Amsterdam!

Last early early early Friday morning I traveled to Amsterdam. I packed my travel backpack up and left at 3:30am on a bus with one of the girls I met here, Julia. Our plane for Endihoven left at 6:30am. I obviously slept through that plane ride!

I was glad we took the early flight because we had a 2 hour train ride to get to Amsterdam from the airport. Damn RyanAir. We walked along the main river to find our 'Boatel'. We finally found it after a good 1/2 an hour. Boatel Zebra was the name. We asked a guy near the docks if he knew it and he gave us the funniest look, but who wouldn't? What an odd name!

Boatel Zebra

Julia and I walked towards the boat on the dock and after a few steps, I was on my ass. Who would have known the dock was going to be icy?!

We finally made it to the boat after I picked myself back up. The boat was very homey, the 1st floor had the breakfast area, a TV with a couch, and a small bar...a kitchen was in the back. We checked in and she led us down below deck. Our room was very tiny but actually very homey as well. I felt right at home because it reminded me of camp back home. I slept on the top bunk. Crammed into our little boat room was our own shower, bathroom, and the sink was next to the bunk beds. It was great. We got settled in and headed into the center of town. We immediately came across the red light district completely on accident, haha. There were a bunch of shops and restaurants. After grabbing a hot chocolate and relaxing for a bit we headed back to the boat to slip in a nap.

Oezer called me a few hours later and he met us at our boat. It was SO good to see him. It had been 3 years and he hasn't changed. I think we were both a little nervous because it had been so long but it was completely normal. I felt like I had just seen him last week! It made me so happy.
We walked around the city, and took the tram to the Van Gogh museum. I didn't end up going in because I deemed it too expensive. We did find a trailer selling North Pole Glacier ice though...for 25 euro. That was hilarious. We also found an adorable Christmas market. We went and ate dinner after. We found a place to sit and relax after dinner, we got to catch up a bit.

Gorgeous Amsterdam

Saturday, we slept in and it was the best ever. I love sleeping in but I only wanted to do it once because when I'm traveling I want to see and do as much as I can. Around 2pm we met up with Oezer again. It was FREEZING and snowing. We went from shop to shop, grabbing hot chocolates and relaxing. It was a very relaxing day...
The red light district is (obviously) all about sex. It's famous for that. We saw many interesting sex shops and coffee shops were mixed in there too. Friday was the first day I saw the girls in the windows. I'll never forget that experience. Oezer was like, don't laugh at them and don't stare. So i'm trying my hardest not to stare because how can you not stare? They're like puppies in the window, desperate for attention from the men, but really I guess it's like any other job. It's really interesting though, I'm glad I experienced it.

For dinner we found an amazing thai restaurant. Oezer and I got the same thing. It was literally the spiciest thing I've ever had as a meal. I was crying and Oezer couldn't believe how spicy it was either. Even though I may have been crying/tearing it was SOOOOO good. I LOVE IT!


Sunday, Julia and I packed up our stuff and hiked over to the other hostel. I wanted to try this hostel called Flying Pigs, so we decided to stay there Sunday until Monday. After we checked in, we met up with Oezer and got coffee. Oezer left around 12:30pm, that was sad but I hope I can see him again soon.

Oezer and I <3

Afterwards, Julia and I headed over to the Anne Frank House. It was really interesting. I think I didn't really realize that we were actually in the house she hid in until the very end. I knew we were in it but it didn't hit me until we were touring the different rooms and when we walked into her actual room. It was amazing. I think the holocaust was so terribly tragic but I admire how strong she was during such a terrible time. I'm sure she wasn't the only one either. For such a young girl, she really knew how to write.

After the tour, we wandered around the town on our way back to the Hostel. Earlier, we had purchased tickets for a canal boat ride. Before we left for the boat ride we stopped back to the hostel. We met 3 guys our age and they wanted to come with us. So we all headed to the boat dock and toured Amsterdam by canal boat. They ended up being very down to earth and really cool. After the ride, we hung out with them for the rest of the night. Our hostel had a really chill area to relax so we stayed there. For dinner, I had these noodles that were 'the best i eva had'. They definitely warmed me up.

