It's the Taste of New Amsterdam

It's been extremely hard for me to answer people when they ask me where my favorite place has been while traveling in Europe.  I have visited so many  amazingly different areas that I don't know if I could ever pick just one.  However, this may sound weird but after making my final stop of the second travel week in the Netherlands, I am now able to finally tell people at least what my favorite experience has been so far.

It definitely all started when Beth and I boarded our plane and, by some random act of awesomeness, sat down next to a middle-aged women who was sitting by herself.  As we were waiting for everyone else to finish boarding, Bethy struck up a conversation with this lady who introduced herself as Tommi.  She was so interesting and we spent the entire flight talking to her about everything!  The most fascinating part to me was how she was Irish but lived in Amsterdam and worked in London during the week - it was so unlike what I'm used to hearing about that I hounded her with questions for a good two hours!  She also told us about her twin, nineteen year old daughters, her husband who she kept referring to as "the other half" and all of the crazy things she did when she was our age!  I have a feeling that she found talking to us about our lives in the US just as interesting as we found hers because she asked us questions about everything from tuition costs to our goals and plans for the future; it definitely might have been the best cultural experience I've had yet.

But eventually the plane landed (somehow Tommi made the flight seem much shorter) and we had to part ways. I think the only reason I wasn't more sad to see her go was because I was so excited about finally seeing Aaron, one of my best friends from home.  Aaron's been studying in the Netherlands (in Delft) since August and aside from a few days over Christmas break and the time he spent with us in Rome on the first travel week, I really hadn't spent very much time with him so I was really looking forward to our weekend!  And the second we found him at the arrivals gate, I was so happy to see him that I just knew we were going to have a great time!

Having him pick us up definitely made the process much less stressful than it usually would have been because he knew exactly where we had to go and what we had to do and all Bethy and I had to do was follow along - it was great!  After taking the forty-five minute train ride south to Delft, we were at his apartment and could finally put all of our stuff down and just relax for awhile.  (I cannot even tell you how amazing it felt to sit on a couch!)  Just being able to be with Aaron was awesome and I would have been perfectly happy just hanging out with him all weekend, but what really made the visit even more special was the fact that I got to see my friend Sebastian.  (It's kind of a long story as to how I came to know Sebastian but I'll give a brief recap so it makes a little more sense!)

Sebastian is originally from Germany and while he usually attends the same school as Aaron in the Netherlands (TU Delft), he was an exchange student at Iowa State last semester where he just happened to be my next door neighbor.  What's really crazy about this was the fact that for Aaron to be able to study abroad, someone from Delft had to "replace" him at Iowa State and that person just so happened to be Sebastian.  So, in the coincidence of a lifetime, last semester my best friend leaves and his replacement moves in next door to me...it was a bit unexpected to say the least!

Anyway, long story short, because Sebastian is back in the Netherlands for this semester, I was also able to spend time with him while I was there which was great!  He let Bethy and I borrow bikes for the first night we were there which we immediately took on a nighttime ride through Delft.  It was definitely the most fun I've ever had on a bike even though the seat was so high I could barely reach the petals! Not only was it bizarre to be able to be with both Aaron and Sebastian so far from home, but it was also crazy to experience the Dutch obsession with the bicycle first hand.  Even in the middle of the night, there were people on bikes everywhere - the bike "highways" were way more busy than the actual highways!

The next morning we got up and started exploring Delft which is much more beautiful than I was expecting.  We went down to the main square where the city hall and largest churches are located as well as a bunch of restaurants and shops.  Because we hadn't eaten yet and because Aaron knew how excited I was about eating Dutch pancakes (one of my favorite foods and one of the things they're most known for!) we decided to go out for breakfast at one of these cute restaurants.  I ate an enormous pancake with ham, cheese and pineapple on it and it was SO good!  The best part was when I asked for ketchup, the waitress didn't look at me like I was crazy - it was definitely a huge change from the usual Italian response!

