Whew! What a vacation! I have now returned from Brussels and Amsterdam and am feeling strangely glad to be back “home” in Valladolid.
The trip began in the wee hours of Thursday morning when Katie, Ashley, and I took a three hour bus ride to the Madrid Airport, waited in the airport for a few hours until our flight left at 7:20, and then took a bus from the Brussels airport (the tiny one which is about an hour out of town, not the convenient big international one) into the city to find our hostel. After almost 12 hours of traveling and not sleeping, we were very glad to see that our hostel was very clean and comfortable! The weather that night in Brussels was extremely gross—windy, cold, and rainy—but we braved it anyway in order to get our first taste of such a beautiful city. We had our first Belgian chocolates and hot chocolate (you should try this at home…put chunks of chocolate into the bottom of a mug, steam milk, pour it over the chocolate, and then mix it. Oh heavens, is it delicious.), and then returned to our hostel to get a good night of sleep. We roomed with two girls from Australia who had already been traveling for about three months, and they gave us good tips about staying in hostels.
The second day in Brussels was full of sightseeing, we saw a large Flea Market, the Manneken Pis statue, the Palace of Justice, Delirium (the bar that holds the world record for number of beers available, 2004 different kinds from all around the world), several comic walls (Brussels is the comic book capital of the world, and the home of the Smurfs), and the Atomium. We also didn’t have a problem finding more chocolate stores, and we ate delicious Lebanese pitas for lunch. That night we roomed with two guys from Brazil (who spoke Portuguese and thought it was funny that we couldn’t understand them). We never found out their names, but we decided that Raul and Javier sounded appropriate!
The next morning we got up mighty early and hopped on the metro in order to get to Belgium’s Royal Palace and to the headquarters of the European Union. We then took a bus with a tour group to Brugges, a little city about an hour away from Brussels. It was the most adorable city—we ate our first genuinely Belgian waffles, did some shopping, saw Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child, and ordered hot chocolate to go at a restaurant that has a menu including 44 different kinds of hot chocolate. On the way back on the bus we chatted with a man from Chicago, and encouraged him to make his children study abroad. Back at the hostel we made frozen pizzas for dinner, and then fortunately had the opportunity to meet three hilarious guys, one from the States (Texas) and two from Holland. We went with them to Delirium for several hours and had a great time, and then they rode the train with us the next day to Amsterdam. We have no doubt that we will see them again in the future. That night, because Raul and Javier had left, we roomed with two (drunk) girls from Barcelona.
After about four hours of sleep we boarded our train to Amsterdam, and arrived there about three hours later. From there we took a tram to our hostel, and after we settled in (and napped) we headed to the Anne Frank House. It was a long walk from our hostel, but it was way more than worth it. The museum includes the warehouse in which Otto Frank worked, and then the secret annex in which the family hid. It was so emotional. The secret apartment is empty—the Nazis took all of their possessions when the annex was discovered, and when it came time to turn the house into the museum, Otto Frank requested that it not be reconstructed; that it stay as it looked when they lost everything they had. The museum includes letters that were written from the Frank family to relatives, orders that Meep sent out for food and other supplies for the family, and Anne’s original diary. The only things about the apartment that have remained from when they lived there are markings on the wall to show how tall the girls were, and pictures from magazines and newspapers that Anne cut out to decorate her room. There really aren’t words to describe how it felt to walk behind the bookshelf and into a place where a family lived in hiding—so afraid of the outside world and what would happen if they were to be discovered. I am very glad that I had the opportunity to visit it and to gain a new motivation to fight for what is right and what is fair in the world.
We also went to the Red Light District, which was definitely an experience and a half. While there are other places in which prostitution is legal, Amsterdam is truly proud of that fact and flaunts it at every possible opportunity. Surprisingly enough, we didn’t feel uncomfortable or unsafe walking down the main street in the Red Light District, and considered it a learning experience! It is definitely, DEFINTELY, something that you would never even dream of seeing in the United States.
On our last full day in Amsterdam we visited the Van Gogh Museum, in which more than 200 of Van Gogh’s works are displayed. Starry Night isn’t there, but The Potato Eaters is, as well as Sunflowers, The Bedroom, and most of his self portraits that are very recognizable. It is a very cool museum—it displays his art but also tells all the stories behind his works, what inspired him, and what his tragic flaws were. While I have studied Van Gogh before, I still learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed it. For the rest of the day we just wandered the streets of Amsterdam, shopping and just enjoying ourselves. When we went back to the Anne Frank Museum to visit the gist shop again, we saw the boys from Brazil that we roomed with in Brussels. What a coincidence! That night in Amsterdam we roomed with three boys from Australia—one of whom, Nathaniel, went with us the next morning to the train station and waited with us until our train came. He taught us a lot about Australia, had an adorable accent, and was extremely cute! J
Tuesday was a long day of travel—we took a three hour train to Brussels, an hour bus to the airport, a two and a half hour flight to Madrid, and a two and a half hour bus ride back to Valladolid. Finally seeing my bed here at my house was such a nice feeling! While I am very glad to be back in Valladolid, I am very happy that the entire trip went smoothly and that we accomplished so much. We could have gone to a beach (like most of our classmates), but instead we took on two new countries, three new cities, two new languages (French and Dutch), rode on five different modes of transportation, had nine different roommates from three different countries, saw several incredible landmarks, made new friends, and became much more comfortable using a map and asking for directions! We encountered so many generous and nice people, as well as some people who didn’t hesitate to makes jokes about George Bush. All in all, we learned so much, had a ton of fun, and are ready for our next adventure!
The pictures are on Webshots! Hasta Luego!
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