I come home tomorrow :D
I am still in one piece, possibly tanner than I was when I left if you close one eye and sort of squint the other. I have written blogs about all the places we've been, but I don't want to post them right now because I'm busy BEING IN ENGLAND.
I will post them when I get home, so be sure to check this blog even after I'm home! Because I certainly don't want to TALK to you to tell you my stories. That would be absurd.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Lamest Update Ever
Here is a brief summary of what I've been up to:
-Friday: Brugges
-Saturday: London free tour & pub crawl
-Sunday: London sleeping in and Camden
-Monday: Tower of London, Abbey Road, Harrods, Avenue Q
-Today: Changing of the Guard, then heading to Bristol to see Emma!
We'll be staying with family from here on out, so I apologize if I'm having too much fun for blogging!
I get home Aug. 11
-Friday: Brugges
-Saturday: London free tour & pub crawl
-Sunday: London sleeping in and Camden
-Monday: Tower of London, Abbey Road, Harrods, Avenue Q
-Today: Changing of the Guard, then heading to Bristol to see Emma!
We'll be staying with family from here on out, so I apologize if I'm having too much fun for blogging!
I get home Aug. 11
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Brussels: Day 2
Kim and I really needed to sleep in, so we decided today we'd sleep in and then see Brussels. We left the hostel at 11:30 (GO US!! SLEEPING IN!!) and wandered around the city. Turns out my first impression was pretty good - its ugly with not that much to do.
We did manage to have a truly Belgian experience:
Also, in most countries you get a fine or arrested for peeing in public - especially peeing on a church! Belgium has, however, embraced the peeing-in-public culture (unrelated to the little peeing boy statue) and installed urinals on the church wall:
After that we went to a parking structure where our map told us there was a great view of the city. Here was the view:
UGLY, right?!
We did manage to have a truly Belgian experience:
Also, in most countries you get a fine or arrested for peeing in public - especially peeing on a church! Belgium has, however, embraced the peeing-in-public culture (unrelated to the little peeing boy statue) and installed urinals on the church wall:
After that we went to a parking structure where our map told us there was a great view of the city. Here was the view:
UGLY, right?!
Brussels
There is really not that much to do in Brussels. We got here at 3-something on Wednesday, and after checking into our hostel and relaxing a little bit we went out again to explore. We saw some pretty buildings, but in general Brussels is rough and ugly :( That's mostly what people told us, but we wanted to come anyway.
The most famous landmark in Brussels, which is on all the postcards and souvenir things, is this statue. It is, in fact, a little boy peeing into a fountain:
After doing some touristing, we decided we needed some Belgian beer. Here the Trappist monks brew beer that is very famous and all that. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trappist_beer
This is what we ordered:
And they tasted like beer. Terrible, terrible beer. Kim said her tasted like dirt mixed with ash, so we decided beer was actually just liquid Pompeii.
We also had good beers, which were peach and raspberry flavored. This bar had a Lambic brewed specifically for them, Lambic Blanche, and I wanted some but they didn't have any! They were out! How rude.
We went home after beer and I got to talk to Drex, which was nice cause we hadn't talked in a while <3
The most famous landmark in Brussels, which is on all the postcards and souvenir things, is this statue. It is, in fact, a little boy peeing into a fountain:
After doing some touristing, we decided we needed some Belgian beer. Here the Trappist monks brew beer that is very famous and all that. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trappist_beer
This is what we ordered:
And they tasted like beer. Terrible, terrible beer. Kim said her tasted like dirt mixed with ash, so we decided beer was actually just liquid Pompeii.
We also had good beers, which were peach and raspberry flavored. This bar had a Lambic brewed specifically for them, Lambic Blanche, and I wanted some but they didn't have any! They were out! How rude.
We went home after beer and I got to talk to Drex, which was nice cause we hadn't talked in a while <3
Amsterdam: Day 2
Day 2 we frantically tried to fit in everything we hadn't already done. First we went to a market that we read was cheap - but it turned out to be pretty boring. We left and hit up the Heineken factory. We didn't pay to do the tour, but we went to the gift shop where you can buy a bottle with your name on it. I considered getting some for the beer-drinking men in my life, but the cost to ship it home would have been insane.
Then we went to the Van Gogh museum, because he's Dutch and super famous. There were a lot of well-known works, including: The Potato Eaters (aka The Momo Chas), Sunflowers, his most famous self-portrait as well as a handful of less famous self-portraits, and paintings by people inspired him and people who he inspired. Starry Night wasn't there, though, that painting is in NY.
