Final Chapter – Paris, Part 1.

The final trip of my first exchange to Europe. Paris. In all honesty, I loved the French Riviera more. But how can I skip Paris while visiting Europe? It just cannot be. So this is me and Paris in a week.

1) Montmartre

Looks familiar? The carousel must remind you of Amelie, fascinating movie. We went to the Cafe where she worked in and had tea there.

The girl who loves the sound of tapping spoon on creme brulee crust. Super touristy I know, but I just couldn’t resist 😉

After climbing what seemed like never ending stairs, we arrived the gigantic Basilica. It was filled with people on a warm Sunday afternoon. It felt so local to be lying on the grass slope sunbathing and sitting on the staircase watching impossible performances.

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Within this green district, time paused. No one cared how long they have spent doing nothing . Everything else was secondary and we were all there for one glorious purpose – chill.

This performer climbed up the lamp post with his football, spinning and flying like he was spiderman or something. His performance was so good that I actually gave him money at the end. Coming from a poor student, this must mean something.

Montmartre is also famous for its artists. We saw numerous painters in the square and I was so close to actually getting a portrait of myself, but then I thought, what if it turned out to be really ugly? Or what if it turned out to be so pretty that isn’t like me? Or perhaps, I was just too stingy after all 😛

Over 100 euros for a show in Moulin Rouge. Sigh. I will definitely watch it when I start earning my own money.

2) La Defense

This slick architecture is the icon of La Defense. Central Business District with Shopping malls and everything. You can actually see it from the Arc de Triomphe at the end of Champs Elysees. I watched Iron Man 3 here!

3) The Louvre

Speaking of this world-renowned museum, we were kind of ashamed because after merely an hour, we fell asleep while resting on the indoor bench. I blame the heating. But seriously, Mona Lisa was just so small with so many people pushing to get closer (which is still like a meter away). The most fun part was taking photos of ourselves 😛

The sign on the pyramid is the Trinity sign. Kind of like two infinity signs blended together.

Even after a few months in France, I still couldn’t locate my love for Western Arts. I am just so not an Art-museum lover after all. These interactive exhibitions, however, were much more entertaining.

4) Avenue des Champs Elysees

They say it’s the most beautiful avenue on earth. Well may be it is. Even the A&F store there was super glamourous.

Who knew Benz produces perfume?! While we were strolling along the street after dinner, I commented that people who live on this street must be extremely wealthy.

Then my friend added, “either that or they are hobos.” Haha. Very true. We did see homeless people sitting outside of branded stores that were already closed. What a striking contrast.

5) Eiffel Tower

Unfortunately we didn’t see it light up at night because everyday the sun set at 10pm and we live an hour away from city, which means we have to go home by 9pm latest 😦

During our free tour, the guide told us a touching story about the Eiffel Tower. Before Hitler arrived Paris, the French cut down the elevator chord to the top of Eiffel Tower. Thus, Hitler could only look up from the ground during the 4 years occupation and never actually stepped foot the tower. Even when the world was crumbling down, falling into the wrong hands and covered with blood stains, Eiffel Tower was always free. I hope it will always remain free.

The famous Notre Dame de Paris where the “Hunchback” lived. It was the last Cathedral I visited in Europe. Coincidentally, it reminded me a lot of the church I first saw in Monaco. Where have the time gone?

6) Seine River

Along the banks, I saw so many stalls selling paintings and mini Eiffel Towers. Highly recommend buying from these stores instead of hawkers on the street. (Because we saw a hawker pissed on the street and touched his merchandize without washing his hands.)

From afar, I thought the bridge had golden fences. On a closer look, however, all the golden were locks! Love locks, where lovers throw the key into the river after securing it on the bridge. So that their love/promise whatever will stay forever.

I wonder who started it. The whole thing doesn’t make much sense. I guess it’s supposed to be romantic. My dad suggested that I should sell these locks and copy a million keys so every time after the couples left, I can unlock it and resell it again 😉

7) Place de la Concorde and Tuileries Garden

This pointy thing is an Obelisk (yes I wiki-ed it). Turns out the French not only robbed artifacts from around the world, claimed ownership over them and placed them in the Louvre; they actually helped decrypt the Ancient Egyptian language! That’s why their Government thanked them with this “stairway to heaven.”

