4 countries in one day!!!

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HOly MOly, I just arrived in London from Amsterdam for my last night on European soil. I booked this crazy bus ride from Amsterdam to London---12 hours, but only 35 euros...so since I am officially poor right now, it sounded like a good deal. I arrived at the Amstel Station in Amsterdam at 7:15 this morning and rode a nice charter bus through The Netherlands, Belgium, part of France to get to the port city of Calais where we then caught the ferry from Calais to Dover, UK (MY FAVORITE PART!!!--we got to see the white cliffs as we pulled into the port) and bused from Dover to London...not bad for a single day. ALthough I was accompanied by a crazy guy singing out loud in a foreign language to his IPOD for almost the entire 12 hours and a group of chatty band members who were touring through Europe, I managed to get some good journaling and reading in...I didn't really feel like socializing...whenever periods in my life start to come to an end, I go into a turbo reflection mood and could journal for hours...so the long ride was actually perfect.

Last time I left you I had just arrived in the Hague where I was being hosted by Sonja and her boyfriend Frank. These two may be two of the most generous people I have ever met, made me feel completely at home, didn't let me pay for ANYTHING and did some laundry and even saw to it that I had three square meals a day and beautiful places to run near the lake in their neighborhood.

Sonja feels like an old friend even though we have just known eachother for a few days. On Saturday we explored the Hague together, seeing some of the political buildings (The Hague is the capital of the NEtherlands) and doing some shopping and ending the day with a SALMON and pasta dinner on the beach overlooking the NOrwegian Sea. On Sunday, we intended to head to Amsterdam, but ended up talking the day away and lounging around watching the NEtherlands win their first world cup game against Serbia MOntenegro...The Dutch are quite spirited...Sonja and Frank's neigborhood is decorated with orange flags for the team.

MOnday morning, Frank gave me a ride to Amsterdam on his way to work. I stayed at a great hostel in the middle of Vondelpark which had free breakfast...that never seems to get old for me...I decided to see Amsterdam like a true Dutch citizen and rented a bike...and although I nearly died about 9 times it was great...I got to see the Niewmarket, the Golden Bend, the Heinekin Brewery, the Anne Frank House, the RIjks Museum, the Van Gogh Museum the Red LIght District, Marijuana selling coffee shops, Rembrandt's house etc, etc, etc...however, my favorite parts of the city usually never are the main tourist attractions and although I was only in Amsterdam for a short time, there was so much off the beaten path stuff to enjoy...

HIghlights...
DUTCH ARCHITECTURE!!! The houses are so unique looking.

The canals...Venezia of the North!!! The canals in Amsterdam were what I thought they would be in Venice...very quaint and picturesque.

Bikes lining the streets and canals....THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!!!! And there are such great pathways and marked lanes for them...and one of my favorite Amsterdam scenes was a bridge over a canal, lined with flower boxes and locked up bikes.

Coffee Shops...not just the marijuana selling ones, but there are all kinds of funky, fun, artsy cafes...reminds me of Seattle!!!!

The city's tolerance for diversity!!

Bazaar...a great Greek/Middle Eastern food restuarant that Frank and Sonja took me to for our last dinner together...I had Ghourak...it was chicken with potatoes and beans and rice and realllllllyyyyyy goood...

Sonja and Frank...I don't know how I got so lucky to meet this couple...I learned so much about The Netherlands and Dutch culture from these two....we'd sit down for dinner and not move for 3 hours, just talking and talking and talking.


I am glad I have been so busy in the past few days to distract me from thinking about having to go home tomorrow...I am beyond excited to see friends and family, but I know that when it truly hits me that this little part of my life is over there will be some tears.

Stay tuned for closing thoughts...

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Comments

[Aunt Susan]

What a trip!!
Your European experiences will last a lifetime and what you've done and seen is priceless, so don't worry about your finances right now. Just enjoy!