Spring has (finally) Sprung!

I can finally say with a relatively high amount of confidence that spring is FINALLY here!  This past weekend was the first one we have had with great weather - mostly sunny days with temperatures in the 60s.  Now, back home I wouldn't call that "great" weather - but here it is wonderful weather!  I (yes me the very cold-natured person) dug out my shorts to wear.  Granted, while wearing shorts you have to be laying in direct sunlight out of the wind to feel 100% comfortable, but that's okay.  I even went on a run outside!  This past weekend, myself and 5 other girls went to Delft and Breda to enjoy the weather.  Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as warm as we expected it to be BUT I didn't have to wear my big jacket so I was happy.  It was truly a great weekend filled with flowers, sun, warm-ish weather, chalk, and bubbles.  Don't worry parents - this was my break after finishing a paper and an exam!       

Flowers at a market in Delft.

The group in front of the New Church in Delft.

The grass in Breda even looked happy!

Look!  The tree outside my window has green on it!

An Easter Adventure to Prague

During Easter Break, myself and one of my floormates, Erika, headed to Prague from Tuesday - Friday.  As you can tell from our jackets, hats, and scarfs, there was nothing springy and warm about this break, but we were in Prague - that was good enough.  My navigating skills were put to the test this trip - I was the holder of the map!  Because of this, we did a lot of walking and only got lost once.  I call that a success, a major success.  After taking a train, plane, bus, and metro to get to our hostel we were ready to explore Prague.  We were especially ready to explore because we wanted to see the pretty parts - let's just say that the ride from the airport was not in the least bit scenic.  We headed to the center of Old Prague, and lo an behold there was an Easter Festival in the main square!

We sampled yummy treats at the Easter Festival!

There were eggs hanging in the tree, a folk band playing - it even looks like the buildings dressed up for Easter!

Just to the right of my head is the castle - it was our destination for that evening as well as our last full day in Prague.

From the square, we walked on to toward the St. Charles Bridge.

On St. Charles Bridge.

The massive cathedral inside the castle/palace complex.  The picture is tilted because I am not a photographer and because it is too tall to fit in a picture.

These are a few of the steps that we had to climb up in order to see the castle.  Note that I said "only a few of the steps"  - there were lots.

View from the top.  Worth it?  YES.

As we walked down from the castle/palace, night began to fall.

We think that we are in the old Jewish Quarter here...but I was navigating, so really you can't be too sure that that is really where we were.

 The next morning we woke up and headed to Cafe Louvre.  It was recommended by our map (which was created by locals) as the best place to get hot chocolate in Prague.  BEST HOT CHOCOLATE EVER.  It was literally liquid chocolate.  For breakfast, I ordered a traditional czech breakfast which included the egg, meats/cheese, bread basket, and slice of apple cake seen below.  I am thankful that I joined the gym.

The best hot chocolate ever ever ever.

How can normal buildings be so beautiful and old?

How can buildings be so strange and ugly?

We wandered around Prague a whole lot on our first full day there.  In need of a break, we went to a coffee place recommended by the map.   Although the coffee place was lovely, my coffee was not lovely.  I decided to be interesting and order something new - an arabic coffee.  NASTY.  Whoever decided to mix cardamom with coffee was not the world's smartest person.

My unfortunate coffee.

 On our last full day in Prague - day 2 - we rode the tram across the river over to the Prague outdoor market.  They have many Vietnamese vendors selling typical market wares as well as a large food market.  In the food market I indulged in a homemade pastry.  We also saw this strange machine pictured below...

On the left, is a machine that dispenses milk bottles.  The bottle on the right dispenses milk.  How cool is that??

 Day 2 ended up being all about food, because after the market, we headed to a place called the Milk Bar.  According to our ever handy map, they are known for their milkshakes.  The sad news is that here, milkshakes have fruit, milk, and yogurt in them - basically a smoothie.  It was still good though.

The Milk Bar. 

 After lunch and "milkshakes" at the Milk Bar, we headed to the castle/palace (I really just don't know how to accurately refer to this massive complex) for round two.  This time we were there during opening hours and bought tickets to go to the museums/churches there.

This is Golden Ally, where artisans lived inside the castle's walls.

The outside of the large cathedral pictured earlier (the crooked picture).

The inside of the cathedral - SO SO HUGE.

Such a huge organ!

 After leaving the palace, we walked to the John Lennon wall which is a wall where the citizens expressed their dislike of communism.

 We finally made it back to our hostel, and I don't think we could have walked any more...until we had a short rest and walked to dinner of course.  We finished our cultural experience of Prague with a traditional meal at a beer hall.  I had roast beef with cranberry and sour cream and white bread in gravy - yummy and hearty.

Prague was a beautiful city, and I can only imagine how much better it looks when the sun actually shines.  Clouds seem to be a common theme over here!

