thoughts

europe is overrated. sorry, but maybe it was the fact that i was with my parents, but it's typical touristy crap. honestly, i felt like it was like korea, except the nazis had the sense to not burn down every historical building they came in contact with (e.g. japanese).

paris sucks. unless you're a girl that likes to shop, paris is pretty boring. vienna is a lot better ... same architecture, and vienna just seems to have more vibrancy.

the road systems are horrendous in france and belgium. all major highways in france are tollways, and nobody in belgium pays any heed to speed limits. german driver are good drivers, and they are damn good at following directions. when there's no speed limit (autobahn), they'll go around 110-120mph ... but when a 50km limit is posted (construction, going through cities, etc.), EVERYONE will go _exactly_ 50km.

i was the navigator for the trip, and the highway systems in europe are confusing. they don't use north/south/east/west notations at all, and some highways have more than one name. it's completely confusing. plus once you get into the city, ROADS ARE NOT MARKED. what the heck. it's impossible finding a hotel in a city like antwerp when half the streets are one-way, there's construction that's blocked one of the main roads, AND there are no road signs. sigh.

police cars in europe are unmarked. they'll try to trap you and stuff. so be careful. on the plane trip back, i sat next to this cool belgium dude (a programmer named ralph who works a 9-5 and freelances in VB and C# by night) who told me a lot of interesting stuff.

for instance, the police goaded his friend into racing them, and then they gave him a ticket for speeding. also in europe, apparently it's not wrong to speed, as long as you don't do it constantly. speeding for a few minutes to pass people is OK (as almost all highways are 2 lanes), but if you do it for a while, you get a ticket. the police will tail your ass.

truck drivers are dangerous in europe. apparently they put on cruise control, sit back, put their feet up on the dashboard, and drive with their kness. danger.

my favorite cities are brussels and vienna. brussels is just a nice interesting city, and vienna is gorgeous.

coming down from nyc to nc, i realized how much i love the south. i get these pangs of joy and pride whenever i fly back to nc. maybe it's just living here for a while, but coming back from all these places just makes me appreciate home a lot more. i guess i'm a small-town boy by heart. big cities are nice, but i find them exhausting. the pace of life ... so busy.

one thing i did appreciate was the fact that it didn't get dark until 1030...

and to answer any questions, no i didn't take many good pictures. the mindset for photography requires me to be alone, and being in the company of my parents and my sister was a constant distraction.