Feb 17, Day 30: Italian Whirlwind, Titanic Waterworks, and Another Fast Week

 Oops... it's been a bit longer of a break than I hoped, so this is going to be a bit longer than you hoped. Sorry!!

So as anyone who knows me knows, this weirdly-shaped little pup is Valentine Lamonea Lamonie, called Vallie for short. I've had her since Valentine's Day 1994, so this year (as of Wednesday) makes her 18 years old! We've been all over the world together, and while she won't be getting a Jell-O cake for her birthday like in 1999 (no cooking allowed :c), I wanted to commemorate the rather special date for both of us.

As for that whole thing where I'm actually a college student, this past weekend was Lucca and Firenze (or Florence). For those who are wondering (Mom), no I did not get a chance to go to the Blanco [Boar] - however, I did have boar for dinner on Saturday and it was positively magnificent. (Also a bit rich and Alessandra had to help me finish it. The carnivore in me is truly ashamed.)

So the trip there wound up being a full 12 hours, with the taxi company suggesting we get to the airport by 12:30 for a 3:15 flight. While we waited, we all tried this Dutch beer (in Germany, go figure) called Grolsch at the airport café. I didn't get a picture but it was really good! The plane ride was fine, a bit bumpy, followed by a - surprise surprise - one hour bus trip actually into Milan, then a train ride from Milan to Florence.

This was where the drama got going. I accidentally bought the last second-class ticket to Florence through the kiosk, which wouldn't accept my own credit card so I had to use the emergency Parental Fund (I later realized that I'd put my own card in upside down). Meanwhile, the other three girls ran through the line and got their - wait for it - first class tickets. We got to the train and I somehow, again accidentally, seated myself into what I think was possibly business class - there were business men in front of me and we got served by the trolley, but I was scared to ask for anything in case they asked for my ticket, realized I was in the wrong place, and kicked me off the train or something. I was fine though, I studied up in my (well, Katie's) Italiano phrasebook and read the tour book on Lucca; we all met up in Florence and apparently Emma had combed (almost) the entire train twice looking for me, oops. 

Somewhere in the shuffle of reintegrating me to the group, we missed the connecting train from Milan to Lucca. Well, I say "somehow" but mean "because we were looking at the Arrivals board instead of the Departures board." Oops. 

An hour or so after finally landing seats to our goal city, we made it to the wall of Lucca; an hour or so after that, we'd meandered through the inner streets, meowed and awwed at wayfaring cats, and finally found our B&B - with a very tired-looking man, Marco, at the front desk. He got us situated, we decided against trying to find the late-night gorgonzola/pear mac & cheese spot, I realized I'd left my contact case in Well, and (after I fashioned a poor woman's contact case with some plastic cups and a book) all crashed into bed.

The next morning arrived with what will probably be the most splendid breakfast I'll ever have, prepared and served inexhaustibly by Marco's mother, the owner of La Torre. We were all stuffed by the end, but she kept trying to feed us pastries, nuts, eggs, coffee, anything, and by the second morning we were all instructed to call her Nona, so I'm pretty sure she liked us.

Filled to the brim with coffee, blood orange juice, and food, we struck out into the city, Alessandra leading the way (as the return visitor and as the only one of us who speaks Italian). Our first stop: the top of Guinigi Tower, known for its rooftop oak tree garden and view of the city.

Lucca!

The store downstairs was filled with beautiful home-spun items like bags, scarves, hanging lights, and covered journals. Emma bought one of the journals and I had my eye on a gorgeous purple and white bag, but as it was €32 I contented myself with waiting on it and petting the shop owner's collie.

She was such a sweetie and even posed for us later

We kept on going, walking along the wall until a photo op by one of the churches (which we later went into, I to a special section with the Sleeping Beauty tomb).

We just kept trading cameras around for pictures, it was really silly

 We wandered around the city for the next 5 hours - the great thing about Lucca's city structure is that if you keep walking long enough, eventually you will hit the wall. If you wanted to not get to the wall, just bang a Uie (how do you even spell that? Youie? Uey?) and keep walking until you find the shopping street. A few stores later, we stumbled onto an archaeological church - that is, a church that has been further excavated to reveal the previous 12 centuries of church structure on that exact spot. We were all geeking out about the old architecture and stonework, and even threw coins into the ancient baptismal bath for a wish.