After breakfast, we met up with Sebastian and his friend Jackie who was visiting him from Germany and headed to the train station to catch a train to Amsterdam for the day.  However, the best part was on our way there we got a chance to walk through Delft's city market which was beautiful because not only did they have the usual produce and market goods, but they also had a huge flower market - I was in heaven!!  Even though I had just eaten the biggest pancake of my life, we also stopped at a stand making fresh, homemade (!!!) stroopwafels which might be my new favorite food!  The literal translation is syrup waffle...I think that might tell you why I'm now obsessed!  (This might give additional explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroopwafel)

So, a life-sized pancake, one huge stroopwafel, and thousands of beautiful tulips later, we finally arrived at the train station and got on our way.  The ride from Delft to Amsterdam was beautiful (it went right through fields and fields of flowers!) and much more interesting during the day.  When we finally arrived in Amsterdam and made the decision to walk around instead of renting bikes, we began exploring.  Our first stop was definitely my favorite as we went up to the top of the Amsterdam public library where not only did we get to see the awesome library but also the panoramic view from the top level.  We spent the rest of the day wandering around the rings at the heart of the city and it was definitely one of the most unique experiences I've had.  The architecture and man-made canals were lovely surprises and a very distinct contrast to the atmosphere in the Red Light District.  However, it all somehow worked together perfectly and everywhere we went I really enjoyed!

We made the classic touristy stops at the Hard Rock and the I AMsterdam sign as well as my second favorite stop - the American food store!!!  I saw a bag of candy corn in the window and I was inside buying it before anyone even realized I was gone!  I'm quite embarrassed to say that the entire bag may have been gone within forty-five minutes...but it was so good!  After a packed day of seeing no museums, going into no churches, and having no schedule, we decided to take a break one of the huge city parks before we headed back to Delft for the night.  I think Bethy described the park experience the best when, as we were sitting there, she says, "I never thought I'd say these two things in the same sentence but it's like Woodstock meets family cookout."  It was a perfect summation of what was happening as there were people doing the more stereotypical Amsterdam activities, but there were also families everywhere having picnics and playing with their dogs.  Overall, the entire day was one of the best experiences I've ever had with a culture.  It sounds really stupid to say but it felt much more like being an observer than a tourist which was a very welcome change!

Unfortunately, the next day we did have to head back to Paderno, and as much as I missed Italy, I wasn't ready to leave!  However, before our train left, we had time to walk around TU Delft's campus with Aaron (we hadn't seen it during the day yet!) and he showed us some of the main buildings and we got to walk into the university library which was one of the coolest buildings!  It's completely above ground but is "built" into a hill so the roof is all grass and you can walk on top of it.  I thought that seeing all of this as well as the ancient gates to the city was a great way to end the week but little did I know that this trip still had one more surprise.

Because I had wanted to say good-bye to Sebastian before I left, I had called him when we left that morning and planned on just having him meet us at the train station.  So, we got there about twenty minutes early and as we were walking up on the platform, I heard someone say my name so I turned around and it was my friend Ward!  I met him through Sebastian as he had also come to Iowa State last semester and lived in a building very close to mine.  Because he had been busy all weekend, I didn't think I would get to see him at all while I was there, but it turns out Sebastian had called him and told him I was leaving so he came to say goodbye too!  It made me so happy - I got to see Ward, Sebastian (it was even his birthday on the day we left which was awesome!), and Aaron all in the same weekend!

I think from the length and detail of this post it's quite easy to see how much I loved this stop on my trip.  It only reinforced the realization I had already come to that its not the place you travel to, its the people you're with that make it special.  This trip was definitely special to me and it will without a doubt be one of the best stops of the semester!

And the evidence...

Largest church in Delft

Amsterdam!

View from the roof of the library!!

Aaron :)

The buildings were so narrow

We were so excited!! He loves root beer (almost)
as much as I love candy corn!

TU Delft's (very interesting...) library

Bethy and I on top of the
library....we definitely conquered it!

Ancient city gates of Delft

Delft City Hall and biggest square...home of the HUGE pancakes!

Sebastian, me and Ward - we were very excited :) 

Just a Little Eastern European Travelmania...

The story of our Eastern European leg of the travel week all started when we first decided to make Prague one of the stops on our second travel week.  I was extremely excited about this but, when I began doing research on how we would  get from Munich, Germany (where we started the week) to Prague, I got so frustrated that I legitimately considered taking it out of the trip completely - I couldn't find ANY feasible transportation between the two!  

And then something wonderful (and so completely typical!) happened.  Emily walks into my room and just says, "I got bored today and figured out all of our transportation for the second travel week."  I nearly had a heart attack.  I had spent hours on various German, Czech, and European train line websites searching for anything and she gets bored and just figures it all out!! It was so ridiculous that I just decided that I don't have enough patience to be an effective trip planner and she's much too good at it for me to need to get better at it!  This conclusion has made me a much happier person for some reason...

