Hello family, friends, acquaintances and random strangers-
As promised, here are the details from our side trip after Amsterdam: Utrecht!
M and L were very fortunate in that L's grandparents hosted an exchange student, Bt, 20 years ago with whom they are still in contact, and who happens to live about 30 minutes outside Amsterdam. When he heard that M and L were coming, he and his family opened up their house and city to the wandering students, and showed them some wonderful hospitality.
Bt picked us up from the hostel as soon as we had checked out. He drove us through Amsterdam a little bit, and then took us to his home in Utrecht to meet his family. His wife, C, and children, F and Ba, had picked out a Dutch apple pie to share with us, and it was amazing. We were also introduced to some Dutch candy, and the pet bunny rabbit.
Bt, C, F, and Ba then took us to downtown Utrecht. We ate a delicious lunch of croquettes with mustard-mayo on toast. We saw the cathedral and the tower, which were separated when the nave collapsed several hundred years ago. Ba showed us some of her favorite knick-knack stores. F and M played something akin to Jedi wars through the streets. C made sure that we were well stocked for the train to Brussels with a full bag of both sweet and salty black licorice. She also recommended we try these sticks that are literally cleaned pieces of wood. You bite and suck on them, and they release a strong anise flavor. It was definitely a memorable experience.
Utrecht was the hardest city to leave. It was so nice to be surrounded by a family, especially one as kind and welcoming as this one. Both M and L have considered going back again this summer just to explore more of Utrecht and to see Bt, C, F, and Ba again!
Lesson of the Day: Black licorice is huge in the Netherlands. Who knew?
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Stop 2- Amsterdam
Hello family, friends, acquaintances and random strangers-
Thank you for continuing to put up with our delayed posts. Hopefully, in the next 24 hours, we will be all caught up.
Amsterdam is wonderful. It is L's favorite city so far (and, no, she didn't intake too much ''coffee''). Amsterdam has three things going for it:
1. Beautiful canals and canal houses
2. Delicious fresh farmer's yogurt
3. A refreshingly open environment
For all the things for which Amsterdam is known, safety doesn't necessarily come to mind. But you always feel safe walking in Amsterdam, whether you're heading to the Anne Frank House or walking the Red Light District (RLD) at night. The whole ''live and let live'' attitude of the city is actually quite freeing.
On to what M and L DID do in Amsterdam...
Day 1- Travel days are rough. This one was especially rough because we had taken an overnight train from Berlin. We had tried to save some money by reserving reclining seats instead of couchettes, but our compartment was tiny, full, and M's seat didn't even recline. To make matters worse, we decided to walk with Mack and Jack (L and M's backpacks, respectively) from our train station to the hostel, which looked reasonably close on a map, but took much longer to get to than expected (we hadn't yet learned how to maneover the canals effectively). We got to the hostel, and ran some errands. We found an internet cafe, a bookstore, and Dam Square. We ate delicious pancakes with salty cheese melted on top and syrup. Sounds weird...tastes great. From there, we called it an early night and slept.
Day 2- Free walking tour. Fresh farmer's yogurt for lunch. Saw a lot of Amsterdam, and also enjoyed some classic Dutch weather: drizzle, sunshine, drizzle, and rain.
Day 3- We got up early with the idea of being the first people in line for the Anne Frank House. While we did get there right when it opened, we still stood in line for an hour. The museum was touching to say the least. A must-see in both M and L's opinion. After the museum, we decided to rent bikes to see a few more sights in Amsterdam. Remember how we said that you always feel safe walking in Amsterdam? The same CANNOT be said for bike riding. We were both terrified out of our wits at first; Dutch bike riders are legit. Don't mess with them. As our tour guide said, ''when you hear that bell, run like hell.'' On the plus side, L did get to ring her bell at some pedestrians, which she found strangely satisfying. Anyway, with the bikes, we found the largest library in the EU (after some navigational difficulties that L has yet to live down), a windmill-turned-brewery, and we searched for a spot where you can supposedly see 15 bridges at once. We're not sure we found it, nor are we sure it actually exists. We did get some lovely photographs, though. We went back to the hostel for ''Hostel Night'' meaning free dinner and ice-breaker games. Then, after dark, we went out to get some pictures of the canals lit up at night. This ended up taking much longer than expected as we worked our way to the RLD and back...returning at about 1 am.
We left the next day, but had a wonderful side trip- details to follow. Amsterdam gets an A++ from L and B+/A- from M. Not a bad report card.
Thank you for continuing to put up with our delayed posts. Hopefully, in the next 24 hours, we will be all caught up.
Amsterdam is wonderful. It is L's favorite city so far (and, no, she didn't intake too much ''coffee''). Amsterdam has three things going for it:
1. Beautiful canals and canal houses
2. Delicious fresh farmer's yogurt
3. A refreshingly open environment
For all the things for which Amsterdam is known, safety doesn't necessarily come to mind. But you always feel safe walking in Amsterdam, whether you're heading to the Anne Frank House or walking the Red Light District (RLD) at night. The whole ''live and let live'' attitude of the city is actually quite freeing.
On to what M and L DID do in Amsterdam...