 

It was freezing in the church, so we went back outside to explore one of the center squares (on the way I found a bead for my charm bracelet) and find lunch. Gino's Café, thankfully not just a café, suited us quite nicely with water, bread and olive oil, bruschetta, delicious local wine (nothing below 13.5% though, yowza), and our various plates of pasta. I don't honestly know what I ordered, but it sounded like "boar" and had parma ham so I got it. Good choice.

 

There wasn't actually any boar involved but my god was it good

I'm guessing that whatever sounded like "boar" actually meant "leek," but regardless of the ingredient list it was delicious.

After lunch was more wandering and generally being in love with the city, including a stop at a ridiculously cute café/bar (apparently it was also gender-segregated, considering how the local boys kept walking straight past the counter ladies and us with the pastries and coffees to the dark back section with male bartenders and alcohol and whatnot). It took a few tries to get to the Anfiteatro (the old amphitheatre), but eventually we made it there, shopped around in the center (I almost had a gorgeous pair of €10 blue heels, they even fit my wide toebox, but the shoe was too long!), shopped around on the main street (including at the United Colors of Benneton outlet, what in the world it was doing in Lucca I don't know but Emma got great shoes there), and eventually went into a 70% off store that we'd seen earlier but had agreed that "it's probably 70% off for a reason, etc etc."

Well, that reason is apparently "because it's a lot of really cute clothes in the same color sets and we had too many at the other store so here they are, go for it!"

And oh, did we go for it.

 We all tried on at least one dress (the same dress...), but looked around for the better part of 30 minutes. Well, I tried on about seven dresses, a sweater while I was waiting in the sleeveless dress for one of the three changing rooms that we four were all using simultaneously, and a grey peasant blouse. Let's just say that the peasant blouse was a unanimous winner, the responses were embarrassingly nice, and it was also 70% off of €24.90 (or €29.40) down to €8.something. Um, yes please. The sweater I'd grabbed off the shelf to cover my shoulders was also a winner - beautiful light green color, very soft, gorgeous cut, and around €10. All in all, I'd call it a good buy.

We dropped off our bags back in the B&B, hunted down the restaurant I'd read about only to find that it was full, then went down the street to another place we'd seen. This wonderful little restaurant satisfied my boar craving, then (after we accidentally stayed past closing time and grazie'd our way out) we played Follow The Local Youths Because They Probably Know Where The Demographically-Correct Bar Is to a crowded little spot a few blocks from our B&B. I had my first whiskey sour that night; don't let the short glass trick you, those bad boys are fierce. We were all only planning on one drink, but the bartender - who must've taken a liking to at least one of us, we're pretty sure Mollie - brought us whiskey shots on the house and insisted we try them. When in Lucca...

Actually, they weren't harsh at all - not to mention, those sugar-covered orange slices were tasty!

 The next morning was not as much fun, as we only had time for a short breakfast before racing off to catch a train to Firenze. We got a bit turned around and it was snowing when we got there, but all things considered it wasn't a complete wash of a morning. We dumped our bags at the station bag check and bustled off into the wind to see what we could in the four short hours before our next train.

Turns out, we could see a lot.

The Duomo

Chocolate bears (and pipes, and wrenches) at what was possibly a chocolate festival

Ferocity at the Accademia Gallery

In front of the Ponte Vecchio: Mollie, Me, Alessandra, and Emma

Right after we took this, I noticed from afar a beautiful red and grey scarf at a street cart- I actually went with its tan/neutral twin - and later Alessandra and I each found a charm in the bridge jewelry shops.

And of course, despite the weather: GELATO!

Strawberry and blackberry, mmm!

This was followed by a cup of tea that at least kept me going until the train station. Again, we were split up, but in 2-1-1 this time instead of 3-1, and we'd actually bought specific cars and seats this time so it wasn't really an issue, just funny. We landed in about two feet of snow in Bologna, at which point we had about three hours to wait for our plane - a good three hours to have, considering how my boarding pass had somehow shuffled itself to the bottom of my bag and I had the distinct honor of unpacking my weekend in public to find it. 

After a bizarre airport dinner and some truly grating gate switches, we waited around for twenty minutes in line, then huddled in a bus, for the shuttle to literally go in a circle around the airplane to drop us off.

