What did the fish say when it swam into the wall? .....(Amster)dam!

Over the past few years I have had a decent number of conversations with family and friends about growing up in Miami and how the culture can affect a child's moral development. Miami is known as being the most vain city in America, and with that comes a lot of emphasis on appearance, social status, and money. Personally, I feel like I was given a very solid and morally sound upbringing (thanks parents and broskis!), but obviously, certain places have stronger cultural influences that, without a strong and ethical upbringing, are dangerous. However, this past weekend I visited Amsterdam and realized how my upbringing would have been altered had I been raised there and how the vices of one city can so strongly contrast those of another. Amsterdam is a city laden with drugs--you cannot walk through any street without the strong scent of marijuana following you everywhere. Prostitution is also extremely prominent to the point where you can walk down a street and see a woman standing in a window, waiting for a customer, even first thing in the morning. There are many beautiful and ostentatious churches in the city center; however, the history of these churches was more of a business than a true spiritual place of worship. This was extremely disheartening and an extreme example of how the catholic church used indulgences to create guilt and instill fear among the people for their sins, but gaining money in exchange for their forgiveness. And since this forgiveness was so easy to obtain through works, not faith, the cycle of sin continued. Needless to say, I was a bit uncomfortable with some of these aspects of the city, but also encouraged and appreciative about my own beliefs and values.

Still, independent of this licentious culture, the trip was incredible and the city itself was spectacular. In fact, I may have just gone on this rant to conclude that Miami--regardless of whatever arguments anyone has--is the best city ever. 

We arrived! Me, Aaron, Mark, Greg, and David

I left for Amsterdam with 4 friends on Saturday afternoon. The layout of the city--a city built around canals--is beautiful to walk around and appreciate. There are gorgeous, picturesque views at every bridge (of which there are 1,300) and every single building is designed in Georgian architecture.At night the canals and the lining buildings light up to an unmatchable view.

Disclaimer: yes, I am like a foot shorter of everyone else in all the pictures. The heights of our group may have been slightly skewed against me...

Amsterdam in the moonlight

In Dam Square: Me, David, Aaron, and Greg

Amsterdam lit up at night

One of my favorite ways to explore a city is to walk around it, and that's what we did most of the time: wander.  The first night we arrived (Saturday), we found our way to the city center and to out hostel and then basically just meandered around town. We never once took public transit (except a train from the airport) and always found our ways to parks, canals, supermarkets, etc. The canal system is wonderful because it is like a natural grid-system that one can use to navigate the city. Plus, I was raised to know that boats are much prettier than cars, hence, canals > streets. Due to narrow cobblestone streets, cars are actually very rare in the city. The main mode of travel, in addition to boats, is actually bikes. And the cyclists are fearless! They actually make a game out of getting as close to the unexpecting pedestrians as they can and not ringing their bells so that they can scare you as you are walking.  There are so many bikes in the city that the city has to regularly trudge them out of the canals--bikes are locked to rails lining canals and are thus frequently blown into the water by the wind or thrown in by a drunken passerby.

Amsterdam canals lined with boats

Mark, Aaron, David and Greg

coolest bikes ever. I want one.

The next morning we made it towards Oosterpark where we had gotten tickets to go to an all day music festival (ROOTS). The festival basically consisted of five stages set up throughout the park, each with a different style of music, that had different acts performing all day. For us, that meant getting some food and picnicing at the park with some wonderful live music in the background. In fact, picnicing in parks in front of a live band has been a defining feature of my Europe experience, and I love it. Around midday we left Ooster Park and decided to take a break from the festival and visit Amsterdam's Artis Zoo, which apparently is the 2nd greatest attraction in Amsterdam. To be honest, I have been so spoiled with wildlife and animals my whole life that going to a zoo isn't extremely impressive to me. For instance, seeing a peacock is just reminiscent of walking down side streets at home, not an exotic experience. However, the Artis zoo was extremely well organized and the decorative layout was really nice. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Also, zoos are possibly my favorite place to take fun pictures, as is documented below.

Me and my new friend

Mark, Greg, Aaron and David with the Artis goats!

 While we were at the zoo we went to the children's section (per my request, of course) and went to the petting zoo. The first animal to greet us was a goat, who immediately took a chomp out of the map that Aaron was holding in his hand...we now have a map with a bite taken out of the corner. Crazy goat.

Greg, David, Mark, Aaron, and me at the Artis zoo waterfall.

let's climb the t-rex! Ahhh!!

What is that hippo doing?

 After the zoo we went back to the park to do what we do best: picnic and listen to free music.