After Van Gogh we went to the flower market, which we thought would be cut tulips and other flowers, but it turned out to be bulbs and seeds. After a quick lunch, we went to the Anne Frank House.
We got super lucky because there was only a (relatively) short line. At the house you can tour the actual annex the family lived in, which was very interesting but also pretty heavy. If you don't know the story of Anne Frank, Wikipedia it.
To lighten the mood, we decided to PUB CRAWL!!!
The crawl was awesome, but all the photos are on Kim's camera. We went to 6 bars, and at each bar we got a free drink. Not mixed drinks,mostly beer, although some places gave us wine or a tequila shot. Also, the pub crawl workers squirted some vodka-drink directly into our mouths as we entered each bar. It was classy, lemme tell ya.
After getting home at 3:30, we were definitely looking forward to checking out by 10am and moving on to Brussels....NOT.
Then we went to the Van Gogh museum, because he's Dutch and super famous. There were a lot of well-known works, including: The Potato Eaters (aka The Momo Chas), Sunflowers, his most famous self-portrait as well as a handful of less famous self-portraits, and paintings by people inspired him and people who he inspired. Starry Night wasn't there, though, that painting is in NY.
After Van Gogh we went to the flower market, which we thought would be cut tulips and other flowers, but it turned out to be bulbs and seeds. After a quick lunch, we went to the Anne Frank House.
We got super lucky because there was only a (relatively) short line. At the house you can tour the actual annex the family lived in, which was very interesting but also pretty heavy. If you don't know the story of Anne Frank, Wikipedia it.
To lighten the mood, we decided to PUB CRAWL!!!
The crawl was awesome, but all the photos are on Kim's camera. We went to 6 bars, and at each bar we got a free drink. Not mixed drinks,mostly beer, although some places gave us wine or a tequila shot. Also, the pub crawl workers squirted some vodka-drink directly into our mouths as we entered each bar. It was classy, lemme tell ya.
After getting home at 3:30, we were definitely looking forward to checking out by 10am and moving on to Brussels....NOT.
Amsterdam: Day 1
Our first full day in Amsterdam we went back to the flea market we thought was on Sunday, because it was conveniently on Monday. Kim bought some stuff, but I didn't see anything I liked. After that we wandered around some more shops, and headed over to a FREE TOUR! Some major cities have students or young graduates doing tours for tips-only, and to advertise the other tours, the ones that cost money. We had never done an organized tour before, because usually we prefer to see just the things that interest us, but we figured we'd try it and it was actually really good.
The tour lasted THREE HOURS (I wasn't expecting that at all) and took us all over - through the red light district, showed us the Jewish neighborhood, the shopping district, historical sights, etc. etc. The tour guide was great and really enthusiastic, and had tons of insight and stories. He even gave us discount tickets to a pub crawl put on by a partner company.....more on that to come :D
Notable sights:
This is the Jewish district? Notice that it looks like it was designed by college students on acid in the 1960s? IT WAS! During the Hunger Winter of 1944-1945, when the Nazis cut off the supplies to Amsterdam, 18,000 died of hunger. The city cut down all of their trees to burn for fuel, which is why none of the trees in the city are older than 65 years old. After they ran out of trees, they went into the Jewish district, which was empty because all of the Jews had been shipped out by the Nazis. They used the furniture for fuel, but after they ran out of that they started using the support beams for fuel. Of course, the buildings fell down. For a while, the city couldn't afford to fix it, but in the 1960s they got the architecture students to fix it up. This is what happened.
That is the old headquarters for the Dutch East India Trading Company. If you took AP US History you've probably heard of it. Probably the first modern corporation.
That is the narrowest house in Amsterdam. It's not a museum, someone lives in it, and he's taller than the house is wide. Houses used to be taxed on width, since merchants had to live on a canal and everyone wanted to be a merchant. Whoever built this house obviously knew how to minimize his tax bill.
After the tour, we tried to go to the Anne Frank House but the line was too long. Instead, we ate Dutch apple pie and wandered the Red Light District. Not at the same time.
