ginzo

^Wow, I think I'm almost as excited about that as I am about the new water coaster. I really liked Voyage when it ran well. If they could make it run faster and smoother, it might find its way back into my top 10.

Europeans are frequently good at making us Americans feel dumb like that.

Yeah, the US parks are very different from the European parks in this respect. You're generally NOT allowed to bring outside food in. I think Kennywood might be one exception to this. However, like other people said, you can still picnic in the car. And, if you bring a small amount of snacks inside, nobody is probably going to say anything to you. Security is generally looking for weapons, not contraband food.

^If they do pull the plug, will some GP think that Mean Streak is actually SOB moved up to CP?

For being the capitol of the European Union, I was underwhelmed. But I was only there for a few hours. It was basically just a long stopover between London and Bruges. We figured we'd check it out since we had to transfer trains there anyway. It's interesting how the regions of Belgium are so different. Bruges is so clean and nice, while Brussels isn't so clean.

Sorry We did buy fries in both Brussels and Bruges. In fact, I think my lunch in Brussels consisted of a large portion of fries with a Chimay. Not a bad lunch at all. Your town has been recommended to me by more than one European. OK, they were Dutch and liked the red light district. I'm not sure that many tourists visit, but I heard the food is really good.

How about a people mover?

Thanks for the nice comments everyone. After we left Brussels, we went to the Belgian medieval wonder town of Bruges. Colin Farrell's character in the great recent film "In Bruges" relentlessly ripped on the town. But he couldn't have been more wrong. Bruges is immaculately well preserved. I unconditionally recommend visiting for a few days. Where the poor people live. Double door fail! More medieval magic. Back to the canals. This is the entrance to the Basilica of the Holy Blood. The holy relic contained within is reportedly some of Jesus's blood. This seems a bit questionable to me, but whatever. I think this isn't actually the main square, but a square off of the main square. Headed towards the main square. As pretty as the canals are, I never got around to taking a canal boat ride. The town itself is the attraction. It's most fun to just hang out and explore. There is a definite otherworldly vibe to this place at night. Being super tired from travel only added to the effect. After dinner, I walked around the old town and took some photos. They've done a particularly excellent job of lighting up the canals. After checking into our excellent B&B, we stopped by for some food and beer. Trappist Westvleteren is not that hard to come by in Bruges. The food in this pub was excellent as well. It was probably the best spaghetti bolognese I ever had.

^I used to like Disneyland better, until we made the mistake of going on a really crowded weekend last December. It was the last weekend of the year that the people with blackout passes could go to Disneyland. The park doesn't handle crowds well at all. Main Street turns into one of those 1970s Who concerts with festival seating where you're liable to just get trampled. We saw all kinds of obnoxious line cutting, like for the tram at the end of the day. People REPEATEDLY cut in front of the line for the tram, while the cast members just blatantly ignored it. It got to the point where if you didn't start to push your way to the front, you would have never gotten on the tram because the line cutting was continuous. Also, we had a super blatant line cutting event trying to take the Monorail back into Disneyland. We were at the front of the line walking over to the train when this family just sprints by us, taking the last available seats. I complained to the monorail pilot who told me, "Oh, there's not actually a queue for this. It's not considered an actual attraction." Our previous trip to Disneyland was in January and was really good. I liked how they packed in a lot of stuff into a small amount of space. Unfortunately, the lack of space makes the park horrible during peak times, especially given how the locals act. Forget the French Crunch. The LA Crunch was far worse.

After 3 excellent days in London, we took the Eurostar to Brussels. Apart from the fact that the bar car ran out of breakfast food, this was easily the nicest train I have ever ridden on. Very fast, very smooth, and very luxurious. We rode in the cheapest seats on the train (~$70 each) and they were far nicer seats than most first class seats on regular European trains. Another shot of random park. I'll be brutally honest: I was a bit underwhelmed at Brussels. But don't worry. We go to an awesome place next. Random park. See how it's just kind of shoved into some random corner in an alleyway. The famous Manneken Pis. A bit underwhelming, frankly. Now that's more like it! Another shot of the Grand Place. Brussels Grand Place. It looked better in the brochure. Awesome carved wooden skeleton inside cathedral. Cathedral in Brussels. The Eurostar drops you off at Bruxelles Midi-Zuid train station. However, we needed to get to Bruxelles Central. Well, here we are at Bruxelles Nord. Our first fail of the trip. There was NO SIGN at Bruxelles Central indicating what station it was. It turned out to be not that big of a deal though. We got back to Bruxelles Central in just a few minutes. Also, note the tagged up train. The countryside shooting by at 200 MPH. Excellent way to travel. Much better than flying.