This is just me resting (second thing I did most in Paris, after tea-ing) next to the big fountain in the Tuileries Garden. Interestingly, all gardens in France are highly symmetrical. This is because they think symmetry is the most beautiful form. The tour guide also told us that’s why you don’t see much grass in French gardens… grass were very difficult to maintain back in the days, so you see a lot of sand instead. They are more “manipulatable” (Control Freaks!)

8) Food. Along this road with purple trees, we had a “reunion dinner” sort of.

Yes, Laduree is in Hong Kong now ! But they don’t have the ice cream with half a macaron on top… I handled some bank issues at BNP while eating the Coffee flavored ice cream. I almost left my bank card on the table but most certainly remembered my cup of ice cream.

9) Glass ceiling of Galeries Lafayette

This is where we saw high tech and extremely chic kitchen tools. This is also where we fantasized being future housewives/great cooks/ mothers. Brunch on Sundays and our kids playing together! Oh, I hope that day will come soon when I get that auto pepper grinder with light as housewarming gift 😉

End of Part 1

Netherlands – part 2 (Maastricht, Eindhoven)

Definitely the longest time I have put my blog on hold as I have finally returned to reality; back to GMT +8. Now finally, a break from meeting family and friends, time for some self indulgent me-time.

I know I know, a Church in Europe, no big deal. But hey, guess what’s actually inside?

Wait a minute, doesn’t that look kind of like a bookstore? Well because it IS a bookstore! For once, 9gag posts aren’t myths! Of course there is big Miffy at child section 🙂

On a side note, highly recommend this funny and enlightening book from Sweden “The hundred- year -old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared.” It made me laughed a few times on my flight back.

Haven’t had any good waffles after my visit to Belgium in late Feb…until I met this pink store! They actually put chocolate sticks INTO hot waffles so by the time you bite till the middle, it melts in your mouth. hmm delicious.

I have seen many tourist trains, but solar paneled ones? Definitely the first time!

Somehow everyday was bright sun white cloud blue sky in Netherlands. Chilling by the river under the swaying shadows of slender trees; resting alongside people smoking weed, ahem, I mean enjoying themselves under the sun; watching mean black ducks chasing kinder ones on the water surface… I can picture myself doing this for another few months.

Perks of being young: seemingly infinite time we’ve got. Seconds, minutes, hours that make up lives. Yet, the last 5 months flew by so quickly and before I can fully process it, I am into my last year in college. Time is so precious, do what you want to do and meet who you want to meet. Tomorrow might sound like a big promise but it really is no guarantee.

I was told the Treaty that created a common currency – Euro was signed right here at Maastricht 😉 To be honest, politicians should be more creative than naming their treaties after where they signed it…

Young adults playing saxophone next to the river, and I assume that’s what they do every weekend!

Then a nice long reading break with…unknown drink, well we ordered lemonade but as long as it’s cold I am happy.

Roads are paved completely in old tiles making it extremely difficult to ride a bike.

It felt like Spring, everything blooming and you never know what to expect around the next corner 🙂 So many things are just waiting to happen.

Banks in Eindhoven somehow looked like big mansions…

And that’s a store inside an egg. Why is every building so unexpected?

Lastly, the first time I live in a room all by myself. The door number was not the luckiest but it was such a lovely single room. I actually had to buy an old school clock as my phone was lost thank god I did not miss my flight. NOT even once. 😉

Rotterdam, where every police I met was a woman~

First off, why on earth have I met 4 police woman in the politie station? Well, just a few weeks before going back to Hong Kong, I have accidentally (?) dropped my phone 😦 in somewhere that I wasn’t 100% sure. But well that matter had been settled, what was REALLY strange was every police I encountered was a middle aged woman :O. Completely opposite to the stereotypical masculine police figure. Anyway they have been so nice to me and based on my “rather” limited encounter with police, I think they are all really kind people who tend to swear a lot.

Now back to Rotterdam, it seemed like a decent city, but there really was just one touristic place: Kinderdijk. There are 19 windmills that have been there forever; long enough to be listed a UNESCO. Most importantly, it was completely free!

We rented a bike (haha, another funny story) for a few euros and got to enjoy the postcard views along the rivers of those tall old windmills.

That above is obviously too big to be my bike. I am not good at cycling at all given that this is merely my third time riding one, but turned out I was not the worst! I managed the entire journey back and worth without falling.

