LOVE is traveling

“When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money.”
–Susan Heller

Another WOW moment! 4 days left of school!

I went to Amsterdam last Wednesday until Sunday. It was one of my favorite trips outside of Spain! We left around 6:30 in the morning and did the cab bus again... I started and flagged a cab around 4AM, and then picked up Kayla and Leila and then headed to the airport. When we got to the airport, we saw all the people who decided to take the metro and sleep at the airport... NOT PRETTY! I'm so glad I never did that, I saw a girl waking up and wipe a big thing of drool of her mouth. No thank you! When we landed in Holanda aka Holland, we were at the Eindhoven Airport. (About 2 hours away from Amsterdam) So we took a bus to Amsterdam and were dropped off at Central Station. Man was it cold! But then we waited for Paulina (Leila's Aunt, who lives in Holland). Then she took us to our hotel, The Quentin Hotel which was along one of the canals there. We dropped off all of our things and then headed, umbrellas in hand for breakfast! We had not had a real breakfast for over 3 months! I saw signs for pancakes and immediately wanted a breakfast fix! We walked thru the shopping district, the floating flower shop and then ate some breakfast! After breakfast, she took us on a canal cruise! For about 45 minutes, we were able to get out of the cold and rain and enjoy the canals and sights of Amsterdam. We saw the smallest house in Amsterdam which is basically the size of a small hallway. Back when land was really expensive in Holland, many families would buy smaller amounts of land and then build their houses up- which is why theyre really tall there and right next to eachother, no space in between like I'm used to back home. As long as they built up- 5 or 6 stories, they wouldn't have to pay for more land. We also went under the shortest bridge in the world in this boat. The driver had to go really slow, sometimes when the water is higher, they can't pass under this bridge because 3cm of water makes a HUGE difference! After the canal cruise, we went to Madame Toussaud's Wax Museum. We took pictures of all the wax celebrities in the museum and had too much fun. They're was a part with a haunted house in there and they scared the shit out of us. But it was alot of fun! After the wax museum, we walked around more and stopped at Bulldog, one of the famous bars/ coffeeshops of Amsterdam, it's a chain there kind of like McDonalds... except it's called Bulldog and they're everywhere. After that, we went back to our Hotel and wiped out from doing so much and being up since 4am!

Thursday morning we went to a Pancake House for breakfast and then Paulina picked us up to go see the Windmills! It was about 45 minutes outside of Amsterdam. The windmills save alot of energy there and produce alot too. We saw a demonstration of the wooden shoes being made which was really cool. We also got to try tons of different cheeses that they make there. We saw some goats too and went on top of one of the windmills there. After that we went to a small town to walk around and try Pofferje's... they are little pancakes that are amazing! We also dressed as little dutch girls there- like the old western pictures that everyone does once in their lifetime. Except for us we got in these thick dresses, wooden clogs and weird hats and were dressed as traditional dutch girls. Many pictures were taken of this- and because of my blonde hair, I was told that I looked VERY DUTCH! The rubia effect wasn't as noticeable as it is in Spain! But then we left this cute little town. The houses in the little town have to be perfect, all the curtains are always left open and if one thing is out of place, all the neighbors talk about it... It was like I stepped into the town of the Stepford Wives. After that, we went back to Paulina's house where she made us Amazing Traditional Indonesian Food. We also hung out with her daughter and grandchildren! It was like a Thanksgiving for us - with tons of family. We definitely felt really at home and were so grateful! After a couple hours at her house, we went back to our hotel. Another great day!

Friday morning we got up semi-early to go to the Anne Frank House. Usually there are really long lines so you have to get there early. There was a little line by the time we got there but it wasn't bad. We got into the Anne Frank House within 15 minutes and then started our tour. I was excited to see it because I remembered reading her diary back when I still took piano lessons... But seeing her house was pretty emotional. I can't believe that all of that had happened right where I was standing and in general in the city of Amsterdam. Earlier in June, they had a bigger tour there, because if Anne Frank had survived the Holocaust and concentration camp, she would have been 80 years old. It's all so strange. We also met Paulina after the tour of the Anne Frank House to pick up our tickets to Belgium for Saturday. She then showed us the way to the Heineken Factory. We bought tickets and then toured for about 2 hours. It was cool to see everything on how their beer was made, ingredients, old traditions and workers. We did some funny videos of seeing in Dutch and took some pictures in a big room they had there. Afterwards, we went to the giftshop and had some beer that was included when we bought our tickets. Afterwards, we did some shopping but mainly bought souvenirs!

Saturday was an early morning on a bus tour to Belgica/Belgium. We visited Antwerpen and Brussels. All I pretty much knew about Belgium is the obvious- Belgium Chocolate!!! :D While in Antwerpe, we were caught in rain for the first hour. We walked around the big cathedral there and then stopped in a little lunch cafe, where we ordered Belgium waffles with kiwi and the other with banana and chocolate. So yummy! We also stopped in a chocolate shop caled Leonidas. They're pretty famous in Belgium. Unfortunately we only had less than 2 hours in Antwerpe, so our last stop before we left was trying the Frites there, Belgium Fries, with ketchup and mayonnaise. They were good, but a little too much mayo! Then we got on the bus again to head to Brussels. We stopped at the Atomium to take pictures which was designed and built there for the 1950 World's Fair in Belgium. Then we headed to the main center of Brussels. We walked to the Plaza Mayor and saw a 6th of December Parade going on for there Christmas. It was a huge parade with music, figurines and men on stilts! Then we walked to find Manneken-Pis. There's a funny story behind this tiny boy peeing in a fountain in the street.

In the 14th century, a child had saved the city by turning the feud of the town into peace. This boy was the son of a wealthy man. The boy was lost during a party and the father prayed to the Virgin for his son to be found. The boy was found naked peeing in the street during one of the major feuds. They say that it showed his nonchalant attitude. An artist was there when the boy was found and was so overjoyed that he was found, that he made a statue of the happy/funny event. The statue of Manneken-Pis today continues to show what he was doing at the time of the happy reunion at the corner of the street (calle de I'Etuve du Chene). Manneken-Pis is a big part of the life of the city for all during tragic or happy times.

Later, we tried this mix of cherry wine/beer at a bar, it's called Kriek and we were told to try some... its the light, fruity, women's beer... Also on the way back to the Brussel's Plaza Mayor, we stopped at a waffle stand and all got waffles. I got a Belgium Waffle with strawberries and drizzled chocolate. I can't even begin to describe how amazing it was, seriously one of the best things I've had while traveling outside of Spain! Then when we got to the Plaza, the main building was all lit up with snowflakes and much other musical lights... It's kind of hard to explain, so I'm hoping the video I took of it will do it justice, and better than me trying to explain it! Then we met the rest of the group and walked back to the bus. On the way back, we also went passed all of the NATO buildings and Europeon Union buildings, it was really dark but it was there, all businessy, nothing special.

Then we arrived back in Amsterdam around 9ish or so and then packed our stuff and then spent the last night in Amstam on the town, we went to a few dancing places, but all were sooooo crowded, so on the way back we picked up these cinnamon apple donuts/pastries which were also to die for! I swear if I lived in Amsterdam/ Brussels- I would get soooo FAT eating all of their delicious sweets!

Then, we got to Central Station @ 6am for our bus to the Eindhoven Airport for MADRID! This trip was definitely one of my favorites of my 4 months here!

If you've read all this, WOW!
Hasta Luego!