Europe – Page 2 – White Rabbit Peaks

Ivalo. Finland

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Ivalo. Finaland

The City of Memories.

Captains Log Day 31 – 31/01/14 7:23pm. Location: Helsinki, Finland.

The Arctic Circle mission has just been successfully completed. My Co-Captain and I can now cross off that we have dared to visit one of the coldest and most isolated towns in the world located in the Arctic circle, a mere 2,372.6 kilometers from the Georaphic North Pole (one of the closest populated towns), that too in the peak of winter. Ivalo, Finland – Time to pull up Google Maps

This Captains Log is not as crazy as the others but we can both admit to say it had been the most satisfactory and adventurous experience.

Arriving in Ivalo at 11 am, gave us only 2 hours of sunlight, the sun is only up for a mere 4 hours here. The town has a total population of ~3000 people and with the hotels dispensed geographically there is no going out for a walk to see the area, not at Minus 21 degrees.

Our primary objective was to see the Northern lights (Aurora Borealis) We had been told the chances of seeing on a designated 24 hours were very slim as people spend years searching for the lights. We gave it a shot.

We arrived, checked in and left our baggage in our room and headed to the tourist desk to find out the activities we could do for the day. We were just in time for the Dog/Huski Sledding. We also signed up for a night time Snowmobile/ Snowskii Safari.

Changing into some heavy duty snow gear we went down to meet our canine friends. They were waiting for us. Six of these fabulous looking creatures with their tails wagging from excitement, barking and ready to run!

How this works is one guy lays in the sled and the other stands behind to brake, steer and help push the dogs when going up hill. My Co-Captain went first to steer and after 30 minutes it was my turn. We were taken on a route deep into the forest as the instructor led the way on a snowmobile. This experience is indescribable! Controlling these dogs as wind, snow n ice hit your face. They run with great speed, occasionally tilting there heads to lick/ eat some snow. We also had an opportunity to see one take a number 2 while running n we couldn’t stop laughing. We did an hour of this and headed back to play with the dogs. They were adorable and I think one of them fell in love with my Co-Captain as he followed him back to the hotel before being scolded to come back. We got back and had some time before our night time snowmobile adventure. Time to grab some Linner again. At the hotel the options were pretty limited. Me being daring decided to have the Reindeer.. I have always wondered what Rudolph tasted like. It had a distinct taste and was pretty powering but I ended up finishing it. Soon it was time to go on our night Safari – we had to put on face masks and helmets.

We were asked to sign an insurance weaver stating a) they are not responsible if we die b) any damage to the vehicle we had to pay for. Co-Captain and I were on one snowmobile taking turns to ride. I can’t describe how exhilarating this is. Pelting the machine to its limits and reaching speeds of 100 kilometers per hour, with low visibility and in the middle of the forest, it was madness. Ice, snow n Arctic winds hitting our faces with our nose Freezing.

One thing I can never forget is reaching a clearing deep in the forest where we stopped and looked up at the sky’s. Never in my life have I seen clearer skies. The stars, millions of them clear as a polished diamonds studded, the distinct milky way looking like butter spread across. Almost creamy. Was just Breathtaking. A Screen shot sits in my mind. It is now my brains screen saver.

We returned to the hotel both Freezing and overwhelmed by the experience of the day. I couldn’t sleep so I found myself at the bar having some drinks and reminiscing. I knew in a mere 4 hours we had a 4 hour bus journey to the next airport (Rovaniemi) but the experience had left me with goosebumps.

We first woke up at 5 am as we were told this was the peak time for the Northern light sightings, we didn’t see anything, continuing to wake up every 15 minutes we got nothing but a eerie glow in the night sky.

We left in the morning after a quick breakfast, snoring away on the bus. We reached the airport 3 hours before departure. Upon reaching Rovaniemi we found out that this was where Santa lives! His village was located at a 10 minute cab ride from our the airport and since we had time we both decided we had to visit him (me being more adamant as I had to interrogate Santa on where my pressies were last year). Leaving our luggage at the airport we went. Not soon after We met Santa!! We had a conversation with him, including asking him how long it takes to get to Australia on sled? I also found out I had been a bad boy last year n therfore didn’t get anything Will work on this. We took some photos n explored the village seeing, Santas house, Santa’s office and the North Pole Post office. Our short time at Santa’s was over.

We got to the cab rank and Realised we had to call a cab, we called one but it took a long time to come. The check in closing time was creeping up. My Co-Captain was scheming on running to the airport (3km n minus 23 degrees). I subdued this plot and luckily the cab arrived. We were the last to check in and that too on the exact time that check in closes. Phew!

Even with no northern light Sightings this experience was unbelievable!

IVALO: The City of Memories

Helsinki. Finland

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Helsinki. Finaland

The City that doesn’t give a Shit.

02/02/2014

Blu Stockholm, Sweden. “Mr Avrill D’Costa could you please come to the information desk” these were the first words we heard arriving at Helsinki Airport. We both thought ‘its finally happened – we have been caught by the authority’s, we just need to figure out for what?’ – as it turns out that was not quiet the case. We had been summoned as Norwegian air had managed to break one of our suitcases. We let out a temporary sigh of relief followed by a feelings of anger and concern if anything had been lost. Luckily that was not the case. We collected the large suitcase, which had the zip broken and was now confined in a plastic bag and we logged a report.

Heading to the information desk we were told that to take a taxi to our central destination will cost us 80 euro (about $120) and to take the bus it would be 10 euro (about $15) – straight away we could identify the city would be expensive..

With a plastic bag full of my belongings we made it to our apartment. Since the bus had taken a while it was already dark and my Co-Captain was anxious not to waste our first Friday night after 7 days. First we went and grabbed a quick bite and after a huge stint with the blandest food in the world we finally got some flavor at a thai place. We also discovered that all the bottle shops are closed from 9pm to 9am, the time approached 10pm. Meaning that we don’t have any pre-drinks as ammunition, which also meant is going it was going to be a expensive night.

We did our usual thing and got lost ending up on a Island where we saw a huge frozen River and a memorial to victims of Water Mines. Walking along we saw the oddest thing some guy dressed in bathers, and gloves just ran to the frozen river, breaking the ice n hitting the freezing water. He stayed in it for 2 minutes and he walked out. Just looking at him sent cold shivers down my spine. I walked up to him and when I asked him what’s going on he said this is normal and is very good for you, going into Freezing waters and it invigorates your body. Shocked we walked on, walking past the ‘Fisherman’s Friend’ boat – totally random.

We reached home and quickly googled a few places and headed out with facing a huge snowstorm that was going on outside.

Our first pinned destination was Bar A21 – rated The best bar in the world!! Attacking the snow storm we walked to the bar, on the way a random citizen spat on my Co-Captains leg we were both in shock but kept walking, reaching the bar my Co-Captains head was frozen.

We rang the bell and waited the waitress came n showed us to our seats. We couldn’t decide out of the extensive range so decided to order the tasting platters. What followed were some of the most tasty cocktails ever!

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After each one the waitress would sit with us and explain what the meaning behind each of the ingredients was. For us we were just getting drunk. 6 cocktails later we decided to leave for our clubbing destination for the night. The bill for these was 80 Euro (about $120) – that’s why we do Pre’s at home! Chatting to the Bartenders and complimenting them on the skills, they recommended a new club that had just opened called ‘Nuim’ (actually we think it’s called this. I have no real recollection of the name and Google is not being friendly).

We made our way there feeling loosey goosey – what followed was a clubbing experience like no other and one that has changed our impressions of clubbing for life.

The Club was full to the brim, it had multiple rooms and beautiful people (girls) everywhere – we progressed to the Cloakroom and then headed to the bathroom – in the bathroom we saw about 6 guys drinking bottles of wine directly from the bottles. It was easy to tell that these guys were totally on a different planet. To shorten the events that occurred, I will just list these out, A random started a fight with me because he bumped me (this was subdued), we saw a fight between 1 vs 4 girls with one of them ripping the others earing out and the other throwing her drink on them, following this we saw a guy throw up in a glass and throw it at some one, we saw a guy just face plant while sitting on a stool, we saw a guy get bottled in the head, get up, bleeding from his forehead and continue dancing with the girl he got bottled over while her bf was bottled in the head by his friend and get kicked out and finally we saw the DJ on stage take an Pill when the beat was dropping.

All this within 2 hours of us being in the club. We stayed here till closing and then went to SFC – Southern Fried Chicken where we bought $57 worth of fired chicken – got back to the apartment and polished this off.

