Rotterdam!

So, the next day, we decided to explore Rotterdam. We brought along Amy, the girlfriend of another Erasmus guy. We met up around 10, and had a few places on our list to explore; specifically, the World Museum and Schoonord Park (the secret park). First, we had to go back to Paddy Muprhy's because Maggie lost her camera. Unfortunately, we didn't find it. Then, the World Museum was closed (and will be till 2010) for renovations. Luckily, we found the Natural History Museum. That was interesting because everything was in Dutch... and sometimes you just don't know what things are. For example:



We had a lot of fun pretending that was a liopleurodon, showing us the way to candy mountain (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5im0Ssyyus) but it's just a dolphin. We were disappointed, lol.

Schoonord was pretty, but since it was March, nothing was really in bloom. I took a few good pictures of ducks and birds, but nothing really worth posting. Then we went to the Euromast!



It's nice that you don't really have to climb it. You just take the lift up to the observation deck. Then, you go outside and climb up a flight or two so you can catch another lift. This one has 360 degree views, and holes in the floor. It takes you all the way to the top, and then rotates as it comes back down so you can see all of Rotterdam. In the souvenir shop, I bought a button that says "Euro Must."

After that we spent an hour or two chatting at a cafe, and walking around the nearby parks. Amy headed back to campus while Maggie, Bets and I waited for Tim. Tonight was the big night: De Pannenkoekenboot!! Tim was cutting it close. While we waited, a family asked me to take wedding pictures, and the bride gave me her bouquet as a thank you. She said the other girls wouldn't let her toss it to them. Pancakes in Holland are very different from pancakes at home. But they are yummy. Apparently "all you can eat" = 2.




That's my dessert pancake. Yum!


Sunset over Rotterdam

St. Patrick's Day!

Ok, so technically, this is the same day as the Delft day. But meeting up with Maggie and Bets deserves its own post. They were right on time at the train station. I took them back to Tim's so we could grab him before dinner. But he was like 2 hours late because he had a team meeting after class. So his neighbor Rohit invited us over to watch some Dutch TV. We were totally satisfied with the news, and then Lingo, and then whatever music video channel was on, but clearly he wasn't because he kept changing the station. Finally Tim got back! We were heading to Paddy Murphy's for the night, but needed cheap dinner first. David decided to come with us to Donner Kebab. But first, we all had to try the bear powder candy we bought in Amsterdam. The consensus? Disgusting. We proceeded to get very drunk and have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day. Here are a few of the best photos:


Maggs and I


Brother


Maggs and Betsy


MBA Boys: Kristian, Hugh, Geoff and Traavis

Holland Flashback

Mom and Dad came home on Monday. I finally saw their pictures tonight, and realized I just sort of trailed off around here. And some of the best parts are missing!



Delft was easily my favorite city in Holland. This is Nieuwe Kerk. I climbed to the top of the tower and got a good view. Then I shopped around and bought some beautiful handmade pottery. I even found a girl who was working in her shop. She let me take photos of her workspace.



This is one of my favorite photos from that day... it's a tombstone in the floor of Oude Kerk. I don't think pictures can really do the city/country justice. The churches are incredible. And the city was so peaceful. I wandered around the walking tour, and went to see Vermeer's work in a small museum. I had a beer at one of the oldest cafes around, and then it was about time to head back to Rotterdam to meet up with the Scott sisters!

Franeker and Leeuwarden

After the Anne Frank Huis, we went to the Museumplein to see the I amsterdam sign. We went to the Van Gogh museum, but of course, no pictures in there. So another day done in Amsterdam. Saturday we went to Leeuwarden. We got there at a decent hour, but the museum we wanted to see wasn't open yet, so we decided to go to Franeker. It's the home of the oldest planetarium in the world. Unfortunately, you can't take any pictures in there either. But when I get back to the States, I will scan the postcard.


Back in Leeuwarden, we couldn't get into the Tresoar (by that time, it was closed) so we didn't get to see too much about our family name. But we did go to the Historisch Centrum Leeuwarden where we saw an exhibit of the history of the city (all in Dutch of course) and found out some more information on the area. We got copies of whatever they had available in English, and a woman there gave me some better ideas about how to do genealogy research. As it turns out, most of our family was born in the surrounding countryside, so our records wouldn't be in this place anyway.


We capped off the day with a trip to the Fries Museum. We saw a Mata Hari exhibit (Dutch born, Parisian exotic dancer turned German spy). And a WWII exhibit which was just interesting to see from another country's perspective. There was also this special quilt exhibit. I took this picture for my Aunt. She makes quilts, and they are incredible. She gave me one, and this made me think of her. We had a delicious kaasfondue dinner at Het Leven (The Life) and took the train all the way back to Rotterdam (minus a quick detour back to the Botel Zebra to grab our stuff).

My New Friend

I wish I had asked what this woman's name was... Tim and I came back to Amsterdam early (because Volendam was so tiny, and we couldn't get to Marken) so we decided to see the Anne Frank Huis (house) and maybe a museum. This woman saw us looking at a map on the way to Anne Frank's. She did an excellent job of speaking to us in English, but she was embarrassed and kept covering her mouth saying "I can't say!" It was adorable. To thank us for helping her get there, she gave us both these tiny origami kimono bookmarks. She said she always keeps them with her, for times exactly like these. She went through the house with us (which totally made me cry by the way - and I wish I could have taken pictures in there) and she asked to take a photo with me after. She was headed to a different museum afterwards, so we said goodbye. I am happy I at least have this photo to remember her.

Volendam

Volendam is a tiny little seaside town in North Holland. It was so beautiful here. We wanted to go to Marken Island, but the ferry didn't seem to be running. That left us time for more exploring!


This is the marina at Volendam.


Behind the marina, there are still all these canals. We were walking along the canal, and came to a dam that was built in 1615!


My first windmill photo!! I took a bunch, but there was an awkward streetlamp in the frame. I like this one because you can see how mossy the roof got. I'll do some photo processing when I get home. But I can't do anything right now on Tim's computer.


Last picture from Volendam. I just love how pretty this place is!

Hotel, Botel, Holiday Inn...

One of the things I was really looking forward to was the Botel Zebra - our boat hostel. It did not disappoint. Sure, it was cramped and I think the owner opened the porthole in the shower one day so when we woke in the morning, the entire room was covered in condensation which made both of our Chucks rip and give us blisters, but it was so worth it! It makes my lifelong goal of living on a houseboat much more intense.


So, the houseboat means we are in Amsterdam for a few days! We just walked for the first night, took a few photos and shopped for souvenirs. These houses are leaning... The whole city is beautiful.


Tim wanted to take me to the Leidseplein (which is not pronounced Led Zeppelin - as much as we wish it was). We got lost on the way, and didn't have our map, so we broke down and took a cab. We ate at the Pancake House, and I had my first Dutch meal - chicken sate. It was delicious!


Since I can't survive for more than a few hours without candy, we stopped at a shop and explored the specialty candy they had there. There were all sorts of strange things including dirty sounding ice cream bars and a weird bag of a powdery candy that had a picture of a bear on it. We tried a few things, but I had to get some of my favorite "sappige peer" Jelly Belly jelly beans to make sure I was good for the weekend.