Tourism - 1

A friend of mine has recently started working for Thalys, and therefore she's gained access to some free tickets for the Thalys network as an employee perquisite. We decided to exploit this for some time away from the Christmas-shoppers in Brussels by going to The Hague for a weekend of tourism.

Well, at least the original idea was to go for a bit of tourism…

As Scott has reminded me, a year ago today the two of us were wrapping up our 8000km lightning fast road-trip, mostly through Western/Southern Europe. Back then I didn't keep any sort of journal, and I still didn't believe in taking photos using my then brand-new E70 since camera-phones usually take photos of miserable quality.

Scott took on the role as the photographer putting some of them up on Smile In Europe. I left this up to him since he brought a suitcase that included his fancy Nikon D70, and about a million accessories to handle any photographic circumstance!

“Heading up through Normandie; saw some war relics. Wanted to spend the night around Calais but since it's 99% British, we're driving back to Brussels instead!”

“More bloody SMS problems, so I dunno when you'll get this. Checked out Île de Ré -- nice French holiday island; no foreigners! Staying in La Roche-sur-Yon..”

“Having problems calling/SMSing since Wednesday, sorry.. Now spending the night in Bordeaux after seeing Toledo -- we gave up on Madrid (too much of a maze)”

“Went to Málaga/Merbella (false, British, shit-house), turned around & wound up in Valdepeñas, during a festival. Just got back from fireworks at the carnival!”

“We're in Almería, after going through rural Spain (boring). No news...”

“Now in Spain; Spent the afternoon and evening in Barcelona (wonderful place, I think), & staying out of town in Granollers. I think Barcelona is really liveable..”

“We cut through Italy again, down to the coast & through Nice and Cannes (= shit; French versions of Miami). Staying in-land at Brignoles, in an automated hotel!”

“We've cut across Italy, and since Scott was obsessed about it, paid 32€ to use the Mont Blanc tunnel.. Boring. Spending the night in Chamonix, under Mont Blanc..”

“Had a lazy trip from Werfen to Ljubljana (after a two-hour stop in the middle of traffic). This place is beautiful, but it's just like Melbourne! It's a little odd..”

“We got into Werfen (in Austria), after passing through Germany briefly, last night. We've since discovered a castle and the world's biggest ice caves, so after a day of hiking up and down a mountain we're staying another night.. Obviously I need new feet now! Off for some food now, and search for WiFi!”

“Went through Germany briefly to get to Werfen, avoiding the sound of music entirely. Will stay here and visit some ice caves tomorrow.”

“Now in Austria, passed through Switzerland and had lunch in Zürich, which I think is quite beautiful.. Planning on staying in Innsbruck, and practice German!”

“We're in Strasbourg, no need to worry.. Road trip plans are going okay, just very tired.. Just going to bed now.. Talk soon!”