The next day we woke up very late, we finally got out of bed and went to buy a new suitcase, ate and then went out for a bit of a walk to see some sights. Soon after we found ourselves once again attacking the pre-drinks. To mix this up we decided to have Long drinks – both of us had no idea what these things were when we purchased them – we later discovered they were Ciders. This was because a technicality, in which you can’t buy hard liquor after 6 so long drinks were all we found in supermarket shelves. After finishing about 4 liters of these we headed to Club Adam – A Theater that was converted to a club. There we met the first group of girls in Helsinki that could dance – we danced with these beautiful girls all night and then once again got back to the Apartement at close time with $57 of fried chicken. 2 hours to have a power nap and off to Stockholm we went

HELSINKI: The city that doesn’t Give a Shit

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Stockholm. Sweden

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Stockholm. Sweden

The City of Funny Swedes.

Captains Log Day 35 – 3/02/14 8:27 pm. Location: Dam, Amsterdam.

Once again we have arrived in Hell, or as My Co-Captain and I like to call it – Dizzyland for our final day of this operation. We arrive here after an epic Swedish adventure, that nor we or the Swedes will forget.

Let’s start this log entry by our catch phrase for when Co-Captain and I arrived in Stockholm – “Haha funny Swedes” – You may wonder why such a random catchphrase? Well you guys have obviously not been to Sweden. To describe this further I would explain some of the things we witnessed once leaving the airport, these include the crazy interior designs, the Airlock doors and indoor transparent smoking areas. We knew the Swedes were going to deliver and the more we found out the more the catch phrase rang true. Some examples of this include the crazy frog and pig dance rituals, high school graduation in which students go on a bus with thousands of beer cans and throw beer at random citizens or the day that the government decided to flip the side that people drive on. All in all and Jokes aside both my Co-Captain and I were in for a culture shock and a learning experience. I think after the nights we spent in Sweden we can kind of get why some of the best DJs are from this country.

The first thing that strikes us, is the degree of calm that exists, everybody is very soft spoken, calm and the silence is at times eerie. Visiting a local burger chain not soon after landing called ‘Max Burger’, we sit besides what look like a group of good friends. Whilst enjoying our Burgers I think 2 sentences were muttered between them, whilst my Co-Captain and I were carrying on like dizzy pirates.

The next major thing we noticed after a quick currency conversion – This place is uber expensive, with a one way train ride from the airport costing almost $80. Fun Fact Sweden is home to one of the most expensive Big Macs – retailing at $8.50

Once we had arrived and had our very quiet rendezvous with the locals at Maxs’, we headed back to the hotel for a bit of a chill and to figure out how much our meals had ended up costing. Hint it was > $20.

We were lucky enough to make some Swedish friends on our adventures in Budapest (see Captains Log Day 20 – 20/01/14). These lovely friends of ours had organized a nice night out on the town to show us the Swedish night life. What proceeded was a night of mayhem and utter madness.

Catching up with our new local friends started off by visiting a statue that we were instructed to rub, fearing that this could cost

us a limb or result in us catching herpes, we touched the bronze statue which in fact was very warm. It was a heated statue, a memorial to a Swedish actress (Haha funny Swedes) – the sight seeing for the day was done and in the words of a Swedish friend, it was time to get “Shit-faced”.

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We headed to a bar for pre-drinks, as my Co-Captain is an expert at pre’s he applied his expertise, nekkminute we are all on the highway to intoxication, with some clearly taking the lead. The conversation we had was fantastic, discussing smelly fish, Disney music dance floors, vodka skulling in bathrooms, the hidden swede crazy and of course the mind boggling “Dog Story” (Details for readers when we catch up).

The bar eventually kicked us out, we were way too excited for a Sunday night.

We first headed another bar club in Sweden – Berns. The Club was housing a private function so we headed to the classy bar area, which at the time looked like a mad men convention was going on. Yuppies dressed to impress. Our crew didn’t really feel the vibe. Grabbing the Cocktail spoon as a souvenir, the entourage was off. Our next destination a Swedish Club called ‘Opera bar’ (not to be confused by the Sydney one). On Route we experienced some ice skating with shoes rather than skates and I was fortunate enough to end up with a few cuts and bruises after being dared to jump into a pile of snow, which actually was a pile of ice.

Sobering up from the laughing fits and because we needed to put on a straight face, we arrived at the Club and straight away the shots started to flow. Our friends were in for a treat the Co-Captain had the fire in his eyes. Tequila, Vodka, Bacardi 151, Gin and Baileys. At this point we had split. The events of the night are scattered and hazy with both myself and the Co-Captain meeting back at the room at 5am with a heap of stories about what had occurred in the last 4 hours. Checking our pockets he had one of our friends phones and Wallet. With no way of contacting them we discovered in the morning that they had assumed it was stolen, called the police, canceled all the cards and shut down the phone number. Ouch! Extremely hung over we caught up again with one of our friends – the other was in no state to come out and also had no cards or phone (oops). All three of us in a state of struggle headed to the town hall, then to Old Town to see King Carl’s Palace, parliament building and the Narrowest Street in Sweden. Chatting about life along the way, it was a great follow up to the events that occurred the night before. We ended up seeing some of the beauty that Stockholm had to offer, besides the melting snow creating sludge, that was occurring everywhere. Eating at an awesome Italian restaurant called – ’ Vapiano’ where everything is cooked in front of you. It was time to say goodbye to our lovely Swedish host and head back to the room for our final hours before the final flight to Amsterdam, where we decided to try Swedish Snus (Google time), a form of tobacco that you suck on for up to 3 hours. I think 2 minutes after putting it in our mouths the dizzyness kicked in with the anxiety, shakes and vomit feeling swinging in within the hour. We battled this and decided to spoil ourselves with 4 hour sleep before our flight to Dizzyland.

STOCKHOLM: The City of Funny Swedes

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Amsterdam. Netherlands

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Amsterdam. Netherlands

Captains Log Day 38 – 6/02/14 5:11 pm.

Location: Colonel Street, Clayton.

The Final Log – The trip comes to an end – All i can think of right now is the means of which both my Co-Captain and i would be adjust to society after our exploits around Europe.

Leaving Stockholm we arrived in Amsterdam – and considering we had booked a mere 10 hours before checking in the only accommodation we could find was in a Hostel in the centre of the city. We arrived early in the morning and reached the hostel by 11am – we were advised that we could only check in after 2 – so both my Co-Captain and i visited a Coffee Shop *smirks* – Not long after we were both Craving a Brunch menu – we walked around the city like Harold and Kumar looking for Brunch (we just looked a bit more like Kumar and Kumar) we finally found a little Taint cafe and had brunch. The satisfaction of this meal was hard to describe, pit stopping at a few more coffee shops we went around buying our final souvenirs. We visited the heineken experience again to check it out and picked up our free gifts we headed back to the hostel and were told our room was ready – except this room was in the roof of the building and it comprise of the narrowest steps ever – climbing 4 sets of stairs that would be about 1 meter wide with luggage we got to the top in our room – we changed and had a nap before heading out to the pub Crawl. Waking up slightly late we had 20 minutes to finish a bottle of vodka – so we headed down bought some Fritz (Chips with Mayo) and a few bottles of sprite.. glug glug glug – on a tram to the meeting point and feeling again on top of the world.

On the way to the meeting point my Co-Captain was able to identify one of the organisers tha the recognised from the last pub Crawl we had completed (See Captains Log Day 7 – 09/01/14) we were advised it was not running today since it was Tuesday and the turnout was low 🙁 both my Co-Captain were disappoint buy we were also pretty drunk and other things. So we continued our own lil crawl – stopping at bars and coffeeshops we hit the town. a heap of these details are no disclosure but a heap happened on the last night 🙂

Next morning it was time to set off for our 26 hour journey home. Once again with a mere 4 hours sleep we got to the airport had our last set of muffins and cakes and set off. The flight involved us watching 5 movies 🙂 and next to no sleep. – a Great relaxing way to end the trip!

Reflecting back to this, i can’t believe i have survived. I can count off at least 5 occasions in which i would be in jail or hurt.

That being said this trip has been amazing – i don’t think i am the same person that left Melbourne – The experiences, the people have all had an impact on myself and i am sure similarly for my Co-Captain. The people we met- the friendships we have built are priceless. I hope destiny has a plan and we see these great souls again.

Lastly i would like to thank everyone that has been following this 🙂 i hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as i enjoyed writing these.

Its been a crazy ride

Eastern Europe 2014 a Crazy Adventure that l change you forever.

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Reykjavik. Iceland

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Reykjavik. Iceland

A Desolate Frozen Wasteland of the Wealthy Viking Gods.

Captains Log Day 5 – 10/12/14 6:17pm. Icelandic Air.

The voyage to the North Atlantic country of Iceland began with a slight deviation. When checking into the vessel, wing commander and i had been separated and for a reason unknown to me i had been moved to a premium seat – not that i was complaining, but my soul companion was no longer sitting next to me. This made me both nervous and restless.

