planetdan

Monday, April 02, 2007 :::

Pig in a Poke

I went to Europe for a couple weeks. Most notably, I went to France, Belgium, and Luxembourg on a whirlwind tour of things European. I saw iconic art and ate stinky cheese and drank fancy liquor and walked for a million kilometers and roamed the Belgian countryside. I took baths instead of showers, I ate salads for the last course rather than the first, I rode the Metro while humming that song by that band in the 80's, and I ate pancakes and waffles on the street. I saw Brussels and Bruges and Waterloo and Paris and canals and sculptures and more cathedrals than I can even recall or differentiate between. I sampled exotic foods and indulged and imbibed and subsequently regretted. I met many pleasing people, learned many foreign phrases, and basically made such a good impression on behalf of all Americans that I've pretty much reinvented international diplomacy from scratch. We're all good now. No more worries. BFF.

I took nearly 800 pictures. An abridged set of my travel photos is located here:

Dan invades Europe

Anyway, I'm back now.

::: posted by dan at 5:56 PM :: [ link ] :: (31) comments

Comments are Closed On this Post

31 previous comments:

Ahh, home sweet home! Where keyboards with english letters and punctuation roam!

By

Caramello, at 6:40 PM

I Missed you much! Who accompanied you on this journey? There's no one else in the photos. Did you go solo? I'd have gone with you!

By

Anonymous, at 9:13 PM

I think Dan's got a giiiiiirlfriend

and she is a little camera shy?

By

Anonymous, at 10:24 PM

Nice to have you back, Dan. I love the "European Vacation" references. More than 20 years have passed, but it still has its punch.

By

Stacy B, at 7:29 AM

Welcome back! The European Vacation theme is great. Sounds like you had a great time!

By

CampBlood, at 7:52 AM

What fun! I enjoyed European Dan.

By

Bob, at 8:46 AM

did you go with Cherry Nut? methinks you two have a special something...

By

Anonymous, at 9:23 AM

Do none of u pay attention? Dan went with his BF and I think its great. U go Big Danny!

By

Anonymous, at 9:51 AM

I'm stumped. My first guess was a family trip, you know, birthday celebration and all. And there's a grey-haired guy who appears in a couple photos. But then there are the many photos where Dan is posing coyly, which makes me think this was a trip with the s.o. Oh, so curious! You have to spill the beans, Dan!

By

lola, at 10:10 AM

Cherry Nut did not attend. I went with Joey who has family over there and doesn't like to be featured on the internet, which is beyond my comprehension.

I also forgot to say that I got to fly business class which has forever ruined coach for me. I can't go back. Don't make me go back.

By

dan, at 10:25 AM

Enjoy the blog and the pics, people! Who cares who he went with! Just because someone shares SOME of their life with you doesn't mean he has to share ALL of it. Great photos Dan. Hope you had a great time

By

Anonymous, at 12:07 PM

Welcome home Dan! It sounds like you had a really great trip, thanks for sharing it with us!

By

Trudy, at 12:57 PM

hey, Dan, regarding photo IMG_5458.jpg , any story with that? If there is, I'm all ears ... or moose antlers ... or whatever.

Tell, tell, do.

2nd favorite is the pile of baby ducks. a little family joke now has a wallpaper to match.

By

toddbee, at 2:37 PM

Welcome back to the good ol' USA!

Looks like you had a blast.

But I do have to curse you for getting that song, Metro, stuck in my head for all day.

By

Shumpy, at 3:37 PM

Great vacation pics, Dan. Been reading you for a couple of years and never noticed until the "European Vacation" opening just how much you resemble Franz Kafka - something about the ears...Is that just the photo or a new look you picked up in Europe?

As for your personal life: its yours buddy (despite "enquiring minds").

By

Anonymous, at 4:46 PM

Love the gargoyle pics! Very Ghostbuster-y.

By

Anonymous, at 4:55 PM

WELCOME BACK TO OUR COUNTRY!

(If you shout like that, the foreigners understand you better.)

DON'T FORGET: WE WEAR DEODORANT OVER HERE. YES. DE-O-DO-RANT.

By

Jake, at 5:09 PM

you really chose that as your title? PIG IN A POKE? I understand its part of the movie.....but seriously, dont you mean DAN GOT POKED....

GROSS French Kissing Paris dopes?

FATTY is disturbed by your latencies

By

Anonymous, at 6:05 PM

Can't wait to see the rest of the 800 pics, Dan! It looks like you saw lots of the pretty! I'll happily go with next time, even if I have to fly coach.

CherryNut

By

Anonymous, at 7:29 PM

Either I'm just really missing out on something or I can't understand why nobody has beat me to this question. What in God's name are you eating in pic 4583.jpg? And could that be the reason for your illness?

By

Trudy, at 8:08 PM

Brussels - and no french fry picture or the peeing boy ? how can it be ?

By

Anonymous, at 8:10 PM

welcome back, dannyboy! you got some great shots i've never seen anyone get before, like the one directly under the eiffel that makes it look like a kaleidoscope and some very laudable ones atop notre dame--i don't remember having that kind of access to the rooftop last i was there... anywho--thanks fer sharin'!

By

jon, at 12:45 AM

Great photos, Dan! Love the gargoyles. You be great photo-taking type dude!
...Anne

By

Anonymous, at 8:54 AM

Awesome! Looks like you had an incredible time! And I would like a poster of the painting featured in img 4838.

By

Monkey, at 10:52 AM

Hi Dan,

Great pictures. What is the story
behind the giant-bug-on-the-giant-pin sculpture? That was amazing.

By

SandyCA, at 1:53 PM

Trudy - it's a soft boiled egg.

Thanks for posting, FATTY. missed you.

By

toddbee, at 2:24 PM

I heart Bruges/Brugge. We have a lot of similar pictures.. glad you got to experience all of those wonderful places, too!

Which place was your favorite?

By

Cara, at 3:05 PM

Pic IMG_5458.jpg (the dood with the Bulwinkle antlers) is "Oliver the Devil". He was the barber for one of the king Henrys and he apparently had too much influence with the king so he was eventually hanged.

I couldn't find any description of the "Beetle on the Needle" sculpture or its purpose, except that it was created by Jan Fabre. It's in one of the main squares in Leuven, Belgium. I thought it was cool.

My favorite place on the trip was probably driving through the "mountains" and forrests of the Ardens and Luxembourg, although Bruges was really amazing, too. I have to admit, I really liked the Eiffel Tower at night, too. It blinked pretty.

And in picture 4583.jpg, I am HOLDING a soft boiled egg, but I did NOT eat it. I was joking for the camera out of pure disgust of the concept. Everyone in Paris was eating those, much to my repulsion.

By

dan, at 3:44 PM

I'm with you on the soft-boiled egg deal Dan, so I say good move there! Thanks for clarifying though and thanks to toddbee for beating you to the punch :)

By

Trudy, at 9:56 PM

The bug on the needle is called "Totem" and is way cool. http://www.angelos.be/en/works_detail.php?id=7#

Everyone who thinks FATTY is disturbed by his own latencies, raise your hand.

By

Nick, at 9:31 AM

Soft boiled eggs are delicious - you have to try one before you can say you don't like it!!

Pooks

By

Anonymous, at 4:54 PM

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