The tour lasted THREE HOURS (I wasn't expecting that at all) and took us all over - through the red light district, showed us the Jewish neighborhood, the shopping district, historical sights, etc. etc. The tour guide was great and really enthusiastic, and had tons of insight and stories. He even gave us discount tickets to a pub crawl put on by a partner company.....more on that to come :D
Notable sights:
This is the Jewish district? Notice that it looks like it was designed by college students on acid in the 1960s? IT WAS! During the Hunger Winter of 1944-1945, when the Nazis cut off the supplies to Amsterdam, 18,000 died of hunger. The city cut down all of their trees to burn for fuel, which is why none of the trees in the city are older than 65 years old. After they ran out of trees, they went into the Jewish district, which was empty because all of the Jews had been shipped out by the Nazis. They used the furniture for fuel, but after they ran out of that they started using the support beams for fuel. Of course, the buildings fell down. For a while, the city couldn't afford to fix it, but in the 1960s they got the architecture students to fix it up. This is what happened.
That is the old headquarters for the Dutch East India Trading Company. If you took AP US History you've probably heard of it. Probably the first modern corporation.
That is the narrowest house in Amsterdam. It's not a museum, someone lives in it, and he's taller than the house is wide. Houses used to be taxed on width, since merchants had to live on a canal and everyone wanted to be a merchant. Whoever built this house obviously knew how to minimize his tax bill.
After the tour, we tried to go to the Anne Frank House but the line was too long. Instead, we ate Dutch apple pie and wandered the Red Light District. Not at the same time.
26 Hours of Travel? Okay...
On Saturday, we got up at 8am like we hadn't been dancing and drinking all night. Without any delays or mistakes, we:
-Caught the bus from Kristiina's apartment to the Uppsala train station
-Caught the train from Uppsala to Stockholm
-Caught the train from Stockholm to Malmö
-Caught the train from Malmö to Copenhagen
After a lovely day of running between and sleeping on trains, we caught the 16-hour train from Copenhagen to Amsterdam. Luckily, it was a sleeper train, so we had reserved beds and did not, in fact, have to sit up for 16 hours.
Our train was a few hours late, maybe 3, getting to Amsterdam, but that was fine - we've been in much worse train delays.
We successfully found the hostel when we arrived in Amsterdam, but it was too far from the city center for walking (1 train stop away). We desperately wanted to shower (we felt like we slept on a train!) but we couldn't check in for a few more hours, so we dragged our filthy selves back downtown to go to flea market our travel books said was on Sundays. Turns out its NOT on Sundays, but we got some exploring in anyway.
Hostel review:
We stayed at StayOkay, which had a chain of 3 hostels in Amsterdam. It was huge, with tons of rooms. Ours had 6 beds an a bathroom en-suite. Kim and I quickly claimed the upstairs loft, which had metal blinds that gave us some privacy and sheltered us from early-morning sunshine. Breakfast was great and filling, with a large selection. Everything was clean and all the other stuff you want in a hostel...the only downside was that internet cost money (3 euro/hour) and it wasn't in the city center, so we had to take trams or the train into town - it was only 10 or 15 minutes away, but its still nicer to be able to walk. On Tuesday we had to take a cab because trams stop running before 1am.
-Caught the bus from Kristiina's apartment to the Uppsala train station
-Caught the train from Uppsala to Stockholm
-Caught the train from Stockholm to Malmö
-Caught the train from Malmö to Copenhagen
After a lovely day of running between and sleeping on trains, we caught the 16-hour train from Copenhagen to Amsterdam. Luckily, it was a sleeper train, so we had reserved beds and did not, in fact, have to sit up for 16 hours.
Our train was a few hours late, maybe 3, getting to Amsterdam, but that was fine - we've been in much worse train delays.
We successfully found the hostel when we arrived in Amsterdam, but it was too far from the city center for walking (1 train stop away). We desperately wanted to shower (we felt like we slept on a train!) but we couldn't check in for a few more hours, so we dragged our filthy selves back downtown to go to flea market our travel books said was on Sundays. Turns out its NOT on Sundays, but we got some exploring in anyway.
Hostel review:
We stayed at StayOkay, which had a chain of 3 hostels in Amsterdam. It was huge, with tons of rooms. Ours had 6 beds an a bathroom en-suite. Kim and I quickly claimed the upstairs loft, which had metal blinds that gave us some privacy and sheltered us from early-morning sunshine. Breakfast was great and filling, with a large selection. Everything was clean and all the other stuff you want in a hostel...the only downside was that internet cost money (3 euro/hour) and it wasn't in the city center, so we had to take trams or the train into town - it was only 10 or 15 minutes away, but its still nicer to be able to walk. On Tuesday we had to take a cab because trams stop running before 1am.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