To deal with the paranoia and to distract my fickle mind i decided to befriend the local sitting beside me. She was an Icelandic local who had retired as a air stewardess at Iceland air. i told her the compelling story of the adventures planned over the course of the next month, at first much like everyone she was both impressed and shocked at the idea. The conversation soon turned to the Nordic country and what was in store. I had just realised that we had made a slight miscalculation. She informed me that one of the worst storms of the year was on the outskirts of the city, lingering over it the cities head. She advised me of the consequences of such a storm, none of which sounded attractive in our favour. She had advised that going out and facing such weather was “not a good idea”, after this some banter followed. I was eager to explain the dire situation to my partner in crime and soon was debriefing him of what we had in store. we reached a logical consensus. YOLO or in our case YOGTIO – You only go to Iceland Once.

Shortly after we had a bumpy decent to Reykjavik International Airport, as we proceeded to exit our plane to the tarmac we could already see the storm coming in- a dark all consuming monster floating into our vision towards us. Scuffling into the airport and circumventing our way to where we were to catch the bus we both looked confused – the bus tickets were $60 return. Checking if this was a miscalculation and querying the situation we discovered that a taxi would cost $130 each way. We quietly purchased the tickets and started to wonder at the prices that we faced in the country.

Also to much of our disappointment we discovered that the Northern lights tour had been called off for the night – the weather was proving more of an obstacle than i had imagined. for the second time in my life a 30+ hour journey to see the Aurora Borealis had failed.

We checked into the hotel at 5pm and the sky had now turned pitch black, although there was some very strong winds we had yet to see the force of nature show itself. I went over to the sink to get a glass of water to discover that the water smelt BAD – after a quick google i found that this was normal, and the high sulphur content in the water lead to the weird smell and taste. The water however was still drinkable. Despite that fact i threw the glass of water and decided that we needed water bottles asap. We dropped off the bags and rugged up. It was dinner time and the city of Reykjavik awaited our presence.

It took a whole of 4 minutes for us to realise what we had dismissed earlier. Winds strong enough to cause me to fall over, pelting buckets of rain, and snow which was felt like sand granuals against the skin. We had left and already we had been drenched in water head to toe within 5 minutes of leaving our hotel. At this point the task to explore the city had become a challenge, our first Iceland Mission.

About 15 minutes into the resistance we started approaching the shops and beautiful restaurants. Glancing over the menus as we walked, our initial fears were correct, restaurant after restaurant showing main dishes which ranged from $42 all the way to $75. I am talking a simple burger for $42! We soon came to terms that this place was for the ones that are slightly better off. I was no Donald Trump and my Wing Commander did not feel much like Mr Gates. 45 minutes after trekking in some really hardcore weather, we bit the bullet and headed to a place that seemed reasonable compared to the others. A Burrito for $18 was my calling whilst my Wing commander displayed his bravery and courage once again by ordering the Traditional Iceland Fish Stew, which after a nervous wait time, he seemed to enjoy.

The walk back to the hotel was eventful. The storm had intensified. The snow storm left visibility to a minimum and we were now so wet that we could feel the water against our skins, thermals, jackets all starting to fail. Walking with our eyes on the ground feeling like soldiers with a mission to survive till our hotel room we trekked. This stuff felt like dessert sand hitting our faces, walking against the attacking snow.

Wing Commander let out a loud shout. Shocked i stopped trekking and turned back to see what had happened – he said i survived and AVALANCHE! confused we pulled into a shaded area where we could talk – he described how a large portion of snow had just been blown off a building and landed 2 steps before where he was walking. If this had hit his head he would have been knocked out or even injured. We counted our blessings and continued to walk.

We soon Crossed paths with what we call a Cadet. This Cadet was a guy in his 20s he was wearing a t-shirt and walking down the road with a take away burger. Wing commander and i laughed as we passed this super human man as he continued to stroll to wherever he was going to eat his frozen and wet burger.

Finally getting to the hotel felt like surviving a deadly illness the relief was unbelievable. We were freezing and had to set up all our cloths to dry as we collapsed on the beds due to the exhaustive encounters we had just had.

Day 2 of our Icelandic adventure was much more productive and much more memorable for the right reasons. The storm had cleared, our cloths had dried and the sun was rising – Here the sun rises at 11:30am and sets by 3:30pm. All equipped and fresh from our early night we headed out to see an Iceland we couldn’t actually see the night before. We experienced a view of true Iceland, Mesmerising frozen mountains (possibly where the Yeti lives), An breathtaking church with views from the observation deck of Reykjavik in its glory, Ducks in a frozen lake, just chilling and shiz.

The day was much more of a success after the calming of the weather.

We soon said goodbye to his beautiful and ridiculously expensive country. Our North Atlantic stint had been completed it was time to head to the United States of America

Iceland: A Desolate Frozen Wasteland of the Wealthy Viking Gods

Amsterdam. Netherlands

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Amsterdam. Netherlands

The all Consuming City of Sin.

Captains Log Day 4 – 06/12/14 2:29pm. Icelandic Air.

Hours, Days, Months of stipulation and planning. Years of Dreaming, all just leading up to this one moment.

Beside me stood the new recruit – Wing Commander Nand. I am hoping all his accreditation and hours of off the field training has prepared him for what lay ahead. An impressive list of conquest snuggly fit under my new partners belt. He stood tugging at my jacket as the overhead speaker sounded – “Final Call for Flight MH0148”. It was time to start the journey ahead. 5 weeks 4 Continents and a whole heap of fast food #Murica!

To baptise our trip with fire, we decided that the first stop in our continental adventure was to be to Amsterdam – Our own Adult Disneyland.

Winning an outstanding bet we boarded the flight as the last passengers, making it just before the gates were to close. To test our stress levels we had managed to find seats surrounded by a perimeter of infants – counting 5 within the 4 seat proximity. With a few glasses of the MH0148’s finest Red and Dolby surround sound of 8 hours of baby crying, we were disembarking for our 3 hour Malaysia lay over. A perfect opportunity to sneak in a beer or two. Intoxicated and lazy, we decided the wisest idea to find out gate was to follow a person who appeared to look and speak dutch – ‘surely he is going to Amsterdam’…. All in all not totally incorrect. He was going to Amsterdam and so was the flight that we were boarding, however, we found out when looking for our seats, that we were on the Wrong plane to Amsterdam! In a mad dash we ran, once again proving that lightning does strike twice – last to board.

Flying KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and being mind boggled by one of our Caucasian Dutch air stewards that could speak Hindi, and insisted on making our drinks in reverse (30 ml coke rest Whisky) we landed in SinCity hungover or possibly still drunk.

The alcohol in our systems was a catalyst to our decision to not go straight to the hotel after a 23 hour journey, but rather stroll around the city till afternoon. Checking in to our abode at 12 pm. Our hotel lay 40 minutes away from Amsterdam CBD, a quiet place with Horses roaming around.

After a long nap we decided to head back into the city and pick up where we left off, spending our first day of Amsterdam getting familiar with the terrain and planning our war crimes which were to follow.

To soak in the arts and culture and taste the finest delicacies that the city had to offer we started our second day in Amsterdam visiting the Van Gogh Museum, marvelling at art and sneaking photos of rare paintings – we only got told off by security twice. Wing Commander had heard legends from previous battles with he city and was ready to visit one of the landmarks – the heineken experience. stumbling through he city we managed to fit the initiation into Amsterdamage.

The nights activities were to start soon – rushing past the horses into the hotel room, we fit in a change of cloths and a bottle of vodka, pre drinking in the shower. Rushing, we set out to meeting the Amsterdam Pub Crawl….A bottle in and already having a few drinks we both looked at each other knowing what lay ahead was a dark and scary road. Not long after Wing Commander and i had split up…things went hazy after the second bar and a fair few events happened this night and i am not at liberty to disclose all of these – There are also a few blanks in the nights. lets skip to the end of the night at about 6 am when i arrived home to found Wing Commander in a state of semi conciseness in the room with an unknown bus ticket and a Random Jacket.

I for some reason was wearing the Wing Commanders jacket – meaning i had no idea where mine was. two hours of debriefing was not enough to locate and explain the events of the night – since the split both Wing Commander and i have some very altering experiences of what happened. Seemed like the city had another victim to add to its list, once again we had lost to this place.

All in all we were safe, limbs intact just with a missing jacket. we decided that we will resolve this by recounting our steps and trying to relive what happened on the night the next day. Approaching 8 am we slept. finally with no alarm set to wake us.

