France

I had booked a little mini vacation of 2.5 weeks and had planned to head to the southwest of Europe.  My trip started with the usual Copenhagen flight, slightly complicated by the ongoing train strike from Malmö to Copenhagen.  I managed to get to my flight on time, and after arriving in Paris, I found a new strike waiting for me on the French trains.  With a bit of wandering, I got to my hostel anyway and checked in.  I met some new friends and headed out for dinner.  After dinner we went to a random little bar that one of the girls had heard about, called Pop In, that always has live music playing.  After climbing up to the attic then down the back steps to the cellar, we found what had to be the most random show I have ever seen.  A guy from Texas beat boxing while wearing big masks and playing multiple characters. 

 

Sacre-Coeur

The next day I did my standard walking tour and enjoyed the huge amounts of famous locations in Paris.  It was really neat to see and visit so many iconic places that I've seen in movies, or read about.  That evening I managed to meet up with my old roommate Mathias and we had dinner, then watched the French world cup game at a little bar by his place. Afterwards we headed out for a beer at the same crazy little bar from the night before. 

 

The Eiffel Tower

The next morning me and Mathias met up and headed over to the Eiffel tower area to take some pictures.  We spotted a little grocery store about a block from the Eiffel tower and picked up some beer and picnic food and relaxed in the park.  Which is a great way to enjoy the area without spending too much.

Out enjoying Fete De La Musique with Anne-Laure

That evening was the "Fete De La Musique" and so we met up with my friend Anne-Laure and her friends to go and enjoy the music and the street parties.  It was awesome! 

The next day I met up with one of my old high school friends, Alysse, who happened to be in Paris at the same time as me by coincidence.  After a couple of drinks I headed back to my hostel, met up with Mathias and we found the most amazing little Chinese restaurant that had just opened 3 weeks before.  

That evening I took the train to Lyon with Anne-Laure, who's house I would be couch surfing at for the next few days.  

Lyon

Lyon is a beautiful city and is very peaceful and fun to explore for two reasons.  The first reason is that it lies between two rivers the Saone and the Rhone which makes for many kilometers of parks and pathways to walk through.  The second reason it is so fun to explore, is the traboules which are small passages that run between buildings everywhere.   Originally designed for carrying silk to market, without getting rained on, today they are concealed by the doors of Lyon.  To find them you can get a map at the tourist center, or you can just wander through Lyon trying doors and pushing unlabeled buttons hoping they unlock the doors.  I'm sure that about half of Lyon was annoyed by me wandering by shaking their door and ringing their doorbells!  

One of the courtyards I found in the Traboules

After a fun day of exploring I met up right Anne-Laure and we headed off for dinner at a traditional restaurant and a little exploring around town.  The next day I explored a different area of town and enjoyed a bit of time relaxing near the river.  After meeting up with Anne-Laure we cooked dinner and enjoyed sitting with her roommate on the  patio, drinking wine, and enjoying a few lovely french cheeses.

 Me enjoying smelly french cheeses.

The next day I slept in a little before getting a lovely email telling me my flight from Lyon scheduled for that evening, was canceled.  After a little scrambling I got that sorted out and was off to the mall, where I bought a new book and a drink and lay by the river enjoying the sun.  After Anne-Laure got off work she cooked a lovely seafood dinner and I was off on my next adventure!

A few more pictures from Paris:

 Notre Dame

 Outside the Louvre

 Arch de Triomphe du Carrousel

 Place de la Concorde

 Av des Champs-Elysees

A few more pictures of Lyon:

 Ancient Roman Theater up on the hill.

 The Cathedral

 One of the many beautiful courtyards discovered while exploring the Traboules

 Hotel de Ville

 The river, and Cathedral by night.

The Netherlands

The 2nd weekend of June was a long weekend in Sweden, and so I had planned a trip to Amsterdam and the surrounding area. 

 

Alkmaar

I started out with a quick visit to Alkmaar to visit my friend Kintija, who I had met in Latvia and Lithuania. We explored the town and enjoyed the old fashioned cheese market, before meeting some of her friends for ice cream.