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Indeed there were some occasional sudden breaks, brushing against pedestrians, screaming and shouting. But but but, I still managed. Once when I stopped suddenly, a man walked by and said to me “I am Dutch, do you need me to teach you some lessons?” hahaha embarrassing.

Of course biking is no big deal, but for me it is. I figured out that it wasn’t the balancing that really frightens me. It was the being out of control. Instead of trusting my legs, I have to rely on 2 wheels that don’t even attach directly on me!

But I was still able to enjoy the view flying by me on both sides (yes, flying because I know the faster I go, the more steady it would be) of the bike despite my constant murmur to myself that I will not fall.

What made it even harder was the pedestrians who always move out of my way too slow, and the rather “narrow” road surrounded by water, another fear of mine. At the end I bruised my little right finger perhaps from brushing against the pedestrians too often 😛

I stopped occasionally when there were more things to see. I ran into 2 duckling families running some errands together. It was definitely one of the CUTEST scenes I have EVER seen in my exchange so far!

A big and a small family 🙂 With mommy and daddy protecting them from back and front!

Couples with the same pace in life.

Then of course we should never forget about the tea part!

And yet another day of TEAAaaaa. Now I am starting to have a rough idea where my extra weight might have came from 😉

There was then these strangely tilted dices they made into a HOUSE. It was cheap to go in, but it made us all very dizzy. I guess we human are too used to the normal straight line boxes.

AND of course the pancake boat. It wasn’t that special really, what was SUPER surprising…was the playroom they have under the boat!

One last special thing, THE largest “vending machine” I HAVE EVER SEEN in my life 🙂

Roadtrip with Dad at a glance (Evian les Bains, Thonon les Bains, Interlaken and Montreux)

Here is the town where the so-called best water, Evian, came from! We stayed in a cozy and small hotel. This was a really good lunch for 18 euros only before we checked in.

The beautiful weather followed us from Geneva and as I entered the room, I was overwhelmed by just how sweet everything was!

There were small sofas with stuffed bears at the corridor. They also used my favorite keys to lock the wardrobe.

Our room opened out to a gorgeous balcony overlooking Lake Geneva and Lausanne, on the other side of the “lake” that actually looked more like an ocean 😛 And guess what came complimentary with the room? Evian brand water. OF COURSE.

The weather stayed picturesque long enough for us to roam around this rather empty town with nothing much to see. Then it showered heavily and we went into a Casino. Strangely, in all those little towns we went to, there would always be a Casino nearby.

There was almost nobody there which is good, I was quite tired of tourists pushing around by then (although I am a tourist too :P) Along the way we saw fountains that basically offers drinkable water (I know because I drank it and I am still perfectly healthy by now). That water is probably “Evian” water. Research has shown that Evian kept the location to where they bottle their water undisclosed to prevent people from polluting their “products”.

Since there was nothing much to do, we decided to drive to a Chinese restaurant we found on the GPS when the sky started raining hard. And to our surprise, we found ourselves at a different town – Thonon.

There’s me and my beloved dad 🙂 And after my first decent 3 courses 1 soup and rice Chinese meal in 4 months, the rain stopped and lovely puddles formed.

Although the sky was hardly dark, it was “too late” for shops to be opened. And when one’s bored, one does strange and retarded things. Well, that “one” was just me.

Next morning we headed for Interlaken and stopped by Montreux. Seriously a picture says a thousand words. I don’t know what else I can talk about these places because there really was nothing much to do. Nonetheless, simply breathing the fresh air and indulging our eyes with the gorgeous snowy mountains was worth it already.

Again, loving old couples under the postcard view. They have this look that says “wow, we’re both old, but it doesn’t matter because we still have each other”.

Interlaken was again back in the Swiss border. People were paragliding in the warm afternoon and there was a gigantic carpet of grass right between the snow-topped mountains. Again, nothing much for me to say, see it for yourself.

After crossing the lawn, we saw this really interesting “competition” between 2 churches.

The one above is Protestant and the one below Catholic. Well, they were perhaps fighting for believers because at 5pm both churches started ringing their bells really loudly and it was so chaotic! Really my first time to see this and I actually found it funny.

Cheese fondue again along with local beer that tasted mighty fine.

Finally our last stop, the OpenAir Museum that showcased the lives of Swiss back in the days. I LOVE open air museums, you get to play around with things and touch all kinds of displays that are forbidden to touch in a typical museum!

This cute little kid ignored her parents when they were walking away from her. Brave little girl.

Then me and dad tried to halved that piece of wood like people do in the old days. It was NOT easy at all.

Then the local ladies were so eager to teach me how to knit…I kept failing but they simply wouldn’t give up showing me so eventually I sort of was able to do a few stitches hahaha.

That was our lunch, mushroom risotto and sausages, it didn’t look appealing, but trust me, it tasted really good 🙂

We saw chickens and cows and goats and it was all just so much fun, going up and down their houses, climbing the stairs and playing with their kitchen and playrooms aaaah definitely worth bringing your kids there. It was my favorite place.

We could spend all day there just but no we stopped after visiting 1/3 of it because we had a schedule to catch! Zurich was our last stop.

This has got to be the best trip ever. No I’m not saying this just because dad pays for everything. Or that we get to have Japanese food, Hot pot etc… No. It was just so nice to have someone absolutely reliable, to have someone to talk to non-stop, who gives advices and encouragements occasionally. Just like all dads would to their child.

A big part of why I am who I am today is because of my Dad. Always supportive and caring even when I make mistakes. One thing I hate the most is letting him down. Despite of all the lessons I have learnt, overcoming my fear of the dark, of strangers, of carrying heavy stuff etc. I will always be the small girl I was.

Lessons my dad taught me (ones that I still remember)

1) Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. As long as the holes are not detrimental, I will let you fall into it and you will crawl out by yourself.

2) You don’t have to be the smartest person out there. The world needs a lot of smart people and you will do just fine.

3) Be nice to people, it’s a privilege that you can offer more.

Me: When can you accept that I get married?

Dad: Well you do know that after 21 years old, you don’t need my signature anymore to be legally married, right?

The Gloomy and Briefly Sunny Copenhagen

Funny how I finally picked up writing again after 15 days of non-stop traveling to 6 cities. Wasn’t completely crazy, no, but challenging enough for someone as “sporty” as myself. Time to walk down memory lane and record bits and pieces before I forget. Hang on though, I still haven’t wrote about Copenhagen, which was a month back! Seriously where has the time gone? (That reminds me of Dali! can’t wait to get to write about him later on when I get to Venice 😉

Copenhagen was special because I saw snow for the first time. It made me clapping and jumping deep down in my heart. But then Budapest and Vienna welcomed me with too much snow…Can I just have the snow without the cold please? (In your dream -_-)

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Late Feb was pretty gloomy up north. Good that the salivating food made up for it. Here are some highlights of my trip 🙂 First and foremost, the green frozen poor baby. Nah kidding. Of course there were things to see in Copenhagen.

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Point to note: really touristy landmarks are usually a let down, or was it because my expectation was too high?

1) Touristy places (I know… someone painted the C out lol)

It was freezing (-2, that’s beyond tolerable for someone who was spoiled by the Southern France weather) so we simply couldn’t walk, the Canal tour was at least warm. All there is to say is a landmark without sun is like food without salt.

It was snowing/raining (Can’t really tell, no expert at this) and I knew it’s not really the colorful houses’s faults, they did their best to look pretty, the sun simply wasn’t feeling cooperative.

(Under comparison, Venice + Sun was wondrous if not for the gazillion tourists) At least here it was not crowded.- more on that later on 😉

The lake was frozen so the boat had some things to do – cracking the ice while we listened.

This is it, THE mermaid. I couldn’t help but think why are all statues so miniature? This obviously is a salute to the most famous Danish, Anderson. We paid a visit to a museum about his life, and finally after all these years listening to Ugly Ducklings, I understood why he wrote such story.

This was where he stayed in for sometime! The story teller we all have heard of.

Apparently, Anderson was very unconfident as a child because he was, well ugly. (The museum put it in a nicer way but essentially that was it.) I wouldn’t comment on that because I think the concept of beauty is relative and very subjective. But I’m sure in one way or another, we feel unconfident, unworthy even, at times. I have definitely had one of those moments especially recently. Not really in the super optimistic mode right now but I guess all there is to comfort myself is that everyone has to be good at something, however trivial.

