Today officially marks a week since I've been home. I'm (for the most part) caught up on life, so I think it's about time to do my trip recap. I'll start from the beginning.
I was anxious about getting through security and all the airport fun-ness, and the news had been reporting to get there at least two hours ahead of time, so we did. There were ZERO people in line at the check in counter. There was a small line going through security, but nothing like I imagined. I'm always anxious about this part, but I never have any problem, NEVER. Of course this one time would be the time. They sent my carry-on bag back through the scanner several times, kept pulling stuff out, I just knew they were going to take Sanne's Christmas present, but lo-and-behold my Trish McEvoy makeup planner--you know the one specifically made for travel--apparently looked like a KNIFE!
Once we got that figured out, the rest of my travels went just fine. I met the sweetest couple in the Austin airport who were also flying into Duesseldorf. They answered my silly questions and helped ease my fears about getting there. I thought I would sleep more on the plane(s), but I guess I was too excited, because I slept maybe two hours.
Sanne and Patrick were waiting for me right outside the doors of the airport! I was so excited to see them! We ate a quick pastry at the airport and hit the road to the mothercountry! We were on the autobahn going from Germany into Holland, which was pretty cool. Actually it really wasn't that exciting, but at least I can say I was on the autobahn. :-) Once we got back to their house, these beautiful Dutch tulips were there to welcome me! Then we opened Christmas presents. Sanne got me lots of cool stuff--Blond Amsterdam!--I'll get to that later. And then we took a nap.
We went to Sanne's parent's house for Christmas dinner. We had goumetten. I tried to Google that before I my trip, but I still wasn't totally sure what it was. It was really good! So it's basically little thin cuts of meat: steak, chicken, pork, hamburger patty, and then veggies like mushrooms, onions, and you grill it on a little electric skillet. Her parents have the most adorable, exactly what I think when I think European, house and the prettiest backyard/garden that I can just imagine is wonderful for summer outdoor dining. I wanted to take pictures of it in the day light, but when we went back, it was raining and nasty out.
Day 2: Second Christmas, as they call it in Holland. First stop, the ATM! These are my first Euros!
Then we went to Apeldoorn, this adorable little town where the old palace is. It was the Royal Palace until 1984. We were able to walk around in the stables and in some of the rooms in the main house as well as in the gardens.
After that, we went to Doetinchem to have Second Christmas dinner with Patrick's family. I wished I would have taken some pictures with them and at dinner, but I forgot. Patrick's mom (well Sanne's mom and Sanne did as well) hooked me up with lots of awesome Dutch gifts. We each got like a lottery ticket that's an advent calendar. I came so close to winning the big million. We went to The Old People City for dinner, and again I wasn't real sure what to expect, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. I had mushrooms with melted cheese and a steak in a sauce that I didn't care for, but the steak was good and then ice cream with chocolate sauce. After dinner, we went back to Patrick's parents house for tea and then over to his aunt and uncle's for more tea (we drank A LOT of tea over there) and chocolates.
Day 3: Amsterdam! We got up bright and early to catch the train to Arnhem and then on to Amsterdam. We were going to ride the bikes to the station, but Sanne's bike seat was too high for my short little legs. :-(
This is where Sanne's dad works! It's across from the train station.
My train ticket to Amsterdam!
The train station in Arnhem.
There was a Starbucks! I felt right at home.
The Amsterdam Arena. A big stadium where they play soccer. As seen from a speeding train.
This is the Amsterdam Centraal station. I had to pay 50 cents to go to the bathroom here! This is also where I discovered Hema. Click the link and watch the intro, it's totally worth it! Don't worry that you can't read anything it says! Hema is a store...I'm not sure what to compare it to, maybe a smaller version of Target? They have a little bit of everything.
When we got out of the train station, we decided to take a canal boat tour around Amsterdam.
This is a new opera-type house.
Boat house (and buildings) on the canal.
Apparently this is the most famous bridge in Holland. This was news to Sanne. haha
Dam Square
Inside the church in Dam Square.
Riding the tram around (and around and around LOL) Amsterdam.
The Heineken Brewery
The American Consulate
Sanne with the I Am Amsterdam sign.
Waffles on the street of Amsterdam
Blond Amsterdam! So Sanne got me the cutest tea mug and reusable bag from a line called Blond Amsterdam. Well, naturally, I fell in love. So we HAD to visit the store in Amsterdam. It did not disappoint. Had everything not been breakable, I would have come home with even more of their stuff. It's all hand painted with the cutest little blond girl(s) doing fun girly stuff.
Dutch pancakes! This was dinner in Amsterdam at The Pancake Bakery. Mine was banana and Nutella!
The Red Light District...oh the Red Lights! This was a surreal experience. I've grown up aware of the Red Light District in Amsterdam. The girls, the weed, but it was so crazy being there. So these girls, in their little bikinis and high heels, are just standing in the door way (behind glass) of these little rooms. Guys come by and negotiate a price, they go in and close the curtains and it all happens right there in front of you. It was so crazy. We saw guys going in and paying as they came out. And they're not trying to hide it or be discrete! It's like no big deal! And the bars! OMG you could practically get contact high just from walking by.
This is my favorite picture. I didn't notice this until after I got home and was going through my pictures. Apparently it's cool to take your kids as long as you're holding their hand. hahaha
Day 4: Volendam! It got really cold this day. It had been fairly mild, but the wind kicked up and it was COLD! So we were on our way to Volendam, which is like a traditional Dutch tourist town. On the way we stopped at the Albert Heijn! This is where Patrick works. He is the store manager. We got some snacks for the road. What is Cool Ranch Doritos in America is called Cool American in Dutch! haha
Outside a clog and cheese factory near Volendam.
