So I got back from London 2 nights ago, and although I am not heading off to Dublin with a lot of my friends for this weekend, does not mean I will not be keeping busy.
Monday & today I have been doing lots of work, preparing for the AMAZING upcoming three weeks. Katie McKitterick is coming to stay with me tomorrow (Wednesday) until Sunday, and then my sister is coming next Wednesday for two weeks!!!! YAY
I'm super excited for Katie to get here, I am going to go buy us concert tickets so we can see T PAIN who is performing at this club Melkweg tomorrow night. Then I have a bunch of ideas of fun stuff to do while she's here, including going on a daytrip Saturday to see Paleis het Loo, which is the Royal Palace!!!! This was actually a field trip for my dutch class (that all CIEE students were welcome to, and that was not mandatory), but I was pretty sure I would enjoy it, and Katie would, too, so I signed us up!
Besides that, museums and markets are in the cards for when both Katie and Christina are here. Other sights like Dam Square, the Red Light District (of course), Coco's (this really fun bar w/ a good happy hour), the Pancake Bakery, maybe the Zoo or a Comedy Show, Anne Frank house, Madame Tusaud's wax museum, Heinekin Factory, FOAM (photography museum), the Rijks, Van Gogh, Rembrandt House, Allard Pierson Museum, Dutch resistance museum, and of couse, Tranny Bingo. I will definitely let you know which of these are accomplished over the next three weeks!!!
Oh, and I'm excited because:
1. Michele is dating this hottie on the Denmark soccer team and going there for her Spring Break, so I'm trying to make plans to meet her there for one weekend
2. Jacqueline's getting an internship in Germany this summer so I am gonna extend my trip to see her in Germany!!!!!
3. Papabear's eye is better so he can fly so M&D can prob come see me soon! YAY
miss you all...
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
LONDON
So not even a full 4 days passed until Kelly & I were venturing off to travel again.
We returned home Monday morning at 5:30am and took for for London after my dutch class on Thursday night. Kelly and I hurried to Centraal Station to catch the 7:58 pm train to Schiphol airport. As we were walking off the train, we met up with Beth, Colleen, and Jessee, who are the other three girls we were traveling with. We checked in without any trouble, and less than 2 hours later we were walking off the plane at London Gatwick.
After purchasing our London Gatwick express tickets, we preceeded to get on the wrong (well, not really wrong, but not the express) train to Victoria station, and arrived there about 20 minutes after we would have had on the express. Nonethe less, we successfully arrived to Euston Station and set of to find the Generator hostel. This should have been easy. Colleen printed out directions, and I kindly asked a bus driver where the street was. 35 minutes later, we realized he had told us the wrong way. After a 35 min walk back to our starting point, we went left instead, and 20 minutes later the street was no where in sight. Apparently you have to go STRAIGHT to the next block, and THEN left. Anyway, we eventually made it to the Generator, exhausted and starving and ate vending machine chips for dinner and passed out.
However, the rest of the weekend was amazing.
We woke up Friday morning, and after bfast (aka cereal and toast) at the hostel we went on a walking tour of the city. The tour took us around all sorts of places: Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park Corner, Nelson's Column, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, 10 Drowning St., St. Jame's Park, Wellington Arch, Horsegaurds, Whitehall, Big Ben, Churchill's War Cabinet Bunker, The Houses of Parliment, St. Martin in the Fields, Westminister Abbey, and more! it was grand! After the walking tour we went to a pub for lunch. Kelly and I ordered the "Big Ben Burger" and it was phenominal. After lunch we went to Camden Market, which was huge and amazing. We thought it was only one street with a little swap meet like set up, but as we talked realized it was a HUGE area outside and inside of little stands selling really cool things. I bought quite a few things- in fact, I am about to put up some posters once I finish writing this!!! After we spend four hours or so there, we left and headed back to the hostel to get ready for FABRIC, this really cool sounding club we had heard about. We got ready and headed to the hostel bar for a drink or two, before heading out (grabbing dinner on the way) to Fabric. Fabric turned out to be really fun! We heard a British band and danced ! And we met some guys from Venezuela, doing Master's programs in London & Madrid.
