So, I just got back from two weeks in western Europe, where I saw wonderful sights, ate wonderful food and the Euro hit me harder than I ever could have anticipated.

My first stop was Prague. I’d never been there before, but what better way to experience the city than to emerge in it from a 12-hour bus ride?

Prague was beautiful… I hope you’ll have the chance to go there someday, if you haven’t already. Here’s a shot of the Old Town Square:

And here’s the world-famous Astronomical Clock, which, in my opinion, is very overrated. It’s covered in zodiac signs and archaic measurements that make it terribly difficult to actually tell time with it…

Prague has some of the most beautiful views in the world… Here’s the Vltava River in the evening:

This is Prague Castle, with St Vitus’ Cathedral dominating the skyline.

Here’s a closer-up of St Vitus’ Cathedral, and the interior. By the way, this fabulous Gothic cathedral took 600 years to build. It was just finished in 1929.

See more pictures from Prague here, in my Flickr set.

Oh, one more cool thing before we move on to Paris. A white peacock from the Wallenstein Gardens!

Like I said, the next stop was Paris. I had to wake up at 3:30 a.m. to catch my shuttle to the airport for my 6 a.m. flight. Aude picked me up at the shuttle point, and she took me to her apartment to drop off my stuff, then we got breakfast from the greatest cafe in the history of the world—where I had scrambled eggs and hot chocolate, and discovered macarons.

It was the first Sunday of the month, so all the museums were free, and Aude had exams to study for. An obvious choice, I went to the museums while Aude was studying, and I’d come back that evening for Easter dinner with her family.

Unfortunately, the lines at the Louvre and Musée d’Orsay were absurdly long:

I didn’t feel like waiting in line—even though I wanted to revisit both museums (it’d been three years since I’d seen them!!!)—so I took a walk around the block while I decided what to do.

Then I saw the future: this magnificent Lamborghini.

Eventually I sucked it up and made it inside the Musée d’Orsay (only had to wait outside an hour and a half), only to find that it was quite under construction, barely navigable, extremely crowded—and there were no Whistlers to be seen.

After the museum, I went back to Aude’s apartment to relax for a while. I got to meet her family, since I didn’t see them earlier. Her mom is a lot of fun, and her dad hunts snipes. What more’s to be said?

A bit later, we went to pick up Aude’s brother from Montmartre in the north of Paris, and Aude and I stopped at Sacre Coeur on the way. It’s an amazing church with an amazing view, and a great vibe. Actually, all of Montmartre is really fantastic. I think if I ever live in Paris, that’s where it’ll be. Although, as Aude pointed out to me, it’d be hard to keep a bike up there; I’d be carrying it more than riding it.

Our Easter dinner was something to be reckoned with. I found out then that Aude’s mom is a fantastic cook—and she prepared all sorts of typical French dishes. The meal was 6 courses—champagne and nuts, duck, lamb with bean soup, cheese and salad, cake and post-dessert. I was stuffed after that 3-hour meal, and fell right asleep.

The next day I went to the Louvre. As it turned out, I could get into the museums for free anyway, since I had a student ID from within the European Union. It was slightly sketchy, though, that I had to use my American passport to prove my age… I was afraid she’d say that I couldn’t get the offer, but she didn’t.

In case you’ve never been to the Louvre, here’s what it’s like to visit the Mona Lisa:

Good thing my favorite piece by Leonardo is not nearly as popular or protected, and I could examine it for ages without being interrupted.

At the Louvre, I also scored a free scarf (found it) and discovered this piece by Flandrin that I’d never seen before. I like it.

The next day I had a noontime train to Lyon, where Arthur met me. We went to the tourism office to get me a map, and then Arthur gave me a mini-tour of Lyon’s downtown. We also tried out the public bike rental system, which is awesome. In the afternoon, we went to his university, where I met up with some of my other friends from Marquette while Arthur had a group meeting.

That night, Arthur and I went to a restaurant that served typical Lyonnaise food. The place was actually kind of bad, but I really liked the quenelle.

The next day Arthur wasn’t free, so I explored on my own. Before I left, though, I had the most creepy and awkward conversation of my life with a spacey, anti-capitalist, faux-philosophical old man from Montreal. What he was doing at a youth hostel, where supposedly there is an age limit, is still under investigation.

I went to Lyon’s art museum, which was free since I’m under 26, and I also got a free audio guide, which was surprisingly interesting. I actually really loved the museum… Took lots of notes and learned a lot. One thing that struck me was this quote from Degas: “A painting must never be a copy. It’s better to draw from the imagination, so you only reproduce what struck you the most. That is, the necessary.”

By the afternoon the weather was looking gloomy. What could I do but buy some cheese and sweets and watch Nip/Tuck in the hostel?

The next day Arthur and I saw the other great things in Lyon, including the 32nd floor of the Pencil, Lyon’s tallest building. Fantastic views. That night, I ate the most expensive meal of my life at a restaurant that, thankfully, lived up to Lyon’s gastronomic reputation.

I love Lyon.

The next stop was Lille, a charming city maybe an hour north of Paris, where I met up with Mandi and Angela.

Here’s a picture of the weirdest church facade you’ll ever see. The rest of the church is nice, though.

My stay in Lille was short because both Angela and Mandi were leaving. My next stop was Antwerp, in Brussels.

Here are some of the buildings from the Market Square… They’re old guild houses (Erin, if you’re reading this, I thought of DAoC, too), with the guild’s symbol at the top.

In addition to being Belgium’s fashion headquarters, Antwerp has a cool pedestrian tunnel that goes below the river, and one of the world’s oldest escalators.

Here’s the view from the other side of the river. Oh, and Dennis and Christophe. You’ll see the cathedral only has one bell tower. Apparently the city ran out of money during construction and decided to leave the other one unfinished.

The last cool thing I’ll show you from Antwerp is… THE BEAST. Apparently it’s a sort of fun-park for kids. The sign by it said, “Take a scary walk through the intestines of an ancient dinosaur.” Nice!

After Antwerp I went to Ghent for a day just to visit. It’s a cool city with canals and old buildings, but the Old Town was under construction and kind of a hassle to walk in (not to mention, dust was blowing everywhere). That evening, I got on the train to Brussels for the last leg of my trip.

They say that, if you arrive at Brussels North, your impression of the city will forever depend on which exit you take; the train station straddles very different parts of town. Well, most people I talked to said Brussels was a nasty, dirty city that’s barely worth visiting, so my hopes weren’t high. I guess it didn’t help that I unknowingly exited the train station into the city’s red light district. And then, when I was on my way to my hostel, there were a few gunshots, followed by screams and people running. Sheesh.

So how could it be that I fell in love with Brussels? Maybe because it’s really a beautiful city, with all different languages everywhere (I love the fact that it’s officially a bilingual city, but practically a trilingual one—many people there speak French, Dutch and English, and then smatterings of other languages). There’s also the Belgian Comic Strip Center, an awesome museum. And they have chocolate.

Here’s one of the greatest tourist attractions in Belgium (better than that stupid peeing boy statue): the Delerium Cafe. It holds the world record for most types of beer available (over 2,000), and the bartenders somehow know where they all are in the back room.

This is the European Commission. (You knew Brussels is the capital of the European Union, didn’t you?)

And these two show you a little more of Brussels’ spirit: