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Mom and Vivian - Canal
In Amsterdam on the CanalContinued from Part 1….
Upon our arrival in Amsterdam, we grabbed a Taxi and headed to our beautiful hotel, the Ambassade Hotel, on one of the main Canals within the city center. This hotel was the combination of about 10 Canal Houses and was quite unique. Our room was beautiful with a really high ceiling and exquisite decorations. I have to say, after my many hostels, I was impressed with our choices of hotels in Paris and Amsterdam.
I had made reservations for us at the Mexican Restaurant, Los Pilones, which I had eaten at with Megan and Brooke back in October. I begged for forgiveness from my mom and Vivian since they eat Mexican food all the time, but I was in need of a fix. The meal took just about as long as the last time, a few hours at least, but the food was delicious and the margaritas fantastic. After dinner we walked down the canals and around the city a bit and checked out a bit of the ‘nightlife’ of the Sinful city. When we had seen enough we headed back to the hotel via a long Cab Ride (got stuck in a major traffic
In the tulips
Mom and Vivian checking the tulips out jam).
We were up and going the next morning and managed to get to the Anne Frank museum by 9:15 am or so. There was already a line around the corner and we hopped in it and waited for them to open the doors. It was good that we arrived when we did as the line only got worse. I enjoyed the museum for the second time even more. It is really one of my favorite museums, guess that’s why it’s always so popular. After the museum I managed to find the breakfast place that we had eaten at in October and we enjoyed some pancakes, omelettes, coffee, and tea.
There were many cute boutiques in the area and some time was spent browsing, but no big purchases were made, just some small souvenirs and some Dutch Gouda cheese of course. At one point we walked by a nice looking hair salon and I got a brilliant idea! My hair was looking quite horrible after my not so nice haircut in Germany and then a few months of no haircut. The salon was all full, but they suggested Toni and Guy down the street. I was thrilled at
the idea! It was off to Toni and Guy where I was given an appt right away with a cute girl from France. I happily explained my hair problems in English! Phew! Mom and Vivian did some shopping around the area and both got a 15 min chair massage while waiting for me. My hair turned out fabulous and I was in a much better mood thereafter.
From the hair salon it was off to the Floating Flower Market, which consisted of many stores that floated on the water of the canal (not like the floating markets in Vietnam by any means - much more commercialized). We did not linger long as we knew we would see lots of beautiful flowers in the countryside the next day, and quickly grabbed a tram to the museum quarter where we found the Van Gough museum. I think at this point we were all lagging a bit from the walking and touring that we had done, but managed to see most of the Van Gough collection and enjoy the famous paintings. A snack was consumed by all to bring us back to the living, and then it was off to search for
PINK
Loved these flowers a canal tour. Unfortunately we hit the end of the day, but we were able to find one that took us through the canals, up to the Main Train Station. We enjoyed not only the scenery of Amsterdam, but also that passing us on the boats of the canal (The Dutch are by no means an unfortunate looking race).
We took a cab to our hotel only to quickly turn around and take one back to the Main Train Station. A quick 20 min train ride and we were direct in Haarlem (no, not Harlem, with two a’s), a suburb of Amsterdam. Our hotel was right by the train station and quite easy to locate. We had been told there were many great restaurants in the town so, after resting for a minute an changing our clothes, it was off to downtown Haarlem (maybe a 10 min walk). In the center of the town was a beautiful cathedral. I noticed on all the churches their spire included a crown with the stick coming out of it, representing the monarchy that used to exist. We found a wonderful restaurant and enjoyed wine, conversation, and delicious food. Quite exhausted, it was
Tulip Bulbs
Fields and Fields of Tulips straight to bed thereafter.
We took it fairly easy the next morning, but managed to make it out of the hotel at a decent time to catch the bus to see the tulips! We headed to Keukenhof Farms, the most famous of the flower parks in the Netherlands. It is located near the town of Lisse, about a 30 min bus ride from Haarlem. The farms were quite easy to find, one just needs to locate the thousands of cars parked out in front and hundreds of tourists streaming in. We easily located the theme-park like entrance and entered into the exciting world of tulips and flowers! Really though, enough sarcasm, the flowers were gorgeous. I took numerous photos, ok, about 200 photos of just flowers by themselves, yes that’s fun to sort through later. We spent most of the afternoon walking around the flowers and seeing the different gardens. The highlight feature was the actual fields of tulips that could be observed. We were about a week too late I think for the peak of the season, but there were still many beautiful colored fields to go around. We had brought a picnic lunch and located some comfy
pillows in one garden on the ground to enjoy it. Afterwards we all treated ourselves to something sweet, and then made our way back through the gardens.