Where they make real Dutch clogs!
My friend Heidi told me before I left to bring her back a "little Hollander." We searched all over for one and we found him!
Sanne and I took old timey pictures.
The streets of Volendam.
A cheese factory. One of the girls in there kept following us around. We just wanted out and she kept offering us more stuff. It was getting a little creepy.
Of course they had the old windmills, but I was amazed at how close the energy windmills are to the road. Here they are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back, but in Europe they're like 500 feet from the highway!
Day 5: Paris! I'm going to throw you for a little shocker. I didn't love Paris as much as I thought I would. I did enjoy it, and am so excited that I got to go and experience it, but I don't care to go back again. There were soooooo many people, the lines for everything were insane, it was expensive (two "craps" crepes and two Cokes were 25 Euros ~$33), the people weren't rude, but they weren't very nice and they refuse to speak anything except French when you know they understand English just fine. It might be totally different if I were able to spend a whole vacation there, but trying to do it all in a day, I just didn't love it.
Our tiny Paris hotel room. This is what you get when you request two beds. hahaha
The view from our hotel balcony.
Trying not to get mugged on the Paris subway.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
To get the whole Eiffel Tower, you have to stand on this post and the person taking the picture has to neal down and shoot up. So we asked this Asian character to take our picture together, assuming that's what he'd do. This is what we got. Oh well, at least we know where we are!
The Acr de Triomphe on the Champs Elysees!
The Champs Elysees
Being touristy with the Arc de Triomphe
The line to get into Louis Vuitton was wrapped allllllll the way around the building.
This is the line to get into Abercrombie! It's like four winding rows deep. At first I thought it was some famous palace or something, but it's freakin Abercrombie! I was shocked.
Street performers.
Pretty Christmas decorations on the Champs Elysees
The Wheel of Light...again, another looooooong line.
Place de la Concorde fountain
Sanne and I with the Eiffel Tower in the background. It took us no less than ten tries for this picture. hahaha
The Louvre
The Louvre
The Eiffel Tower sparkling at night.
Notre Dame.
It was so crazy to think OMG I'm really in Paris. I'm really here! Sanne and I kept saying "oh you know...just chillin' at The Lourve" and "oh you know...just having dinner at the Notre Dame."
Day 6: The one thing I really wanted in Paris was some french macarons. My friend Elisabeth, who is from France, suggested Laudree, but again with the lines! And we didn't want to give up precious Paris seeing time to wait, so the next morning we found a little bakery that had them. Then I promptly smashed them all when I tripped going down the stairs to get the car!
This is the street our tiny little hotel was on.
Crossing the border into Belgium. Peace out France!
Back in Zevenaar: there was a neat store (help me with the name Sanne) Intratuin that had just about everything and they had this neat Christmas village set up. It's very similar to the Department 56 villages, but Dutch. It was awesome! Update: Sanne also reminded me on the delicious waffle we had! Similar to the one in Amsterdam, but this one had chocolate, cherries, and whipped cream on it! And this is also where I realized that there are no baggers to bag your stuff for you. Not that I think there should or shouldn't be, but I'm just used to seeing people bag for you. And also, grocery stores don't really have bags, you bring your own. Which I am a HUGE proponent of!
Gratuitous Dutch photo op!
The street of Zevenaar.
Day 7: Windmills! This is the windmill in Zevenaar, and what it looks like in the summer.
We got to go inside the windmill! The guy said that it was actually working the day before. They still mill grain there.
In one of the other windmills there was a cute little baking shop. This is the flour that's churned (do you say churned? milled?) out of the windmill.
The church in Zevenaar. We tried to go in but it was locked.
New Year's Eve!
This was such a cool experience! Unlike here, you can shoot fireworks anywhere, so starting on the 30th all day until after midnight New Year's, fireworks were going all the time. We spent New Year's Eve with Sanne's friends. One of the guys works a firework stand and gets paid in explosives. The entryway of their house was filled with fireworks. So the guys shot fireworks for a little while when we got there and then we played Uno and watched some of the concerts on TV and I got more Dutch pop culture education. At midnight everyone comes out of their houses and lots of people shoot more fireworks. All the neighbors come out and wish everyone a Happy New Year. It was so cool!
See the aftermath in the background?! This is Dick, the firework enthusiast.
Happy New Year!
We were at their house until almost 2AM. Then had to get up at 6:30 to drive to Amsterdam to the airport. My trip back was fine, but once I was at the airport I was just so anxious to get back home!
I didn't realize I would miss Holland so much once I was home, but I do. I LOVED it there. I loved getting to spend a whole week with my lekker ding. Patrick is such a nice guy! He has only come with her back to Texas once and I didn't get to spend time with him then. I just adore both of them. I loved Sanne's family so much. They were so welcoming and tried so hard to speak English! Patrick's family was just as welcoming and her friends were so nice.
The first day or two were a little bit of culture shock for me, but it wasn't bad. Getting used to Euros. The biggest obstacle was the language. Sanne did a great job of translating. Bless her heart, I'm sure she got tired of it quick! I don't know what I was expecting, but I guess I was thinking there would be more English. Many words were similar to English words so I could figure out what was said, but in conversation I was lost. I would just kind of sit there in my own little world until Sanne explained to me what was being said. hahaha
I know that it is still way in the future, but I've started toying with the idea of living there for a while. Once I finish my Master's, I'm thinking about seeking out companies that have a presence in Holland and seeing if I could do pat work there. It's a long shot, but I loved it so much there I know I definitely want to go back for longer.
I had a wonderful time! It was definitely a trip of a lifetime!
