The Long Awaited Holiday Report!

Hi Friends!

So as I said before, I was going to post about my holiday to Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, and Brussels with a fellow YAGM, Jessica. :)

Here's how the story began.

Learning from my mistakes with my first holiday to Spain, I elected to pick flights that would not require sleeping over in airports. So on February 11th, I took my time in the morning, hopped on a train from Potters Bar to London Kings Cross (yep, often to Platform 9!), and took the Piccadilly Line all the way down to London Heathrow Airport. Things went smoothly, I managed to find Jess okay, and we got on our hour long flight a few hours later.

The frozen canals of Amsterdam! :)

When we got to Amsterdam, we had a few moments of disbelief as we started to fully realize we were in Amsterdam! :) Jess planked a statue in the airport and I managed to stop an escalator, so we left definitely left our mark at the Amsterdam Airport! We managed to find our bags, no hassle, got on the metro, walked through the center of Amsterdam, and finally found our hostel in the freezing (!) cold. We ventured out that night, back to the metro station to get Burger King of all things, as a full meal cost 2 Euro, the cheapest meal around. We spent a few more minutes on our walk back, checking out the infamous Red Light District, and called it a night.

The line waiting to get into the Anne Frank House.

Now as for the rest of our time in Amsterdam, I won't give you a play by play, but Jess and I managed to see some hotspots. Our first order of business was to visit the Anne Frank House, the warehouse where she and her family hid with other Jews from the Nazis. The most surreal part was actually walking through the bookcase into the secret annex. After reading about it in her diary, I could hardly believe that I was really there, walking where she once walked. It was an experience to say the least and I would love to go back again someday. After going to the Anne Frank House, and since it was so cold out, Jess and I decided to walk a little on the frozen canals, which apparently, we were told, only froze once every seven years. Lucky us. It was a good thing we did, however, as the weather warmed up considerably the next day and all the ice melted!

The view while walking on the frozen canal!

The Heineken Brewery aka "The Heineken Experience".

On our second full day in Amsterdam, Jess and I were on our way to find the Rijks Museum and the "I amsterdam" sign, when we ran into the Heineken Brewery. Rather than continue walking, we went in and were pleasantly surprised by how entertaining the "Heineken Experience" actually was! Just as in the Anne Frank House where we could record and send back videos, we thoroughly enjoyed making videos at the Heineken Brewery and we even got to practice our DJ-ing skills! Although Jess and I don't enjoy drinking beer, the whole experience was definitely the highlight of our day. We did manage to find the "I amsterdam" sign in the afternoon and ate another Burger King lunch, if I remember correctly. :)

Windmills!!

For our third and final full day in Amsterdam, Jess and I chose to go on a Countryside Tour to see windmills, clogs, cheese making, and a traditional fishing village. While the weather was not ideal, being able to see other sights was definitely a plus. By this time, Jess and I were getting used to finding samples, so we enjoyed going to the cheese making demonstration which provided additional samples of cheeses, meats, chocolate, and stroopwaffels (our favorite snack until we had too many). At the clog maker's, I got an up close and personal look at how clogs were made, so close I even had to shield my eyes from the flying wood! Last, but not least, we stopped at a fishing village on the coast, where Jess and I split a Fish and Chips dinner which was fabulous! Overall, our stay in Amsterdam was fabulous. I can't wait to go back someday and see the canals during the summer, although they were my favorite part even in the winter!

A Karneval Poster.

From Amsterdam, we caught a bus to Dusseldorf, arriving at our hostel after dark. Wanting a traditional German meal, we were advised to go up to "Old Town" on the Tram and check out a few recommended places. Despite a mix up with tram tickets where Jess put hers into a machine it shouldn't have gone in, we made it to Old Town and after much debate, found a place to eat. Since Germans tended to greet us with "Hallo" and we'd respond "Hello", sounding similar, it often took a little bit of time for people to realize we weren't German (as opposed to "Hola" or "Bonjour" giving us away more quickly). We found this to be the case at our first restaurant, where we were handed German menus and couldn't make anything out of them. When we asked for waters, our waiter realized we spoke English and rushed back with translated menus.

