Here, There, and Everywhere

So since I have last updated this blog I've been to three more places: Kinderdijk in the Netherlands, Brussels, and Lyon. What this translates to is A LOT of train riding for the past few days. Tiring, but a lot of fun and I've gotten to see some pretty spectacular sights.

Kinderdijk
It was difficult, to put it mildly, to get here. Difficult as in my guidebook, despite being published this year, was out of date and compounding the problem, I don't read or speak Dutch, which is unfortunate when trying to decipher signs and train schedules. However even if I had understood and perfectly followed all directions, I would have still needed to take two trains and two buses. In the end, after probably doubling the supposed traveling time I finally reached the most typically Dutch thing out there after wooden shoes. And it was pretty spectacular.

Brussels
I hadn't planned on going to Brussels, but after three days in Amsterdam, I felt like I had seen the city and had one extra day to play with. Since I had to connect in Brussels anyway on my way to Lyon, I decided to go a day early and check out the city. I'd give Brussels the title of "Typical European City," in fact I actually did say that when stopped by a student taking a survey of tourists. It has it's old cobblestoney parts where the buildings are grand and ornately decorated, and it's modern parts where the skyscrapers look like skyscrapers from anywhere. Nice but pretty average.

One thing that Brussels does have that no other city has is a famous statue of a small peeing boy. Manneken Pis is it's name and that statue and copies of it have been in the city for hundreds of years. To add to the silliness is that fact that the statue has outfits that it wears - over 750 outfits in fact. Apparently a new outfit for the statue is a pretty common diplomatic gift to Belgium. His outfits are stored in one of the city's museums and you can so see them, which I did. It's a pretty fun concept especially for a leaders of nations to be apparently pretty enthusiastic about.

Unfortunately, not wearing an outfit the day I visited

Lyon

Lyon is a lovely city, and I'm having a good time wandering around it and badly mangling the bits of French I remember whenever I'm spoken to. One thing though, my hostel and the sites I wanted to see are all located on Fouviere hill. You wouldn't think this would be a problem since I live in Burlington and pretty much have to walk uphill wherever I go, but this hill is A LOT STEEPER than the hills in Burlington. So much so, that some of the roads are actually just steps. 

Pictured: A street

At the very top of Fouviere hill is a gorgeous church built around the same time as Sacre Coeur in Paris and for the same purpose: to give thanks that the Prussians didn't sack the city in whatever war they were fighting back then. While I find Sacre Coeur lovely on the outside but not that spectacular on the inside, Notre Dame de Fouviere hill is both gorgeous outside and in. The walls and floor inside are almost totally done in mosaic, the ceiling is painting, and gilt and turquoise seem to be the overarching decorating scheme for the detailing making the inside glisten. Stunning and not something that cameras can capture very well, but never the less I tried. 

One day without trains it all I'm getting, I'm back on them tomorrow, but not for long. I'm just heading over to Chambery to visit my lovely friend Katherine!