Saturday was an amazing day, too. After the hostel bfast, we headed to Notting Hill. BEAUTIFUL area with pretty houses and colorful trees. We went to Portabello Market, which was, again, AMAZING. I found some really good souveniors, for myself and my family. Not only were there random ring/jewelery stands, but antique stores, touristy stores, food stands, fruits and veggie stands, etc. We found a falafel stand and had a great sandwich for lunch. After the market we headed to HARRODS for tea by way of the Kennsington Gardens(/park). This was BEAUTIFUL. it was so sunny- which is outrageously rare for London. In fact, it was sunny all three days we were there. It was simply a blessing. Anyway, the garden/park was beautiful and green with flowers everywhere and familys scampering around. There were a few lakes which added a nice touch. We saw the Kennsington Palace, although we did not enter, and the Princess Diana Memorial fountain. After spending quite a bit of time in the park walking around, we finally made it to Harrods for tea. Now, I had been to Harrods a few times, each time being amazing, and so I was really excited to take the girls. We only had to wait around 30 mins, and the prices were less expensive than I remembered or warned them, so we were all stoked. We spent like 2 hours having tea and talking and such- it was a great end to a great afternoon. After tea, we split up and Colleen, Kelly & I hussled back to the hostel to get ready and make it in time for happy hour before meeting up for the pub crawl at 8:30. After some drinks, conversations, and new acquaintences from the bar, the three of us headed out to Covent Gardens to meet up at the first bar. 12 pounds well spent- the pub crawl was a lot of fun, and we met a lot of nice people. In one bar we met a group of (young & attractive) Norwegian teachers on a conference, and met a group of Aussies in another. Also, we met three guys that happen to be visiting London from Amsterdam! So that was cool! We hungout with these guys until the end of the night and eventually made it home after getting a little lost! What a fab night!!!!!!
Sunday morning we woke up extra early by chance and got our day started right away. Today, Kelly & I split up from the other girls and went back to the Camden Market, because she needed to get her friend a Arsenol flag. After walking around the market a bit, we grabbed lunch at a cute cafe before heading to Trafalger Square to the Picasso exhibit featured at the National Gallery. We got there a little before 1:00 pm, and bought exhibit tickets for what we thought was right then. Turned out the appointment we bought tickets for was at 2:00pm, so we went out to take pictures around the square with the lion statues and such, and then went to have a drink while we waited in a nearby bar. We sat there talking about all the plans we had for the next week while Christina and her brother visits. YAY! Another funny think- we were sitting rightttt by the door, and there was this one point where this woman walks in with a toddler. Kelly, a little louder than she had meant, bursted out: "Who brings a baby into a bar!!!?!?!" and did not realize how loud she said it until it was already out. Fortunately for her, she was facing the wall and I was facing the room, so the woman turned around as if to say something but I subtly looked past her as if I didn't notice, so we didn't have to deal with her attempt and an excuse. So that was funny. Eventually we made it into the exhbit, and was there for just under an hour viewing the genius works of Picasso. it was grand! We then headed back to the hostel and met up with colleen, printed our boarding passes, grabbed our luggage, and took off to the pizza place next door before heading the the airport. We got hom Sunday night around 11:30 pm, and the trip was declared an AMAZING success. YAY!
We returned home Monday morning at 5:30am and took for for London after my dutch class on Thursday night. Kelly and I hurried to Centraal Station to catch the 7:58 pm train to Schiphol airport. As we were walking off the train, we met up with Beth, Colleen, and Jessee, who are the other three girls we were traveling with. We checked in without any trouble, and less than 2 hours later we were walking off the plane at London Gatwick.
