I Should Know, I Looked All Over Town

August 10, 2010

Were I more diligent, I would right now get out of bed, look through my backpack for the walking tour guide I used yesterday in Groningen, list each of the various sights around town that I visited, and tell you what my observations were for each of those sights. But I´m tired, I´ve been traveling all day, and I think I´m going to keep it brief.

Breakfast was, again, mediocre. But again, I wasn´t so hungry so it didn´t matter. That is, it consisted of slices of bread, slices of ham, cheese, and some prepackaged spreads, and coffee served in super small mugs.

I stopped by the tourist office and for 1.50 euro bought a map with a walking tour of the city.

The touristy highlight of the walking tour was the Martinitoren, the big church tower near the city center. I climbed up, and looked down at the city. The guy working at the gate was excited to hear that I was from Los Angeles, as he is going to a film school program soon in New York. He told me that the nightclubs in Groningen are amazing. I, however, did not go to any of them.

The city is full of students, according to Wikipedia, something like 50,000, so everyone is young looking. Which was a refreshing change after the other cities I´ve been, where everyone looked very old. I walked through that square, the fish market, through several courtyards in long ago days used as hospices for the sick and insane, and had lunch at a pub, the oldest in Groningen. I had an omelette, which was good.

But there was nothing that I really wanted to shop for, I didn´t feel like going to a museum. So I went back to the room for a nap.

For dinner, I had a kebab on Poelestratt, which made my mouth water.

Later, I was walking through the rain and passed by an Irish pub that looked friendly enough, and not so crowded, so I went in. I find it funny that, while being as not Irish as one can be, I still found the place more familiar, and more comforting than any public place I´ve been in days, as it so much reminded me of other places I´ve been in the US and A. The bartender was a half Irish, half Dutch lady, with a very good taste in music, which she was playing off of youtube. She suggested that I come back to Groningen for the Noordezon Festival, which actually sounds pretty good (a few bands I´m familiar with are playing -- Health and the Low Anthem!)

There´s such a fine line traveling alone between being completely bored and having a really nice time. It only takes 1-2 good people to talk to, but they aren´t as easy to find as everybody keeps telling me they will be.

The Magnetic Fields -- "I Looked All Over Town"