Three Hundred and Sixty-Five (365): Europe 2012

Part One : Amsterdam

For the last few years of my life, I have been telling myself(and other people) that some day, I would live somewhere in Europe for at least two years. It has become something of a dream of mine, and it was only enhanced when I was able to actually GO to Europe! Here are pictures, stories, and why I fell in love in eight little installments!<3

Enjoy<3

Amsterdam :

The Streets of Amsterdam Bikes Bikes Bikes Everywhere

The very first thing we did when we got to Amsterdam, even before going to the hotel, was visit the Anne Frank House. I have always been interested in reading about WW11 and Anne Frank specifically. I have read three or four books about her, including her diary...so needless to say I was kind of anxious about being there. When you know the history of something for so long, it almost becomes a story, a fairytale(an evil fairytale in this case) but...when you are standing where these people stood and seeing the way they were forced to live, it becomes real and it makes you sick. I walked through the Office and Annex slowly, reading everything on the walls and with each step I took and each word I read a new knot wove itself deep into the pit of my stomach. Those knots will stay there for the rest of my life because they are now a part of me. It broke my heart. I will go back there someday and remember and be sad and be grateful that things are a little different now. That was a eye-opening way of starting my first trip to Amsterdam, my first trip to Europe.

It was a lot colder in Amsterdam than I was expecting, so one of my first orders of business was to buy a hoodie. Luckily, on the other side of the street from the Anne Frank House was a little tiny shop. When I say "little tiny" I really mean it because it was no bigger than the little hallway from my bedroom to my sister's bedroom.

This is a picture of the little shop, and in the left hand corner is a black hoodie with "Amsterdam" written on it, and that is the one I bought. It stayed pretty cool everywhere I went in Europe...I have never loved a hoodie more in my life!!!

I came on this trip and told myself that I would try everything I possible could. I would come home with no regrets. I tried every food that was put in front of me and I documented it all! So for your viewing pleasure :

Dinner

Everything was so delicious! <3 Yum Yum Yum!

Day Two of Amsterdam :

Breakfast

It was really cold and rainy! I was so thankful that I bought that hoodie the day before! So, it was a good day for a bus tour! We stopped at this old windmill to take pictures. It was so beautiful there.

This is me standing in front of the windmill<3

Notice the hoodie!

Amsterdam is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. It was so wonderful to be able to see the whole city! I loved it there so much!

After the tour we had free time, so my group decided to go the the Van Gogh Museum! I thought it would be cool to see all his paintings but to be perfectly honest, I wasn't really stoked to go! But I completely fell in love with that place. It was so incredible to see how the place he was living affected his art. He had such a lonely life, I wish that he could have known how much influence his paintings would have years and years later. I wonder if that would have made a difference at all...? There was this one painting that I found so interesting. It was the last thing he ever painted and right after he finished it, he went into a field and shot himself. You can almost see the thoughts of a man so deeply troubled burning through the canvas. This is a picture of it(Not one I took because we weren't allowed to take pictures inside! How sad right?!)

Isn't it beautiful?

The Van Gogh Museum was such a hidden treasure for me. It was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.

Here are a few fun food stories that all happened in a matter of a couple hours! haha!

Fun Food Story Number One :

It was very cold and rainy outside and so of course, I wanted something hot to drink. We passed by a little place and I saw that they had Cappuccinos...so I ran over there to get one! There were two very beautiful men behind the counter and it was lovely.

This is the dialogue!

Beautiful Boy Number One (BBNO) : Hey! How can I help you?

Me : Hi! What kind of Cappuccinos do you have?

BBNO : The best in the world! (Then he killed me with his perfect smile!)

Me : Haha! Then I will have one of those!

BBNO : (Handing me the Cappuccino) One Cappuccino, made with love!

BBNT : Oh you think you're smooth don't you? (Talking to BBNO)

Hahah! It was very funny and wonderful :)

Fun Food Story Number Two :

I love bread. I have always adored it. I think maybe it is because when I was little my dad was on the Atkins Diet. So he never ate carbs, which means that the rest of us didn't eat very many carbs either! So maybe it comes from lack a of carbs in my childhood, or maybe it is just in my blood. Whatever it is, it made me defenseless against the bakeries in Europe, this one in particular. You could smell the warm bread baking from outside the store. The heat was emanating onto the sidewalk which was refreshing since it was so cold. I didn't even think about it, I just walked in. It was so beautiful and warm! It smelled so delicious that I HAD to get something. Since we were about to eat lunch I just ordered a couple bread sticks. I was about to pay and so I asked if he takes cards because I had no cash on me. He said that he didn't but he gave me the bread anyway! It was so sweet and I just about cried. I totally wasn't expecting that and it definatly made my day<3

Fun Food Story Number Three :

Lunch was an experience because we were sitting outside, and then ALL OF THE SUDDEN it just started pouring! Amsterdam did that a lot! So we were all shivering eating out food and trying to stay dry. The food was good though! <3 We were all happy though because even though we were being rained on and it was cold, we were in Amsterdam doing it! :)

After lunch we went on a boat tour! It was so beautiful!! Here are more pictures from Amsterdam!! I absolutely loved Amsterdam! <3

Dinner

Yum Yum food! hehe!<3

After dinner we went to the Red Light District. I obviously don't have any pictures from that, but it was really interesting. This guy in my group, Gage, his mom called him while he was there! It was so funny! He didn't answer though! hahah!

So that was my time in Amsterdam! it was perfect and lovely and someday I will come back!

Part Two : Delft

Delft is one of my favorite places in the world. It is a small little town in Holland and it is so beautiful. We spent only half a day there, but it was more than enough time to completely fall in love with it. When we first got there we went to the Delft Blue Porcelain factory. The guy that talked to us was tall and blond and very pretty! haha! It was so cool to be able to see how they made everything!

There was a little music shop and I decided that I was going to go in and ask the guy at the front desk what his favorite cd was and buy it. So I did just that! The guy was beautiful and so nice! He had black hair and he thought of this cd in about three seconds. He let me listen to a little bit of it before I bought it. It is a jazz Cd and I wasn't crazy about it, but I bought it because I knew that I could find something to love about it if it was somebody's favorite Cd.

Lunch :

We went to this little place for lunch and sat outside. It was so wonderful outside, about 70 degrees and sunny!

This is a pancake with powdered sugar, raisons, apples, and cinnamon<3

Delft was such a wonderful experience. I hope one day, I can go back and spend more time there! <3

More Pictures from Delft :

Part Three : Brussels

It was a two hour bus ride from Delft to Brussels. So pictures were taken! Haha! This is Liz and me! Excuse my very freckly nose! I don't know what is going on with it!

Brussels was really cool! All the buildings are so stunning and HUGE! I bought another Cd, using the same method, by asking the person that works there! This is the product : an old British punk band!

Snack time in Belgium :

This is a Belgium waffle with dark Belgium chocolate! It was one of the most amazing things that has ever entered my mouth<3 Yum Yum Yum!!

In Brussels, there is a statue, known as Pee-Pee Boy. We went to see it and I bought my mom a wine opener shaped like him! haha! She loved it! Liz and I took a picture next to the fake Pee-Pee Boy a couple blocks away after getting waffles! <3

Before dinner, I went with Liz and her mom and sister to get a beer. When in Belgium, do as they do<3

Naturally it rained while we were there. It poured for about half an hour and then it was perfectly sunny again! haha! I miss the rain a lot now that I'm back home!