Europe Update! 6/3 Amsterdam Day 4 Now, if I had to choose one of the best days of the trip (besides perhaps my last in Paris) this one would definitely be up there. After breakfast I got the opportunity to borrow an electric bike from my host’s mother. I was a bit apprehensive at first, because I was thinking it was going to be like the motorized bikes you sometimes see around. To my surprise, it was a lot subtler than that. Riding an electric bike was a lot like riding a regular bike, except it was less work to pedal, and it seems like you coasted after and farther. I’m not going to lie but I’m a bit sad to go back to my regular bike. My tour guide for the day was the lovely Merel who put up with spending her day dragging around an American instead of hanging out with her friends. She took me on one of the most enjoyable bike rides, through the sand dunes along the coast of the North Sea. It was a beautiful day, warm in the sun, cool in the shade, skies of blue, etc. after just soaking it all in, saying hello to some cows, loving on the flowers we passed, we headed back. When we went to return the bikes, I got to meet some of my hosts’ extended family who were at the mother’s house. They were all very nice, and when we left Merel let me ride on the back of her bike. Initially I was a bit worried- I was thinking about how hard it was for me with Ginger on the back, but Merel made a good point of reassurance- she’s been doing this since she was little, and that she can drive the bike with someone on the front AND the back! I’ve decided she’s a superhero. Once back, Monique and Carel cooked Ginger and I a lovely BBQ lunch / early dinner, which we ate outside in their backyard. There was an array of delicious food provided, and Carel cooked the chicken juuuuuuuust right. Not too soft, not too crispy. I also got to pick and taste the second cherry ever from their new cherry tree! It was a neat little experience for sure! After all of that, the only thing else I can say is that their family has an amazing sense of hospitality. Ginger and I felt so welcomed and it really just showed me how much of a difference it makes to stay with someone you know rather than a hotel. You get a perspective, especially in another country, of what a place is at its roots. What the locals do, how the culture is in a home vs the downtown tourist area. You get to see the real place, and I can attest to the fact that I absolutely fell in love with Holland because of the Hilferink family.
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Europe Update! 6/2
Amsterdam Day 3 As is the trend, this day was another amazing day! After a yummy breakfast and a train ride into, you guessed it, Amsterdam- my friend and I split up for the day with the promise of netting at the train station at 6pm. She headed to the Heineken Experience, and I few blocks away to a bike rental shop. One thing I constantly kept hearing was that the best way to experience Amsterdam was by bicycle. So armed with a yellow bike I headed down the flower-lined canals to the Rijksmuseum. It is the biggest museum in Holland, and boasts the famous work of art, De Nachtwacht, or to us Americans, The Night Watch by Rembrandt. To my great surprise it was much larger than I was expecting, though it’s size made sense considering the others of its type created during that time period. I guess it just didn’t actually register the size when learning on it in art history. Another thing I didn’t know was that it had been cut down from its original size to fit into a former hanging place, and as a result its missing two figures of the guild. The other cool thing I learned was that a crazy guy actually slashed it with a knife a few years back, but the restoration was so good the only place you could see was by the dog, and only if you knew what to look for as the light reflected off it juuuuuust right. After falling in love with art again and again, I rode off to the De Gooyer windmill, located with a local brewery on the east side of town. On my where there however, I let myself get lost, just wandering along back canals and quite neighborhood streets, the ones away from all the hustle and bustle of the tourist areas. In doing this I came across the Skinny Bridge, a landmark said to have been (according to legend) commissioned by two sisters who lived on opposite sides of the river and wanted to be able to easily see each other. I rode across it and felt very fulfilled and a little elated.....because of a bridge, ha. But after seeing that and the windmill I was happy. I made kind of a mad dash of a ride to the other side of town where the bike needed to be returned by 6pm. Which I found unusual considering it didn’t get dark until 10:30pm most nights. After turning the bike in I met up with Ginger and the two of us headed to the famous Red Light District. I’m not going to lie, I was a little disappointed. It wasn’t nearly as flashy as I assumed it would be, in fact it was almost low-key enough that we almost missed parts of it. Granted the Red Light District isn’t the most savory place to be, but if you’re in Amsterdam it’s one of those things they say you have to see. Meh. Once we did a walk around of the district we headed back towards the train station, stopping for pizza along the way. Once we gobbled up the pizza, we set out on a slightly misguided attempt to find meringues. I had passed a few stores where they had these big beautiful ones stacked in the window and I really wanted one. After some twists and turns and a little getting lost, we found them! Ginger and I emerged victorious with a hand-sized meringue in lemon and one in candy floss! It’s safe to say I scarfed those down pretty fast! After we bagged our sugar bombs we headed back by train and had a lovely evening at home. Europe Update! 