Picnicing in the park: David, Greg, Aaron, and Mark

Los Aguas Aguas (awesome latin ska band) at the ROOTS festival

 Monday was dubbed "museum day," which we started off first thing in the morning to avoid crowds. We got to the Anne Frank house right when it opened and still had a 20 min line. Visiting the house was such a powerful experience. The tour took us through the entire house, which was originally the office for Anne's father's, Otto's, companies. Hence, the ground floor was offices, and two of Otto's employees agreed to help the Frank family. Thus, they lived upstairs, and there was a secret bookshelf passage that led to the bunker up the stairs. Upon finding Anne's diary, Otto Frank, the sole family survivor, wanted to preserve everything as best as possible. As such, all of the original paintings and pencil marks on the walls are still there. There were two tiny rooms for eight people to hide in and to never leave the house or see sunshine. The original diary is also on display with some entries highlighted..it was incredibly powerful to read Anne's thoughts while walking through the house, and to watch clips of her father in interviews where he admitted that he had no idea some of the dark thoughts that went through her mind until he found the diary. She was a fighter who didn't want to burden others with her worries.

 

Anne Frank house: the bookcase that hid the secret passage to their bunker

 After the Anne Frank house we made our way to the Van Gogh museum, which was what I was looking forward to most in the trip. On the way, we walked past an I amsterdam monument, which of course we had to climb. But more exciting, when I got my ticket for the Van Gogh museum, I was able to pull of being 17 and getting a free ticket. Yay! The museum itself was amazing and everything I was hoping for. There were so many painting and self-portraits that I had read about in books or used to decorate my walls even and now was actually able to see in person. The colors in his work are so impressive, even taking into consideration how much the paintings have faded over the years. The museum also had his original paints, canvases and pallets on display--kinda cool. The walk through the museum was designed in such a way that the visitor progressed through Van Gogh's movements and transition and were exposed to other artists who influenced his works during the different phases in Van Gogh's artistic career. Van Gogh is by far one of my favorite artists, as such I cannot even describe how it felt to walk through a museum dedicated to his work.

I (am)sterdam--Greg, me and Mark are on the t-e!! :)

Van Gogh self portrait

Me and Van Gogh's sunflowers!!!

 On Tuesday, our final day, we decided to take a walking tour of the city. The tour ended up being 3 hours long and taking us all throughout the city, which was really exciting because even though we had walked basically all of it already, we now got to hear the fun facts behind the different areas in town. For instance, the palace/parliament building in Amsterdam housed Napolean's brother Louis when he ruled the city and is actually the largest built authority building in the world. We finished off our trip with lunch at an "authentic Dutch restaurant" recommended to us by our tour guide. It ended up being a complete tourist trap that all tour guides tell their tourists to go to, where the servers actually gave a menu that was labelled "tourist menu." We felt a bit cheated. But, the food was good and reasonable, so all in all, no complaints.

I really enjoyed my trip and loved seeing the city and walking through every inch of it. Even though Venice is known to be the ultimate city built on water, I would argue that Amsterdam was prettier, had more to do, and had a better combination of canals and parks.

Amsterdam castle--each tower was dedicated to a different profession (surgeons, lawyers, etc)

Greg, me, Mark, David, and Aaron

Amsterdam in all it's beauty

Alas, ATLAS!

Typically, I go to R1 (the main "restaurant" at CERN), grab a table outside and eat lunch midday. Today was a bit different. Instead of going to lunch at 12:30, I went on a tour of the ATLAS detector. ATLAS is the collaboration I am working with at CERN and is the largest particle detector ever made--it measures 25 meters in diameter, 45 meters tall and weighs in at 7,000 tons. This all sounds pretty impressive, and I had seen pictures of it, but nothing could prepare me to actually stand along side it. I had been warned that seeing it in person was even more daunting than you initially pictured, and I have to say, that is definitely true.

There isn't really much to say but that it was the largest thing I have ever seen...and it wasn't even all exposed. We really lucked out though--because the LHC is shut down until 2014, we were able to get a tour actually inside the detector. We were in the very middle of the detector, but the outer layers (like the muon calorimeter) were still further below ground than we could see. It was like walking into a toroidal futuristic spaceship, if that paints any sort of picture in anyone's mind.

Here are some pictures, but as I said, the photos do not do this masterpiece justice.