Day 1- Travel days are rough. This one was especially rough because we had taken an overnight train from Berlin. We had tried to save some money by reserving reclining seats instead of couchettes, but our compartment was tiny, full, and M's seat didn't even recline. To make matters worse, we decided to walk with Mack and Jack (L and M's backpacks, respectively) from our train station to the hostel, which looked reasonably close on a map, but took much longer to get to than expected (we hadn't yet learned how to maneover the canals effectively). We got to the hostel, and ran some errands. We found an internet cafe, a bookstore, and Dam Square. We ate delicious pancakes with salty cheese melted on top and syrup. Sounds weird...tastes great. From there, we called it an early night and slept.
Day 2- Free walking tour. Fresh farmer's yogurt for lunch. Saw a lot of Amsterdam, and also enjoyed some classic Dutch weather: drizzle, sunshine, drizzle, and rain.
Day 3- We got up early with the idea of being the first people in line for the Anne Frank House. While we did get there right when it opened, we still stood in line for an hour. The museum was touching to say the least. A must-see in both M and L's opinion. After the museum, we decided to rent bikes to see a few more sights in Amsterdam. Remember how we said that you always feel safe walking in Amsterdam? The same CANNOT be said for bike riding. We were both terrified out of our wits at first; Dutch bike riders are legit. Don't mess with them. As our tour guide said, ''when you hear that bell, run like hell.'' On the plus side, L did get to ring her bell at some pedestrians, which she found strangely satisfying. Anyway, with the bikes, we found the largest library in the EU (after some navigational difficulties that L has yet to live down), a windmill-turned-brewery, and we searched for a spot where you can supposedly see 15 bridges at once. We're not sure we found it, nor are we sure it actually exists. We did get some lovely photographs, though. We went back to the hostel for ''Hostel Night'' meaning free dinner and ice-breaker games. Then, after dark, we went out to get some pictures of the canals lit up at night. This ended up taking much longer than expected as we worked our way to the RLD and back...returning at about 1 am.
We left the next day, but had a wonderful side trip- details to follow. Amsterdam gets an A++ from L and B+/A- from M. Not a bad report card.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Stop 1- Berlin
Hello family, friends, acquaintances and random strangers-
Are you listening to a kick *ss a cappella group singing Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know"in the largest library in Europe? No? Well, we are. Greetings from Amsterdam!
Sorry for the delay. Travelling without internet devices presents some challenges, but we're hoping to figure things out and get better along the way. Now a recap of our trip so far.
Berlin: cool, modern, young, vibrant. The city has literally survived just about every violent European event and is still living to tell the tale. Not only that, they're living with currywurst and doner kebab. Impressive.
Day 1 was a little rocky, what with the sleep-deprivation, longer-than-expected train ride, and a little bit of nervousness about being gone for 7 weeks. But we got out, did some walking, and got plenty of sleep so that we were ready to take on...
DAY 2! We took a four hour long walking tour of Berlin, and saw just about everything there is to see in the city. We also got freshly-squeezed orange juice and ate white asparagus cream soup. A very busy day with lots of walking and photo ops. We also decided to invest in some sunblock and aloe lotion (I'll let you all imagine why).
Day 3 was our relaxing day; grocery shopping at Aldi, picnic lunch in Tiergarten, and socializing with other travellers in the hostel lounge. This also marked night 2 of wurst and curry fries with mayo for dinner.
Day 4 was our final day in Berlin (we took the 12:32 am train the next morning to Amsterdam). We did some more sightseeing, heading back to interesting spots from the walking tour. We also did an exhibit called Topography of Terror, which was an informative, memorable, and sobering experience. We also made it to a large intact section of the Wall for pictures and to get a different taste of the city. We grabbed doner for a late dinner. I believe the words "life"and "changing" were used.
There you have it folks: M & L's first update. 4 days down, 45 to go!
Are you listening to a kick *ss a cappella group singing Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know"in the largest library in Europe? No? Well, we are. Greetings from Amsterdam!
Sorry for the delay. Travelling without internet devices presents some challenges, but we're hoping to figure things out and get better along the way. Now a recap of our trip so far.
Berlin: cool, modern, young, vibrant. The city has literally survived just about every violent European event and is still living to tell the tale. Not only that, they're living with currywurst and doner kebab. Impressive.
Day 1 was a little rocky, what with the sleep-deprivation, longer-than-expected train ride, and a little bit of nervousness about being gone for 7 weeks. But we got out, did some walking, and got plenty of sleep so that we were ready to take on...
DAY 2! We took a four hour long walking tour of Berlin, and saw just about everything there is to see in the city. We also got freshly-squeezed orange juice and ate white asparagus cream soup. A very busy day with lots of walking and photo ops. We also decided to invest in some sunblock and aloe lotion (I'll let you all imagine why).
Day 3 was our relaxing day; grocery shopping at Aldi, picnic lunch in Tiergarten, and socializing with other travellers in the hostel lounge. This also marked night 2 of wurst and curry fries with mayo for dinner.
Day 4 was our final day in Berlin (we took the 12:32 am train the next morning to Amsterdam). We did some more sightseeing, heading back to interesting spots from the walking tour. We also did an exhibit called Topography of Terror, which was an informative, memorable, and sobering experience. We also made it to a large intact section of the Wall for pictures and to get a different taste of the city. We grabbed doner for a late dinner. I believe the words "life"and "changing" were used.
There you have it folks: M & L's first update. 4 days down, 45 to go!
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