Spring Break:Part 2

Ack!  So much has been going on that I have not had sufficient time to write.

So, anyway, spring break was pretty awesome.  I left France to go to the Netherlands.  Amsterdam was one of the most interesting cities I've ever visited.  All the people I met were very friendly and accepting.  In fact, acceptance of others' differences seems to be the national attitude.  They pretty much don't care what you do as long as you don't require that they do it too.  I went on a walking tour of the city and actually learned a lot about the city of Amsterdam and Dutch history in general.  It is such a culture-rich city, and I went to a few museums including a Van Gogh museum holding over 200 of his works and an "underground" Catholic church from the reformation.  Anne Franks house is there, too.  I didn't get to go in, but I did take a picture.

One major struggle I had in Amsterdam was orienting myself.  The city grid is laid out in a semi circle, so if you walk straight along a street you don't always end up going the direction you want to.  It also doesn't help that every street has a canal going down it and all the bridges are green, so essentially everything looks the same.  It was also very bizarre to walk down the streets and smell pot wafting out of every third doorway, and of course the red-light district was fairly scandalous.  We were warned to not take pictures of the girls who display themselves there at risk of being chased down by them and having our cameras smashed.

I couch surfed with my roommate Raquelle for the 3 nights in Amsterdam and then she went on to Prague and I went to Eindhoven to await my flight to Norway the following day.
Eindhoven was good times.  I stayed with a woman named Kim and she had some friends over for dinner.  They were very kind and spoke in English for the most part.  When every they started to speak Dutch I just kind of smiled and nodded and had no idea what was going on.  The guests were appalled that A) I was only in Eindhoven for one night and B) that I had no plans to go out.  So, they took me out for a couple drinks.  Unfortunately it was a Wednesday night, so the Salsa bar and the Karaoke bar were both closed.  I was bummed, so was Ronald.  Alas I did not get to grace them with my mad karaoke skills.  However, we did play truth or dare, which I'm pretty sure I have not done since I was 13.

But, the best part of the night was definitely riding on the back of a bicycle.  Mildly terrifying, but much faster than walking.  Plus, it was a new experience!

Pictured below are poffertjes.  They are both my new favorite food and my new favorite word to say.  Thus, I am determined to find out how to make them so I can eat them and say their name on a fairly regular basis.

Spring Break: Part 1

I am only half way through my spring break, but I think it would be best to start recounting what has happened thus far lest I forget before I get back to Aix.

Paris
On March 31 I left for Paris to meet up with some friends from Luther.  Obviously I cannot travel without something going wrong, so naturally, both of my trains were delayed and I got to Paris an hour later than planned.  Although, everyone was asleep at the hostel (at 8:00pm) so it wasn't really a big deal.  Allison, Camille, and I headed out soon after that to meet up with Erik, who is studying there.  We walked around for a couple hours and got a drink and some frites.  It was pretty chill. Literally. I had only brought a light jacket and t-shirts with me.  Not good.  Especially since my travels were going to continue further and further north.

The next day we walked from our hostel to Montmartre to the Eiffel Tower, which was somewhere around 6 miles.  Oi.  But, it was a beautiful day to be outside in the sunshine.  Camille and I had already climbed the Eiffel Tower, so Allison and Steph did that while Camille and I sat at the Parc du Champs de Mars and awaited a friend of mine who was on tour with his university band and was supposed to be performing sometime that afternoon.  The band never arrived.  So, when Steph and Allison found us, we all made our way to the metro and returned to the hostel to crash.

That night we just hung out in the hostel with some people we met there.  We shared some stories and some wine and had an overall grand time of it.

On Friday we went to Versailles.  I had visited there during my travels in high school, but my roll of film from the gardens (yes, back in the dark ages before I had a digital camera) was the only roll that did not turn out when it got developed.  So, I opted to walk around the gardens while the other girls went into the chateau.  Unfortunately the weather was terrible so I spent my 2 hours in the gardens in the cold and the wind and the rain.  Also, I (in my infinite wisdom I of course was wearing a t-shirt and a light, non-waterproof jacket because they were the warmest clothes I had packed).  Fortunately I did get get to see the fountains on, which is something I had not seen before.  However, the gardens are much prettier in late June than in early April, so I will have to go back some summer and try for the third time to get decent pictures.
(Also, totally saw a kid in a Packers jacket and got a picture with him. Win!)

Erik came over to the hostel and we all spent the night just hanging out and having a good time.

[By the by, DO NOT STAY AT JULES FERRY HOSTEL.  And spread the word.  We had some issues with a drunk employee and the management stood idly by when help was requested.]

I left early the next morning to catch a train to Caen and the next part of my travels!


Normandy
I met my friends Maddie and Will at the Caen Train station and we headed off to Bayeux and then the American cemetery at Omaha Beach.  It's hard to describe the feeling there.  It feels uniquely American, like I could have been walking around Washington D.C.   It was the first place I had felt completely comfortable and justified in speaking English.
There was a museum devoted to the D-Day operation and then we took a walking tour of the graves.  We saw the graves of the Teddy Roosevelt's sons (one died in WWI the other in WWII).  We also saw the graves of the 2 Niland brothers who died in WWII.  These are 2 of the 4 brothers that the film Saving Private Ryan was about.  Turns out the 3rd brother didn't actually die in combat, but he was MIA and presumed dead.  Sites like this are always fascinating and haunting and tragic.  I'm never really sure how I'm supposed to feel or react in situations like that.  Sorrow, pride, curiosity. We also went down to the beach and saw some half-exploded German bunkers.  I think that one of the best parts was that I went there with 2 people who also have such a high level of interest and knowledge of WWII.

After the cemetery visit we went back to Bayeux and saw the Tapisserie de la Reine Mathilde, which is a tapestry depicting the triumph of William the Conqueror in battling for the British crown.  His queen, Mathilde, made the tapestry about a thousand years ago and it is still in pretty good condition. It is 70 meters long and very elaborate.  Very impressive.  The next day we also went to William the Conqueror's castle in Caen and walked around there for a while before catching our train to Amsterdam.

to be continued...

P.S.
This trip has also brought with it my first couchsurfing experiences.  Couchsurfing, I've decided, is the only way to go.  All the people I've met and stayed with have been wonderful, kind and generous.  It's a great way to meet people who know the area.  So great!