Seriously. We waited. For the better part of half an hour, we waited. On an outdoor staircase. Within meters of our plane. To go into a shuttle. TO GO IN A CIRCLE AROUND SAID PROXIMAL PLANE.

Italy, WHAT

The plane ride itself was fine; we had extra space, so I actually got some homework/napping done (woohoo!) before we got home around 11; good thing, too, because I went upstairs shortly after getting home to hear about the Budapest group's and Najah's Paris experiences around Europe. 

AS FOR THIS WEEK

it's been a lot of shopping, but I'm home for the weekend so it works out.

I went grocery shopping on Monday (then again today for things I forgot), got presents for an early birthday package for Alyssa (she's in Venice this weekend, turning 20 on Sunday!), and got some last-minute things for my Secret Valentine. 

Tuesday, Valentine's Day, marks Vallie's 18th birthday and what was possibly the least socially engaged V-Day ever. It was awesome. V-Night, on the other hand, consisted of 15 girls (and Chris B) watching Titanic with a huge pile of Rolos, eventually whittling down to Emma, Alyssa, Val, and I watching to the end. Emma and Alyssa had been sobbing for the better part of the second half, but I didn't snap until Rose died and then...

"She met him at the clock! Everyone's applauding their love!"

 Happy Valentine's Day, ladies and gentlemen.

 

The big Secret Valentine reveal was on Wednesday: we all sat in Sophie's for an hour or so, watching performances and having our names called out to deliver our valentine gifts by hand to whoever we'd pulled. I'd actually been working on mine for a good four days, leaving "postcards" - printed-out pictures glued to cardboard with a little poem on the back - with a chocolate or something in her mailbox. The big package on Wednesday was a set of "tattoo" glitter body pens (thank you EUOR) and chocolate bottle-opener (yes, you read that right) from Florence, but the piece de resistance was a blue paper accordion calendar that I had to give late because it wouldn't fold together in the five minutes I had between class and the party.

My secret valentine had put a letter covered in hearts with a hand-drawn bear saying "Have a blast!" - so I was pretty sure whoever'd gotten me was a girl. Actually, it was Bryan from next door, known since Prague as Big Papa or Dad, who brought over - in front of everyone - a Targé bag filled with Cheetos (god knows when those got to Europe), Chokotoffs (my third bag since getting here!), a Milka bar, and mints from our favorite restaurant in Prague. He even signed the card "From Dad" and drew a dog and bear on the front - what detail!

American Night was Carnaval-themed this week (meaning come in a costume and the best one wins drinks and a crown); I got there late, as our ethics professor sprung a four-page paper on us on Tuesday, due Thursday, but went as "Partly Sunny With A Chance Of Rain." I didn't take a picture - my makeup was so not up to par - but it involved my gold shoes, grey dress, and quite a bit of eyeshadow. I'll do it again someday though, so pictures will come.

We're all preparing for Carneval, so I have a cardboard waffle mostly cut out for my Belgium costume - it'll be done by Sunday - and the stores are closing down for the weekend. Alessandra, Emily, Lane and I were planning on going into Dusseldorf today to go shopping, but all three of them woke up still feeling pretty sick so we nixed the "Go Out and Spend Lots of Money!" plan for the unanimously loved "Sleep Four More Hours, Walk Around Well, Eat Inexpensive Food" option.

Today has been a lot of PJ time, let's just say that. I just had my first Well pizza and it was not bad at all; there were definitely some unfamiliar flavors involved but it was overall perfectly adequate. Currently I'm debating between staying in or going out, but I finally found a Gilmore Girls link that (kind of) works (when it wants to) and I think it's raining outside, so there's that.

Hopefully my next post won't be so epic! Phew, that was a lot. Brownie points if you got this far.

- That kid who buys too much and writes even more a.k.a. Bekka

Day 21 (R): Packer's Block

Alright, so that moment I never thought would come (or rather hoped would come in another month at least) has arrived.

I can't decide what to pack.

For some imbecilic reason, I neglected to pack more warm-weather clothes, assuming that winter would be on its way out for the next 40 months of grey drizzle, because la la la it doesn't get below freezing in Europe, it just rains nbd

WELL THAT WAS A LIE.

