And May Begins...

Each year on April 30th, the Dutch citizens of the beautiful country of the Netherlands celebrate their dear Queens birthday, dubbed as, “Queen’s Day.” As Holland’s national color is Orange, on this day you can see the straats and grachts (streets and canals) as a sea of orange shirts, face paint, and wigs…and beer, of course. The festivities actually begin the night before, dubbed “King’s Night,” when stages were set up around the large town square areas, like Rembrandtplein, Leisidsplein, and along some of the canals: Herengracht and Prinsengracht.
By the time Corey and I were finally on our way out Queen’s Day morning to meet up with friends, Corey in his Van Persy soccer jersey and myself with an orange tank slowing under a white one, it was just before noon. The sidewalks were already filled with orange-wearers, the streets lined with mini garage sales, and there was already drunken debauchery chanted in the far distance. The two of us headed straight to Prinsengracht, a canal on the West end of the center, and with all the people and festivities, we had a lovely walk, passing food stands and house windows with signs selling drinks being made in the kitchens. We finally made it to the dorms on Prinsengracht, where we met up with some of our clan of friends: Alex, Evan, Andrew, and about five of Andrew’s friends from Bermuda. We spent a beautiful sun-filled afternoon roaming the canals and picking up (and quickly putting back down) the really great items people were selling on the side of the road (I hope you picked up on my sarcasm). There were also many street performers, including the DJs on mini stages, but also small children playing single instruments- like one small boy probably around 10 in a tuxedo playing his violin! Aw! As the afternoon progressed, Corey’s parents and sister arrived home from the Tulip Fields, and so we ventured to go meet up with them, well, he did- I had to figure out my flight for the next day, since my itinerary to Vienna was cancelled for some unknown reason.

After two days of stress, forty euro used on my phone, and a few extra euro spent, my new initerary was: Friday-Sunday Vienna with Alex, Sunday morning fly to Berlin and meet up with Corey and his family, and taking a train home Tuesday afternoon with Corey. This turned out to be a great decision! And really a blessing in disguise that my flights were randomly canceled. But we’ll get to that in a few minutes.

After I figured out my travel plans, I met back up with Corey and his family for an early dinner before the supposed concert in Museumplein at nine. One crabby waiter later, Corey and I discovered that the concert had been moved up since other acts had cancelled due to an attack/supposed attach on the Queen (when really it was just some crazy Dutch man driving drunk through a crowd after the Queen’s double decker bus had already passed, and killing himself and four others- or something). At this point, we hung around his parent’s hotel trying to work out more stuff for the weekend, before returning home rather late, considering the fact I had a 9am flight the next morning. After slicing my index finger open when a glass broke as I was doing the dishes, I finally managed to get to bed with just enough time to get a solid four hours of sleep before my next adventure.

At 9:20 the next morning Alex and I were safely and easily loaded on to tour flight to Vienna. Phew. After all that everything worked out and we were on our way. Upon our arrival to Vienna, we took a shuttle bus from the airport and had about a ten minute walk to our hostel- Wombats- where we were able to drop off our luggage and pick up a map. We ventured to the museum area and had a leisurely lunch at a classic Austrian-cuisine restaurant. After relaxing and eating interesting food for a while, we walked around, and stumbled upon some sort of protest against Communism- or something. We walked around the Old Town area next, and got tickets for the Orchestra that night. We eventually made it back to our hostel to get ready for the evening, and eventually headed to the Orchestra after checking out the hostel bar and a quick bite from a local Shoarma stand. The Orchestra lasted two hours and was a really fun experience. It was great to hear the notes of famous composers and to hear the few opera singers and see the dancers. After the concert, we headed to an area called the Bermuda Triangle, an area supposidly famous for fun bars. Although I did not find this place any more exotic than a line of a few bars in Amsterdam, we found a cozy spot and hung out for a few hours before making our way back for a good night’s sleep.