^I actually saw a train hopper ride from Brussels to Gent. He sat low to the ground by the door. I guess he would have pulled the emergency release and jumped off the train if a conductor had come. But nobody ever came.

^Good question about IDs. They NEVER checked IDs. They just looked at the rail passes, made sure the dates were valid, and moved on. That's probably why rail passes get stolen so often. Anybody can use them it seems. As to the value of the rail pass, you just have to see if it's cheaper than buying individual train tickets. Coming from overseas, it's very confusing to try to book train tickets ahead of time in several foreign countries. The rail pass kind of idiot proofs it for you a bit.

^We had all of our hotels booked ahead of time. So, we knew what cities we'd be in on a given day. We didn't plan it that much beyond that though. In each city we had a list of things we wanted to do as well as guidebooks that told us when things would be open, etc. Oh, and we definitely checked the rail routes way ahead of time to figure out when to show up to catch a specific train. Some journeys required reservations, etc. It was very expensive. I have no idea as to the exact cost. I think we were averaging about $40 per person per night for hotel expenses, which is excellent for Europe. I used Priceline extensively and we stayed in several B&Bs as well. And, yeah, we had all our stuff in backpacks and had to find places to do laundry and such. Honestly, we had a fair amount of fails along the way. The main thing that burned us over and over again was local transport. For example, we rented a car in Mannheim, Germany near the train station. I thought I had a map of the area, but could not find it. So, we had to walk around for like 30 minutes just to find the car rental agency. Also, maps from guidebooks can be horrible. It's best to find the TI for every town you visit and buy a real map.

It's just a Vekoma!

^Not for the coasters, obviously. Just to go down to Mendoza for the wine.

^I'll meet you down at the big yellow joint.

I've been wanting to go to Argentina for a long time. Thanks for posting this!

^Piraten was great. I think I have it as my #4 steelie right now.

Since London seems to be popular, I'll put up a few more random photos from there before we head over to Belgium. This guy was a jerk. This looks pre-fab traditional. Does that even make sense? Here we are in SteveC-approved Covent Garden. Unfortunately, we got there right as the street performers were closing up shop. Another sign with an important life lesson. I liked the one about not letting your children run amok better. The traitor's gate at the Tower of London. This is where they brought prisoners in. And Mr. Hyde. The mild mannered Dr. Jekyll. Westminster Abbey at night. Again, it's FAR more impressive inside, which is unfortunate because no photography is allowed. You know you want to call this "London Bridge". Liz before she's had her morning Joe. Obligatory tube shot. Personally, I thought that the London Underground was in pretty good shape considering its age. However, the Olympic Committee did not agree with this assessment. Several lines were closed during the weekend we were in London for repairs.

Fortunately, I have a lot more to work with in terms of pictures this year (go 16GB SD card that I "borrowed" from Liz). So, I should have no problems finishing it. Next stop: Belgium.

That's the key: Don't give anything back.

^It possibly worked in reality, but not enough to offset their losses in other areas. I was always skeptical of Shapiro's claims that the recession was great news for Six Flags.

Here are some more photos from London. One of the very few gas lamp streets left in all of London. "Hey kids, Big Ben!" It might not be the biggest, but it looks really nice. Gravy factory. Seriously. Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is the only thatched roof in all of London. And it took an Act of Parliament and a very elaborate sprinkler system to get it approved for construction. This hideous building is London's Town Hall. I guess they had too many scrumpies (high alcohol content fermented cider) when they approved this project. The British Museum also looks damn nice. Some sort of historic artifact inside the British Museum. I have no idea what it is, but it sure looks cool. Fact: The British are history's most successful thieves of important artifacts, which is why the British Museum is the finest museum in the world, period. Also, it's free, which helps in otherwise very expensive London. Here we are in the London Eye. An excellent experience. Much better than the super cramped, let-the-gypsies-pick-your-pockets top level of the Eiffel Tower. When asked if he did drugs, Dali replied, "I am the drug." Nice. There was some kind of Sri Lankan protest going on near Parliament. I have no idea what it was about, but it was a very spirited protest. Here is Liz in front of Westminster Abbey. Although it doesn't look like much, it's amazing on the inside. The greatest scientist of all time, Isaac Newton, is buried inside.

So the "Staycation" theory was sort of true for Six Flags, but sort of not as well.