Amsterdam/Antwerp/Brussels

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Well, I have just taken my last long distance trip of my semester. I can't believe it is less than a month before I come home! Time has flown by. I have to say I am glad that I am spending the rest of my time here in Rome, because I have been out of town literally every weekend since I have arrived. It will be a great chance to get to know Rome! Anyways, this past weekend I was in the Netherlands and Belgium. Friday, I flew in to Amsterdam and met up with Ana at the airport. We headed directly to our tour company, because for this trip we decided (to make it easier and see more) to sign up for 2 tours. Our Friday was spent touring a cheese factory in Volendam, the Dutch clog factory in Marken, and the local windmills. The town of Volendam was very quaint, and right on the water. It was sooo cold! The cheese factory was very interesting, and luckily with the tour we were able to taste tons of cheeses. I love cheese, and I have made it a point to try local cheeses in every area I visit. Afterwards, we had some time to enjoy lunch. Being in a seaside town and knowing my luck, of course I was pooped on by a bird while eating outside. Good reason to always carry around disinfecting wipes haha! Afterwards, we were taken to Marken, another nearby town where a Dutch clog factory is located. We were able to visit and see how the clogs are carved and taught why they are so important for the cold and wet weather in the Netherlands. We were then taken to see some of the famous Dutch windmills, which are actually pretty cool. The thing is, by that point in the afternoon the sun was already going down and it was freezing! So we took a few quick pictures and headed back to the bus. That night, we walked through some of the central areas of Amsterdam and had great Chinese food. Amsterdam is completely different, obviously because the legalization of drugs and red light district. It was actually very shocking and pretty sad to see a lot of these women objectified like this, standing in the windows with tons of guys staring at them. Also, the weed smoking is everywhere, even out on the street and it is pretty shocking to see. For those reasons, I really wasn't thrilled at all with Amsterdam itself. It also really has nothing cultural to offer. Luckily, the next day we were signed up for another all day tour. The next morning, we were off to Belgium. Our first stop was Antwerp, which is a quaint city. It had some really unique architecture and a great atmosphere. There is a huge cathedral at the center of town, and the architecture was much different from what I have seen in southern Europe or France. We tasted some great Belgian chocolate, and sat down to enjoy a nice cup of coffee. It was another freezing day, so we had to warm up! We were then back on the road again, headed 40 minutes further south to Brussels. Brussels is a really awesome city. It is obvious that it is an extremely important city for the European Union, and there are many important government buildings located here. It has much more of a big city feel, and is very modern. We stopped first at the Atomium, which is a large model of an atom outside of the city. It was a cool sight to see some modern architecture. We were then taken to the historical center. We were told how slow the service was in Belgium (even for Europe, which is pretty slow as is) so unfortunately we spent about 2 of the 3 free hours in a restaurant for lunch. We then explored the main plaza which had some architecture similar to that of Antwerp, and went to see the famous Manneken Pis statue (the fountain with the little boy peeing). I am a little perplexed to why this fountain is so famous, but people were crowding around it. I have seen pictures of it, and also expected it to be way larger! It was tiny... seriously just the corner of a small building. We then headed to taste some Belgian beer before heading back on the bus for our 3 hour ride back to Amsterdam. The next day, we decided to sleep in and walk around before our flights. Amsterdam, although not offering a lot culturally, is a very pretty city and has a lot of cute houses. There are canals everywhere, and everyone rides their bikes around. For once I was more afraid of being hit by a bike than a car. All in all, it was a great way to explore more of Northern Europe and checked off another major European city on my list. This week, I have one more day of school and then a few days off for Thanksgiving. I am excited to stay here in Rome and explore more of the city. My Mom is coming this Saturday, so I am really excited for that also! Thanks for reading as always.. 😊

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