In the Ripley’s museum, some “talented” people could make music out of a flute with their nostrils. Well so be it. I am sure one day in my life I will figure out something that I am qualified to do. (Hopefully it doesn’t involve my nostrils.)

We also saw like a change of guard ceremony thing with these blue pants black furry hat guys. Wasn’t particularly fascinating but then again, there was nothing else to do otherwise 😛 Oh ok, I really liked the way it sounded when they march, the crisp sound of heels clashing the rocky ground in a synchronized rhythm.

2) Food – Was not particularly cheap, but I think the quality made up for it. Breakfast – heart shaped pastries.

FREE ICE CREAM! We each got 2 scoops and I dropped mine… typical me. Scraping out the part touching the floor, I finished my ice cream 😛 without getting sick (safe to say that after a month I supposed)

Traditional cake shop with a friendly old man receptionist (or owner?) Such a cute little shop with pricey but good cakes.

The hotdog stands, It seems like hotdogs are famous everywhere…

Dinner all you can eat. Not very “local” but buffets are just my type. THEY HAVE PARMA HAM AND MELON. Capitals for the melon actually because they are so rare and overpriced in France. (or Europe in general)

It may seem like we were always eating, but trust me, every calorie was 100% justified, you know the coldness, gloomy wet weather, non-stop walking etc.

These sandwiches was really good. But still for the amount we paid, I expected it to be more filling.

3) Shabby Train station and Protest – Copenhagen is such a civilized place (especially compared to Central Europe) but why did they allow their train stations to be “decorated” as such? I have no clue.

On the way out for dinner, we witnessed this huge student protest where people drink beer and marched. My 3rd time seeing a protest/demonstration in Europe and they never gets old unlike the guard changing ceremony 😉

On the second/last day, THE SUN came out. The whole place lit up and the city was suddenly all warm and welcoming.

Perhaps to end this it is worth mentioning their airport has some of the best wifi compared to the Europe airports I have been to 😛

The Unintended Trip Finale (Antwerp, Belgium)

Originally, it was never my plan to rush any country/city. But somehow there really was nothing much to see after spending one full day in Ghent/Brussels, and we thought, why not spend the last 5 hours before our flight in Antwerp, the fashion center of Belgium. With this limited timeframe, however, detailed planning was needed and here I lay out the (much anticipated, I hope 😉 ) grand finale of Belgium.

I loved the trains here, for youth like us, you can travel to any city for 6 euros one way. There were quite a lot of “THE First/Best” claims here and the first we saw was the “Prettiest” train station in Europe.

For that particular day, there was a Rotary event. As we headed for the pedestrian street with most shops, I saw this lovely chalkboard and as I arrived at the Italian Church, I looked down and there was a black, long limo. (Of course it was too rude to take a photo of it.) Someone died. My heart sunk a little.

But these once-off moments are the little bits and pieces that build up to a memorable and unique experience. Indeed, the Schelde River will always be there, and so will the clock tower. But these spontaneous snapshots were not here to stay. At this precise moment, the event must have ended, probably no funeral today and the cafe owner might have drawn up a new smoothie menu. And it’s comforting and special to feel that you were there at that particular moment in the universe. Isn’t it a wonderful thing in life that despite the static castles and clock towers, life is ever-evolving in big and small ways?

Now inside these marvelous architectures, was a huge champagne glass bar. And next to it THE First Skyscraper in Europe (Not exactly scraping the sky at that height though I suppose), the Farmer’s Tower 1932.

Since Antwerp was an important port, we saw a lot of related decorations all over the town.

This was the furthest walk because we were heading to a special floating swimming pool that was frozen into an ice rink in Winter! (On the way we passed by the red light district. OMG. It was just, shocking. I was too timid to take photos, but my friend should have it. The ladies were banging the window as we passed by. I simply cannot imagine how it’d be like at night, a small, curious part of me wanted to stare longer, but the startled part of me pulled us away from that street.)

That day was somehow the coldest ever, the wind was blowing from all directions pushing me forward and dragging me back at times. We decided to take a break, and walked in to the MAS. They have a wonderful view on the top (Also where I realized I lost my left glove 😦 sorry grandma) but the point was, the intriguing and slightly dark exhibition on Life and Death. (I don’t know why this motif kept appearing in Belgium)

In the introduction it asked the questions

“Where do we come from? Where will we go to?” As the first one addresses what was already happened, my curiosity for that is not as strong as for the second one. What happens after this wonderful, vibrant life? What would be left of me? Interesting questions to ponder upon in my free time.

