Brugge and Brussels

Today has been an ultimate travel day. We have been going, going, going. But it's been fun we have seen a lot today. We stopped this afternoon for a few hours in Brugge, Belgium for lunch and toured the city. We tried lots of Dutch chocolate and it was all so good! Don't worry family, I've got plenty treats to bring back !


Then we trucked on to Brussels and we tried the famous Belgium waffles (I got strawberry with nutella.... Heavenly) and tried more Belgian chocolates. Yes, I'm bringing back even more chocolates!!











Oh belgian chocolate... And waffles... You're getting the best of me!

Paris in the morning

Au Revoir!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Holidaystraat,Machelen,Belgium

Amsterdam!!!!

Oh Amsterdam oh Amsterdam! .... And on the weekend! Unfortunately I have been sick the past few days but I was still a trooper and went out! I couldn't miss out on Amsterdam!!



The first day we got there it was cold and rainy but we survived. We took the train to the middle of town and our tour guide showed us around, told us where to go, etc. then we ventured off on our own..... Amsterdam is a crazy city, everything and I mean basically everything (well yes, everything) is legal there. I won't get into details, but I'm sure everyone caught on.

There is a restaurant we went to (every night) that is soooooo good! (maybe that explains why we ate it every night?) anyway... It was called won-to-walk and was Thai food and super delicious.



The next day we went to the Anne frank house and got to walk. Through her house and see the hiding places she and her family were hiding in during world war 2. I've always wanted to see the Anne frank house so that was pretty neat to do. We also got to see Anne's original diary that she wrote in throughout the war. Unfortunately she and her family were betrayed, taken by hitler and the nazis to concentration camps where Otto frank(Anne's father) was the only one who survived and from there he published Anne's diary. Unfortunately we were not allowed to bring cameras and take pictures throughout the house and their hiding places, otherwise, I would have posted.



We also went on a bike tour through the Dutch countryside in holland. That was beautiful! We didn't even have to wear helmets! But we did have to wear some tacky neon vests for some reason. We made anew stops along our bike tour and one of those stops was a cheese factory and a wooden clog factory. We watched demonstrations where they showed us how they made the cheese, aged it, and sent it out for wholesale. Then we got to do a cheese tasting and I fell in love. I had to buy some cheese so I bought the pesto cheese and the hot and spicy cheese. Super delicious.
They also showed us how they made the classic holland wooden clog shoes. That was interesting as well.








That night we just went to the red light district and hung around amsterdam. Today we have been traveling to Brussels. Tomorrow we leave for Paris. !!! Au Revoir








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Heidelberg

We are currently driving on the Audubon highway... The fastest highway in Europe with no speed limit... Scary!

Anyway, Heidelberg was fun we went to another castle and walked around and had lunch. I think the most interesting thing we saw in Heidelberg was the biggest wine barrel in the world. It was used 200 years ago and took 15 years to fill and holds 55,000 gallons of wine. Crazy!

That night I met up with Sebastian (Mimi and papas exchange student from 15 years ago) and he took me out to dinner and we drove around Mannheim and saw the city and got a couple beers! It was nice seeing him, I learned a lot more about Germany than we learned from our tour guide.

On our way to amsterdam now... That's all for now


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Heidelberg, Germany

Prague!

Prague was so beautiful ! It was like a castle city! We had a walking tour of the entire city and the presidents headquarters! The city was so quaint and there were lots of small musicians playing on the streets and everyone was just so happy!








We had a big and late lunch because we were going out for a pub crawl that night and didn't want to have full stomachs for dinner. We ate at an absolutely gorgeous terrace restaurant that overlooked the square in downtown Prague. The most gorgeous setting for dinner in the world. Absolutely breathtaking.



We walked along the bridge in Prague where there was a saint who dressed in silver armor and was thrown over the bridge and instantly drowned. He was never heard of again until quite some time hundreds of years later they discovered his body in the river with five stars over his head. Now on the bridge there is a memorial of the saint and a picture where you can rub your right palm of your hand and make a wish and it is suppose to come true because it was such a miracle he was discovered hundreds of years later.
(I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the roman empire, but not too sure.. I'll have to research that later)





We went to the John Lennon wall and the bridge of locks. The John Lennon wall was very inspiring! It was filled of graffiti with inspiring quotes and lots of Beatles songs. This is where John Lennon came to write his songs sitting on this wall, which is why it is now called the John Lennon wall. The lock bridge (featured on the bachelorette Emily season) is pretty neat. You and your lover are suppose to lock your lock onto the bridge and throw the key into the river and it's suppose to symbolize true love and that your love will never be unbroken or unlocked.














