hoogeveen, gotta love the veen

Hey there friends. Now, like in every country I visit, except the future Spain, I am wishing that I had learned French and Dutch. But english abounds a bit, so we have been having a lot of really great conversations and experiences.
Le Tour Eiffel at night is a sight to behold. Thank you JC for suggesting it. The sparkling lights that go off which oddly resemble camera flashes were definitely photo and maybe even future postcard worthy. The wine was nice too. Especially after we bartered the sellers down to 3€ a bottle when the first bottle we got was for seven€. Behold the cunning skills of the moroccan children. But one of the best parts of Paris was Olivier, our host in France. He took us to a picnic on a bridge where a lot of the locals go, and sure enough, a lot less tourists were there, which was relaxing. Also, we stayed in a hotel on the east side so we got to walk through a beautiful market similar to the Azusa Swap meet but a lot grander, with many vendors who are immigrants to paris and therefore selling cool stuff. Of course there are many more stories from grand paris, so ask me when you see me next.

Then, on to Antwerp where we stayed with an amazing couple named Joeri and Ellen. Two of the coolest people ever. ever.

I was able to view my favorite painting, The Death of Marat, by Jacques-Louis David at the Royal Museum in Brussels. If any of you reading this have access to Mrs. Stitt from high school, tell her I love her for teaching me about that painting and that, yes, it is worth it to go to Europe to see them for yourself. One day I will see The Red Room too.

Then, it was on to Amsterdam. We stayed with Stephan's cousin Nils. He works at this awesome bar/independent movie theater. I think if any of you lived here, you would go there and work there.

And right now, we are resting in Hoogeveen, Holland. Stephan and Phil are out playing football with their in-laws. The babies are sleeping.

Of course, you all know there are many stories and that this is just the tip of the iceberg. And you know how much I like to tell stories. So, hopefully blogs will come slightly more frequently before I get back, but it might still just be only two or three more. We'll see. As a wise man once told me, trust in the couchsurfing gods. or just God. or both.

some observations on food thus far from ariel
let me speak now. it's just at the tip of my liver paté. words like eeten and lekken or is that right?
vla. is that a feeling or a pudding.
chocolate is bad for your health, no, it's legal
baguettes help you survive
and the number of cheeses is squeaking for a million.

-ariel

camping

we are camping this week. saw the bastille in paris. right now it is raining a ton and i am in Lons le Saunier with old Phil who apparently does not like travel blogs. so i will now mention that he is wearing cowboy boots.

the cows are generally bigger here. where i am with stephan, everyone speaks a mixture of dutch, english, and sometimes french. as i only speak spanish and english, i learn a bit here and there.

france looks a lot like oregon. a lot of green. a lot of trees. a lot of farmland.

on my quest to beat J.P., i am crafting my ode to France, and i think it will include the line:

"fatter cows on greener pastures.
to a place more like texas than it dares to know."

tomorrow we are heading out to geneva. then some swimming.

i think european vacation wear is american regular fare. that is making it into the overall european ode methinks.

au revoir.
.arielle.