The (Mis)Adventures of Matt Lyon

After partying till the break-a break-a dawn with Petri I had a great last night in town from everyone at the Hill. I got up and met with Borbridge, who calmed my nerves and help me distract myself from the fact that I was leaving everything I had ever known. Went to New Orleans with the rents and had a nice relaxing night around the hotel. (Although Burbach's 23rd was in the back of my mind!) A quick goodbye at the airport. Mom wouldve hugged me and cried for hours if I let her. Off to Dallas. The flight to Dallas was pretty uneventful. The Dallas-Chicago flight was great. There was nobody on this huge 777, so I had all the space in the world. Each seat had a tv screen and there were like 5 movies, a number of tv channels and a flight tracker-which is the shit. The flight tracker shows you your speed, altitude, position on a map, local historic sites that you fly over, current time and temp (-86 F)! Anyways, sat back and watched Cheap Seats Roller Derby and Meet the Fockers. When I got to O'Hare I called as many people as I could in th 45min layover, before my phone hit complete radio silence for a year. I got a hold of a little more than half the people I called. I was in line to board, but got out to give Danny one more shot. Never heard from him. Good luck pahdnuh. Anyways, my seat was 40A, the very last seat on the plane. It was a full plane, but no one had sat down next to me. Then at the last minute a beautiful blone haired blue-eyed girl comes running on the plane. I tense up like a uh...like I always do and of course I'm reading A Clockwork Orange, a great conversation starter. Nice pick, Matt. After about 30 mins of awkward silence I finally say hello. Her name is Dell and she is from Kansas, but lives in Kansas City. A bright, intelligent girl. Graduated from a small liberal arts college in 04 with a degree in English. Tutors full time in a Title I school in K.C. Has played piano since she was 5 and is visiting a friend who is teaching English in Lille, France. Loves the Tulips of Amsterdam. Great conversation.

My first airline meal wasn't horrible but it wasn't great either. Beef tips and mashed potatoes. The sunset was great. I'm not sure exactly where we were (the Chicago-Brussels flight had no tracker) but there was endless lakes below the clouds and I realized that it was the first time in my life that I saw so much land with no human interferance. Kinda blew me away. I get maybe two hours of sleep and wake up and watch a little of The Incredibles but its dubbed in two languages so it was pretty hard to follow. Once we deplane, Dell and I walk to the baggage claim. I find my luggage pretty quickly, but Dell had no such luck. Bags never made it past Chicago, so she's SOL for a couple of days. We take a train into the city and part ways. Thanks, Dell for making my nerve-racking pulling of the trigger a little less hairy.

I walked outside and said "Grand Place" and was pointed in the right direction. Going by the vague directions from the hotel's website, the hotel is in the 'immediate area' of Grand Place. Fuck no. Its like 500 meters away. I walk around Grand Place with its 500 yr-old brickes clickety-clacking under my monster of monster of a material container. After about a half hour, I broke down an bought a map, but with no success. Finally a deli woman took pity on me and gave me great directions. I wasn't even close. Walking back through the square, I was schoolchildren in their little shorts and long socks chanting and singingin Flemish. What a strange and marvelous sight! Exactly how I had pictured it. Visited the Cathedral of Sant Michel du something or other. Built in the early 1200's. Absolutely gorgeous. There was a display of Christian artwork that seemed like canvas, but was actually panes of wood that we carved out and then painted. very cool. After a phatty nap, went to the metro to look for Augustine, but no luck. Went to a pub and ordered Stella Artois and sat down. The barkeep was a burly lumberjackish Frenchman who was very congenial and actually fit the place quite well. The radio played S&G's 'Mrs. Robinson' and the Beatles' 'Across the Universe'. Made me feel like I was a little closer to my own universe. Finally ran into Augustine and his buddy Andy and went back to the same pub to have a couple more night caps. Great to see Augustine. So much fun to hang out with again.

After waking up 20 mins after checkout we hit the tourist spots up: the Cathedral, Grand Place, Mannekin-Pis--which is this little 2 ft statue of a boy pissing. People flock around this fucker like its Da Vinci's Last Supper or something. Anyways we walk around aimlessly for a while and find this outdoor shopping mall, so we stroll down it and I turn around at one point for no particular reason and there was this ancient church sandwiched between a boutique and a gyro shop. I rushed in, Andy and Augustine were a little more hesitant, but they soon succumbed. What a SIGHT! An all white church! There were ornate art pieces and sculptures everywhere. The pews were just simple chairs and it truly felt like solace away from the storm. I sat there for a good ten minutes and became completely relaxed. I walked back into the world cleansed and refreshed and much cleaner than those at the gyro stand.