That night we went on a pub crawl..... Oh my...... We went to tons of bars around Prague (including an ice bar) it was fun! I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves!

Off to Heidelberg

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Prague, czech republic

The adventure continues.... To Germany!

Oh Germany. It's absolutely beautiful. I had not expected Germany to be so beautiful! I love it!! It's so clean and green and has the most incredible views! Don't get me wrong, I loved Italy loved loved loved Italy but Germany is just so beautiful! It's not as crowded and much more spread out. It's hard to explain but it's just gorgeous! We stopped through austria and the views in Austria were just as beautiful! I've seen so much I can barely wrap my mind around everything and every country I've seen. They are all so beautiful and all so different in their own ways. The world is just so beautiful and it's very interesting to be able to experience all different and types of cultures in just a little over a month. The world is just, in it's simplest way, so beautiful and incredible.



The first night in Munich we ate at a German restaurant and I had a turkey salad with balsamic dressing and a 1/2 liter of blonde beer! Germany and their beer... Definitely had to try it! Then we went to the hofbrauhaus (the beer garden of Germany) and we all got liter beers! Probably the biggest beer and mugs I have ever seen! I got a blonde beer again and it was pretty good.





Too much room on the table for american fries everyone had been craving.... Mmmm


Then the next day in Munich we went to the neuschwanstein castle in Bavaria Germany where king Ludwig the second lived. Built in 1869-1886 all the original structures and remains of the castle are still in tact. And i can't even describe the beauty of this castle. The views are just so breathtaking. Who would have known that god could create such magnificent views. Such a beautiful beautiful world to say the least. Anyway I will just have to let the pictures speak for themselves even though it doesn't even do justice for what I experienced with my own eyes. Just so incredible!!! Sleeping beauty was inspired by this castle and created based on the structure of the castle. While I was in it and walking up to the mountains of the castle, I felt like we were in a Disney princess movie... When actually we were:) the sleeping beauty castle:)












On our way to the castle our big charter bus got in a minor bus accident. Luckily the car that we hit(which was their fault not ours because the idiots were doing a u turn in the middle of the road and just didn't happen to see our big charter bus coming straight at them) wasn't hurt and no body suffered any broken bones, etc. the only bad thing the accident did for us was put us behind a couple hours and miss. Our reservations for the Castle. We just had to wait on the German police to get there and investigate. Everything is fine.





Last night we went out for Sabrina's 22nd birthday and then went back to the beer gardens after dinner and then to a local Mexican club and danced on chairs! All in all, Munich has been beautiful and very successful. We celebrated Sabrina's birthday in style- the German way :)










Well anyway we are on our way to prague right now so that's all for now!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Munich, Germany

Venice

Venice was unbelievable and breathtaking! I loved it! Such an interesting city, and way of life, to say the least! The city is sinking and our tour guide told us to take lots of pictures and told us that we were very fortunate to have visited Venice because one day it won't be here and we need to appreciate what we have seen. So I did as I was told.. Took lots of pictures. And now looking back on them, only two days later, I can see what he meant and now I feel very blessed and fortunate to have visited the city.



Going to Venice... Waiting for our boat to take us to the city!!








Since Venice is sinking, their way of life consists of boating. Instead of parking lots, they have boat parking lots and instead of driving cars down their streets, they drive boats down their streets since the water has risen and their streets now contain street water. It was so impressive to see how they have grown accustom to that way of life. We were fortunate enough to take a gondola ride through Venice and experience their lifestyle.


-












After our gondola ride we basically explored the city and did our own thing. Venice is well known for their glass blowing so we go to go to a glass blowing factory and watched a glass blowing demonstration where the guy made a small vase and a glass sculpture of a horse. Now that was interesting. I've never see someone make glass like that in front of me so that was pretty cool to experience and witness.









And then lauren and I were going to buy a painting from one of the local artists selling his artwork on the side streets or meeting places and I was originally only planning on buying a small painting and then Lauren made a very good point and said we may as well spend some extra money and buy a bigger painting of Venice and the canals and gondola boats because one day it won't even be here and our paintings will be worth a lot more money because they are original paintings of what will be known as the "old Venice" and we purchased them on the island. So sure enough, we were both willing to spend the extra money and buy a bigger painting. I wish I had taken a picture of it before but here is the artist and us purchasing our paintings. It's absolutely gorgeous!!!









Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Venice, Italy