The craziest part of this was that on the morning we were leaving Munich for Prague, we arrived at the station where our bus was going to pick us up and discovered we weren't just taking a bus to Prague, we were taking a two-level, luxury coach bus to Prague.  Not only that, we just so happened to be perfectly assigned to the front row seats of the second level, seats that offered a perfect, panoramic view of the passing German countryside!  Let me just say that this beautiful view definitely made the four and a half hour bus ride a much less painful process than usual!  It also made the problems we had locating our hotel (turns out we were standing outside of it without realizing it for a good ten minutes...) a much lesser annoyance. 

After getting checked in and settled in the room, we immediately left for Old Town Square where many of the most famous buildings of Prague are located.  We had also decided that as we knew next to nothing about Prague, it might be a good idea to take one of the free city walking tours.  Because we had such a good experience in Paris on the tour we took there, we decided to go with the same company and learn a little bit more about the history and culture of Prague.  So, our afternoon was dominated by a three hour walking tour where we learned about all of the main attractions in Prague's most historic areas as well as much of the vibrant city's rich history.  The tour included so many different areas, but my favorite by far was the time we spent in the old Jewish ghetto.  It included some of the most interesting historic details of the oldest active synagogue in Europe and of the cemetery where people are buried as many as twelve deep because the people hadn't been allowed to bury their dead outside the specified area.  This was definitely the most interesting part for me, but everywhere else we went was beautiful as well - it gave us a great idea of all of the places we still wanted to visit and especially what we wanted to come back and see.

Once we finished up the tour and walked around on our own for a bit, everyone was ready to just relax and grab some dinner.  The place we ended up going (the name translated into "The Executioner") was one of my favorite experiences in the city.  We spent the entire evening being entertained by the restaurant's "mascot" who was naturally dressed up as an executioner.  He gave us advice on what to order, brought us medieval games to play while we waited for our food, and (the best part) took pictures with us and all of his executioner props.  It was quite an experience and is definitely one of the most memorable parts of the trip!

The next day we did what I love the most about visiting places - strolling through the streets with absolutely NO schedule!  We got to see the city's major memorials, found a cool open market, and walked through the castle.  It was packed with seeing all of the main attractions in Prague but we did it in such a way that was also very relaxing.  However, after we finally headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags and take our taxi to the airport, we were given yet another (and if you ask Abby, the best) transportation surprise - our cheap, hotel taxi just happened to be a brand new Audi sedan.  After that extremely classy (and fast!) ride to the airport, it was clear that public transportation would forever be ruined for me after this trip!  It was a great way to end our time and Prague and an even better way to begin the move on to London.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the city as well as my first attempt at video - its of my favorite street performer who played various instruments, sang, and entertained the crowd. He was great :)

Old Town Square

The oldest active synagogue in Europe! 

Outside the castle cathedral

The inside was FULL of stained glass!

"London Baby!!!" -Abby Churchill

London was amazing.  From the minute we walked outside the train station and the classic London taxi screeched to a halt in front of us (naturally completely painted to look like the British flag!) I knew I was going to love my time there.  Even though it was midnight and I was absolutely exhausted I could barely wait to wake up in the morning and start seeing everything!

And see everything we did...after getting in line early to buy Wicked tickets that next morning we did as much as we could!  After we walked into Westminster Cathedral and stood outside Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard, we strolled through St. James park with its beautiful flowers and got to see a fox grab a rabbit out of midair as it hopped out of a bush!  After that extremely unexpected experience, we toured Westminster Abbey, saw Big Ben and the Parliament buildings, took our pictures in the classic London phone booth, and went up in the London Eye.  Everything we did was exactly what I always imagine when I think of London but a million times better just because I was actually doing it!

Because we had indeed bought Wicked tickets for that night, we headed back to our hostel relatively early.  However, because we were still trying to fit in as many things as possible, we walked back through Trafalgar Square.  This turned out to be my awesome "oops" stop of London.  I seem to have one everywhere we visit - a place I know absolutely nothing about when we visit that I somehow end up loving.  Looking back on it, I still couldn't tell you what I liked so much about the square except the  maybe the atmosphere.  It was packed with people but it still kind of felt like we were there by ourselves...it was a very cool feeling.  There was also a large countdown clock to the Olympics; it was very surreal to see and it made me wish we could have stayed in London for another couple months!

