As always the markets blew me away. They were beautiful and colourful and full of life. There were so many food stalls, from seafood to baked goods to fresh produce. It all smelled so amazing! There were also tons of little souviner stalls and other gimmicky things. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great, so we did get a little rained on. However the rain did not deter the people of the market, and the vibe of the place was still just as awesome. That day (June 21) was world music day, so there were quite a few people playing instruments throughout the market, which added to the whole experience. I think I had a huge grin plastered on my face the entire time we were there. The markets make me so happy. I love the colours and the smells and the people and the sounds.
I'm sorry for constantly going on and on about markets! I just love them so much! We spent about 2 hours weaving through these markets before moving into the next one.
The next market was the Marché d'Aligre. It was partly indoors, and partly on the streets. This market was mainly food, and flowers. There was a small flea market to one side of the food markets which we didn't really like. It was kind of just creepy people selling piles of junk. However the food markets were very impressive. By the time we were done looking around the weather really hadn't improved, so we headed back to the hostel.
That night we were once again treated to an amazing Korean dinner. I'm not sure what it was called, but you had to take a piece of lettuce, some rice and a slice of pork and smear it with a sauce, fold it up and put the whole thing in your mouth. The Korean people staying at the hostel helped all of us who didn't know how to eat the meal, and found it really funny when we were trying to shove those whole lettuce leaf of food into our mouths. It was a really fun dinner of learning how to use chopsticks and how to properly eat Korean food.
The next day we had to get up at 5:30am(!) to catch the metro to where the bus was picking us up to go to Amsterdam! Our means of transportation throughout Europe (country to country) is through a company called Busabout. With Busabout you can book many different travel options. For example you can book a certain amount of trips, or you can book a certain loop. We booked the North, West and South loop which means the bus basically takes us around the whole of Europe. We can get on and off the bus as many times as we want throughout our stay as long as we book our seat at least 24hrs in advance, and it comes to the stops every two days. It's a really convinient and fairly priced way to get around! Plus you get to meet a bunch of new people!
So the bus left from our stop in Paris at 8am. Although it is not a tour bus, there is a guide on board to help you out with information on each stop. Our guide was really helpful! Throughout the trip we get a certain amount of stops to get off the coach and stretch our legs and pee and eat. Our first stop was at a place called Vimy Ridge. Some of you may know the name, but for those of you who don't, (I didn't, don't worry) Vimy Ridge is one of the places in France were WW1 was fought. It is an incredibly important place for Canadians, as it was the Canadian troops that helped take back Vimy Ridge. The terrain is completely destroyed. Whilst there is still trees and grass, it's like looking at the land of another planet. There are huge craters in the ground where bombs hit. It looks like waves of grass.
There is no flat land. We were given the opportunity to walk through the trenches that were used during the war.
There was also a visitors centre, so we could read about what went on there. It was a truly amazing and moving experience, and I am so grateful we got the opportunity to see it. The bus doesn't usually stop at such interesting sites, usually just gas stations. But they told us that since Vimy Ridge is on the way, they figured why not stop there.
Our next stop was in Brugges, Belgium. This was for people who were getting off the bus there, and people who had been in Brugges and were now moving onto Amsterdam. Unfortunately we didn't get to stop there for too long, as we were running behind schedule. So we didn't get to see much of the town.
I think it's so amazing that you can just drive through a whole country in one day. We just stopped in Belgium, like it was no big deal. Upon arriving in Amsterdam we had been in 3 countries in one day! It blows my mind! We got to Amsterdam at about 7pm. A bunch of people from the bus planned to meet up for dinner, a bit of a tour, and a sex show. Our hostel was about 30 minutes walk from where the bus dropped us off. A couple from the bus were staying at a hotel right near ours so we all walked together, which was nice. Once getting to the hostel and quickly getting changed, we met up with them again to go to dinner with the other busabout passengers. We ate at an Argentinian steakhouse, (no clue why there are so many Argentinian resturants in Amsterdam, but there were about 5 on this street alone) and it was really good! Harrison and I had ribs, and they were so delicious. A huge upgrade from soup!
Once we were done with dinner, our guide from the bus took us on a quick tour of the red light district. It is a truly interesting place. There are these huge windows lining the streets, and behind them are half naked girls showing themselves off. We walked through an indoor semi circle type thing of girls in rooms, trying to flirt with boys and get them to come in. We walked past half a dozen sex shows and strip clubs, and the smell of pot in the streets is kind of overwhelming. After the tour we all went together to a place called Casso Rosso (I think) to see a sex show. The bus was selling discounted tickets, and the guide said that it was something you had to do in Amsterdam. So we decided to give it a go. It was interesting to say the least! It's set up in a theatre, with a bar and a stage (we got two free drinks with our tickets which was rad). Basically it's people on the stage having sex and girls dancing and performing and whatnot for a live audience. Some of the acts were really funny, and some were pretty cringe worthy. But it was an experience, something you can't do anywhere else in the world!
Unfortunately today I woke up with a migraine, so I was pretty out of it for most of the day. The hostel we are staying at has pretty shocking wifi, so I probably won't be uploading photos until our next location.
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