Apparently we came during the coldest year it's been in six years or something perfectly brilliant like that; of course, I only brought one sweatshirt, 2-3 longsleeves, and two coats - a trench coat, which is now missing a button (I still have it but don't know how to sew, so oops), and a Northface, which is the king of warmth but unfortunately does not sync up with the various cuts of my sweaters. It's going to be 34 degrees F/0 C the entire time we're there, so the Northface is probably the better idea - however, here comes the problem. 

We're going to Italy. 

I know that in Well, it's absolutely impossible to avoid being instantly recognized as An American College Student, primarily because we're the only actual college-age people here (whoops, sorry Linden boys; or as Dubliner Matthew so eloquently explained, "If she's got lights on her shoes, she's too young for you!"). However, I was hoping that while I may not necessarily osmose my way into Luccan society, it might at least be possible to meld, or perhaps blur, my intrusion. About that. I have kicked myself (repeatedly) for forgetting my brand-new knee-length winter coat - currently, it is snuggled away somewhere with the other winter coats, wondering quietly to itself what it may have done to make me not want it.

On the other end of the spectrum, I'm also kicking myself for not bringing a bathing suit. Guys, Spain is hot. We're going there in March. They have beaches in Spain. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME. Granted, I don't have a one-piece (yet), so maybe it's not that big a deal...

No it's still kind of a big deal

While it doesn't help that packing was interrupted by several hours of hilarity upstairs and Sweeney Todd (I forgot how gory it is, my god they must've used enough corn syrup to make McDonald's jealous), tonight was still pretty fantastic. I think people went out to the Linden but I honestly don't know; we were all joking around upstairs, making Lion King videos and whatnot. 

Yet again, we've reached that point where it's suddenly 1:30am. Oops.

So coat tragedies aside, this weekend should be fun. I'm going to a gorgeous town in a gorgeous country with awesome people, and let's face it: I'm a blond chick with a German spelling of a Jewish name who can barely speak Italian anyway - that disguise was not going to last very long.

Next update will be after Lucca, and then next week: Carneval in town. We're doing "Around Europe In Eighty Days," each of us dressing up as a country('s stereotype). Guess which country I picked.

As for Bella Italia, I suppose this means no more afternoon cappuccinos. Drat.

-Bekka

PS, To my coat, wherever you are:

Dear Winter Coat,

To quote 10 Things I Hate About You:

"I want you. I need you. Oh baby, oh baby."

Seriously though

It's freaking cold in Europe

We should hang out sometime

-B

15 (F), 16 (S), 17 (s), 18 (M): Prague It Out

Somehow I made it back alive.

Actually, Prague was a wonderful city in every way except the temperature. Well, and that whole part where I can't speak or read or function in Czech and now between Czech money, Spanish/Portuguese music, and Japanese habits I can barely function in English, let alone Dutch, but that's beside the point. (From yesterday: I've been awake since 4am (not counting several 3-20 minute travel naps) and have a bit more work to do, so this is going to be (somehow) concise.) Wait! Concise... with pictures.

We met up at 7:45 in the courtyard to walk to the 8:00 bus. At 7:53, Chris B remembered that he'd forgotten his passport in his room. Strike 1. Then it was 40 minutes on the bus (minus Chris) to the Venlo train station (turns out I was in Venlo after all!), for breakfast (mine was a bag of sliced apple and a small coffee) followed by 45ish minutes on the train, 15 minutes on the bus to the airport by 10:40, negligible but annoying passport drama, then takeoff at 12:20. We arrived in Prague at 1:45 and went to meet the taxi driver, but while we were all getting our crowns out Stephanie realized she'd left her wallet somewhere. Strike 2. About a half-hour taxi drive later (complete with Adele, Michael Jackson, and Moby on the playlist), we landed at Sir Toby's - only to find that everyone had actually made their reservations separately, which I hadn't realized. Strike 3. Fortunately, I was able to make my reservation that day, so no harm done.

While we were waiting for the Wallet Party to arrive (they stayed an extra 15-30 minutes to recover the goods), I divvied out the cookies I had oh-so-cleverly bought and packed the day before from my favorite bakkerij ever. Turns out, the second group's taxi driver was super cool and told them about cool spots in the city, such as the pizza place next door to us (actually one of the best in Prague, go figure). We saw the very happy Happy Hour sign and finally sat down for food: Mine was ram's horn, egg, sort of hot pepper, and basil.

