December 23rd: Paris

Got on a bus in The Hague on Monday night; arrived in Paris at 6 am.
"Woke up" at the huge, very old, cemetery Père Lachaise.

Smelly cat. Oohh, smelly cat. What are they feeding you...?? (Song by Phoebe, in 2nd episode of Friends) He kept following me around, keeping me company in this suprisingly quiet place, in the midst of a buzzing city.

Think he was suffering a lack of attention.

He was interrupting my photography, for sure..

Paris, as seen from la Sacré Coeur, which is located at the highest point of the city.

School children coming off that merry go round. Sacré Coeur in the back.

Parts of Palais du Louvre, et la Tour de Eiffel.

After a night in the bus, I caught up some sleep in one of those chairs, in the warm sun.

He looks terrified, as if he could die any moment, just by biking there.. :)

Palais, ou Château, de Versailles.

After the sun went down, I took off towards Orly Airport. For another cheap night, waiting for a flight towards - pieieieiiep- at 6 am. (Some) pictures of - pieieieieieeep - will follow later.

I am. Where I should be.

Bingo!
First bike got stolen. It was my bike in Wageningen, last Tuesdaynight. Welcome back in the Netherlands...

On the other hand, for the first time in many years, we were able to skate on the ice.
Enjoy the pictures. You wont get it much Dutcher.

Good ol' Delft

Here's some pictures from Delft. One is the room at my old home, Perron 0 (= Platform Zero), where I still lay down my head to sleep, whenever I'm around. This room is no longer available to be rented out, so it's (kind of) empty. And there's lesson nr. 1 of the course "Dutch creativity and bikes".

Finally, a sad shot of the train station area (my old house is part of the area too); more and more houses are empty. Ready to fall apart, and make room for the construction of a train tunnel.

P.S. de B.S: Finally found a temporary room in Wageningen! Four months. It's small (2 by 6/7 meters), but also a small price. Tomorrow will be my first night; on a camping mattrass, in my sleeping bag. My days will be stretched, with four and a half extra hours (at least...) each day!

Tracy Chapman (solo)

Thankfull to say that I was present at this concert. Sunday night. All alone. Snow falling, wind blowing. Amsterdam. Managed to get a spot at the front; could literally touch the stage. Nothing or nobody blocking my view. One of the best musicians ever. Solo. For a couple of hours, which I never wanted to come to an end. Just herself and a guitar, in a small circle of light. She seems to be such a benign person. Very friendly and honest. And her music is só good!!
Out of all the music on my iPod, she puts my thoughts and feelings into words like nobody else.

Feel like my head must be glowing like a light in the dark, out of pure happiness.

Culture in Sweden.

Both were experienced in one night. Walked straight from the theatre, into an Irish pub.

I am home, but I was in Stockholm

Not the best pictures I ever took, but they'll do. They'll have to, because it's all you'll ever see about this trip to Sweden.
We (a total of seven of us) took the 'surf-bus' to Germany, watching a movie on a laptop below. Three people hitch hiked there and one (100% Dutch) friend studying in Norway for a couple of months, came over as well. Shouldn't forget him, he was the reason we started travelling in the first place :)
We went to ballet, 2,5 hours, for just 4 euros. (I have to admit it wasn't with the whole group, just me and two of the guys.) We enjoyed the 'singing' language the friendly Swedish people were speaking. We drank expensive beer. We took the ferry to travel from one of Stockholms' islands to another. We've experienced the funniest church service I've ever visited. And of course we walked around in the city, visiting a library, döner kebab restaurants, a requiem and a museum.

Like babies.