice familiar english words in line …

7月8日星期日

今天是很有收获的一天，早上先去了安妮之家参观，然后坐巴士先后去了阿姆斯特丹的周边的小城马尔肯，福伦丹和蒙尼肯丹。去这三个地方是因为PJG的父亲在他1950年的旅游中是也到过那里。

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.

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.

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 😅

Arrival in Amsterdam

Having cheese and wine by the canal in front of our Airbnb.

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.

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. 😅

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. 😅😂😂😅

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.”

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.