Julia and I had another early flight, so we had to get up at like 4am. We took a bus to the airport and were back in Florence around 1pm. We went right to class and my teacher was making fun of my backpack. He asked me if I stayed for a week or the weekend, got the jokkeees! Haha, I thought it was pretty funny. Hey now, now...I'm a legit backpacker and the important thing is that RyanAir let me carry it on board!

All in all, it was a great, relaxing weekend! One of my favs for sure :)

<3 ,

<3

Alex

Paris, Paris, Paris!

Thursday I traveled to Paris!
It was an easy travel experience. I met a new friend, her name is Alese. She is from the states and is studying in Italy. She seems really cool. We talked to whole plane ride, so it made it pass really fast.

When we got to Paris and were walking to the Metro I looked up to the skyline and saw the Eiffel Tower all lit up. It was sparkling too because it does that every hour for 5 min.! It was the perfect time to come in.

We got to the hotel and I passed out. In the morning Holly, Susan, some other girls, and I went to visit Notre Dam and St. Chapelle. Two gorgeous churches...Notre Dam was very gothic and dark, while, St. Chapelle was bright and warm with all of the stained glass.

In between the two we found hot mulled wine and I got a cup of it. It was SO good. I compare it to hot apple cider...but wine. Nothing less than amazing.

We met everyone on the trip at the Louvre around 2pm and waited a while to get our tickets. The T.A.'s got them for us which made it less of a hassle. We just all hung out, waited, and took pictures of course. Once we were in they guided us around the museum. They told us that to finish the whole museum it would take upwards of 23 years. Needless to say, we only saw a small portion of it and it was pretty overwhelming.

We saw many famous works by Michelangelo and many others. I saw many paintings that I've seen on slides in class, so it was really nice to see them in person during the trip. The Mona Lisa was the highlight of this trip for me. I've always wanted to see it. The room was surrounded by large paintings and in the center was this small painting of the Mona Lisa. It was an interesting juxtaposition. I got a picture by the Mona Lisa, per usual.

MONA LISSAAA!

After we were finished with the tour, I was getting antsy to get out on the town and explore. I left with another girl and we went exploring near the expensive shops. We window shopped and found ourselves at a Christmas market. It was so adorable. All of the little shops or 'huts' were lit up with christmas lights. I tried caviar for the first time and they had me take a shot of vodka with it before I ate the actual caviar. This was so the flavor would be more substantial. I felt very ritzy!

After we walked up and down the long pathways, we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower. I was really tired from walking all day but I really wanted to see it up close and personal at night. I will never forget my first reaction to the Eiffel Tower. It is enormous! Larger than life. A picture does not do justice to how inferior you feel when you're standing next to it. On the hour the Eiffel Tower has sparkle lights that make it seem even better. They last for about 10 minutes. We were there at the perfect time. 

The typical street sellers were there selling metal replicas of the tower too. It's actually illegal for them to do that but there were at least 20 different guys out there doing it anyways. 

Caviar! classy classsy

I was watching them because they harass every tourist to get them to buy something from them and all of the sudden they signaled each other and started to packed up the crap they sell. They didn't do this in a slow manner. All of the sudden they started to run and I turn back to see a cop chasing after them. It was the funniest thing because the cop ran to scare them away, stopped and then jumped out again. It reminded me of when little kids (or me) chase after pigeons. HILARIOUS! 

Saturday we traveled as group to Chartres, which is an adorable french country town. They had a farmers market going on and we had some time to look around. The leaders showed us around the beautiful gothic Chartres church and explained the sculptures that the facade contained. It was really nice to get explanations behind all of it...other than it was freezing cold outside.

After getting inside the church we sat down and admired the stained glass. Stained glass is one of my favorite things about all the churches I've been to. We left Chartres to head to Versailles on the train. Versailles was enormous! Way more than I expected...for the better. The buildings and gates were gilded in gold and the estate was massive. We definitely did not get through the whole thing but we 'tasted' some of the great parts. 

We first went into the Palace which was enormous as well. We were given audio guides which explained some history, which was interesting because I had never used something like that. The guys voice was very soothing, ahaha. We saw the Hall of Mirrors which is very famous and beautiful. To get to this we walked through many beautiful rooms with intricate design. I can't even explain every room because it was all designed differently, so I will add a picture to show you.

