Last couple days in Luxembourg!

Wow, it's already December 21st. I can't believe I'll be flying back to the east coast in two days! It's awesome that after working and traveling in Europe for four weeks, I'm spending the holidays with my family and friends in New York. This Christmas, I'm especially happy that my entire family is getting together. Time really flies by - Christmas is in four days! And I'm so eager to go back to Seattle for New Years. I'm really looking forward to seeing my friends and a special someone.

For those curious, aside from working the past two weeks, I’ve been exploring Amsterdam and Paris.

Amsterdam:
On the 7th, Rob and I took a six hour train ride to check out Amsterdam for a couple days. It was an interesting city. One of the most hyped aspect of Amsterdam is the red-light district, where prostitution is legal; here's more about De Wallen. This means you can walk along the street, and see women in full-length windows beckoning to pedestrians. It was unsettling to see people advertised like clothing in a department store window. It also seems wrong that tourists (me included) gawked at them like a circus attraction.

For me, the highlights of Amsterdam were the scenic canals and the Van Gogh museum. We also spent some time at the Heineken Experience, which was mostly advertising. Although some of the "rides" were a bit silly, it was fun to check out and they fed us beers. I really enjoyed walking along the concentric canals; the scenery reminded me of a larger, modernized Venice. However, I still love Venice's locale much more. Venice has a unique combination of winding alleys, narrow bridges, and vehicle-free streets. Once you stroll a couple alleys away from the Grand Canal (and tourists), the atmosphere is completely charming, peaceful and private. But back to Amsterdam, the Van Gogh museum was awesome. I love studying his expressive, intense works. Poor Rob had to keep moving me along the exhibits; I could've spent the entire day there. Van Gogh is definitely one of my favorite artists.

Paris:
Last Wednesday, Rob and I took an early morning train to meet Jason in Paris. It was wonderful to spend a few days in Paris, and then the weekend in Luxembourg with Jason. We stayed at a cute little French hotel in the Latin Quarter, which was conveniently close to many of the sights. This was great for exploring the surrounding area. And for all three days, we had awesome winter weather - a bit chilly, but sunny with blue skies. So it was perfect for wandering around the city and walking along the Seine.

On Thursday night, we ate a fun fondue restaurant where they serve you wine in a baby bottle. It had a cozy merry atmosphere. Currently, it’s my favorite Parisian restaurant.

As for the sights, we visited the Notre Dame, Sacré-Coeur, some famous cemetery, Arc de Triomphe, Champ-Elysses, Eiffel Tower, and the Louvre. It was awesome that while we did a whirlwind tour of Paris, it was still a relaxing laid-back trip :)

Brussels, my beer and chocolate heaven

Since Luxembourg is centrally located in northern Europe, we've been taking advantage and exploring the surrounding countries. Last weekend, Rob, Bob and I went on an adventure to Brussels. And I found out  that Brussels is definitely a beer and chocolate heaven. There are delicious chocolate shops peppered all over; Rob and Bob had to drag me away every few minutes.

In addition to all the tempting chocolate, we tried as many Belgian beers as possible. My favorites are the Kwak (which came in an super-cool chemistry glass) and the Belle-vue Kriek. And Belgian waffles are good. On Saturday morning as soon as we started wandering around to find waffles, we stumbled across a waffle truck. It seemed the waffle gods wanted to ensure we got our sugary fix. On Sunday morning, we got fancy waffles. I had a chocolate-covered strawberry waffle; and Bob and Rob had chocolate, strawberry, banana and whip cream on theirs.

I should probably stop writing about food and beer. So other than eat and drink, we explored Brussels by foot. Covering most of the city, we stopped at most of the landmarks; mostly taking lots of pictures of Bob and the statues. Oh, and the Manneken Pis. This bronze statue, also known as "Brussels' Oldest Citizen", is of a little boy urinating. The funny part is that it's only two or so feet tall. It had an entire couple blocks dedicated to him. It seemed like a big tourist joke. However, we did our visitor duty and took pictures of the statue.

I'd say my favorite part is the Grand Place, a medieval square surrounded by tall Gothic buildings on all four sides. This square is especially wonderful at night, when the city lights with color. The lighted buildings and streets lined with wooden huts (selling trinkets, bratwurst, and potatoes) created a festive atmosphere to explore the city.Next, I'll write about the trip to Amsterdam.

Luxembourg!

For the past two weeks, I've been living and working in Luxembourg. I'm here until a couple days before Christmas. Rob, Jacob, Arlen, and I are handling night on-calls for the Seattle developers, and working with the European supply chain business analysts.

These last two weeks have been awesome. It's a fun and interesting change from my life in Seattle.  While I'm envious of all the snow they're getting in the mountains back home, I'm excited to be working in the Luxembourg office and explore Europe.

Luxembourg is an interesting place; the country has a population of just under half a million, which is less than Seattle! So needless to say, the city of Luxembourg is pretty small. The city is perched atop a rocky cliff, overlooking rivers and the old parts of the city (where the Amazon office is located).

The Amazon Lux office is a nondescript four story-building in the Grund. Around the Grund are castle walls with underground casements (used as bomb shelters in WWII), a river, cobbled streets, and a medieval village. All in all, it's a pretty charming area.

They speak mostly French here, which was a surprise to Rob and me. Stepping out of the airport, we found a line of taxi drivers who only spoke french. Thankfully, Rob took French in high school; so we weren't completely lost, just mostly ;) I've been told that most people in Luxembourg speak English - so I'm still waiting to meet the English-speakers :)

Bienvenue :)

I've finally succumbed to writing a blog - hopefully it'll help me keep in better touch with friends and family. So this blog will be random ramblings of what's going on in my world :)