It reminded me of one of my favorite poem by Robert Frost,

“Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice”

Perhaps the only convincing and utterly calming answer to this is to make an impact that will last even years after I vanish. There would be a tiny part of me staying and watching as the world progress.

Finally we arrived! It was my first time skating in the outdoor and you could not imagine how freezing cold it was. Also, I am a bad skater for all sorts of reasons: poor balancing and coordinating skills, inability to lose control, pathetically thin blade on the shoes and the slippery ice…

I would rather be dragged around like this.

Afterwards we rushed through the plaza and heard the clock town ring and saw the fairy-like fountain. Honestly, these are really the same after seeing the 3rd one. Suddenly though, a carriage just passed by us out of nowhere. Wow, I think I really haven’t seen one ever in my life.

For lunch, I had the best ham and cheese sandwich I have ever had and this was my camera working the natural blurry filter upon entering the store.

Finally it’s 3 pm and we were back to where we started, the beautiful Antwerp Centraaaaaal Station. (They like to spell it with many As 🙂

The Unintended Trip Part 2 (Ghent, Belgium)

Quote of the day: Life is too short to NOT LOOK BEAUTIFUL EVERYDAY! 🙂

After a nice warm sleep, we took the early train and headed for Ghent. We didn’t really have anything in mind particularly, and perhaps that’s what made the trip so fun. Learning from our mistake, we made it to their big Friday Flea Market and bought some really cheap but cute stuff. Yep, those are buttons. We’ll figure out what to do with them somehow…

The weather was a bit gloomy because it was still winter, but the river view mirroring the fluffy clouds above still tried its best for us to take nice photos 🙂

Now we arrived the “Graffiti Factory”. It really wasn’t much, just “Graffiti” on an abandoned “Factory.” It was cute though, midway, a dog started barking at us and I thought of running, but then I realized I was way too tired. That was when I dropped my map 😀 and picked it back up where I dropped it. Typical me, careless mistakes + fortunate outcome.

And then another antique shop. There were creepy baby cribs for sale… I did not quite like it there. The aura was somehow frightening to say the least.

Afterwards we went into a museum that displayed the lives of Ghent people back in the days. But the MAIN point: the door knobs were HEART SHAPED. awwww, first time I saw something that cute. Now I want one on my front door when I have a house.

Now, time for some food! We went to a bakery where they were supposed to have cookies that they use a real iron to flatten, but turned out they only sell those for breakfast 😦 so we had something else instead, the Creme Brulee is obviously delicious as I forgot to take photos 😛

These strollers we saw everywhere, sold Ghent specialty, purple nose or whatever it was called I forgot. They weren’t exported because they expire very soon. It was with some strawberries and rum inside I think. Worth trying, but were too sweet.

Now to the main part of our GHENT day trip. GRAFFITI. DIY. We walked into this spiraling alley FULL of paints in all colors you can name. I did not see a single empty space. Somehow I have always associated graffiti with bad guys and the thought of actually doing it myself is thrilling.

We bought a bottle of white paint spray and my heart was just jumping up and down insanely inside me.

There was me looking retarded and amazed by the bottle of white paint spray 😛

So there, I know it kind of spoiled others’ great art work, but that’s the whole point of Graffiti, right? To find beauty in ruins. That’s the cost of having a free canvas, and constant public audience. It is refreshing to think that every now and then, the walls would be renewed, Rebirth.

Well, it probably is gone now and is replaced by some beautiful graphics(or perhaps ugly, signatures by tourists like us) but at least we established our presence there vividly. 🙂

Before the sun went down, we found a cute and ancient looking cafe and had what they said might be best coffee in Ghent, and waffles. aaah Isn’t it just wonderful, the combination of cream, milk, butter, egg and flour. Almost like a miracle.

Notice that the blurry effect, was natural! Since it was only 0 degrees outdoor, once we entered the warmly heated cafe, my camera just automatically created these wonderful effects. (I know it is simple physics, but just let me put it this way so my photos feel more special)

The view when the sun was going down was intoxicating. The dimly lit lights within the buildings, the floating boats and metal bikes was just so… “Europe”. (Sorry for the lack of a more intelligent word)