After the palace we headed to the gardens. We took pictures and walked down to the canal that is built into versailles. It's really hard to explain how huge this place actually is. It was made to become a fully functional town.  We bought some wine on the way down at a snack stand and we celebrated by the canal. We watched people rowing in the big crew boats up and down part of the canal. It was so relaxing and we also watched the sunset. We made perfect time. 

Before we left Versailles we went to their stables to see a Dressage horse show. Something I will never forget, it was like a opera...but with horses. We walked in and the horse ring had christmas lights on the ceiling. The lights were set low. I looked up to the bleachers where the people were sitting and they were made out of beautiful adirondack looking pine along with box seating like you'd see at the opera. The show started and they wouldn't let me take pictures, which was a little sad but it let me enjoy the show. The horses were very well trained and they even had women that were fencing on the horses. My favorite section of the show is when they let them run free. The horses were bucking, farting, and playing. It was the cutest thing ever. I love when a horse can be set free and roam to do what it wants. I think its the most interesting part about the animal, I love watching it. They played for awhile and towards the end the classical music started to get louder. The girls and I started to realize that the horse were trained to run around in circles toward this part and do other little things to the beat of the music. It was amazing how smart they were because no one was whipping them or asking them to move with a human's touch. They were trained to the sound of music. At the end, the trainers danced with the horses and the horses knew exactly how to move!

After the horse show we took the train back to Paris. We decided to go to a fondue restaurant that we heard was amazing. We got directions from the hotel and started walking. It took us a good 20 minutes to find the place but my roommate Holly got us there and did a good job. 

The place was SUPER tiny. It only fit about 35 people at most and everyone was cramped. We ended up waiting 1.5 hours. We sat in a small bar with the nicest older man who owned it. It was right next door. We were pretty hungry so he gave us bar peanuts and we had a glass of wine. Once we pushed our way in the Fondue restaurant and made sure no one took our seats we were able to eat. The get to the other side of the table you had to climb over the actual table. It was hilarious.

Oh...one more thing. The kicker of this wonderful fondue restaurant: You drink wine out of baby bottles. 

....My favorite part....

Baby Baby Baby...oooohhh!

We ended up buying baby bottles as souvenirs and I can't wait to drink out of mine again! It definitely was a throwback to when I used to ask my grandma to drink out of baby bottles when I was over at her house even though I was a little too old to be doing it...like age 10ish. I would still do it today because it brings ya back!

Sunday we went to the Musee D'Orsay which is home to some of the most wonderful paintings I have seen so far. I was able to experience paintings by Monet, Manet, and many more. Also, I wrote artists down that I don't really know much about and liked so I could look them up. I felt so cultured after that visit. 

We headed the Eiffel Tower after the Musee so we could head up to the top! I ended up being the only one that wanted to go up to the top out of the three of us. So I went alone! :)

I met a couple...Dave and Tammy. They were probably around my parents age, from Cali. They are living in Amsterdam for a year because of Dave's guitar business. They took me as their own and acted like I was their daughter for the time at the Eiffel Tower. It was the sweetest thing. We traveled up to the top in a gondola type deal. The height thing was a little scary but I was so excited. I watched up go farther and farther up. Dave took pictures for me which I was so happy about. They were so easy to talk to and I really had a great experience. The view was amazing from the top of the tower. The soccer game going on below looked like little fake figurines moving around. I expressed this by saying "Look at the little soccer players!" They loved that...hahaha.

Top of the Eiffel Tower!

I split up with them after we reached the bottom. I went over to Notre Dam on the metro to quickly buy a berret and caught the metro again to head back to the hotel. I met everyone back at the hotel so we could take the train to the airport. Well...I ended up losing them when we started to walk and got lost. I was freaking out.

Luckily, I asked around and found my way. Everything turned out fine and I felt really good because I maneuvered myself around in a stressful travel situation!  I made it to the airport with plenty of time and had a great flight!

Paris was amazing and a very romantic setting. After that weekend I felt so cultured and developed an increased interest in art, specifically the historical artists. 

Love, love, love,

Alex<3