Saturday was a long day, and by the time it was over I was ready for Berlin. Alex and I spent the day exploring, we picked up our Sensation White Music Festival tickets, and by ten in the evening we were wearing all white and ready to start on our late night adventure.

Sunday morning at 9:15 am I was on a flight to Berlin. I arrived around 11 am, and by the time I made it to The Circus hostel it was a little after noon. After a quick shower and a nice breakfast at the restaurant next door, Corey and I headed out to meet up with his parents and his sister, Stacy. With some sightseeing on the way, we joined Corey’s family for lunch before heading out to Berlin’s German Historical Museum. After a few hours here, Corey, his dad and I grabbed a snack from Starbucks and went to the Jewish History Museum. We only had about two hours, but were able to enjoy the museum (even though the employees at the ticket office said it was practically impossible to get anything done in the amount of time we had). After this museum, we retuned our respective hotels & hostels and rested for a bit before heading out to dinner, to a nice and cozy German-Italian restaurant a short tram ride away. After a family-style dinner of salad and pizza, we returned, I checked into my room at the Circus Hostel, and went to bed.
Before the departure of Corey’s parents and sister Monday morning, we all met up for breakfast nice and early- before 8 am! After this, it was just Corey and I for the next day, and we fully explored Berlin and decided to hold off on intellectual-filled activities and to shop a little bit- and shop we did! In a massive mall close to Alexanderplatz, Corey was able to find a nice short sleeve white button up and a pair of dark not-so-baggy jeans. I was not able to find anything until later, where the trusted (and beloved) store, Promod, provided me with a few dress options. After our purchases we went on an adventure to try to find a Fondue restaurant the hostel recommended for us. We scrambled through side streets and eventually found the “Fire Fondue” (or something like that) restaurant we had a reservation at.

Our first impression of this restaurant was much different than the actual experience we had. While the restaurant was cute and dimly lit with candles, the menu was entirely in German and the young lady who sat us seemed to speak no English. Remaining optimistic, we tried to decipher the menu, but we soon realized the task ahead of us was practically impossible. However, somehow everything always works out for the best for Corey and I, and a few minutes after blankly staring at the German-filled language a young man came up to the table, partially pulled out one of the chairs across from us, and asked if he could take a seat. Relived, both Corey & I said “yes” simotaneously, and a few seconds later our new friend was walking us through every item on the menu. Eventually we agreed upon one cheese and one meat fondue, the cheese being a brie-base with a few other types of cheese (completely avoiding gorgonzola), and a meat fondue that included an array of choices. Served with these options came a salad for each, a tray of sauces, and little potato balls, or something. We were advised to not only enjoy the cheese and bread combination, but to cook a piece of meat and mix that with the cheese. Delicious! Our waiter also kindly recommended his red wine of choice, and decided we were worthy of a “prize,” probably for being such wonderful people and a cute, young couple (or something) and he brought us a complimentary glass of champagne. Corey and I decided that the three-hour dinner had been the best date ever, and so we declined the invitation from our waiter to join him to “hit up some clubs,” because we decided it could not get much better.

Tuesday morning we checked out of our hostel and stored our luggage in the basement, before heading off to Pergamon museum. After seeing the Ishtar Gates of Babylon and a few other exciting pieces, we left and walked through the Museum Isle, where we were able to take scenic pictures. Next, we attempted to go to the top of the dome of the government building for a view of the city, but sadly failed when the wait was over an hour. Instead, we decided that it would be fun to go to the Zoo, for this Zoo was said to have the largest amount of different animals worldwide. Because our train wasn’t until after four, we enjoyed the Zoo for a few hours (and some rain drizzles!) and were able to see kangaroos, zebras, sea lions, and polar bears (!), among other species. After a decent lunch at the Zoo, we returned to the Circus Hostel one last time to retrieve our luggage, and then headed to the train station where we were on our way back to Amsterdam, just a six hour train ride away.