ATLAS control room

All of us next to the ATLAS toroid

The center of the detector (remember, this is ~150 ft from top to bottom)

In the Lyon's Den

Lion statue in front of the Lyon Cathedral

Last week I planned a day trip to Gruyères for the upcoming Saturday. Gruyères, home of Gruyere cheese, is a medieval town in Switzerland known for it's picturesque views and it's cheese and chocolate museums/factories. It is such a beautiful destination that the train ride to get there is known as the Golden Pass. However, as much as I love to plan every detail, there is always at least one thing you can't plan--in this case, it was the weather. Saturday ended up being a miserable day where it was in the 40s/50s all day and raining (and it wasn't even the impressive powerful thunderstorms, but simply wimpy drizzling). As such, I/we decided that it wasn't worth the money/time in taking the trip if the entire day was going to be miserable and we wouldn't even be able to enjoy the quaint town. But don't worry, my weekend was not ruined just yet. 

Luckily for me, a friend from Yale had contacted me just the day before asking if I would be interested in going to Lyon for the weekend. At the time, I had said I would be busy, but Saturday morning, when I realized my plans had dissolved, I jumped on the opportunity. We left for Lyon Saturday early afternoon and arrived 2 hours later. There ended up being 7 of us in total; we were a complete mix of friends/co-workers/apartment mates and the six others were all working with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva in some capacity or another.  It was one of the best groups of people with whom I have traveled--everyone was extremely considerate, fun and easy to get along with. 

View of the Rhône river from a side street.

The train ride itself was impressive, with never ending fields of flowers and a cliff right next to the tracks at one point. We got there and worked our way out of the train station, towards the center of the town, and ultimately towards the apartment that we rented. Before we went to our apartment though, we decided dinner was a decent idea. The food here has been incredible and loaded with delicious cheese, bread, and pastries. But, after the first week or two, that diet starts getting pretty heavy. Needless to say, all seven of us were craving vegetables and fresh food. We found our way to an incredible hole in the wall restaurant that had innovative fresh dishes and emphasized creative ways to use vegetables. We also had the cutest waitress ever (when she was trying to explain a dish, she didn't know how to say the word for carrot in English, so she acted out as if she were a rabbit. adorable.) Most restaurants in Lyon have priced fixed menus--which are fantastic--where you can get an appetizer, entree and dessert for a fixed price. This restaurant, Le Jardin Interieur, had a special sampler menu with a vegetable sampler and a dessert sampler. It was without doubt the best meal I had eaten in a long time. See picture and description of food below!

Carmen, Jen, Sheila, Emmanuel, Mona, Jimmy, me and Rachel at Le Jardin Interieur

my dinner: a ham tart, pea and mint soup, breads with tapenade, goat cheese spread, and yellow pea hummus, quinoa with herbs and nuts, salad, and carrots in an herbed goat cheese crumble

my dessert sampler: a rich chocolate torte, cherry torte, mango panna cotta, and fig pudding

After dinner we made our way to the apartment, stopping along the way to see the beautiful views of Lyon. Some quick background: Lyon was known for it's silk-workers back in the day. It is a city built on two hills and as such, one hill (Croix-Rousse, where the silk factories used to be) is known as "the hill that works," while the other hill (Fourvièr, the location of the main cathedral) is know as "the hill that prays." When we finally arrived at our apartment, we entered a slightly questionable entrance and walked up to the 3rd floor. However, once we entered the actual apartment, we were stunned by its interior. It was a 2.5 room beautifully furnished apartment with a paper chandelier, colorful fridges, a marble fireplace, etc. I was thoroughly impressed. 

Rachel, Sheila, Jen, me, Carmen, Mona, Jimmy and Emmanuel on Croix-Rousse hill (the hill that works).

The boy who lived in the apt kept his books in an old fridge. so cool.

living room

kitchen--note the glass on the top of the stove....

 We explored Lyon a bit that night, walking around and seeing the incredible architecture and sculptures that surrounded us everywhere. We woke up early the next morning to plan out our day and make the most of our visit to Lyon. A few of us found out that there was a huge, notable market a few blocks up the street from us that was a notable trademark of Lyon. For those who are unaware, Lyon is the culinary capital of France/the world. As such, many of its activities revolve around food. But not just any food, fresh, delicious, well made food. Clearly, the local market was a must and a perfect way to experience Lyonnaise culture. 

Before we could make it to the market though, a few of us were interested in making some tea. Remember how I said there were some things in life you couldn't plan? Well, the weather is not the sole contributor. One of the girls I was with put water on the stove to boil. Unfortunately, this kitchen had an almost "modern-esque" design with a glass cover over the stove that blended in and appeared to be part of the stove. However, it was not actually part of the stove, but instead a deceptive cover, meant to be lifted when in use. As such, when the water was just about ready to boil, so was the glass. There was this huge explosion and the glass had expanded and exploded. It ended up not being a huge deal--we cleaned everything up and the cover is apparently very easy/cheap to replace, it was just a scary experience. 