I ate the whole thing except that giant pepper

The whole thing was about $8 with water and tip. WHAT

Our receptionist, whose name I don't think we ever got, mapped out directions to the city, sold us the (1-time, weird) tram tickets, and off we went into the 9 degree cold.

We stopped at Dojna's favorite bar, Coyotes - Chris said it was "basically Coyote Ugly," but I honestly wouldn't know. The drink menu was absolutely incredible, but I didn't really love my selection much. C'est la vie.

After debating (and unanimously agreeing against) going clubbing, we stayed at the hostel, loitering as a group in the downstairs lounge (with 2/€5 wine, cheapest ever) until 2:30am. An organizer from the local pub crawl tried to get us to come, but we were all exhausted and rainchecked for the next day. For the rest of the night we talked, played the Sticky Head Game, met travelers from Utrecht, Ireland, and Rome, and generally chilled out; I discovered my new favorite drink, B-cola (Becherovka with Coke and lemon; unfortunately, Becherovka is going to be pretty hard to find in the US, and I'm not allowed to look until June anyway), and we had a sudden Hallelujah jamsesh when one of the other hostelers started strumming from across the room. Chorus throwback!

The next morning we all woke up starving (at about 10...); our receptionist told us about a restaurant nearby with good options, so we scurried through the cold, complete with police directions, to the spot in question. It took about an hour for the food to get to us, but god, was it worth it. Michelle and Stephanie split the 2-person Czech meat skillet, with about 8 different kinds of meat (duck, beef, ham, pork knuckle, chicken etc). I had " Holešovický flák z vepřové krkovice " - Traditionally prepared pork neck, with bacon-onion roasted potatoes on the side. AHaekfna;slkdfma

This one's for you, Dad

After lunch, we went out to face the cold (Stephanie lent me her extra beanie, so at least my ears were managed). 7 hours of walking later, we'd seen:

A Mucha/Dali exhibit in the Staromestske Namesti,

I was on my own for Mucha but it was so worth it. I also got my (own) hat here!

The Charles Bridge,

 

The Lennon Wall,

Not to be confused with Lenin

  

 A view from Prazsky Hrad (Prague Castle),

 

St Vitus Cathedral,

We went inside the next day, but my camera had died. The stained glass was stunning though.

And a lot of absinthe shops.

Absinth ice cream, that's a new one

The next few hours were recuperating from the walk with a 2-hour sieste (sorely needed) and surprisingly fantastic pasta from the restaurant a 40 second walk from our beds. None of us took pictures of the food this time; by the time we remembered, everything was already gone. Oops.

We finally got out at 9:00; the seven of us doing the crawl sprinted back to prep for call time at 9:15. At 9:20, the receptionist took our Before picture and we headed out to the Mosaic Hostel to collect the other crawlers.

Chris B, me, Erin, Michelle, Chris M, Stephanie, Bryan/Big Papa

The lineup:

1. Mosaic Hostel

2. U Sudu

3. Heaven

4. N11

 5. Karlovy Lazne (5 story club)

U Sudu, the first bar - Robbert's favorite in Prague, and for good reason. Get Mojitos here!!

On the Oldies Floor (3) of Karlovy Lazne

All in all, it was a pretty fantastic night - we met crazy boys from Dublin who knew Jersey Shore better than we did, one of whom rooted for Giants, and somehow stayed until 4:30. The only bad parts were that 1. I didn't get the True Prague Experience of "go out all night and buy a street-vendor sausage for the trip back" and 2. We got back at 5am and it looked like someone had been added to the empty bed while we'd been out. (As it turned out, Kleoniki and Katie decided to have their own fun and stuffed the bed to prank us. Needless to say, it worked.)

Sunday morning arrived (well, re-arrived) with Stephanie screaming "GIANTS WON GIANTS WON SUCK IT BRADY HAH," from the bunk above me - one hell of a way to wake up, just saying. It was with a heavy heart that I headed out to Old Town again for breakfast; however, my schnitzel, for whatever reason, came with a surprise beer. Unexpected but delicious. 

Next year, Brady. Next year.

On the way, I found an old friend.