6/1 Amsterdam Day 2 Our second day of Amsterdam was arguably better than the first! After a lovely breakfast of toast, butter, and sprinkles (isn’t that so interesting? Sprinkles are a breakfast food for them!) Ginger and I got a quick crash course on how to ride a bicycle Dutch Style. I drove while Ginger sat on the back, and we definitely had a shaker start. After a few hundred yards I had it down for the most part. I can testify that I was so tense the entire ride that I can still feel it in my shoulders, weeks later. After riding into town, Ginger and I visited Alkmaar, which is a site of a huge cheese weighing festival of sorts? According to our lovely hosts, even the Dutch people have no idea what it is Alkmaar is doing. It was an interesting reenactment thing, and there were a fair amount of craft stalls to browse as well. We shopped around a bit and I got a cute ceramic mouse and cheese ornament and local artist was making. After that festival we headed for the train station where we idiotically realized that we had forgotten our Eurail passes, so Ginger found a small cafe and I hopped on that bike and called up every ounce of “like father like daughter” and zoomed back to the house to grab them. I’m proud to say it didn’t take me more than 15 minutes one way! Luckily it all worked out and Ginger and I caught the train into town. That day while we were in Amsterdam we hit a bunch of the big hitters. We saw the floating flower market on the canal, the Begijnhof courtyard which had an interesting history. It was originally a grouping of houses for Beguines, members of a lay Catholic sisterhood during the 14th century. Since they were worshiping in their private homes they were left alone, and to this day only women can live in the courtyard! We also stumbled across an old book and records market, and we visited the Albert Cuyp Market, which is a traditional street market where you would expect to see everything from fish, fruit, flowers, furniture, clothes, shoes, and crafts! I had a great time wandering up and down it! I also bought my first, fresh and warm stroopwaffle which I had been waiting all too for since I had my first prepackaged one on a KLM flight. It was a borderline spiritual experience. To this date it’s one of my favorite foods I’ve in encountered in Europe so far. In fact, I loved them I picked up a package of them from the lady, who was selling them in these charming, hand painted cookie jars. Now the key is to get them home in one piece. After walking almost, the whole city and taking a million pictures, we headed back to Heiloo. We were created by warm Dutch-style Pancakes where I got to try them with a line of sugar as recommended by Ruben- and I think that was my favorite way to eat them. I guess Dutch Pancakes are like the grilled cheese dinner equivalent for the Dutch. Quick, easy, simple, and anyone can make it! Afterwards Carel and Monique took me to the beach, where we let the dogs run amuck. It was misty, but it was a nice feeling after the general muggy humidity I’d experienced in the weeks and days beforehand. After the beach and a quick walk around the downtown area, we stopped by Merel’s dance class where they let me sit in for a while- I wish I could dance as well as her! After a full day I followed the previous night’s pattern and conked out for a good rest! Europe Update! 5/31 Amsterdam Day 1 On Thursday we had our second ‘travel on our own weekend’ Ginger and I hopped on the train to Amsterdam. We had been to Amsterdam briefly a few other occasions but never to really explore the city, and we wanted to! When we arrived in Amsterdam we met up with Ginger’s older brother who was there traveling with friends also, and chucked our stuff in his room before heading to the Van Gogh Museum. It was raining quite a bit that day, but the city was still beautiful as we took the trolley through the city. The Van Gogh Museum was just an amazing place to stand in. At one point I was standing in the middle of the gallery and just turned in a circle as I just soaked in the fact that I was surrounded by Van Goghs. One thing that kind of surprised me was that Van Gogh was such a prolific, and talented, writer. They had a whole exhibit hall just about his writing, and it was so flowery and honestly I quite liked it- the more you know right? After wandering dazed through the halls, Ginger and I grabbed a lunch before retrieving our stuff and heading to Heiloo to stay with some family friends, the Hilferink. They welcomed us with open arms, and went above and beyond in their hospitality for us. We went with them on a quick stop to the grocery store which was also a cool experience, because they had these little scanner guns you took with you to scan items as you went. At the end you put it in a plug in and it transfers your purchases to the self-checkout machine. After the grocery store we headed home and ended up chatting for a while then heading our separate ways to bed. I hadn’t seen them in a long time when I was little, yet they were kind enough to welcome us with open arms and allow us to infiltrate their freezer. After a log day of travel and sightseeing, I got a very, very well deserved rest. |
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