After doing all of this, we headed back to get ready to do the one thing Emily absolutely insisted on doing while we were in London - seeing a Broadway show.  As I mentioned above we bought our tickets to Wicked earlier that morning so once we classed ourselves up a little bit, we were ready to have a tasteful, musical night out on the town.  Even as someone who usually doesn't get into the musicals, operas, ballets, etc., I have to admit doing this in London, the home of Broadway, felt perfectly fitting.  The performance and just the entire evening was amazing - I'm so glad we had the opportunity to do it!  Besides even during the slow songs where I was getting a little drowsy, it was absolutely hilarious to watch Abby and especially Emily sitting on the edges of their chairs completely entranced - it was entertainment in and of itself!

Our first jam packed day in London was directly followed the next day by an equally full day of seeing some of the major sites outside the city.  My mom had studied abroad in England while she was in school and the one thing she kept telling me I HAD to do while I was in London was take the tour of Windsor Castle, Stonehedge, and Oxford.  She said it was one of the highlights of her time in Europe and I will have to say after seeing these three amazing places I completely understand and agree with her!  Part of it was just experiencing the English countryside but the best part was definitely actually being able to walk around these world-famous places.  Windsor Castle was impeccably beautiful and fascinating to walk through and read about.  I had to keep telling myself that I was actually walking down the same paths and hallways that the royal family called home!

Stopping at Stonehedge was also quite an experience because even though there wasn't a whole lot to see, there was a lot of interesting information regarding the history which definitely made it more interesting.  I'm still baffled by why the heck those stones were put there but based on what the guides said, I'm definitely not the only one!  And, after a two hour journey, we finally arrived at Oxford which is still one of the coolest things I think I've experienced yet.  What I think I liked the most was Beth and I didn't go to Christ Church College (probably the most famous part of the university), but instead wandered around on our own.  We listened to some of our guide's tour but then decided to just explore on our own which I could have done for another three hours if I would have had the time!  My favorite part was seeing the library (have I mentioned that I'm a huge nerd...?) and, the most amazingly, walking through their special exhibit where there were various ancient texts as well as the first book ever written in English!!  I was so excited I had goosebumps for ten minutes!!  It was a great way to finish off the tour-filled day!

Even though by the start of our third day in London it felt like we had seen everything, there were still couple things on my list that I wanted to do before I left, most importantly, the Tower of London.  So, after a morning of tea drinking and tea shopping (two of my favorite things!) we headed over to see all that one of the most famous London sites had to offer.  Once I got there, I realized that the two and a half hours we had would never be sufficient but we knew the main things we wanted to see and made sure we hit all of those first.  I could have spent a lot more time exploring but getting to see the Crown Jewels and all of the weapons, armory, etc. definitely made it a worthwhile trip!  I have never seen those large of jewels or that many ancient weapons in my life - very, very cool!  One last stop at the Tower Bridge (huge surprise - who knew it was that color blue?!) and it was sadly time to say goodbye to London.  However, I will admit that I was so excited about our next stop that it made leaving that wonderful city much easier!

As always, the pictures :)

Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard.

Ben and I :)

View from the top of the London Eye!

Needs no description.

One of the colleges at Oxford!!

Inside the Tower of London.

Tower Bridge!

A Whirlwind Week - Paris

I just realized that somehow I just didn't write anything about our final stop on the first travel week when we went to Paris!  Because it's about a month late, I'll just hit the major highlights even though it was such an amazing place that I could write pages on everything we experienced!

I'll begin by saying one of the greatest parts about Paris was, again, being able to travel/stay with people from home at Iowa State!  We were lucky enough to be able to stay with our friend Caine who is studying fashion and living in Paris for the semester - it was great to not only see her but have a free place to stay!  What was even better was one of my very good friends, Nickie, came down from where she was studying in Ireland and spent the three days of the Paris leg of our journey with us.  It was so awesome to see her that even if Paris would have been terrible (which it definitely was NOT!), I would have had an absolutely fantastic time!

Anyway, in addition to the wonderful company we were able to see as much of Paris possible in three days.  A few people I knew that had visited Paris told me that one of the best things that they did while they were there was take a free walking tour of the city.  Because we really didn't know a ton about where everything was or, more importantly, what everything was, we decided to take the tour on the first morning we were there.

It ended up being a great decision as we were able to see almost all of the main sights within a three hour time period!  We started in the Latin Quarter and saw Notre Dame, walked along the Seine and under the New Bridge, went through the Louvre and around the famous glass pyramids, and even got to take our break at Starbucks!!!  (I know it sounds silly but after two months of tiny cups of coffee, I stopped at every Starbucks we saw and dominated American-sized cups of coffee the entire time I was there - it was GREAT!!)  After our break we got to stroll through the park directly outside the Louvre and wander our way down to the start of the L'Avenue des Champs Elysées (the most famous road in Paris).  Seeing that as well as the Royal Palace, the building where Napoleon's tomb lies, and a distant view of the Eiffel Tower made it a tour well worth our time!