After purchasing our London Gatwick express tickets, we preceeded to get on the wrong (well, not really wrong, but not the express) train to Victoria station, and arrived there about 20 minutes after we would have had on the express. Nonethe less, we successfully arrived to Euston Station and set of to find the Generator hostel. This should have been easy. Colleen printed out directions, and I kindly asked a bus driver where the street was. 35 minutes later, we realized he had told us the wrong way. After a 35 min walk back to our starting point, we went left instead, and 20 minutes later the street was no where in sight. Apparently you have to go STRAIGHT to the next block, and THEN left. Anyway, we eventually made it to the Generator, exhausted and starving and ate vending machine chips for dinner and passed out.
However, the rest of the weekend was amazing.
We woke up Friday morning, and after bfast (aka cereal and toast) at the hostel we went on a walking tour of the city. The tour took us around all sorts of places: Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park Corner, Nelson's Column, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, 10 Drowning St., St. Jame's Park, Wellington Arch, Horsegaurds, Whitehall, Big Ben, Churchill's War Cabinet Bunker, The Houses of Parliment, St. Martin in the Fields, Westminister Abbey, and more! it was grand! After the walking tour we went to a pub for lunch. Kelly and I ordered the "Big Ben Burger" and it was phenominal. After lunch we went to Camden Market, which was huge and amazing. We thought it was only one street with a little swap meet like set up, but as we talked realized it was a HUGE area outside and inside of little stands selling really cool things. I bought quite a few things- in fact, I am about to put up some posters once I finish writing this!!! After we spend four hours or so there, we left and headed back to the hostel to get ready for FABRIC, this really cool sounding club we had heard about. We got ready and headed to the hostel bar for a drink or two, before heading out (grabbing dinner on the way) to Fabric. Fabric turned out to be really fun! We heard a British band and danced ! And we met some guys from Venezuela, doing Master's programs in London & Madrid.
Saturday was an amazing day, too. After the hostel bfast, we headed to Notting Hill. BEAUTIFUL area with pretty houses and colorful trees. We went to Portabello Market, which was, again, AMAZING. I found some really good souveniors, for myself and my family. Not only were there random ring/jewelery stands, but antique stores, touristy stores, food stands, fruits and veggie stands, etc. We found a falafel stand and had a great sandwich for lunch. After the market we headed to HARRODS for tea by way of the Kennsington Gardens(/park). This was BEAUTIFUL. it was so sunny- which is outrageously rare for London. In fact, it was sunny all three days we were there. It was simply a blessing. Anyway, the garden/park was beautiful and green with flowers everywhere and familys scampering around. There were a few lakes which added a nice touch. We saw the Kennsington Palace, although we did not enter, and the Princess Diana Memorial fountain. After spending quite a bit of time in the park walking around, we finally made it to Harrods for tea. Now, I had been to Harrods a few times, each time being amazing, and so I was really excited to take the girls. We only had to wait around 30 mins, and the prices were less expensive than I remembered or warned them, so we were all stoked. We spent like 2 hours having tea and talking and such- it was a great end to a great afternoon. After tea, we split up and Colleen, Kelly & I hussled back to the hostel to get ready and make it in time for happy hour before meeting up for the pub crawl at 8:30. After some drinks, conversations, and new acquaintences from the bar, the three of us headed out to Covent Gardens to meet up at the first bar. 12 pounds well spent- the pub crawl was a lot of fun, and we met a lot of nice people. In one bar we met a group of (young & attractive) Norwegian teachers on a conference, and met a group of Aussies in another. Also, we met three guys that happen to be visiting London from Amsterdam! So that was cool! We hungout with these guys until the end of the night and eventually made it home after getting a little lost! What a fab night!!!!!!
