Hamburg

We left Amsterdam with another train adventure. About 10 minutes before our train was supposed to depart, we realized we were at the wrong train station. Luckily at that moment, we were talking with a woman who worked for the train company. She was very helpful in setting us up with another train that would meet up with our original train. We made it to Hamburg easily enough.

An evening in Amsterdam/How to be embarressingly Drunk

Earlier in the day we had heard that the Dutch national team was playing that evening in the Eurocup so we had decided that we had to go to a bar to watch it. That meant for dinner we had to grab something quick. We went with the guy we were staying with, John, to a chain called Wok to Walk and each ordered a stir fry. After dinner we parted ways and Abby and I headed to a bar called The Old Sailor which featured a lot of Popeye memorabilia in the red light district.

Unfortunately Holland lost and that was the end of the Eurocup for them. We stuck around the bar for a few hours more as there was plenty of entertainment with the various characters in the bar.

Anne Frank House/Jordann

Having walked off our beer a little bit we headed over to the Anne Frank House just outside the neighborhood Jordann.

The annex the Franks lived in for almost two years was smaller but also much larger than I had imagined from elementary school. It was multiple stories for one, which I hadn’t realized, and it had a small kitchen, again which I hadn’t realized. But the rooms were still very cramped and living in that annex, with seven people, without ever getting to go outside must have been crushing.

Everyone knows how heartbreaking Anne Franks story is so I won’t get into it other than to say the museum made a point to inform that the Frank’s story was not unique.

On our way out of the annex there is a museum area which contains reproductions of Anne’s diaries (she kept many over the two years) as well as some selected pages from both her diaries and some of her short stories she had began writing.

One of the other things that caught my eye was a shiny, gold, 13.5 inch, 8.5 lbs statue, that caused me to flip out a bit. So Abby snuck this photo (there was a strict no photo rule) for me, and for you mom.

From Hot Dogs to Heineken or “Don’t sip your beer drink it like a man”

We wandered around a bit while eating our real American hotdogs and then walked a few canals over to the original Heineken factory for the “Heineken Experience.” It started with a brief history of the company – with plenty of photo opportunities, and continued with a lesson on how the beer is brewed.

Amsterdam Day 1 (Morning)

The sun sets incredibly late, but it doesn’t stay late for long. I woke up briefly around 5 in the morning and it was already very light out.

Abby and I headed out in search of breakfast and bikes to rent a little after 9 in the morning. The first bike rental place we went to had a sign saying that it opened at 9, but it most certainly was not open. Neither was the second bike rental place we went to. We decided to try our hand at breakfast first.

Again Abby and I ordered the same thing, this time a traditional Dutch pancake. I didn’t really have much to compare it too but Abby said it was as if someone cooked two French crepes together.

The texture was really doughy and about half a centimeter thick. It was very rich and had a strong butter flavor. The pancakes were served with powdered sugar and syrup. It was nothing like an American pancake, and the syrup was nothing like typical maple syrup. The syrup was much more viscous, a lot darker, and had a hint of molasses. It was very good, but it was the size of plate it was on – which was rather large – so neither Abby nor I managed to finish it.

 The kitten that joined us for breakfast, and sat with Abby for a while

Train: Paris ---> Amsterdam

  The train we were on was a TGV train, which is a high-speed rail so we went from Paris to Amsterdam in just over three hours. I fell asleep for part of the train, I was still feeling a bit jet lagged.

Paris Day 2

Both Abby and I woke up before the alarm on the second day in Paris to a rainy day. It was lovely in my opinion though because I’d always had an image of Paris in the rain. We packed up quickly and left our bags in the lobby of the hotel for the afternoon until it was time to catch our train to Amsterdam.

We got breakfast at a café near our hotel and had what is apparently a classic French breakfast: mini croissants with coffees. Obviously French croissants are awesome.

From breakfast we went to take a look at the famous Opera house. It was incredible. Someday I would really love to see a performance there.

Paris Day 1 Part 2

Throughout the day we had fun finding views of the Eiffel Tower from different parts of the city. Shockingly enough Hollywood is wrong, you cannot see the Eiffel Tower from every window in Paris and it is not the center of the city.

The Louvre

The Louvre Pyramid

Lucky for us, when Abby and I got to the Louvre seemed to be the time when most people were leaving for lunch. The museum was still very crowded though so I can only imagine what it must be like when it is actually considered busy. 

Paris Day 1 Part 1

"When I dream of afterlife in heaven, the action always takes place at the Ritz Paris" - Hemingway

I read that quote on the plane ride over in last months Vanity Fair. I found it rather suiting. I didn’t get to see Hemmingway’s heaven – it is under reconstruction for the next year or so, but technically I was right outside his heaven and that’s close enough for me.

SFO --> Paris

I sat in an aisle seat my first leg of the trip (SFO to JFK). I'd never done that before and I found I quite liked it. I think I will try to from now on.

The flight attendants were supremely nice, especially since the flight was very turbulent and, well, I don't do so great in those kind of situations. Eventually I fell asleep. I think I managed to sleep at least two hours of the five-hour flight. I was trying to stay awake but exhaustion won out.