 The cheese market

Funny running guys with cheese

 Me and a Windmill

That night I checked in to my hostel next to the Van Gough museum in Amsterdam, and headed out to wander the town.  Amsterdam is a really interesting city with attractions ranging from the red light district and pot cafes, to famous museums and parks.  The downtown core is divided by canals and small streets hiding lots of little bars and restaurants.  After a great wander through town avoiding being run down by crazy Amsterdamers on two wheels, I found an amazing little bar called Hansel and Gretal to enjoy a beer next to the canal.   From my safe vantage point in the bar I was able to enjoy watching all of the other pedestrians trying to avoid being hit by the cyclists. (Its far funner to watch when it isn't you!)  

People plotting how to run me over.

The next morning I headed off on the free walking tour where I met a new friend to go for a beer with.   We went back to the same pubs from the night before and did a little people watching before going past the I Amsterdam sign.

 The I Amsterdam Sign

That night I was staying with my buddy Vincent in Haarlem, so I headed off on the train and we met up.  Haarlem has a nice little brewery so we headed there, sat down, started working from one end of the taps to the other while enjoying some traditional dutch snacks.   After that we headed by the restaurant and had a great dinner before hitting the store and then moving on to a relaxing night of beer and snacks.

 Vincent in Haarlem

The next day I headed back to Amsterdam and my flight home with enough time for a relaxing lunch on a patio.

Macedonia

One of my buddies from my swedish class in Malmö is from Macedonia, so when he moved back I had a great excuse to visit.  It was also a good chance to try to fly from Malmö airport for a change, instead of Copenhagen airport, since Wizz Air offers direct flights from Malmö to Skopje. 

I had to renew my passport before I could go anywhere, and so I had planned 3 weeks of being in Malmö and Copenhagen prior to the trip.  I managed to get my passport 3 days before I flew. Talk about a great way to break in my new passport, an exit stamp from Sweden!

One of the many specular buildings in downtown Skopje.

After arriving in Skopje, my buddy Dule, picked me up from the airport and took me into town.  I had booked a hostel for the first two nights right in downtown Skopje.

Gate Macedonia, right next to my Hostel!

Skopje is a really interesting town, with quite a few really massive statues, and some "old" looking buildings that are actually quite new.  After checking into the hostel I met a British guy to wander around with.  We headed out to go look at all of the monuments and buildings.  I think I can safely say that Skopje is the most unique town I have ever visited, both in terms of the architecture and the monuments.  Only one block from a huge 25m statue, that looks suspiciously like Alexander the Great, is the same style architecture that you find all around the former eastern block.

Alexander the Great?

Up the hill through the old bazaars you will come across a centuries old church, and a castle.  The castle was really nice to wander through, and offered an amazing view of the city. 

The castle in the center of town.

After wandering around Skopje for the day and spending the next morning chatting with the staff in the hostel, Dule came back to Skopje to pick me up.  We headed south to Bitola with a coffee stop in Prilep first.  On the drive down we went through the mountains passes, and enjoyed the views.  We enjoyed a couple more cups of coffee in town, and I tried a delicious baked cheese dish at Dule's cousin's restaurant.

That night was Dule's birthday, so he had a few friends over and afterwards we went out to the bar. The night life in Bitola was fantastic, and the drinks are really cheap (around 1 euro each) .

The lake front in Ohrid.

The Saturday after was a recovery day, so we all headed to Ohrid, a town on the edge of the lake.   From here we enjoyed the fresh air and lovely views.   Dule and I made the walk up the hills to see the ancient fortress as well as the amazing churches.   From the top of the fortress the view was fantastic.

 A church on the edge of the lake.

I was flying back Sunday, so me and Dule just stayed in Bitola.  We walked around and enjoyed the coffee and the town before making the drive to the airport. 

Fantastic trip and I can't recommend Macedonia enough.   Just if you go, make sure you don't only stay in Skopje.  There are too many other amazing towns to visit.

Some more pictures from around Macedonia:

 

Down by the lakeside in Ohrid

 The castle in Skopje.

