Amsterdam and Brussels

We reserved the night train to Amsterdam for Wednesday night and decided to skip class on Thursday. Wednesday's pre-departure activities turned out a bit differently than I had originally expected:
12:30- Finished lunch and began working on my Marketing Feasability Study, knowing that it would take me no more than an hour.
3:45- FINALLY finished the project and could breath for a minute before I began packing.
4:00- Packed
6:30- Scarfed down mac and cheese and the rest of dinner in 12 minutes in order to make our bus at 6:45
6:46- Standing outside of DCT waiting for Deirdre and Ashley while we watch the bus go by
6:46 1/2- Running like bats out of hell to the bus stop where the bus driver kindly waited for us

Though that was a rough beginning to our trip, my journey to Holland was fairly seamless. We had a few connections that were not cumbersome by anz means which was followed by a night train. I think that this train trip seemed nicer than the average one because we were all together in one car. The lack of smelly men was truly a blessing!

Day 1

We arrived in Holland at 8:30 where we caught a bus to the square that our hotel was located. We had reservations for The Marriott Amsterdam. The only discrepancy was the minor detail that our reservation was for 4 and we happened to be 7. Again, a minor detail. We sketchily sneaked the extra people in through a side door and made our way to the room.

It was so nice to finally reside in a nice establishment! The next time I am in Europe I would like to omit any hostel visits, or at least keep them to a minimum.

After we all dropped our things off and changed our outfits we headed out into God knows what. Again, noone did much research on the place we were visiting. In our defense, there is only so much research that one can do...I feel as if traveling is about a vibe, a feeling, an energy. None of this can be obtained from a book, no matter how in-depth it is.

We stumbled upon The Bull Dog Cafe which is a very infamous "cafe", if you will, in Amsterdam. There we participated in a very fun, yet stereotypical part of most everyone that visits Amsterdam. We sat and laughed for a while and then made our was to the Van Gough Museum and the I AMSTERDAM sign.

At the Van Gough museum we all got headphones for the exhibit that is there about Van Gough's amazing use of light at night in his paintings. Stary night was even there! He had a fascination with painting peasant life at night..it was very cool.


After that, we were all fittingly very hungry. We stopped in a little market where I got a waffle that tasted like it was infused with crack. It was delicious!

We were fairly tired by then, so Jeanne and I went back to the hotel to take a nap in the bed alone becuase we knew that we were not going to have the chance to be in the bed alone all weekend. It felt amazing!

Everyone came back eventually, and we prepared ourselves for the evening festivities. It was Jeanne's birthday, and also the crowning ceremony from Dee to Jeanne. Dee's birthday was the previous day, so it was a very intense ceremony.

We all got fairly ridiculous and had a great time. It was nice knowing that our hotel was withing a stone's throw of the square that we fell in love with. The vibe of the city was contagious. Street vendors, musicians, dancers, performers, streets lined with cafe's and pubs...it was great!

We found an awful lot of clubs that played some really "groovy" music. They were all throw backs from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. Jeanne seemed really happy, as did the rest of the group.

The night ended with a trip to the "Pancake House" where we all got crepes filled with, again, some form of crack-infused syrup. Of course I am kidding when I speak of the crack-infused food- That is just my way of saying that it is addicting, how good it is.

We headed home after that into our little room where we had three people in each bed, and one person on the floor. It was difficult to sleep, but amazing nonetheless.

DAY 2

I woke up at 8 am from a rather rough night of fighting for covers and space in the small bed the Julia, Ashley and me were "sharing". We all got ready and headed for the Anne Frank Museum/House as to avoid the long lines that we heard happened mid-day.

Well, we got there at about 10 and the line was already a bit ridiculous. Jeanne, Ashley and I snuck out of it in search of some cheap postcards while the others held our spot. Of course, knowing Jeanne and me, we found food. It was really a treat, though- we found a place that had EGG SANDWICHES! Really, an amazing concept.

We finally made it through the line and were let into the house where Anne, her family, and the others stayed for 2 years in hiding. It was very eerie to be in the house after having read the book. It was busy, but they made it so that the flow was smooth, so it didn's seem like we were too rushed or being pushed. This is a photo of the bookshelf that was the entrance to their hiding spot in the Annex.

After the museum we went to a grocery store that had really yummy and cheap salads. It was 4 Euro for a salad complete with pasta, my favorite kind of lettuce, walnuts, apples, goat cheese, and cucumbers. Jeanne bought a baguette, and we walked to the park that was right by our hotel to sunbathe, relax, and just enjoy the weather and celebrate Jeanne's birthday. It felt great to just relax!

