BELGIUM & THE NETHERLANDS

Hallo! (Hello in Dutch)

We spent this weekend in Belgium and The Netherlands! Before arriving in Spain, we never thought that these two countries would be a stop along the way, but due to an unexpected open weekend, we thought-what the heck?

Friday morning came at 4:00 am. If you haven’t noticed, we don’t ever sleep in on Friday’s, but the early mornings pay off. We flew into Brussels and took a bus to Bastogne for our Battle of the Bulge/WWII tour. Katie’s mom and brother went there last summer and had a wonderful tour guide that they recommended to us. His name was Henri, and he picked us up at our bus stop. Henri made this tour so special because he was 9 years old when the battle took place in his hometown. The first hand accounts made the stories come to life. First of all, you need to understand that Bastogne is only a city because of the United States help. There are American flags everywhere showing their appreciation, and one might think that they are more patriotic than America, haha. 

In the Bastogne City Square, Henri began our tour at the American tank, which stands there to show their appreciation. From there, we saw Patton Square (Patton was the American general in charge of this operation), the Bastogne Cathedral where the bells ring the first three notes of the Star Spangled Banner on the half-hour and the Bastogne Barracks where we saw the headquarters of the American troops and tanks from many countries that participated in WWII. Sorry, that was the longest sentence ever. After that, we went to the American monument and the crypt that overlooks the city.  This monument remembers the many American lives given for their city. The rest of the day was spent at the American Fox Holes surrounding Bastogne, the German cemetery and the 26 trees planted by the children of Bastogne in honor of the kids who lost their lives in the Sandy Hook shooting. They really do love America that much. Then, Henri took us to the bus stop, and we took the bus and two trains and finally arrived in Amsterdam. We got to our hostel ready to experience our first 18-girl room. Let’s just say, we’ll be doing private rooms for the rest of our semester.

Saturday morning, we woke up and headed down one of the main streets in Amsterdam. We found a place called Cup-a-la-Cake and had a yummy breakfast of smoothies and muffins. After that, we wandered down the shopping streets and ended up in the Red Light District. We knew going into it what it was and what to expect, but nothing could prepare our hearts and eyes for what we saw. As we walked down the street, the windows were full of women. Each window had a prostitute trying to lure a man into her room. We are so sad that these women do not see that they are worth more than that. With heavy hearts, we continued to explore Amsterdam. On our way to the ‘I Amsterdam’ letters, there was a new canal to see around every corner. After battling our way through the tourists, we finally got our pictures with the letters and headed off to lunch. 

We found a delicious café called Bagels & Beans where we got tasty hot chocolate, chai tea lattes and bagels with cream cheese.  Our taste buds definitely thanked us for that meal. The afternoon was spent wandering through Waterloo Market, a flower market and many random shops down the streets of Amsterdam. We should probably mention the consistent smell of weed as we walked through the streets. The coffee shops in Amsterdam should probably be called weed shops. It’s EVERYWHERE. We eventually caved and bought fries at the number one fry stand in Holland. They served them to us in cones with Mayonnaise and Ketchup…we declined on the Mayo offer. We headed back to our hostel and decided to shower before the troops returned to flood the bathroom. Then, we had a variety of food for dinner and ended up at a coffee shop (that only sold coffee) and met some Thetas from Colorado College!

Sunday morning was our favorite part of the weekend. We got to tour the Anne Frank House! It was incredible to say the least. We walked through the Secret Annex and saw where they hid for two years. It was a moving experience, and it was crazy to finally bring her diary to life and put real-life images in our heads. In a hurry, we ran by Bagels & Beans and took off toward the train station. 

Three hours later, we arrived in Brussels where we got to see the original Godiva store, try real Belgian Waffles, see the Royal Palace of Brussels, go to Brussels Park and eat some yummy Wok for dinner. Before leaving, we relaxed in the square where the Flower Carpet is constructed each August. Exhausted and ready for a shower, we trained to the airport and took off for Barcelona! When we got back to our apartment, we found out that we still. have. no. wifi.

Here is the video! Sorry it's a short one! http://youtu.be/y4N001vIres

Hope everyone is having a great Spring Break!

Love,

Brynne, Katie & Meagan