Dad Comes to Visit!

For his spring break, Dad flew all the way across the pond to come and visit me!  We visited many places and ate many things ( by now you know how many pictures I take of food ).  That being said, you are in for quite a lengthy blog post.  Dad and I traveled many places together: Amsterdam, The Hague, Delft, Tilburg, Antwerp, Mechelen, and Brussels.  Dad also hit up Gouda and Maastricht on his own while I was stuck in class.

AMSTERDAM:
Early Sunday morning I headed for Schipol Airport outside of Amsterdam to pick Dad up.  On Sunday and Monday morning we took Amsterdam by storm:  we saw all of the mandatory sights, walked a bunch, hid inside as often as possible (it was SO cold and windy!), went on a canal tour, and a bus tour.  We were busy busy busy.

Our canal tour.

Dad's first photo with a canal.

Together at Dam Square.

Old car that we thought Brandon would appreciate.

See how they lean!

First food picture of the trip - pies for dinner.

After we left Amsterdam on Monday, we headed for our hostel in The Hague.  On our way there, we stopped at the famous Keukenhof Gardens.  Fortunately, they had just opened for the season...unfortunately, the season hasn't quite started yet this year.  It has been uncharacteristically cold for March.

They were the first for sure...this is the closest we got to seeing tulips in bloom - outside at least.

Luckily, they had a greenhouse full of tulips and a few other varieties of flowers for us to enjoy.

It's almost like the real thing, right?

 THE HAGUE AND DELFT:
Monday evening we arrived in The Hague.  We got there just in time to walk to the center of town for dinner.  We went to a bar that served excellent food - chicken satay, fries, and salad.  The next morning we woke up bright and early and headed for Delft.  Delft is the home of the classic blue and white pottery.  Also, this city was wonderful - so cute - cafes, canals, blue skies, old churches, cobblestone streets.

The New Church on the main square.

Row of shops and cafes surrounding the square.

The workshop of a fourth generation delftware maker.  They make slip casted items.

Fresh out of the kiln!

They spray the white glaze on, then hand paint it later with cobalt based glaze.

Obviously, you can tell from the photos that I was loving every minute of this stop in Delft.

Before leaving Delft, Dad got to try a traditionally dutch food - a croquette.  They are deep fried and interesting.

After leaving Delft, we went back to The Hague to check out the Escher Museum.  It was a really neat art museum.

Interactive part of the Escher Museum.

 I left Dad in The Hague that night to fend for himself while I went back to Tilburg to prepare for my classes on Wednesday and Thursday.  Dad came and spent Wednesday night in Tilburg.  Then, on Thursday after my class finished we hopped on another train for another adventure - AND country!

ANTWERP:
In Antwerp we wandered about for a bit.  We walked in the gorgeous Central Station, down the shopping street, went in a fancy chocolate shop, ate waffles, and walked in the historic square.

First Belgian waffle!

Beautiful streets of Antwerp.

The strangest museum we have ever been too.  It probably didn't help that everything was in Dutch.  We enjoyed ourselves because it was free and warm - two very important things.

MECHELEN:  After leaving Antwerp in the late afternoon, we went to our hostel in Mechelen.  This is a smaller sized town between Brussels and Antwerp.  That night we wandered around a bit looking for the perfect place to have dinner.  Thankfully, we finally found a warm, affordable, and tasty place.  Finding warm places was a common goal we had during our trip.  While eating dinner, it began to snow!  The next morning we woke up early (again) to explore the town before heading to Brussels later.

Mechelen had great alleyways.

The square in Mechelen.

BRUSSELS:  Once we checked Mechelen off of our list, it was time to hop on the train again and head to Brussels.  First, we checked into our hotel, then we went in search of lunch.  It is important to try all of the local foods, so we picked the most healthy choice of course - fries and ice cream!

Dad in with his fries in front of a traditional fry stand.

Yes, it was around  34 degrees outside.  Worth it - best ice cream I have ever had.

Free panoramic view of Brussels - from the roof of a parking deck.

The most traditional way to eat a Belgian waffle.

The main square - Grand Place.

DELICIOUS hot chocolate and macaroons from a fancy chocolate store.

BRUSSELS TAKE TWO:  

Dad just thought he would have one day in Brussels, but instead he got two!  Unfortunately that was because his flight time was changed from early afternoon to 9:30 pm.  We made the best of our situation though and walked about Brussels some more.  We had a nice breakfast in a cafe, checked out the ever popular flea market, visited the underwhelming Mannekin Pis, and ate one last waffle.

The face says it all.

Touring about with Dad was a wonderful adventure.  It was so nice to be able to show him around the places that I know and to discover new places together.  I would like to close by mentioning one important and surprising fact: my sense of direction was much better than Dad's in Brussels.  This is a significant accomplishment.