Crepes at the market!

Picnicing atop Croix-Rousse following the visit to the market

View of Lyon from Croix-Rousse hill

View of the Lyon Cathedral and Lyon's version of the Eiffel tower. 

The market was incredible and easily 5 blocks long. I was happy. After our market escapades, it was time to meander to old Lyon and check out the structures that Lyon is famous for: the Lyon cathedral, the Roman ruins, its Renaissance architecture, and its bouchons (French restaurants specific to Lyon.) On our way to Fourvière (the hill that prays), we passed by Rue de St Jean, a popular street that is loaded with restaurants, patisseries, and shops. We then reached the St. Jean Cathedral, where we saw the church from the outside. All of the church's monks were standing in front of it--it was a Sunday, so it is possible that there was a service going on around that time. Either way, the cathedral was stunning from the outside.

St. Jean's Cathedral. Note the monks dressed in white at the cathedral doors.

Statue in front of St. Jean's cathedral: note John the Baptist's head on the ground

After the St Jean cathedral, we made it towards Lyon's main cathedral, Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière. In one of the pictures above, you can see a view of the basilica next to a mini Eiffel tower. If you notice in the picture, the Eiffel tower is taller than the church. This is because the Eiffel tower was actually built during a secular movement in Lyon, where the people did not want the church to have the tallest property, which they though would be symbolic of having absolute power. Hence, the Lyonnaise built a mini-Eiffel tower.
In order to get to the basilica, we had to climb the Fourvière hill. We opted to take the cable-cart up the mountain for the experience of taking a train all the way up. The train took us directly to the church, which absolutely blew me away. I visited some incredible cathedrals last summer in Italy with my parents, but this basilica was definitely one of my favorites. It may be because it was so unexpected, but either way, the architecture, art-work, and overall vastness of the cathedral awed me. Every detail was perfect, from the marble pillars, to the alter, to the mosaic walls. You had to look closely, because there was intricate detail on every part of the walls, ceiling, and columns. Breathtaking.

Rachel, Jen, Sheira and Carmen in the cable car, ready to go up the mountain!

The church: 

Lion statue greeting you as you walked into the basilica

mosaic walls

main altar

view of the pillars and back of the church

sculptures topping each pillar

basement of the basilica

After the basilica, we went to the Roman ruins: an amphitheater carved out of stone during the Roman empire. The amphitheater is now actually used for modern concerts and shows as well, still using the original stone seats as the auditorium: the perfect combination of old meets new. The ruins are also located on the
Fourvière hill, and from them you can see below to all of Lyon and have a view of the basilica if you look to your left.

Me and the Roman Ruins!!

view of the Roman ruins and the church

view of Lyon from atop the Fourvière hill (the hill that prays)

Being the culinary capital of the world, a traditional Lyonnaise meal was a must. We ended off our Lyon trip with dinner at a bouchon. The waiter recommended the quennelle, a traditional Lyonnaise dish consisting of a pike souffle in a lobster sauce. It was incredibly rich, but even more delicious. For dessert I tried a praline pie--it was a pink praline filling, which was very tasty, but a bit sweet for me. In any case, it was a delicious meal and I do understand the city's gastronomic label.

Jimmy, Sheira, Jen, me, Carmen, Rachel and Mona at the bouchon.

my dinner at the bouchon: quenelle--a pike souffle served in a lobster sauce

Jen enjoying some "window eating"

Napoleon's statue

 After our meal, we headed back home to our apartment, where we packed up and headed back to the train station for Geneva. For a last minute 1.5 day trip, I would say this was a HUGE success. I had been vaguely interested in visiting Lyon before, but didn't realize quite how much the city had to offer. I had no idea the enormity and grandeur of the city (it is actually the 3rd largest in France!) and had originally thought that it was just a small town...I was largely mistaken. 

It was also very exciting because my brother, Matt, just started a new job as a statistician at a biotechnology company, bioMérieux, which is stationed in Lyon. It was really awesome to be able to visit the city where his company is based (even if he's not there) and feel a bit more connected to him (even if just a bit). I am so proud of my brother and so excited to get to experience this little bit and tell him all about the city. Congrats again, Matty. <3


Lyon in the moonlight:

The famous central statue in the center square of Lyon

A pretty awesome fountain

A view from a bridge of the Saône River, one of the rivers that slices through Lyon