10:22am Fire Alarms are blearing – the second worst thing we have heard on this trip finishing closly after the DubStep Baby Tears. A banging on the door – we are asked to leave the hotel ASAP – leaving everything, there is a fire! At this point both Wing Commander and i are wondering if this was related to our blanks from the night before – had we done something to trigger this – Maybe- but really we have no idea. We rushed, i put on the Random guys jacket and left everything to run outside where a crowd was already gathering. A fire had broken out and there was 6 fire trucks and 2 police cars outside the building already. An hour waiting in the freezing 1 degree weather, a camera crew was approaching us to give comments. Residents stuck in the cold, wearing t-shirts, underwear and no shoes… Not long after the hotel had organised busses to take us to a ‘shelter’ hotel where we could sit and be warm. We sat and made friends with an American group that had kicked down the door of the hotel room since they thought there friend was overdosing on cocaine – turns out he was just sleeping. Some very interesting people, software developers from Montana. Turns out this is common behaviour in Montana. Not long after we were moved back to the hotel and told we can remain there since it was only the other wing of the hotel that had been effected.

It was already late and the sandman looked like he had gone on vacation. We decided not to sleep and rather start out long journey to figure out the mystery of missing jacket. retracing our steps we continued on the tourist route, visiting the local landmarks and the sinister areas. trying local delicacies and enjoying the views, walking around – taking it all in…till finally it was time for the pub-crawl to restart and like vultures we started following them to figure out at which point the madness began the previous night. As we creeped on to make it to the third bar, the door opened to reveal my jacket looking at me, like a start stuck lover looking into the eyes of their lover, i walked over picket it up and embraced it like a dying child, holding it and whispering ‘ daddy’s got ya, everything is going to be alright’ – The jacket had been found, although it seemed that Amsterdam had taken its toll on it too, a 1 centimetre tear in which it was bleeding goose feathers. i held it and promised it will receive some attention. i at once returned the random jacket and the case was solved. Wing commander and i hugged as if although we had lost the battle we had won the war.

With war wounds a duct taped jacket we leave leave this country: Amsterdam, The all consuming City of Sin.

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Lisbon. Portugal

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Lisbon. Portugal

The City of History, Mystery, Hashish and Tarts.

Captains Log Day 11 – 03/01/16 4:24pm. Emirates

Goodbye Portugal and thank you for the party. A party hard to forget even harder to remember. Well Played, Abrigado.

India awaits as we leave the city of Lisbon, flying to Dubai for a quick layover, only to be stranded with delayed connecting flights. This wouldn’t be the first time, on these travels that the captain and admiral have landed themselves in the waiting areas of middle eastern airports. A fantastic time to slow down this rollercoaster and reflect on (try to remember and piece together) what has happened over the last few days.

Happy New Year. 2016 was off to a good start with a cadet being spear tackled to the ground by security, ending up with cuts and grazes on his elbow, all for 6 Euro – more on this later.

Landing in Lisbon from Morocco was a restructure of our minds, not knowing what to expect we had been transported from one ancient city to another. However between the two cities, the age was the only common factor.

Departing the airport our taxi driver was an angry angry man, barely speaking a word to us during our 20-minute commute into town. However, he did have enough to say to other drivers as he weaved past them hurling abuse. A little scared, both Admiral and myself enjoyed the contrasting architecture of the city.
An Air BnB would be our castle for the following 4 nights, and once again we arrived to find… 3 stories of stairs. Our Host had been waiting and due to the delay we had made it to our resting spot by sun down, a lovely apartment located in the city of Lisbon, in the heart of Bairro Alto – the bar district of Lisbon. I would say this was an apt spot for the captain and the admiral. With great difficulty and assistance of our host, we hoisted our luggage up to the room.

Exhausted and hungry we set out to explore Lisbon, walking along the town hunting some dinner. Walking out of our apartment we noticed that we were located in the heart of the Lisbon tourist district, this will no doubt come in handy.

Turning the first corner we noticed a long line outside a bright store, curiosity getting the best of us we shuffled our way in. The store sold Portuguese Custard Tarts and well .. that’s it.
Admiral Akbar had heard of these tarts before, as her comrade had previously told her that these were the Portuguese specialities. With Curiosity getting the best of us we worked our way to the counter and ordered ‘one’ tart to try, the girl at the counter astonished and responding with confusion “one!?”. I replied “yes one, we just want to try these” she looked at me, smiled ad said “These are like heaven”. We were advised that “ the locals sprinkle theirs with Sugar and Cinnamon” to which we followed suit. Quickly exiting the store, wondering what heaven tasted like, i had a bite into the pastry… THESE WERE THE MOST DELICIOUS THINGS EVER!!! i lost my mind as i passed them to the Admiral to try, soon after she too was mind blown at how yummy these tarts were.
We left the shop ecstatic and vowing to grab another 2 after our return from our walks we moved on (little did we know that during our 4 day stay we will end up devouring 13 of these tarts) – see * for Tart counter

Walking 50 meters down the road our fist Gyspy approached ushering “Hashish, Marajuana, cocaine” as he walked past, startled both the admiral and i kept our heads down and kept walking. we turned to each other a few meters down and validated what we had heard. Continuing along the hustle and bustling city, another gypsy approached stating the same cause. We declined and continued. What followed in the space of a kilometre was several other of these tradesman approaching us, some even showing us the goods and saying that “its legal to consume in Portugal” we politely declined and made a note to google this back at home. Exploring, we walked past the Oldest bookshop in the world (random). Our first meal was some Portuguese grill done badly at a ‘tourist trap’ restaurant, without being disheartened as we knew the heaven tarts awaited. *(+2 = 3 Total)

NYE. things were going to get heavy. Following lessons learnt, the hydration started early, with both the admiral and the captain competing with our Moroccan camel friends in terms of water consumption and retention. Recovering from the constant jet lag, a sleep in was well earned. We started off by booking our night’s festivities, ensuring we had planned our destruction of Lisbon to bring in the new year. We were to represent ourselves in a Lisbon Pub Crawl. Once the night was sorted we booked a walking tour of Lisbon.

As we had time to kill before the walking tour, firstly we grabbed our tarts *(+2 = 5 Total) we headed out to see the church of Sao Roque, which is the richest church in the world after the vatican. As we arrived we had been advised by security that we cannot enter until after the Mass, which both he Admiral and I requested to attend (not realising the entire thing was to be in Portuguese) we were allowed to join. Walking into the church our mind was blown – the whole thing was GOLD. These words cant give it justice – please refer to the photos and see the Sao Roque in all its glory. Shiney eyed and holified we left to join the Walking tour.

The group was assembling on Hashish Square (The square lovingly named by us, where we had been approached by the aforementioned gypsies the previous night) we joined the tour, which comprised of people from all across the globe and a fantastic tour guide. Walking along the 7 hills of Lisbon both were astonished at the history and stories of ‘The oldest city in western Europe’.
I would like to share one of the learnings that astonished us.

Captain’s Quick History Lesson: Did You Know “In 1755 Lisbon had an earthquake that measured in at 9.0 on the richter scale. The earthquake destroyed the city, it went for 10 minutes!! The survivors ran towards the sea and saw a path opening in the water, they believed god was opening the sea for them. This however was a tsunami, that destroyed whatever was not left in the city. Since this happened on Saint’s day at 9:30 am most people were in Church… when in church you have candles, this means fire, and that’s what happened, a 4 day fire that killed everything that the earthquake and tsunami had spared. In fact more people died from the fire than the earthquake and tsunami combined. The people that survived were the Sailors, Prostitutes and criminals as they were in Bars and establishments far away from the city.”

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Enough History for today – On the tour coincidently we met a couple from Melbourne, the Cadet after some time getting acquainted asks if I went to RMIT, to which i said yes, he then asked if i did Business information Systems, to which I was shocked and said yes. Turns out we were a few years apart doing the same degree, in the same campus. we exchange details and realise we have 10 mutual friends and a hellovalot in common. The world keeps getting Smaller. Mind full of history and mystery we leave the tour and hunt for some sustenance – 2016 is around the corner. *(+2 = 7 Total)

Pepped up and ready for the Pub Crawl, patrons await us at Hashish Square – we join the group, which seems like a heap of small groups which are not mingling at all. This has the admiral a bit worried, however i assure her that as the night goes on – these things only get more and more messy.
Bar 1 and things start to get loose. 1 hour of unlimited beer and sangria could only spell disaster. We meet some new fellow Cadets – one from Brisbane and another from Sydney. Drinking and socialising we come up with a genius idea to go and see the fireworks and join the pub-crawl later. We are warned by the Pub Crawl master that, there are too many people and you will never find the group. The cadets have decided – we don’t want to spend our NYE in a bar or club. Our 2 new friends by our side and 2 beers each in our hand at 11:42 the squadron moves, rushing, drinking and trying not to get lost as we make it toward the Lisbon Pier to watch the fireworks. Things are getting hazy as we join the crowds of thousands of people rushing to see the fireworks. We make it. The countdown is spectacular, the fireworks amazing and the street festivities manic. We dance, we drink, we laugh amongst thousands of people all celebrating. NYE experience like no other.

