No Sprouts Consumed

We had booked the Eurostar from Brussels to London because that cheap ticket (only US $70 each) also included the ride from Amsterdam to Brussels. We didn’t want to leave the canals of Amsterdam behind, but we knew that we must.

The direct train to Brussels was canceled that day for some reason. We were forced to take multiple trains, but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world because we got to see more of the countryside and pass through the most beautiful town of Antwerp. (We’re bummed we didn’t take a picture of that city’s train station. Amazing.) How we wish we had had time to spend a few hours wandering around and buying diamonds. Antwerp seemed like one of the most Disneyesque cities Hanna has seen.

We arrived in Brussels, stowed our backpacks into a locker at the train station, and geared ourselves up for three hours of waffle-eating. After a twenty-minute session of orientating ourselves sans map, we made it to the main town square:

Main Square Lined with Cool Buildings.

Aforementioned Cool Buildings.

Hanna spotted a pommes frites place to eat for lunch. Big letdown. They were nowhere near as good as the ones in Amsterdam. Next it was waffles at the stand across the street. Another crapper. The waffles ended up not being fresh and were just kinda meh. We guess you have to shell out the big bucks to get good waffles and fries in this town.

Mike wanted to see the famous peeing statue, and so we did:

Little Guy, Big Crowd.

They Dress Him Up for Different Occasions. We Don't Remember Why He Was Dressed This Way.

…and that’s about all we did in this town. Hanna has been to Brussels before and wasn’t impressed on the first go-round. Mike had a pretty neutral opinion. Three hours was all we needed, and then we headed back to the train station to catch the Eurostar into London.

Final Thoughts: Netherlands

We truly loved our time in Amsterdam as it’s such a beautiful city. The canals, the whimsical homes, and the tulips in the flower markets all come together to create the Amsterdam you expect to find. We wish we would have given ourselves more time here.

Amsterdam is so much more than the Red Light District. The Dutch seem to speak perfect English and are ridiculously friendly and helpful. We’ve also decided that it’s a stiff competition between the Dutch and Aussies for Most Beautiful People in the World.

Hanna truly enjoyed walking and cruising around the canals. Next time she hopes to be more adventurous and rent a bike. Bicycles rule this city and stop for no one, so she was a bit intimidated. (Mike had rented a bike the last time he was here and had a great time riding around the canals.)

One of Mike’s favorite activities in Amsterdam was cheese-sampling. Two cheese shops were neighbors and doled out the free samples like it was their job. Mike hopped back and forth between the shops and gorged on delicious goat cheese and Gouda. He never wanted to leave, but mean Hanna told him that one can only eat so much cheese in a day.

We met an older American couple on the train leaving Amsterdam, and they had just finished a ten-day canal cruise through the Netherlands. They couldn’t stop raving about it. Someday when we are old and rich, we will hopefully be back to explore the breathtaking countryside like they did.

Days Spent in the Netherlands: 3

Total Money Spent in the Netherlands: US $448.26
(It seems like we didn’t care about our budget in the Netherlands, right? $450 for 3 days seems like a ton, but a third of that was train tickets for us just to get to Amsterdam. We did two semi-expensive activities: the Anne Frank House and canal cruise…well, semi-expensive for us. These were things that we really wanted to do. We also ate tons of fries with garlic sauce. End of story.)

Average Spent Per Day in the Netherlands: US $149.42
(Ouch. Hurts a bit. When you only spend a few days in a country, the daily average is skewed. Oh well.)

Average Spent Per Day for the Whole Trip: US $76.47
(So this went up about a dollar. Cool. The fact that we only have a month left in our trip and we’re that far under $100 a day makes us proud. Europe is expensive, we can’t change that, and we’re happy with our progress.)

Amsterdam by Night.

Random Pictures from Amsterdam

Though we are in London now, we are finally getting around to finishing our posts about Amsterdam. You said you didn’t want to read anything today, right? You just want pictures, yeah?

Here we go:

We DID See a Windmill in the Netherlands...

"Faster, Clog. FASTER."

Canal by Day.

Canal by Night.

Tulips? In Amsterdam? Crazy.

We Lived on These Things: Fries with Garlic Sauce.

Bend.

Sorry that we have not included any pictures of ladies of the night. We didn’t want to get beat up by their male “friends.”

Rewind: Italy Senior Pics

So we left Amsterdam yesterday, had a few hours to spend in Brussels, and then took the Eurostar to London. We’re gonna take a few days to settle into life in bloody ol’ London. While we are busy eating our weight in candy from Tesco, you’ll get some random posts about our trip. Real-time updates to come in a few days…

While we hung out in Tuscany with Mike’s family in April, we constantly joked about taking senior pics everywhere. We even got Mike’s sister and brother-in-law to take some. By the end of the trip, however, we forced the whole gang to don their most awkward look.