It's so much better here though

We explored some more, I bought a replacement hat (the pink one from Saturday is now roaming the streets of Prague on someone's head), and we avoided the snow flurries - yes, snow - with frequent dips into cafés, trams, a street-corner food stand with chocolate-drizzled waffles on sticks (messy but so good; we had chocolate smears for hours), and eventually a Starbucks. Yeah, yeah, I know. At that point on a Sunday, most of the museums were closed and we didn't want to walk outside much anyway. Back at the hostel, we packed up, got dinner at the pasta place again (I had a Stella Artois and it was magnificent), and went back to U Sudu to show Kleo and Katie, despite the horrendously early morning Monday was going to be. The mojitos (and my caipirinha) were just as good tonight as yesterday, if not better.

Everyone (well, Erin's taking the picture) on the way to U Sudu

None of us were tired by 12 when we got home, but the lights were out and we were all trying our damnedest to fall asleep without laughing - somehow we all finally fell asleep, then within hours we were all up again at 4am to journey home.

From 4-11:50am, we taxied, bused, flew, bused, trained, bused and walked back to the Kasteel. 

Things that I missed about the castle:

1. Horizontal surface

2. Free water

3. Hot showers

By now (now being Wednesday the 8th), my poor immune system is so shot. I moved from a slight post-smoky-club cough to a full-blown cold, but it already seems to be ebbing off. My Stalin presentation for history class this morning went pretty well, then directly after lunch it was three-hour-naptime. Maybe when I was little I was too cool for naps, but those days are gone now. Naps are where it's at. At this point, I have a day and a half to continue healing before Lucca on Friday - something tells me it won't be quite the same experience as Prague, although it's supposed to still be pretty cold.

In the meantime, someone's singing Cinderella and Beauty & The Beast upstairs and it's almost dinnertime. Maybe it was a quiet 7-hour break this week but it was well spent.

So much for concise, right? HA.

-Bekka

Days 12(T), 13(W), 14(R): Well That Was A Quick Week

And by "week" I mean "three days." However, these three days were spent without or with extremely limited access to (3:1 respectively):

1. My camera (until Candace lent me her charger!! <3)

2. An OV ChipKaart with a positive or at least neutral balance, despite numerous attempts to reload

3. Temperate weather

4. The Internet.

So in a way, while the last few days somehow passed in a blur, during the process it was a bit more like watching paint dry. Kind of like getting a tooth pulled: at the time it seems to take forever (or at least it did for mine), but when you look back it's all sort of fuzzy and you're not sure how you got from Point A to Point B but obviously it must've happened somehow and here you are, ready or not for the next adventure. Thankfully, my next adventure has nothing to do with dental procedures.

In a matter of hours, I will be waking up with a pack of 8 (maybe 9?) people to head over to Prague. Yup, Prague as in Czech Republic. (And I was finally getting somewhat functional with Dutch...) I'm crazy excited about this, as it's a completely new experience for me and those are always interesting; granted, OSA probably still has doubts about my travel skills from the Venray Incident. Honestly, they should just talk to Sensei, she'd sort them out. Yeah, the speed bumps on my travels tend to occur with a bit more frequency and drama than some, but I usually land on my feet somewhere in the correct vicinity.

For those who are wondering, yes I'm slightly terrified.

However, my bag is successfully packed for the weekend, at a perfect 6 kg (WizzAir only allows 10 kg) with room to spare for squishing under seats or a shirt to start my new collectible project. After much deliberation, I've decided that rather than highly breakable shotglasses or a billion new necklaces, I'll get something with the country flag or coat of arms for each city/province on it, then cut & quilt it all to make a giant blanket. Hopefully I can also find the flags of everywhere that I've lived already, but that part'll have to come later. Looks like someone's going back to Amsterdam for a bit...

As for the last few days, things have been fairly stable: homework's piling up, American Night is magnificent, the potatoes at dinner were great, and oh yeah the moat's frozen over. (Woohoo!) It's cold and my money's making a lovely wooshing sound as it flies away to this country or that weekend, but I also didn't realize how wonderful the Linden's prices were until we came back from Amsterdam. (Small beer at the Linden: €1.70. Standard beer at The 3 Sisters: €5. Gahhh.) It's supposed to be around 15 Degrees F for the weekend, so I'm taking my nice new super-thick scarf and maybe I'll find a hat there. Meanwhile, about 85% of Kasteel Well is heading to Belgium, split between Brussels and Bruges. If they come back without having Leffe, rabbit stew, or far too many pictures of the Manneken Pis, I will be very disappointed.

Well, it is very much past my bedtime; good night and good weekend!