Time to join the pub-crawl group again, the 4 cadets, drunk and happy with life as well as booze, we make a pitstop at a bar to hydrate and to pee. We grab a beer, chat and then decide its time to go, sneaking out the beer glasses as we move. Public drinking with pint glasses is a great experience. Exhilarating. Stumbling bar to bar we are unable to find the pubcrawl. We enter one bar, and as the bar tender is busy one of our newly found cadets takes it upon himself to rush behind the bar and top up his glass – without anyone noticing #legend. we still cant locate our pub-crawl – so we go to another bar and request a vodka lemonade, which is half vodka and a dash of lemonade. These guys know how to drink.
In our lapse of concentration we loose one of our cadets, we look and look and he is just missing. With no sign of the pub-crawl we decide to walk to the final venue – The Beach club, the best club in Lisbon.

Prancing along the streets toward the final destination, I hear a yell. Mr Cadet (the only one left with us) has found the pub-crawl group! They were walking down to the club themselves! happy times, everyone is laughing as we walk down, asking about our adventures. Things were not all fun and games when one of the girls has a domestic with her partner and one other girls has lost her phone and is crying #drama. in our drunken splendour we walk to the club socialising with our worldly counterparts.

We arrive at Beach club to find our lost cadet is also there! he said he lost us so he walked to the club and aside from getting knocked back a few times had been waiting for us. The group re-united we enter the club and boy is it epic. Upon entering we get our Drink card – the club operates with a system that; every time you buy a drink they swipe the card and charge it – at the end of the night you pay a bill. Everyone gets a card as they enter.

To cut back to the epicness of the club I’ll summarise it as such: dancing, tour guides, Akbar chundering in the toilet, Captain chundering in the line for the toilet, heap of vodkas and blur blur blur. One part I do want to highlight and possibly the funniest part of the night is when Mr Cadet decides ‘I am not going to pay for the booze’ – when exiting the bouncer asks us for our cards which we pay for (well kind of – i am short of cash and a knight in shining armour in the generosity of his heart covers me). Mr Cadet however only has 1 beer on his card worth a measly 6 Euro, he decides to Run for it! he makes a dash past the bouncer and as he is running, he trips and three bouncers jump on him! Spear tackled to the ground! Grazed and with cuts and wounds he pays the bill and joins us. We stumble back to our apartment, picking up randoms as we walk. We finally farewell our new found friends and I drop the admiral to the apartment. I then head off for a last drink at 5 am as the sun is rising – i don’t need to look far to find a bar, and as I buy my last drink as it starts to rain, I realise that the Admiral has no keys, rushing back beer in hand, I open the door. Enter the house and pass out.
<end nye carnage.>

The next day waking up at 1 pm we rush for our next walking tour, but not without having a few more tarts *(+2 = 9 Total). Both captain and Admiral wounded with a terrible hangover and feeling like death we walk around the Alfama area, struggling hard as we look at the castle and try the local liqueur Ginginha (sour cherry liqueur) doing our best not to throw up on our tour guide. Feeling like death we go home immediately after, cancelling our fancy dinner plans and trading them in for some sleep and terrible thai food.

Our last day in Portugal, we decide to spend it in the city of Sintra, a town that is 40 minutes by train from Lisbon City. we grab our supplies *(+2 = 11 total) Sintra is a beautiful region filled with beautiful castles and plenty of secret passageways. We walk around, observing the castles and the scenic beauty of the region,both of us can clearly say that the aftermath of NYE has not left us yet. Sentra’s history and its gardens could not be captured in the photos, yet we try, taking selfies and artistic shots.

Rushing back we grab some lunch at a burger joint and pack our bags, followed by a large exercise of lowering these from the 3rd floor. Our flight is to leave soon, but not without our final dosage of tarts *(+2 = 13 Total) we load our luggage in and depart to the airport, saying goodbye, mesmerised by the history and beauty Lisbon has to offer.

Portugal you have been beautiful, Abrigado

The Motherland is Calling

Lisbon the City of History, Mystery, Hashish and Tarts.

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Brussels. Belgium

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Brussels. Belgium

The Silent Mecca of EDM music. City of beer, dreams, love, music, peace and unity.

Captains Log Day 4 – 26/07/16 1:26 am. SNCF Railways.

The first shadows of a new era beset upon our feet. The faithful Co-Captain Avi was getting ready to set an anchor in his life, he was soon to be married. History has shown us, that to welcome a new milestone the mind, body and soul has to transform. Grow. Learn. However, we were not going to let this metamorphosis happen without an ode to the times. A big hoorah. A celebration to cast a shade on any other celebration in our lives. Welcome to the logs of #avisbuxx

This was not going to be any adventure; this would be a pilgrimage to honor the man. The Captain set off gathering the crew, the brave men that would dedicate mind body and soul to the cause. This mission was only for the prepared. The selected troops were the Captain, Co-Captain Avi and the newly promoted Rebel leader Amit.
The journey to the first destination was long, but we had managed to entertain ourselves by playing chicken games on an iPad for 13 hours. A stopover in Abu Dhabi consisted of a quick replenishment meal as we boarded our remaining 8-hour flight to the country of Belgium. Once again sleep was not our friend, barely catching an hour or two the whole journey.

Red eyed at 9am we arrived in the city of Brussels, and not long after we made it to our hotel only to be advised that the room would not be ready for another 3 hours. This only meant one thing. Engage tourist mode. Within minutes (after getting lost for a bit) we were off out of the city to explore sites like the Atomniom (an alien like giant structure) and Mini Europe (self-explanatory). A quick snack of the local delicacy of Fritz (chips with mayo) and we decided to continue our sight-seeing adventures, as we headed 2 hours away to, a university town, and visit the Herge museum (think TinTin). 42 hours after leaving Melbourne we finally reached our hotel for a warm shower a rest, although just as the micro sleep fairies started hovering over our heads it was to go out again.

Legs shivering from the lack of sleep, exhaustion peaking and the mind full of the adrenaline of adventure we wander around, searching for a place to eat. Captain suggests a beer to kick off the night and relax the nerves, at first the co-captain refuses saying we should have dinner first, however democracy is called when the Rebel leader agrees with the idea. The request is the large pint, the drinks start flowing when democracy is called again when the co-captain suggest one round each before we eat….. a pub hop ensues, a beer at a live music bar, this then turns into a stumble to see the Pissing Boy (a landmark of the city). As Rebel leader and Captain took photos of this monument, the Co-Captain had found his next bar. It seemed the there was a party going on, people yelling and singing in French, this seemed like an apt place. Not long after the Co-Captain was being cheered as he sculled a beer, then being invited to dance to a chant – which involved a lot of yelling “TIKI TAKA TIKI TAKA“ on the streets. Absolutely on a different planet we left the club only to realize that we had not had anything to eat and the time was 1 am – stumbling once again we ended up at Fritzland, a place that we had starred on our map as it had the best Fritz in the country, they also served beer. Smashing down some fritz with samurai sauce the Captain lead the crew to the next bar, the Brazilian variety.