Sunday morning we woke up extra early by chance and got our day started right away. Today, Kelly & I split up from the other girls and went back to the Camden Market, because she needed to get her friend a Arsenol flag. After walking around the market a bit, we grabbed lunch at a cute cafe before heading to Trafalger Square to the Picasso exhibit featured at the National Gallery. We got there a little before 1:00 pm, and bought exhibit tickets for what we thought was right then. Turned out the appointment we bought tickets for was at 2:00pm, so we went out to take pictures around the square with the lion statues and such, and then went to have a drink while we waited in a nearby bar. We sat there talking about all the plans we had for the next week while Christina and her brother visits. YAY! Another funny think- we were sitting rightttt by the door, and there was this one point where this woman walks in with a toddler. Kelly, a little louder than she had meant, bursted out: "Who brings a baby into a bar!!!?!?!" and did not realize how loud she said it until it was already out. Fortunately for her, she was facing the wall and I was facing the room, so the woman turned around as if to say something but I subtly looked past her as if I didn't notice, so we didn't have to deal with her attempt and an excuse. So that was funny. Eventually we made it into the exhbit, and was there for just under an hour viewing the genius works of Picasso. it was grand! We then headed back to the hostel and met up with colleen, printed our boarding passes, grabbed our luggage, and took off to the pizza place next door before heading the the airport. We got hom Sunday night around 11:30 pm, and the trip was declared an AMAZING success. YAY!
BERLIN
Written the first week in March:
This past weekend has been one of the craziest ones thus far.
Kelly, Darren, Andrew, Alex & took a cab to the Euroline bus stop around 11pm on Thursday night. After checking in and loading the bus not long after 11:30pm, we were off and on our way to Berlin! The bus ride was long, and somewhat treacherous, however, nine ish hours later we arrived at "ZOB"- the Berlin bus station. A few minutes walking led us to the Kaiserdam subway stop, where we loaded the metro to take us to Rosa-Luxenburg-Platz where we would find our hostel just 200 yards away. After dropping our stuff in the luggage room of The Wombat hostel, the five of us left with Matty, a walking tour guide, who took us to the area where the walking tours depart from. After a magnificent mocha and sandwich from Starbucks (yeah, we were desperately hungry), we took off on our walking tour with our guide, Summer. We explored the city for the next 3 1/2 hours and saw sights and heard historical blurbs and stories.
After this, we headed back to the hostel for a much needed nap, and finally made our way down the the restaurant next door for dinner. Then we were off to a pub crawl! and we had to run around to find it and then literally sprint to the bar to make it for the first free beer. haha four bars, great company, and a few Australian acquaintances later, I struggled for Andy and his friends (coming from studying in Vienna) to find the bar- which was a bitch because in the middle of trying to figure out where we were, both of our phones ran out of minutes, without 10 mins of each other, and thus, impossible for us to contact one another. BUST! anyway, the rest of the night was a lot of fun and by the time we made it back to bed it was one of the best sleeps of my life!
The next morning Kelly & I got up to take advantage of the bfast at the restaurant next door to the hostel, for 3.50 euro- yum! After rounding up the boys and getting ready, and finally meeting up with Andy & co. to discuss plans for meeting up later, we headed out to the Museum Isle. After a bunch of amazing pictures later, we also went to the government building where there is this dome you can venture up (kinda like the Arc de Triumph or Effiel Tower) and check out the view of the city. It was beautiful! Then we had dinner at the most spectacular falafel place called “Da Da Falafel.” It was unrealllllll. I am not doing Berlin much justice here, but it was fabulous. This night we met up with Andy & co. at the hostel bar around 10 pm, and headed out for Panorama around 1am…yeah, things get started late. Anyway, to make a long story short we waited in line from like 4:30am – 5:15 am just to get rejected at the door for being American. Bust.
The next morning was a rough one, as we didn’t sleep until 7am and had to check out by 10am, but the crew ventured to an outdoor market that was really cool. I really love walking around markets and looking at all the random shit people are trying to sell. Ha!
