My European adventure began with 4 countries in 2 days. I arrived in London Wednesday morning at 10:30am (local time). After navigating the Underground to the King's Cross/St. Pancras Station, I took a 16:02 Eurostar through the Chunnel to Paris - all without going outside because it was raining and I wanted nothing to do with it. So, that was two countries on the 22nd. I was in Paris for all of 13 hours before I hopped on the BusAbout bus (my major form of transportation for this trip) and headed off to Amsterdam via Bruges, Belgium; that makes two additional countries for the 23rd. Thus, I hit 4 countries in total in my first 2 days.
Although I didn't stay in Belgium, I did get to experience real Belgian fries. Basically, this meant a heaping portion that fell out of the container they were meant to stay in and a huge blob of mayonnaise on top of that. Delicious, but not exactly good for me. Overall, the bus ride wasn't too painful; EU law requires bus drivers to stop driving every 2-3 hours, so we had fairly frequent stops to stretch our legs. My body still has absolutely no idea what time it is because I didn't sleep much on the plane to London and then passed out on the Eurostar, so my response to a moving vehicle was to fall asleep almost immediately. I finally got a somewhat normal night's sleep last night, so I'm hoping I'm back on a regular schedule now.
Today was my first chance to be a tourist, and I took full advantage of it despite the downpour 15 minutes after I left the hostel. First, I went to the Anne Frank Huis, which is the actual house in which the Frank family was hidden. It was a really fascinating place; having read her diary in 8th grade, it really brings a lot of what she taked about to life. You have to climb some really steep staircases (like most are in Amsterdam) but you get to see the secret living space of the Frank's highlighted by quotes from Anne's diary. After that, I took the tram (the major mode of transportation in Amsterdam) back toward my hostel and went to the Van Gogh museum. I waited in a much longer line to get in, but it was well worth it. The museum is well laid out, with lots of interesting text to accompany Van Gogh's works. I also enjoyed that it was not soley his work; they also have works of those predecessors that inspired him as well as the contemporaries he worked with that influenced his style (i.e., Gaugin, Seurat, Pissaro, and Toulousse-Latrec). Finally, I headed to the old Heineken brewery for the "Heineken Experience." Basically, it's a - mostly - self-guided tour of the brewing process, followed by some sampling of the wares. Overall, lots of fun, though I'm quite ready for a nap.
Most of my fears about this trip no longer exist after today. Though I was a bit confused by the Tram lines at first and don't speak a word of Dutch, I managed to get around just fine. Finding hostels is always the most difficult part because they are often on small sidestreets that are unmarked on maps. I eventually found both, however, though I did get a little lost in the process. Anyway, I'll stop rambling on now; time for a nap perhaps?
No comments:
Post a Comment