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Finally, I made it to a computer.
We've just arrived this evening in Gies, Switzerland where we are spending 1 night at Noah's family friend Beatris' house. We spent 10 hours traveling by train from Amsterdam.
Our time in Amsterdam was fun and exciting, but also very busy and the streets and canals were disorienting. There are bicyclists, cars, buses, trams, and people EVERYWHERE making it very difficult to maneuver the streets. Don't get me wrong, Amsterdam was very beautiful and had some really amazing and interesting architecture and canals, but I felt a bit stressed and overwhelmed while I was there. Also, it seemed a bit more touristy than Brussels and Antwerp.
We had a chance to go to the
Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and it was pretty sweet. I'm a big fan of Dutch paintings, like work of
Rembrant with the rich color and great contrast, so good. I'd say overall, the
Rijksmuseum is a big highlight. Also, there were a lot of bicyclists, which is good see. The weather was really crappy, also known as
typical Amsterdam weather. My hard mattress and flat pillow made for an uncomfortable sleep, not to mention when I sat up
I would hit my head on Noah's bed above me. But after a full day of Museum plus walking all over town, it was easy to fall asleep.
We were in a 6 bed hostel room. Our first night, we had four smelly roommates. Last night, we had two American roommates from Tennessee and they were complete slobs. They're the ones giving Americans bad reps. They didn't end up staying the night however, because they found out their parents booked them a nice hotel somewhere else and up and left, which was nice cuz we ended up having the room to ourselves.
After they left, I was kinda moving around their garbage and I found they left 5£ under a empty bag of chips, which paid for mine and Noah's bus ticket to the train station and maybe a beer later on!
We woke up early around 6:40am to make our 8am train. Three trains later, we arrived in St Gallen, Switzerland, where we were greeted by Beatris who had two cups of pineapple ice cream in her hands for us, which was so nice. She took us to her home in the village of Gies containing
TERD!?!
ok.. the full sign said "i amsTERDam"only about 3,000 people, a lot of farmers, located in the mountains. The scenery is breathtaking. The photos I took don't do justice. It is so quiet and peaceful here.
After we were shown our rooms, which I might add, have awesome views, we set out on an hour-and-a-half long hike with Beatris. As we hiked up the mountain, I was taking pictures while Noah and Beatris reminisced about the time when he lived in Switzerland and Pakistan where his family met Beatris's family. At the top of the mountain, there was a restaurant. Beatris said there is a restaurant at the top of a lot of mountains around here. I think tomorrow, Noah and I are going to hike to one. As we were at the top, Beatris pointed out where we could see Austria and Germany. Switzerland has a lot of crazy rules and laws by the way, like certain roads are closed on weekends so elderly folk can walk down them easily. Hah!
When we got back to the house, Beatris prepared a meal for us, a simple salad, some pasta with homemade tomato sauce, and a glass of wine. A home cooked meal was
Noah and I attop the mountain
our legs look short because we were on an incline so delicious (plus I'll add again, in front of an amazing mountainscape). Then we talked about our plans for Thailand next week and Beatris gave us some useful advice.
My hair is starting to curl on me, I think I might get a haircut in Thailand for a few cents.
Time to try and call my mother now. Hiking tomorrow, then off to Geneva!
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