Our question to you: whose senior pic is the best? Scroll down, enlarge the pictures, and vote.

a) The Head Cheerleader–Amy

b) The Mathlete–Chris

c) The Best Dressed–Hanna

d) The Class President–Jan

e) The Teacher’s Pet–Jodi

f) The Science Nerd–Joe

g) The Bullying Jock–Mike

h) The Prom King–Pat

Vote early, and vote often:

Cruisin’

We decided to splurge (a US $24 splurge) and go on a canal tour of Amsterdam. We knew the relative low price would make for a short and probably not that informative of a tour, but we were pleasantly surprised. (As we were on the water, Mike realized that this was probably the same cruise he did while here eight years ago.)

The tour started off with Hanna walking onto the boat and an attendant sticking out his hand. Hanna thought he was offering his hand to aid her trip down the steep boat stairs. She stuck her hand out to grab his, and he rolled his eyes and said, “That’s nice and all, but I need your ticket.” Okay, asshole. Never mind helping the cute girl into the boat.

We made our way through various canals and the main harbor. Amsterdam is a beautiful city with a lot of water…mostly dirty water, but still pretty. Here are some pictures from our cruise:

Beautiful Canal Homes.

The Smallest Occupied Home in Amsterdam. (The One in the Middle, Friends. The One in the Middle.)

See the Hooks Protruding from the Top of the Houses? All Homes in Amsterdam Have These to Hoist Furniture on Moving Day Because the Staircases Are Too Narrow.

Low Bridge! Everybody Down!

Hanna really wanted to do the Pizza Cruise. For only US $50 per person, you can ride the canals for two hours while dining on Amsterdam’s finest pizza and some local ice cream. Did we fail to mention that you are fed Domino’s out of the box and a small container of Ben & Jerry’s? We do that on our couch on a weekly basis at home. We don’t need to pay $100 to dine on Domino’s on a canal boat. Maybe next trip.

Pizza Cruise.

The Anne Frank House

The one attraction we were most looking forward to visiting here in Amsterdam was the Anne Frank House. We both remember reading excerpts of her story in our middle school literature books. (Did anyone else read the play version? Mike did.) The home that Anne and her family hid in for two years during World War II has been turned into a museum and learning center. Anne’s father, Otto, was the only surviving member of the Frank family after the Holocaust. His mission was to open the hiding place to the public so we can all remember the horrors of the Holocaust and to educate the masses on future discrimination. Anne’s original diary is even on display.

Walking through the annex that Anne and seven other people lived was very surreal. The space was bigger than we expected and completely cleared of all furniture. The windows were completely blacked out, and there was no shower. Quotes from Anne’s diary are on the wall and act as a tour guide through the house. What this family, along with millions of other families, went through is unimaginable.

We especially liked the exhibit about discrimination issues around the world. You watch a short video that brings up some current issue: Should headscarves be banned in Dutch schools? Should Neo-Nazi groups be allowed to wear what they want in Germany? Should Holocaust denial groups be allowed on Facebook? At the end of each video, the audience got to vote on a yes/no question, and the results were displayed. We had a good time discussing our answers about each issue. Not every question had a clear-cut answer.

We weren’t allowed to take pictures while in the house, so you just may need to do some Internet searches to see the inside. This is a must-do while in Amsterdam and definitely ranks up there in our favorite things we have done on this trip.

The Facade of the Frank Hiding Place.

The Weirdest Hostel Bed We’ve Ever Seen

So we left Frankfurt on Sunday morning (yes, we know we’re falling behind) and got to Amsterdam around 1:30pm. We both tried to sleep on the four-hour ride, but the obnoxious German man who resembled Vernon Dursley kept us up by alternating between screaming on his cell phone and snoring his brains out. Hanna also loved the two guys in front of us who were oh-so-gently flipping the pages on their newspaper.

Our hostel is right by the Van Gogh Museum, and it feels like they just converted a semi-luxury hotel to dorm rooms. A fine choice for our LAST THREE NIGHTS in hostels on this trip…

Our eight-bed dorm room has the weirdest setup. Two sets of bunk beds are parallel to two different walls, while two other sets (i.e. four beds total) are nestled right into each other:

"Hi. Uh, So I Don't Know You...But Nice Sleeping Next to You."

The top bunks do have very low silver bars in between them, but you’re still right on top of the person. No separation exists between the bottom bunks…meaning you could roll right onto your neighbor. Our guess is that they don’t put people in all four beds unless everyone knows each other or absolutely needed. Right now one guy is on the top left bunk, while another guy is on the bottom right.

We’ve never seen beds THIS close before. Is it wrong that we are kinda hoping two people check in to the other bunks to see the reactions of all parties involved?