Not long after we lost the Rebel leader – with no contact, the co-captain and captain scoured the streets and bars of Brussels looking for him only to return home at 4:30 am to find him fast asleep in his bed.
The day had arrived. The Pilgrimage was to peak. The main reason we were in this beautiful country. Tomorrowland! Those that don’t know what Tomorrowland is, I can summarise it, however I cannot do it justice. No words, no graphical explanations, no level of detail, no images can convey what Tomorrowland is. Tommorowland is a Dance Music Festival which hosts the biggest DJs in the world in a Disneyworld like theme park. 160,000 people. 16 stages. A place of Love, Peace. Music. This is the Mecca of EDM music. This is a pilgrimage that anyone that loves this genre of music must attend. This is the holiest ground for EDM music..
Hungover, armed with our masks, water bottles, spare phone batteries, the squadron caught an uber, goosebumps as we rode to war, this was a battle we had dreamed of fighting for years. The time had come. The giganticness of the festival, the beauty of the stages cannot be described here, and the photos and videos you see cannot convey the emotion you feel on this ground. We headed to the main stage, just to be blown away. We were lucky enough to rendezvous with some other Pirates that joined our squadron. Reverend Raj and Prince Patel, veterans, of Tomorrowland Brasil, our tour guides on this mind-blowing trip. The company was well appreciated our team had formed and we fought hand in hand. We went and saw, Ferry Corsten, FTampa, Dada Life, Don Diablo, GTA, RaveCave, Steve Aoki, Steve Angello, Yellow Claw ending it with Martin Garrix, and Like Mike and Demitri Vegas.
We left, with withdrawals of the night to ensue. Even as I write this log I feel my heart skip a beat. This was the BEST Night of Our lives – nothing can ever come close to what we felt. The Fellowship was broken as we departed a land of dreams and music. Broken we ended up back home after 12 hours of non-stop dancing at 6am, having the inability to sleep due to the blood rushing though our body and thoughts unable to let go of what we had experienced we finally slept at 7:30am. We were later to find, that one of our companions had to be hospitalized due to the exhaustion that came with 3 days of heaven
Waking up a few hours later we still could not stop thinking about the night that was. After speaking about the night before we finally arose and continued our sight-seeing across the city, visiting all the remaining places. The beauty of the city is unfathomable. Once again the grandeur is not doing justice by image, we strolled to the grand place. We went to a few chocolate shops and indulged in some of the finest chocolate in the world. Joining the locals we bought some beers and sat in front of the grand structures and contemplated our nights activities. Since it was the last night we thought a pub crawl was the right thing to do.
Once again we got home and 20 minutes later we are out and about to join the pubcrawl.
Meeting new people commenced. It was time for the Aussie battalion to take control, introducing the people to the drinking games, getting everyone involved, time accelerated as people started dropping like flies. BUFFELO. Jumping from bar to bar, we once again had a huge night, returning home at 4 am with high concentrations of liquids in our systems.
Sleep was once again not our friend, the squadron awaking a few hours later, and spending the last few hours of our stay watching Tomorrowland videos, see here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME4sx9UEJPM – scroll to 17.45 and see if you recognize someone. Spending enough time on the videos, we left the hotel in the last minute only to reach our train to Amsterdam 2 minutes prior to its departure.
To sign off this log, I need to say that, going to Tomorrowland just proves that Dreams are only dreams when you sleep; when you are awake, you have the chance to make them a reality.

Amsterdam. Netherlands

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Amsterdam. Netherlands

City of Canals, Boats and Pirates.

Captains Log Day 7 – 29/07/16 7:06 am. Transavia

The Bridge and the surroundings did not cease to impress as we took photos, and did tourist things. Finally parched from our walking and satisfied by our voyage so far we looked for a Bar to celebrate. Our pirate instincts kicked in as we walked past a sailboat that had been converted into a bar – This was just meant to be.

Fighting the urge to make our ways to the Captains deck we placed ourselves in the cabin, and started slamming down some of the finest pirate ales we could get our hands on. Hours passed. – What seemed like hours and finally well marinated we stumbled out of the sailboat, unfortunately this time we were not able to undock and sail home though the thought did arise. Many times.

It seemed that the intoxication had gotten the better of us and the sun had set – the time was to commence our induced happy journey back to town. A very happy train ride and the clock moved to the AM hours, the stronghold approached.

Catching up on sleep the squads last day commenced a little later than usual, however it was precious sleep that the crew had to bank – the days ahead would come with only a few hours sleep. We were to fly at 6am the following morning, this day had to mean something, this day had to lay a milestone of our Amsterdam leg of our trip. That it did.

Starting off with beers and eye candy at the red light district the squad managed to board an unlimited drinks day boat cruise around Amsterdam. When in Amsterdam, drink Heineken and tour around the canals. At one point I was not sure if it was the boat rocking or our minds at this point and the time was only 5PM.

Once again failing to commandeer the boat we disembarked, once again we were stumbling. Apparently, hijacking any vessel is frowned upon; even if you’re a pirate.

Pleasantly lubricated we had a pit stop at our dock and joined the Amsterdam Pub Crawl, which coincidently crossed our dock. The night went to plan, drinks, dancing, socialising with a sprinkle of “doing heavy things”. Bar to bar we hopped, skipped, danced and ran, time creeping towards our last hours in the country and our minds we started drowning in the elixir. 2:30 am struck as we stumbled to our dock paranoid on how we were to lower our load the luggage down from the 3rd floor in a stairwell barely 1 meter wide. The struggle was real. The luggage made it. Nobody slipped. Win!

Marinated like Nandos chicken, 0 hours of sleep, in our clubbing outfits we zipped our bags across Amsterdam to reach Central Station. Loading our bags we were off to the airport, red eyed drunk and minds jumbled like moms spaghetti.

It was time to say goodbye once again to the country that had given us so much, and taken so many of our brain cells.

Donation complete. We left our minds, our lungs and our marks on Amsterdam City.

Amsterdam, old friend and older foe, once again with a bittersweet feeling, we bid thee farewell. The ship once again has been battered, and beaten as it escapes the tumultuous seas of such a land. The squad remains a little scattered, a little exhausted, and all in all completely satisfied by their efforts of surviving the adult Disneyland.

For the fifth time in the country, we arrived by train. The squad proceeded to spend most of the day exploring. The captain feeling a little sea sick retired early to the dingy cabin located in the heart of the city, with narrow steep stairwells, curving like fusilli pasta. During this time, the rebel leader and co-captain rekindled an old flame with the city by exploring new found lands, with streets full of exotic foods, drinks, and other hallucinogenic substances.

Returning from their mini adventure the battalion brought gifts for the Captain. This pleased the captain and he did not know if it was the gesture of the gifts or the gifts themselves that stimulated his senses more. The day ended with these high notes.

The head of the curiosity stick poked its little head, and prompted the team to venture out of Amsterdam Central. It was time to take it out of the city and explore lands that none of the members had been to. Loaded with supplies the battalion decided to target Rotterdam.
Smashing some Mannkien Pies Fritz (The best in Amsterdam) the squad boarded a train to Rotterdam, enjoying the scenery (vividly) along the way.

The mentally eventful train ride flew by, we disembarked to our first Dutch rural adventure. We strolled around exploring, stopping to try some fruit juices, and snacks (jackfruit chips) as well as utilising the supplies. One thing worth mentioning at this point, as we walked past an organic fruit shop, the captain and the co-captain bought a Nectarine (when in Rome). Words cannot describe the taste and the juiciness of this fruit. It was by far the best fruit we had ever eaten. Covered in the sweet nectar of nectarine we continued.

Our adventurous walk led us firstly to a megastructure Market Hall (Markthal) which blew our minds, a curved warehouse; the building itself being a masterpiece of architectural art. Here we bought and devoured local Olives seasoned with tomatoes, herbs and garlic. Overwhelmed by the awesomeness of the structure, and palates fully satisfied we headed to the next pinned drop location – Erasnus Bridge.

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Brussels. Belgium

May 22, 2025

by wpRaghav Europe

Brussels. Belgium

The multicultural city that ignites a fire in hearts from around the world

Captains Log Day 4 – 24/07/17 10:05 pm. Vueling Flight VY8991.

Stars aligned, EDM gods got ready to unite in the Mecca of their craft. The annual purge of negativity, the most magical event in the world, it was the time for Tomorrowland.

Disembarking from a global journey across the seven seas, Captain and Admiral unloaded their luggage, at their quaint hotel accommodation in the beautiful city of Brussels. It had been a mere 27 hours after they departed as they finally got a chance to see the sun and breathe fresh air. The grueling hours of flying had taken a toll on them but there was no time to waste, they were here on a mission, a pilgrimage, a search for happiness. They had arrived with one thing on their mind, they had arrived in the city with a dream, and their dream was about to begin 42 kilometers away from the steps at what they stood, in a measly 4 hours. Time had begun ticking.

There was a lot to do, time was not on the Captain’s side, and to add to that, there was a public holiday causing all kinds of delays. Seems like the city was also lost in a celebration, celebrating their republic day milestone. The first order of business was to get a communication channel open between the travelling duo and the home base. Searching for a SIM card was proving difficult as the time crept closer, the bass was not going to wait.

The first objective was reached, but with time inching closer it only meant that the admiral and Captain had minimal time to freshen up. Down time was not on the agenda, the dream was starting, shuffling onto an uber the Captain and Admiral had now travelled by flight, train and car and were finally on the footsteps of greatness.

The nerves of the Admiral had reached peak point, as they joined the hundreds of people heading to the grand entrance of Tomorrowland. Her concerns and fears stemming from uncertainty and assumptions built up from the past year. The Captain had not stopped talking or mentioning his experience from the previous years, and the Admiral had constructed a terrifyingly chaotic landscape that plagued her mind.