At the entrance we found a bike rental shop that included pre-routed bike tours of the area. We chose a medium length one, grabbed 3 very orange bikes and headed out on our adventure. It was an absolutely beautiful and peaceful bike ride that I believe we all enjoyed and the perfect length as we were all just about ready to call it a day when we returned to the rental location. I figured that catching the bus home would be just as simple as going to the stop on the other side of the street and picking the return bus home…little did I know that some detour routs had been put in place and the stop was located no where near where we were standing, or maybe it was and we were just blind. After an hour long wild goose chase around half of Lisse and a long walk to the outskirts we located a working stop (not to say we located 3 stops that were not functioning and were finally
directed by some local boy scouts to a hotel). There was time enough to grab one beer at the bar next to the bus stop and quickly jump over to catch the bus.
After returning to the hotel, exhausted, we headed downtown again to grab some dinner. I was really in the mood for Sushi but we were slightly disappointed when we were told that it was actually a holiday of remembrance for solders and that the restaurants, most of them, would be closing early. They did allow us to choose some sushi to put in a to-go box, which we enjoyed on the steps of the city hall out front of the restaurant. I was overwhelmed by the sushi, it was fabulous, and enjoyed every bite. We considered this our appetizer and then sought to find a restaurant that wasn’t shutting down right away for dinner. Luckily we happened on a few. My cold was quickly turning bad so I enjoyed some soup to soothe it and our waiter was nice enough to bring me some cough drops. The dinner overall was fabulous, a nice twist on local Dutch fare. We were then off to bed quickly as
we had a train to catch the next morning in Amsterdam.
At approximately 9 am we were back in Amsterdam at the train station to catch our ICE to Cologne. I was excited to be visiting my old stomping grounds, even if it was only a quick stopover on our journey to southern Germany. Entering Germany marked the 4th country of our trip in less than 5 days, we were really covering some ground. The train ride was fairly quiet and a nice break for everyone, but we were excited when we arrived in Cologne to get out and see some of the main highlights. As a side note, there is a fantastic new luggage locker system in the train station in Cologne. It involves these machines that you use that put your stuff in a box and take it into the depths and then you just trust some technical god that it will somehow find your little box again and bring it to you. I took my mom and Aunt on a tour of the Dom Cathedral in the middle of town (we had seen it as a family when I was 15 but it was covered in
scaffolding at the time). It really is one my favourite churches in Europe. After the tour we headed over to the Fruh Brewery to eat some local German fare. There was bratwurst and schnitzel for all, and my mom and I also enjoyed a local Koelsch beer, the cologne specialty.
Soon after a quick walk down the Rhein, it was time to catch the next train to Stuttgart. We put our electronic cards blindly into the luggage machine and low and behold, our luggage popped out! In any other country, I would have feared for all the luggage, but I should have known better in Germany. We were quickly on the train again and headed south. We arrived in Stuttgart in the evening, just in time to meet our cousins Jason, Milde, and Ian. It had been a long time since my mom or Vivian had seen Jason, and neither had the chance to meet Milde or Ian. They were nice enough to come into town to take us out to dinner at a local restaurant. We had a fantastic meal and wonderful conversation. I think Ian liked his new Texas hat that had been brought over from our
With the Fields
Mom and Vivian with the fields of flowers family in Texas. After dinner we all took a walk around the park and the Schloss (palace) in the middle of Stuttgart. The weather was really perfect.
We really wished that we had more time to sit and catch up with Jason, Milde, and Ian, but it was time to catch our last train of the day back to my current city of residence, Karlsruhe. It was only a 45 min ride on the IC train, and we were happy to finally settle in at my apartment. Mom and Vivian were off to Heidelberg for a day trip that next day and I was back at work, and unfortunately came down throughout the trip with Bronchitis. My mom experienced my first German doctor experience with me, which I have to say was quite nice. I only paid a 10 Euro registration fee and nothing for the antibiotics or anything. The rest of the week was pretty quiet. During the rest of her visit, my mom was able to meet some of my wonderful friends I have made here and even experience a local Football (Soccer) game. Also a small trip down to Baden Baden, a beautiful resort town very
Church in Lisse
Tulips and the church in Lisse close to me with a gorgeous old casino.
The trip overall was quite fabulous and I really enjoyed seeing familiar faces and getting out on some big trips for a change. I can’t believe I’m down to my last 2 months here in Germany and that I will be back home soon. I miss you all dearly and thank you for continuing to read my blog and take part in my adventures.
If you would like to run through all the pictures of flowers and everything from our trip, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/cpaigebrown
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