 Me enjoying the Castle.

 The Mother Teresa Memorial.

Yet another huge monument in Skopje.

Belgium

My friends Travis and Anh had planned a little Euro trip, it had started with a visit to Copenhagen and Malmö to visit me, and it was ending with a stop in Brussels before returning to Canada. As I had a red day (holiday) on Thursday,  I decided that I would fly to Brussels Wednesday after work.  The plan was to meet up with them Friday before returning to Sweden on Sunday night.   

 One of the many comic murals on the walls of Brussels.

After arriving in Brussels I checked into the same hostel I stayed in last time, and then met some friends in the common area, a couple of awesome Canadian girls and an Australian girl, all of whom are doing exchange in Europe.  We had a great night and ended up in Delirium enjoying a little absinth and I enjoyed a "Cookie Beer" .... which actually tasted like cookies.

The next morning I took off to Luxembourg (Blog Post Here), and after a night and most of the next day I headed back to Brussels to meet up with Anh and Travis.  They had booked us into a pretty nice hotel that they had a great deal on.  I met up with them in the afternoon and we headed out to have a couple drinks and chat about their Europe adventures. Afterwards we headed out for the night but ended up packing in fairly early, although we did manage to meet up with the french girls from Luxembourg.

 The Town Hall

The next day we did the free tour, ate lots of waffles, and a horrid burger, then went around town some before heading for a really nice dinner together.  I enjoyed the local mussels as well as some more of the tasty tasty Belgian beer.

A church on the edge of the canals.

Since Travis and Anh where leaving early I decided to go to Bruges for the day and explore the town.  It had an economic crash right at its peak.  As a result much of it was just left in the medieval style, as the money wasn't available to even demolish the old buildings.  The result is a medieval city that still exists today.  It also has some really nice canals.

Think I missed something?  Have suggestions where I should go next?  Sound off in the comments below!

More Pictures:

 Cathedral of St Micheal

 Anh, Travis, and I

 The view behind Anh, Travis, and I.

 Market in Bruges.

 The cloth market.

 One of the Canals in Bruges.

Luxembourg

I had planned to meet up Brussels with my friends Anh and Travis in before they went back to Canada.  Due to some poor planning on my part, I ended up with nowhere to stay in Brussels for a night.  I decided that the solution to this problem would be to go to Luxembourg and stay there for a night. (plus I could check off another country!)

The train goes from Brussels to Luxembourg every hour, so it is rather convenient.  There is only one hostel in Luxembourg, so it wasn't too hard to decide where to stay.   The hostel is a really big HI hostel and is in a great location, although the common area is perhaps not the best for meeting people.  The walk to the hostel took about 25 min from the train station, and is a lovely walk that winds along the bottom of the castle walls and the edge of the cliffs.  The views are really breathtaking, with a small river and a beautiful church as well.

After checking in at the hostel I went for a wander around the lower part of town.  The castle walls and the cliffs are really amazing, and offer a great vantage point to take pictures of the lower town.  After my wander I met two french girls, played a bit of pool, then we went out for dinner and some drinks.  We started out in search of some traditional food but eventually gave up and ate some "traditional" Luxembourgian Chinese food.  Unfortunately since it was May 1 most places seemed closed.  After dinner we ended in a really nice bar with live music called the liquid cafe.

The next morning at breakfast I met a Slovenian girl, and we spent the morning wandering and taking some pictures of the upper part of the town.  Luxembourg is really clean, and it's quite obvious that there is a lot of money spent on the city as all of the buildings are quite beautiful and expensive looking, despite it being a tiny little town.

After a final coffee, I wrote this while sitting on the train back Brussels!

Some pictures:(First ones with the new camera!)

 The Aqueduct next to my hostel (re purposed into a road)

 The view of the walls and the church.

 The Church and the little river.

 

The river with the footbridge and the castle walls.

 The amazing view from the castle walls.

 Proof I was in Luxembourg!

 Grand Dukes Palace (Guarded by day only)

The Flag!