The beating of the drums synchronized with the heart beats, meaning that they had crossed the checkpoints and had only to retrieve their magical Tomorrowland bands before they could step foot in the holy grounds. Here in the burning sun the Admiral and Captain stood, withstanding the heat, amongst of the hundreds of people waiting, claustrophobia hitting the Captain, time ticked, sweat dripped but after an hour in the sun, wrapped around their wrists was the key to happiness. They had entered. Walking toward the locker bay the horizon was shining with the lights of the mainstage, they kept away the precious belongings, as they now had no use for them anymore, they had entered a land where there was no use for these things. The Admiral’s nerves elevated as the beauty of the landscape started to reveal itself, into view came the pirate ship rotating above the information booth, soon her ears filled with the harmonies of the multiple stages that she was seeing in front of her, her angst turned to bewilderment.

Alice had just fallen down the Rabbit hole, a new world, a magical, beautiful world. Melodies in sighting feelings of joy and visual aesthetics like the admiral had never seen before. Following the thousands of people across the bridges, hills and walkways they finally arrived at the Tomorrowland Main Stage.

The Mainstage. A feat of human ingenuity. The theme this year was Amicorum Spectaculum, bringing back the olden day Circus. The stage had placed the Captain and Admiral in a time capsule and sent them back. Words cannot possibly describe the magnificence of the main stage, the lighting, the displays, the performers. They say photos say a thousand words, the Captain could write sagas on the beauty of the stage and the photos cannot even do justice

The Captain and Admiral stayed on the hill, soon they were joined by other friends who had travelled the seas to be there at to pay homage to the gospel of EDM. Together they sat and marveled at the likes of Tiesto, Angello, Ingrosso and Axwell, intoxicated by the music, amongst other things, dancing till their toes felt like they would fall off. As Aoki lit up the sky, the Captain and Admiral made a shuffle for the exit. It had been over 48 hours since they had had a proper sleep, it was time to head back to Brussels. Making friends as they walked across the grounds to the shuttle bus that led them back home. Within an hour, they found themselves force feeding a small box of noodles, as they knew they needed the fuel in the tank for day 2.

Sleep had finally hit, waking up 12 hours later, it felt like the Captain had been in a washing machine which was stuck on the spin cycle. Exhausted, almost broken, they oriented themselves and headed into the city central, they needed sustenance if they were to survive day 2 of the festival. They headed to the Grand Palace Square, an absolutely stunning city square which was surrounded by the most picturesque Belgian architected buildings. Marveling at the buildings the Captain fell once again deeply in love with the city, with the shimmering gold on the tops of the palace mirroring the shimmer of love in his heart.
Feeling better, they had a \quick meal at Pizza hut and headed to the pharmacy to pick up some supplies such as chap sticks, gum etc, the Captain called for an Uber, it was time to head back to the land of Tomorrow, and re-enter the dream. The rain started to pour as they returned, however this was not going to impact them as they entered the grounds. Once again there is no point in re-iterating the phenomenal beauty this place holds.

FM0 FC000000000:zzzzzz0 b 74 0078044079c3f65883c014c0 bac fa1d7 3f 3832222230a 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 030aa1faa1de7d06e 0301a20da2107d06e 02f8a258a26d7d0 0 02efa299a2cb7d06e 02f0a266a2a57d06f 02f4a25ea2a97d06e 02f8a26ca2ba7d06e 02fca28da2df7d06e 0300a291a2e17d06e 0304a271a2b87d06e 02fca250a2947d06e 0151e151e151e151e101010101010101012101210121012102112211221122112 d e d e d e d e c e c e c e c e d d d d d d d d e d e d e d e d d b d b d b d b138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388

SZ_level(4.080000) G(1.011719) FM0 FC000010000:zzzzzz0 9 791e7078044079c3f65883c014c0 bac fa1d7 3f 3835525533d 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 032941e241e07d040 7327449543b07d043 7324671859817d0 0 632313f0f126967d06e 63222b6a829c267d049 53213b0bd38c7d7d04b 331f4406846dad7d04e 231e41569536a77d050 131c3403a40a127d053 1 11a 11a 11a 11a 12d 12d 12d 12d 132 132 132 132 117 117 117 117 11a 11a 11a 11a 12d 12d 12d 12d 14f 14f 14f 14f 155 155 155 155 117 117 117 117138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388

HB = 0,6,-7 FN=0 FB = 0 me = 0x0 ct = 5 lidx=108.45 FM0 FC111111111:zzzzzz0 c 6c 0078044079c3f65883c014c0 bac fa1d7 3f 3832322330b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 030ba1fea1967d06e 0302a221a1c47d06e 02f9a2c2a2c17d0 0 02f0a2c8a2de7d06e 02f1a2a2a2a97d06e 02f5a31fa3477d071 02f9a427a4d67d072 02fda47aa56d7d073 0301a4cfa5ed7d072 0305a4d4a5e57d072 0309a3dea46f7d073 0301a2e0a2f37d074 0121712171217121710191019101910191a1b1a1b1a1b1a1b1015101510151015 c11 c11 c11 c11 e18 e18 e18 e181517151715171517101610161016101611 d11 d11 d11 d138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388

FM0 FC000000000:zzzzzz013 83 0078044079c3f65883c014c0 bac fa1d7 3f 3832e22e316 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 02d3c110c11d7d05a 12e5c133c12a7d05a 12f7c0f4c0e67d0 5 1316c0c9c0ba7d06e 130dc08ac0757d05a 1304c0a3c08c7d05a 12fbc0b7c0937d05a 12f2c0c4c0a67d059 12e9c0cac0af7d059 12e0c0dcc0c97d059 12d7c0f9c0f57d059 12cec10dc1057d059 12c5c139c1237d059 12c6c112c1027d059 12ccc0ffc0ce7d059 12d2c118c0ed7d059 12d8c116c0de7d059 12dec0f2c0c07d059 12ccc0e1c0af7d059 14f404f404f404f404178417841784178314a314a314a314a2e402e402e402e40512e512e512e512e6b4d6b4d6b4d6b4d40254025402540253f2e3f2e3f2e3f2e422b422b422b422b138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388

HB = 0,6,-6 FN=0 FB = 0 me = 0x0 ct = 5 lidx=201.88 FM0 FC010011000:zzzzzz015 c9 0078044079c3f65883c014c0 bac fa1d7 3f 383162162fe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 02feb12fb13d7d081 12f5b145b16f7d081 12ecb13bb15a7d0 b 12e3b141b1707d06e 12dab158b19e7d082 12d1b142b1687d082 12c8b13fb1657d082 12bfb137b1607d082 12dbb11bb12f7d082 12dfb12cb13c7d082 12e3b10ab0f97d082 12e7b0ffb0e37d082 12ebb115b10e7d082 12efb0eeb0cd7d082 12f3b0ebb0c97d082 12f7b105b0fc7d082 12fbb0e2b0c07d082 12ffb0dfb0bb7d082 1303b0f8b0e87d082 1307b0d6b0b07d081 12e7b0d0b0aa7d082 149494949494949493654365436543654532a532a532a532a5155515551555155284d284d284d284d203b203b203b203b471a471a471a471a593c593c593c593c1527152715271527138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388

FM0 FC111111111:zzzzzz0 a cc 0078044079c3f65883c014c0 bac fa1d7 3f 3831f21f307 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 030781a0910a7d073 02fe818a910c7d074 02f581ab91287d0 0 02ec81a791287d06e 02e38193911b7d075 02f6816490f17d075 02fa81a9910f7d075 02fe81a9910a7d075 030281a491027d075 02fa818890e97d075 01012101210121012141614161416141611121112111211121414141414141414 a a a a a a a a10 f10 f10 f10 f1918191819181918 b a b a b a b a f10 f10 f10 f10138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388

FM0 FC000010000:zzzzzz0 d ee 0078044079c3f65883c014c0 bac fa1d7 3f 3832d22d315 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 031571f1717a7d05d 130c720c71867d05d 1303724e71bc7d0 5 12fa725371bf7d06e 12f1722971987d05d 12fb71e571617d05c 12ff721f71857d05c 1303723671937d05c 1307724271997d05b 130b724671957d05b 130f7245718c7d05b 1313723c717a7d05b 1307722f71667d05b 1443f443f443f443f353635363536353640424042404240422737273727372737363a363a363a363a2619261926192619362d362d362d362d6c396c396c396c394d494d494d494d49138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388

FM0 FC111111111:zzzzzz0 a 83 0078044079c3f65883c014c0 bac fa1d7 3f 38318218300 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0300c17cc1447d07f 02f7c17ac1427d07f 12eec185c14c7d0 1 02e5c164c12b7d06e 02efc133c0fc1f07e 02f3c169c1331f07e 02f7c17ec14e1f07e 12fbc186c1587d07f 12ffc17dc1557d07f 12f7c175c1537d07f 1b3aeb3aeb3aeb3ae506b506b506b506b27262726272627261515151515151515565e565e565e565e252e252e252e252e181618161816181610131013101310131c1c1c1c1c1c1c1c138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388