We did that for about 3 hours and then went shopping for a bit. I got a really pretty grapefruit colored cardigan at H&M. We went back to the hotel for a short rest and then ventured out in search of the Red Light District.

We should have known from the gloomy skies and the weather report that the weather that evening wasn't going to be spectacular, but we ignored the signs and went anyways. We ran into trouble for the first time when we were in search for dinner. The rain started coming down, so I quickly bought a really ghetto "Holland" umbrella that had a really awkward handle and a tulip on it. Then we found a pizza joint that was less than appealing. The pizza tasted like cardboard. Actually, I take that back- I would prefer cardboard over the slice of whatever they gave me for my 5 Euro(50 cents more for barbecue sauce in an attempt to add some flavor).

The rain calmed and we ventured out in search of a stripper. It was pretty disgusting/disturbing to me. It is literally just a long street seperated by a canal, each side housing little rooms where these woman attempt to have eye sex with gross looking men in hopes that they will sleep with them. It seems so degrading, but I guess everyone has their own journey...

As we were discussing the logistics as to hoe to get one of these girls (because I am clueless on these matters), it started to POUR! "Cats and dogs" is a serious understatement for the storm that ensued during our walk. We ran to the nearest pub that didn't sketch us out and went in. We were serious hot commodities in this bar due to the fact that we were the only females in the entire establishment.

We got so bored there that we made a collaborative decision that it was a great idea to leave the red light district and go back the square that we all knew and loved. When we left the pub, the rain was still coming down, but not in the sheets that it was before. About a minute later, it started up again and we all were soaked. It got so bad that we all just took it with a grain of salt and accepted the fact that it was our destiny to get soaked. I seriously have not laughed that hard in a long time!

On the way home, Jeanne and I thought it was a grand idea to jump in a local fountain. We're so rebellious, I know. We went back to the hotel, changed into whatever we had that was dry, and went to the square looking like wet dogs and continued the party. I had a great night sans guy that wouldn't stop talking to me. I can't think of anything else that I could have done to make him think I was a weird-o. By the end of the night it was almost a game to see what I could do to make him not like me. That is him to the right of me in the photo.

Day3

That was my night to sleep on the floor. Terrible idea. My back has never hurt so badly in my life- I could barely move it. This aging stuff could at least wait a few more years before it starts crippling me.


Anyhow, I forged ahead, bought a heat pack, and we all rented bikes. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to get bikes because there were 7 of us and there was a long line...God was on our side and the bikes appeared.

Julia seemed to have forgotten how to ride a bike, so that caused a great deal of laughter on our little biking excursion. To add to the fact that she forgot how to ride a bike, her bike was too big for her, so it was a bit crazy.

Side note: Bikers in Amsterdam are NUTS! They will run you over if you are in their way. There are all these rules and regulations on how to ride bikes properly in Amsterdam. They have a path larger than that of the pedestrians and it's just ridiculous.

As usual, we found a supermarket, got some of the same salads that we had the previous day, and rode around for a few hours before we found a cool park where we could eat and relax. Having not biked in a while, my butt was feeling a bit sore.

It started to rain so we rode back to the place where we got the bikes which was near our favorite square and had some more R&R time.

After some relaxing, we got ready and went to dinner (guess where..) in the square! I had fish which was good, but Linda's salmon salad looked way better. The square is full of tables from the various restaurants and pubs. It is lively and great for people-watching.

Ashley and I are the only ones that wanted to go out, so we went out for a few drinks and ended up at The Bull Dog Cafe where the rest of the gang was.

Day 4:

Off to Brussels at 8am. The train ride was only about 3 hours and I slept most of the way. When we arrived in Brussels, I was very tired as was the majority of the group. We took our luggage to the hostel and walked around until 2 when we could check in.

We got a bite to eat in a new favourite square where there was an open-air Easter market.
We went to see the Manikin Pis which was pretty crazy! Not!...It really is only a foot in height. It's crazy how such a little statue has made its way to being the statue that an entire country is known for. That stupid little statue is EVERYWHERE! On chocolates, golf balld, lighters, scarves- everything!!

I was exhausted, so I went back with Jeanne to the hostel to take a nap. That evening, Jeanne and I got a gyro and mosied around the city.

Day 5:

Our train didn't leave until 1, so we saw a few more sights, got a bite to eat and hopped on our train. The first ride was 7 hours long and the latter was 4. The sun set on the way back was beautiful against the foreground of the French countryside! There were also a few bus rides involved in the journey home...I was so happy when I got into my bed!