Pardon my French

Whenever I think of France and the French I'm reminded of the SNL sketch of Celebrity Jeopardy when Turd Ferguson tells Alex Trebek that he speaks French to which Alex replies, "oh yeah" and Turd says, "you're an assbite, pardon my French!" So that's what I think of when I think of France. That and berets and pencil mustaches. Oh and baguettes. I found out the baguette part is true, they do carry those around all the time!

Here's a quick update on my travels in French speaking countries so far: After Nurnberg we took a night train to Paris and saw the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, the Shakespeare and Co. book company, Eiffel Tower and lots of French stuff over two and a half days. Paris was fun but it was so big that we ended up spending a lot of time and money just riding the metro around. The language barrier was pretty difficult. It seems as though you speak French best when you are trying to be as mocking and patronizing as possible. Only then does it sound correct the real secret is to sound pompously arrogant. Paris is an impressive city though and we had fun there and I'll have to come back someday to see everything.

Now I'm in Brussels through the 27th when I'll be leaving to go to Bruges and then Amsterdam. Brussels is a really interesting mix of old and new, French and Flemish and English. It's nice that so many people here speak English and the weather has been pretty good. Today we went to an old brewery that brews Lambic beer in the traditional method with "spontaneous fermentation". The beer was good, quite sour and fruity. It's very different than anything I've had before. Tomorrow is Christmas so we are just going to have a walk around and look at stuff and then hang out at the hostel. It will definitely be the weirdest Christmas I've ever celebrated.

Sorry for no pictures, the computers here at the hostel won't let us upload any (I think they are Commies) so I'll try to get some up next time. Anyway that's pretty much all I've got for now. Merry Christmas everybody (and Happy Hanukkah). So if ya don't know, now ya know...