FM0 FC011011011:zzzzzz0 c 59 0078044079c3f65883c014c0 bac fa1d7 3f 383092092f1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 02f1c170c1687d096 12e8c178c1787d097 12dfc185c1887d0 b 12d6c176c17c7d06e 12cdc155c15a7d098 12e0c135c13c7d099 12e4c190c1ac7d099 12e8c1b0c1e67d09a 12ecc1c4c20c7d09b 12f0c1d1c22c7d09b 12f4c1d0c2467d09c 12ecc1bac22b7d09c 15254525452545254535c535c535c535c16 a16 a16 a16 a a a a a a a a a4754475447544754444b444b444b444b14 a14 a14 a14 a b b b b b b b b3d463d463d463d46138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388

SZ_level(3.720000) G(1.003906) FM0 FC111111111:zzzzzz1 d 811c70780440a4a56013013014c0 bac fa1d7 3f 3831e21e306 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 02fac114c1557d075 12f2c114c1557d076 12eac114c1557d0 1 12e2c114c1557d06e 12f3c114c1557d075 12f6c114c1557d076 12f9c114c1557d076 12fcc114c1557d076 12ffc114c1557d075 1302c114c1557d075 1305c114c1557d075 1302c114c1557d075 1302c114c1557d075 1818c818c818c818c6f946f946f946f944b7e4b7e4b7e4b7e142a142a142a142a794f794f794f794f67686768676867682c3e2c3e2c3e2c3e14161416141614163a1a3a1a3a1a3a1a138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388

FM0 FC111111111:zzzzzz0 a 83 0078044079c3f65883c014c0 bac fa1d7 3f 3831c21c304 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0304d142d1987d079 12fbd137d18b7d079 12f2d152d1977d0 5 12e9d142d1777d06e 02f3d113d1467d079 12f7d12ed1597d07a 02fbd133d15e7d07b 02ffd12cd1537d07b 0303d11bd1437d07b 02f7d0ffd1237d07b 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

FM0 FC000000000:zzzzzz0 a10d 0078044079c3f65883c014c0 bac fa1d7 3f 3832e22e316 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0316817881ce7d05b 230d817c81cd7d05b 2304819f81e87d0 5 22fb816881997d06e 1305813781577d05b 1309813881567d05c 130d815681837d05c 1311814381707d05c 23158138815d7d05c 2309811981237d05c 2273827382738273862486248624862484c444c444c444c4441424142414241422d4a2d4a2d4a2d4a7170717071707170784b784b784b784b3f673f673f673f671f2c1f2c1f2c1f2c138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388

HB = 0,6,-7 FN=0 FB = 0 me = 0x0 ct = 5 lidx=198.28 FM0 FC000010000:zzzzzz1 a c6 00780440cc466a1de1e014c0 bac fa1d7 3f 3830e20e2f6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 02ea912f81d97d08e 02e2912f81d97d08e 02da912f81d97d0 0 02e3912f81d97d06e 02e6912f81d97d08e 02e9912f81d97d08e 02ec912f81d97d08e 02ef912f81d97d08e 02ec912f81d97d08e 02ec912f81d97d08e 01517151715171517191c191c191c191c3169316931693169999a999a999a999a252725272527252712101210121012101620162016201620345d345d345d345d c c c c c c c c138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388

FM0 FC000000000:zzzzzz0 d f1 0078044079c3f65883c014c0 bac fa1d7 3f 3832e22e316 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0316719d71ad7d05b 030d71c371d37d05a 030471d871eb7d0 1 02fb71cc71e47d06e 02f271b871d57d05a 02e971a371c17d05a 33057123713a7d05a 030971d971fd7d05a 030d71dd71f47d05a 031171db71fd7d05a 031571ff72387d05a 031971fa72257d05a 031171db71f77d05a 0 d d d d d d d d f f f f f f f f f d f d f d f d f10 f10 f10 f10 b b b b b b b b10121012101210121013101310131013 d11 d11 d11 d11171a171a171a171a138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388138813881388

Timmy Trumpet, played his trumpet, and like the pied piper everyone followed, a remarkable set, lifting the energy levels through the roof, even the sun decided to come out. A feeling of ecstasy as the Captain and admiral met up with friends and soon after were joined by Lieutenant Leigh from home base, he was on the pilgrimage with some of the lads.The Captain and Admiral joined forces for a while and then headed off, on their own ‘trip’, as they explored and were astonished by the other stages. At this point the Admiral’s fears and concerns dissolved and dripped away, like the face paint of party goers in the summer rain. She was not only converted but saw and started to believe in the magic that was happening around her. Each stage mystifying and astonishing, the surreal landscape, the visual masterpieces. Minds blown by the beauty and camera filled with photos, exhausted they returned to the Main stage to watch Armin and Alesso close out the day. The day was at an end, and once again they walked back to the shuttle to head back to Brussels, however this time the adrenaline was still pumping through the Captain and Admiral’s veins. The ecstasy of the event still alive their minds, the Captain pulled an executive order and they found themselves, sitting at Delirium Bar at 3 AM having pints of beer, large vodka lemonades and Macadamia Vodka shots. It was not until the person sitting next to them collapsed on the floor did they realize that they too now were feeling that they were in that state. The Captain leaped over the strangers vomit patch, and the Admiral too intoxicated stepped in it as they walked out of the bar and scurried, dirty kabab in hand, to fight sunrise back home.

The Third day came around and it felt like everything had caught up with the Captain, he arose 3 hours after they had slept to see the Admiral up and about, she could not sleep. The intoxication had driven her to Delirium. With great convincing the Captain had to explain that she had only slept a few hours and she needed rest and within a few minutes they once again slept for another measly hour, awakening to the realisation that today will be the last day of Tomorrowland.

Feeling extremely rough and the Captain could sense a dire sickness brew in his throat, he croaked in pain to the Admiral but in his mind he knew he had to pull together and get through this mission. Before embarking on their journey, they made a quick pit stop and headed to one of the highest rated Fritz places (chips) – Fritesland. The Captain consumed enough oil to cause tensions in the US. Getting the strength up, It was not long before, for the third and final time they embarked on their journey back to the city of Boom for the festival.

The final day of the festival was spent reminiscing and soaking up the atmosphere as the Captain’s shoes soaked up the rain water from the storm that passed over earlier. The day spent walking from hanging with Lieutenant Leigh on Mainstage to having the chance to see the Captains favorite DJ – Kshmr, blow off the roof in the freedom stage. The end was neigh. The nerves of saying goodbye to such an adventure was building up in both the Admiral and Captain. They watched phenomenal sets by W&W and Adam Lambert, and in what felt like a blink of an eye, it was time to watch the closing sets, Angello with his visual prowess and pyrotechnic support and finally the most elegant, classy and emotionally invoking musical composition ever experienced by the Captain – Martin Garrix. Within what felt like seconds, one of the greatest sets the Captain has ever seen was over, and he stood there in a puddle of what he thought was rain but could have just as likely been his tears.

Just like that it was time to finally leave the grounds, farewell the friends and head home, taking memories and leaving behind a piece of themselves. They looked back and tried their best to keep emotions hidden. They boarded the shuttle and it is then when it hit. The dream was over. The mission, the goal, the pilgrimage was complete. One of the most magical moments in their lives had just passed. There was no beers or Macadamia vodkas to celebrate, just some McDonalds and a somber, sad sleep.

Awaking after a night of silence, the withdrawals filled the Captain and Admiral, once again conversation was kept to a bare minimum as they both knew they needed some time to fully process the previous few days. Quietly the Captain and Admiral stowed away the belongings and checked out of the hotel, heading to the laundromat and restarting the journey. They walked back to the palace and explored the city, but the joy had left them, they felt the emptiness that Tomorrowland had created in them. To distract the Admiral, the Captain took her to the mighty Atomium, an architectural marvel and a symbol of the modern multi culture that Belgium has to offer, they walked around exhausted. This was followed by mini Europe where they posed in front of miniature monuments from across the continent, however even upon return to the city the emptiness was felt. At long last emotional and exhausted ( the Admiral shedding a tear or two), they found a spot to eat the only food capable of cheering a person up – Tacos! It was here that our friend and fellow Tomorrowland goer Alwyn joined us. We shared some loving stories of our experiences and felt a sigh of relief, as he felt the same emptiness. We sat, eating Belgian waffles in the beauty of the Grand Palace Square and like the shimmering gold in the buildings, once again the love started to grow as we spoke more of the love that we shared over the past few days. Our Pilgrimage was over but a new kind of love had been ignited in our hearts, and taking that with us we bid farewell to Alwyn and the beautiful City of Brussels, a city that had given us Tomorrowland. A city we would return to.