Category: European Explorations

Sunday Afternoon in Lille

August 18, 2019

I’m not entirely sure why it is that I decided that I would stop by in Lille on my trek through Europe – maybe it was because it was a half decent sized city that happened to be on the route that I was taking. Well, whatever the reason, it really didn’t take all that long to get there (namely because I was staying in Ghent) and one of the great things about traveling by Eurail Pass is that, generally, you don’t need to book your seats, especially if you are only traveling by the regional trains. … More Sunday Afternoon in Lille

An Afternoon in Ghent

July 6, 2019

The original plan with my trip to Europe was to travel to Amsterdam, do what people tend to do when they are in Amsterdam, and then jump on a plane and fly to Istanbul to explore some of the coastal ruins, as well as paying a visit to Gallipolli (something that many Australians like to do, though it has been suggested that the one time you don’t go to Gallipolli is on ANZAC day because, well, the place becomes ridiculously crowded). Well, unfortunately, that didn’t happen, one of the reasons being that my Mum was dead against me taking my brother to Turkey (though she didn’t seem to have a problem with me taking him to Thailand and Cambodia – go figure). … More An Afternoon in Ghent

Afternoon at the Rijksmuseum

May 19, 2019

Yeah, the Rijksmuseum is pretty big, but not as big as the Louve, namely because the Louve does happen to hold the record for being the world’s largest museum (though I am sure somebody is going to come along sooner or later and steal that title from it, most likely somebody in China). In fact, it pretty much took us an entire afternoon to explore, well, most of the place, though on the lower levels we pretty much breezed through, if only so we could get to the impressionists before the place closed. … More Afternoon at the Rijksmuseum

Notre Dame – Thoughts of Our Lady

April 19, 2019

When I first heard that the famous cathedral in Paris was on fire at first I wasn’t really sure of the extent, and then the reports that it might be completely destroyed started flooding in. Of course, one of the reactions was to send in the water bombers, which might work for when you happen to be dealing with out of control bush fires, but not when the roof of an eight hundred year old building is in flames. … More Notre Dame – Thoughts of Our Lady

London – England’s Metropolis

March 15, 2019

Well, what can I say about London. I guess the first thing is that London to me is very much like Bangkok. When I was first here I actually hated the place because the people were rather rude, and the hotel I was staying are was appalling. Don’t get me wrong, it was a nice hotel it is just that the service was appalling, and there was definitely this class attitude among the staff. … More London – England’s Metropolis

On The Right Side – Driving in Europe

January 22, 2019

This isn’t the first time that I have driven in Europe, but I will be honest and say that my experience with driving on the right hand side of the road is somewhat limited. Having grown up in Australia, which is basically at the back end of the world and is pretty much miles away from any other country, particularly countries that drive on the right hand side of the road (Thailand and India both drive on the left), the opportunity to drive on the right hand side of the road (legally that is) is not readily available. … More On The Right Side – Driving in Europe

Museums of the Western Front

December 14, 2018

The Western Front in World War one was actually quite long, stretching from the North Sea on the shores of Belgium down to the Swiss Border. That means that there is a lot of ground to cover, and considering that there was fighting along most of the front, there are lots of things to see if you, unlike me, decide to travel the whole length. From my travels there I have since discovered that while the trenches are now long gone, there are still relics, even a hundred years after the event, hidden in the fields, forests, and farms along that stretch of land. … More Museums of the Western Front

Beer in Brussels

October 18, 2018

Upon arriving in Brussels I discovered that there was one thing that defined this city – beer. We had just completed a four hour train trip from Luxembourgso the first thing we had to do was to drag our suit cases through the city to our hotel, which happened to be on a street called ‘The Street of the Chicken Market’. … More Beer in Brussels

Fortress Luxembourg

August 27, 2018

Actually, I’m not entirely all that sure why I decided to visit Luxembourg – maybe it was because I wanted to go for a drive through as many countries as possible, and the part of Europe I was in I figured that I could make that five. When I was previously in Europe, I had managed to pass through four countries in a day – Germany, France, Switzerland, and Italy, however this time I wanted to add an extra country to my record, and this time I did manged to do five (though only just – it was 11:00 pm when we crossed the border into Luxembourg). … More Fortress Luxembourg

Trinity International – Singing in French

June 18, 2018

ne of the problems traveling outside of the Anglo-sphere is finding a church where the service is in English. Well, I guess it depends where you happen to find yourself, and there are certainly going to be some churches in the bigger cities that have services in English, the catch is not only being able to find them but also being able to get to them. … More Trinity International – Singing in French