Then we tried to go to this place, apparently the largest department store in all of continental Europe, but it was Sunday, and therefore, closed- so we had lunch at this little café before heading back to Wombats to get our things and head to the bus.
Funny though how we thought we had all the time in the world, and realized that the bus was scheduled to leave in 20 minutes- when we were still on the train. AH! We all got really flustered, but decided as long as the train didn’t break down or something we’d be fine. 17 seconds after we agreed on this, the train stopped and the lights went out. What seemed like forever and was probably only 40 seconds, the train started moving (with the lights still out) and eventually got us to the right stop 7 minutes pre bus departure. We sprinted to the bus and were the last ones to board- somehow though we still all got our own seats- success!
This past weekend has been one of the craziest ones thus far.
Kelly, Darren, Andrew, Alex & took a cab to the Euroline bus stop around 11pm on Thursday night. After checking in and loading the bus not long after 11:30pm, we were off and on our way to Berlin! The bus ride was long, and somewhat treacherous, however, nine ish hours later we arrived at "ZOB"- the Berlin bus station. A few minutes walking led us to the Kaiserdam subway stop, where we loaded the metro to take us to Rosa-Luxenburg-Platz where we would find our hostel just 200 yards away. After dropping our stuff in the luggage room of The Wombat hostel, the five of us left with Matty, a walking tour guide, who took us to the area where the walking tours depart from. After a magnificent mocha and sandwich from Starbucks (yeah, we were desperately hungry), we took off on our walking tour with our guide, Summer. We explored the city for the next 3 1/2 hours and saw sights and heard historical blurbs and stories.
After this, we headed back to the hostel for a much needed nap, and finally made our way down the the restaurant next door for dinner. Then we were off to a pub crawl! and we had to run around to find it and then literally sprint to the bar to make it for the first free beer. haha four bars, great company, and a few Australian acquaintances later, I struggled for Andy and his friends (coming from studying in Vienna) to find the bar- which was a bitch because in the middle of trying to figure out where we were, both of our phones ran out of minutes, without 10 mins of each other, and thus, impossible for us to contact one another. BUST! anyway, the rest of the night was a lot of fun and by the time we made it back to bed it was one of the best sleeps of my life!
The next morning Kelly & I got up to take advantage of the bfast at the restaurant next door to the hostel, for 3.50 euro- yum! After rounding up the boys and getting ready, and finally meeting up with Andy & co. to discuss plans for meeting up later, we headed out to the Museum Isle. After a bunch of amazing pictures later, we also went to the government building where there is this dome you can venture up (kinda like the Arc de Triumph or Effiel Tower) and check out the view of the city. It was beautiful! Then we had dinner at the most spectacular falafel place called “Da Da Falafel.” It was unrealllllll. I am not doing Berlin much justice here, but it was fabulous. This night we met up with Andy & co. at the hostel bar around 10 pm, and headed out for Panorama around 1am…yeah, things get started late. Anyway, to make a long story short we waited in line from like 4:30am – 5:15 am just to get rejected at the door for being American. Bust.
The next morning was a rough one, as we didn’t sleep until 7am and had to check out by 10am, but the crew ventured to an outdoor market that was really cool. I really love walking around markets and looking at all the random shit people are trying to sell. Ha!
Then we tried to go to this place, apparently the largest department store in all of continental Europe, but it was Sunday, and therefore, closed- so we had lunch at this little café before heading back to Wombats to get our things and head to the bus.
Funny though how we thought we had all the time in the world, and realized that the bus was scheduled to leave in 20 minutes- when we were still on the train. AH! We all got really flustered, but decided as long as the train didn’t break down or something we’d be fine. 17 seconds after we agreed on this, the train stopped and the lights went out. What seemed like forever and was probably only 40 seconds, the train started moving (with the lights still out) and eventually got us to the right stop 7 minutes pre bus departure. We sprinted to the bus and were the last ones to board- somehow though we still all got our own seats- success!
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