Our delicious hot chocolate!

The next morning, we were told that we had managed to make it to Dusseldorf for "Karneval", a Mardi Gras type celebration. Since the festivities were held in Old Town and we knew how to get there cheaply by following the tram line, we walked down to see what all the hype was about. As we were walking, we kept passing cowboys, hippies, cartoon animals, and superheroes. Feeling left out, Jess and I passed a Euro Shop and purchased our own cowgirl hats and leis (not sure why they go together, but they seemed to work for our purposes). :) After stopping at a bakery to try baked goods we didn't know how to pronounce, we made it to Old Town, where we walked through the crowds and enjoyed a few German beers. I made a point of also trying out a real life German bratwurst, which was FABULOUS by the way. We spent the rest of the day walking around and even stopped at a cafe to enjoy a delicious hot chocolate and write postcards.

McDonalds and a historic fountain.

The following morning, we got up really early to catch another bus to Brussels, our last stop. That morning was not my shining moment and props to Jess for letting me be crabby, I just wasn't having it. We drove a few hours, only to stop and change buses, which we did after a kind soul translated the instructions into English for us. We finally made it into Brussels mid-morning, knowing we had a train and metro ride, as well as a walk, to get to our hostel, which wouldn't let us in for a few hours. Not wanting to walk around Brussels with our stuff, Jess wanted to take things easy, but again I just wasn't having it. We decided to travel towards our hostel regardless and managed to meet a stranger outside the metro who led us near our hostel. We locked up our packs in the downstairs lockers at our hostel and ventured out to find food.

Jess' mystery Mykonos "small" drink!

That afternoon, as we ventured into Brussels, we came across the Grand Place. It was GORGEOUS! So many golden buildings. We walked around a bit and ended up at a Greek place called Mykonos, which is where our day turned around. While ordering, Jess said she would like to try a Belgian beer, to which I said that I would give it a try as well, but for good measure I said I wanted a small beer. To be funny, one of the cooks decided to give me a small beer, in a shot glass, about two sips worth. He and his fellow cooks thought this was hilarious! And with the language barrier, all we could do was make faces and laugh. The gyros Jess and I got were delicious AND the whole atmosphere instantly turned our day around. We left Mykonos with smiles on our faces, ready to check enjoy the best Brussels had to offer.

The Grand Place!

We left the restaurant to go back to the Grand Place and all the chocolate shops lining its sides. Jess and I splurged and got chocolates at the original Godiva shop and then went down a few doors to Neuhaus, a Belgian chocolate shop where the salesclerk allowed us to have a piece of chocolate for free. Now when six to eight pieces of chocolate cost 5 Euro, a piece for free is a big deal! The chocolate was TDF (to die for, as my mother would say)! Jess and I hit up a local grocery store to make an inexpensive dinner and headed back to the hostel to get settled into our rooms. As we had heard Brussels was sketchy at night, Jess and I made sure to head indoors before dark.

Mannekin Pis

The next day, Jess and I had to fit everything in as it was our only full day in Brussels. We walked around some of the shops, saw the Grand Place again, found a garden and museum, and went searching for the famous Mannekin Pis, a famous fountain with a statue of a little boy peeing. We managed to do everything on our list, even eating a Belgian waffle and more chocolates, and also decided we didn't like surrealist art after our museum tour. All in all, our only full day in Brussels was delightful and we even went back to Mykonos for more Greek food!

On our last morning in Europe, Jess and I decided to check out a Lutheran church. Even though the service was in Dutch, we still enjoyed the experience, especially all the kindness and hospitality we received from the church community. It was a little surreal that night, realizing that I had been worshiping in Brussels, Belgium that same morning! Jess and I finished service, took the train to the airport, and splurged with our remaining Euros to get a Pizza Hut lunch. It was soooooooooo good! We boarded our plane for London and after a freak snowfall on the tarmac, were on our way back home! What a journey!

So that's my February Half-Term Holiday Report! I hope you liked it and that I didn't drone on too long. :)

Last, but not least, here's Jess in front of the first Godiva store!! :)