In the next couple days we did more exploring of the places we wanted to go back to like Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the stained glass cathedral, and the Arch de Triumph.  I was super happy because not only did I get to eat duck, escargot, and crepes but I found authentic French macaroons that were out-of-this-world delicious!  One of my favorite things was watching Emily at the Paris Opera House - she was in her own version of heaven on earth...I literally thought she was going to pass out!  All of this combined with a half day trip to amazing Versailles and a nighttime walk up to the Montmartre District made it a very successful trip and a great end to the week!  

The New Bridge - it had the carvings of over 300 silly men on it!

Right outside the Louvre!

We got to see the nighttime Eiffel Tower light show!

The Mirror Hall at Versailles was absolutely incredible! 

Our lovely hostess, Caine :)

Emily, Me, & Nickie - we somehow managed
to get the whole tower in the picture!

Travelmania Take Two!

We began our second travel week with a trip to Germany - a country I absolutely HAD to visit at least once before going home.  Because we only had a couple days to spend in Germany, we decided to just do one city which ended up being Munich.  This turned out to be a great choice because not only were we able to visit the nearby Neuschwanstein Castle (a place we had heard amazing things about!) but we were also able to do the one thing I knew I needed to do before leaving Europe - visit a concentration camp.

So, on the first day of our travels, we took the train to Dachau - the first camp ever established by the Nazi's and the one closest to Munich.  It might have been one of the most eye-opening experiences I've ever had and I know that how I felt being there is something I will never forget.  We walked through the whole camp and got to see and hear about each part - it was one of the most informative places I've ever been.  And, as it turned out, going there first was one of the best decisions of the trip because it really made me crave normalcy and appreciate the rest of the trip so much more.


After we finished at Dachau, we were ready to just experience something completely different so we spent the rest of the day exploring Munich.  Walking through the streets just looking at all of the beautiful buildings in the Old Town area, eating lots of delicious German food, and enjoying the wonderful weather really made the rest of the day very enjoyable.  I think my favorite part was definitely hanging out in the Hofbrauhous which is the largest beer hall in Munich.  We sat with a table of half Americans and half bachelor-party-celebrating German guys and as you can imagine that combined with the rest of the massive crowd of people made the atmosphere ridiculously fun!

As I mentioned above, the other big thing we wanted to do while we were there was visit the Neuschwanstein Castle which is what we did the second day.  This is located a couple hours from Munich so we got to experience even more of Germany on the beautiful train ride.  When we arrived, it was sort of like seeing a fairy tale come to life.  The castle is exactly what I always picture when I think of Disney and fairy tales - it was incredible!  We were able to take a bus up the mountain and then hike to a nearby bridge that crossed over a valley and offered a perfect view of Neuschwanstein.  I think the view and just the bridge in general was the best part - it was such an incredible sight that it even made the tour of the castle (which in itself was unbelievable!) pale in comparison!

A couple hours and a missed/wrong train disaster later, we arrived back in Munich.  After grabbing more delicious German food that this time involved apple strudel (!!!) we felt like we had successfully conquered as much of the German culture possible in the 48 hours we had available.  By the time we left super early the next morning on a bus, we were all set to see more of Europe which is exactly what we did in our next stop in Prague which I'll talk about next time!

The famous warthog of Munich!

We managed to be in Munich (a city known for meat) and
run into a Vegan demonstration!  I couldn't believe it...

My first Porsche tractor!

Classic.

The beautiful view of the Neuschwanstein Castle
from the overlooking  Marienbrucke Bridge...

...and alternatively the view of the Marienbrucke
Bridge wile standing in the Castle!

The City of Lights :)

Two weeks ago, when we went to Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, I reaffirmed the fact that I am definitely a mountain person.  Give me a beach and I'm thrilled but give me a mountain range and some lakes and I am in absolute heaven!  As you can imagine, because of this, Lake Lucerene and the surrounding Swiss Alps were essentially my heaven on earth!  It was definitely the most beautiful place I have traveled to yet and it is right at the top of my favorite places list.  Because I don't think I could do it justice in words, I decided to make this post much shorter and include a lot more pictures - I know I'd rather look at what we did than read about it, so here it is!