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.

Weekend Adventures: Dublin

Trinity College.  

On St. Patrick's Day weekend, myself and six of my fellow floormates boarded the ever popular ryanair plane heading for Dublin.  We stayed at the homes of two of the boys from our floor - two nights in a house closer to the city and two nights in a house up in the hills.  Staying with families was wonderful - we had homecooked meals, comfortable beds, and even hot water bottles to sleep with at night (I'm buying one because they are one of the best things ever).  Since we had two native Dubliners to show us around, we did a lot of following which was also wonderful - we didn't have to make any plans!  On day 1, we went to Trinity College.  There we walked around campus and saw the Book of Kells.

Beautiful library at the end of the Book of Kells exhibit.

While walking on the streets of Dublin, Rani and I found Elizabeth and Katie - two fellow Hendrix students!

We then went on a bus tour around the city

I was tempted to buy this to see what American Cola tastes like...

(this is still day 1)  We hopped off the bus tour and toured Guinness.  It was a huge place.  We learned about the Guinness making process and how to pour the perfect pint.

Group photo!

View from the pier.

On Day 2 we did a bit of shopping around Dublin.  Following that, we took a short trip to Dun Laoghaire (pronounced dun leery), which is a seaside town outside of Dublin.

Group photo!

Rani and I.

 On our last full day in Dublin, we went to town and celebrated St. Patrick's Day by watching the parade.  It was a bit cold and rainy, but we expected that of Dublin.  The parade was pretty good - I have never seen so much green in my life!

Dublin was a great time.  We all fell in love with the families we stayed with - I was keen to stay much longer!

Weekend Adventures: London Edition

I bet that you have given up all hopes of following my adventures abroad via this blog.  I don't blame you; my postings are becoming more infrequent.  I blame this on my frequent traveling, busy schedule, laziness, and realization that I have to fit studying into my study abroad experience.  From March 7th - 11th, my friend Rani and I flew to London via Ryanair (my first Ryanair adventure - SO many advertisements).  We stayed with a fellow Hendrix student, Elizabeth Davis.  She was the perfect combination of tour guide, host, and friend from back home.  This post appears very long because I included many pictures.  If you feel that reading the whole thing is too daunting of a task, here is a recap of the trip: fun, rainy, cold, ate lots of English food, walked until we could walk no more, saw lots of things.  Now, follows the more in-depth version told via the photo captions...

After arriving in London, Rani and I headed into the first restaurant we saw - one that serves English breakfast all day (it was run by an Indian family, so we got a truly global experience_.

After setting our bags down in Elizabeth's flat, Rani and I set off on our first London adventure - we found the Eye, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, a square that was not Trafalgar Square, St. Jame's Park, and a Glimpse of the Buckingham Palace.

Thankfully, they have nifty signs on the ground telling us which way to look when crossing the road.

There it is, there's BIG BEN!

So beautiful, Westminster Abbey.  I am good at taking pictures of the outsides of buildings.  I don't take pictures of the insides...because you have to pay to go inside.

We had our first English dinner!  Bangers (sausage) and mash ( mashed potatoes) at a GREAT English pub - we felt like locals! 

Following our great dinner, we headed to our final adventure of the night - Wicked!  It was such a great show!

The next day, we went on quite the sightseeing expedition.  We started off in the fire tower monument and climbed ALL of the stairs to the top!

We also crossed the London Bridge.

And the Globe Theatre.

And a sign that says "conway."  How appropriate for two Hendrix students to stumble upon this!

We also gazed upon St. Paul's Cathedral from the outside - once again, no paying to go in!

We went to Borough Market.  There we wandered around all of the food (and sampled food too!).  We shared a chicken pie, empenada, and salted beef sandwich.  The chocolate cake was all mine.  Have I mentioned that I bought a gym membership?  I have.

Our last sight for the day was the Tower of London and Tower Bridge.  Then, it was time to call it quits - we were cold, tired, and wet.

The next day we woke up early and headed to see the changing of the guard.  I was very excited to see my favorite spring flowers blooming in the park nearby Buckingham Palace.

After watching the changing of the guard, we wandered over to Hyde Park for a bit.

Thankfully, I took a mandatory red phone booth photo.  I can now officially call myself a London tourist.

We met up with my camp friend Kelly while in London.  This brings my total camp friend meetings up to 3 now!  While with Kelly, we explored Harrod's, Covent Garden, M&M World, and Trafalgar Square.

This is by far the most fancy and expensive department store (does that even do it justice?) that I have ever been to.  Playing the game "how much do you think this is" is ridiculous in there.

Our last full day was spent wandering around Camden Market.  We tried to explore the mostly indoor parts of the market because it was so super cold that day - so cold that I bought ridiculous looking gloves.  Camden Market was a great experience - I loved every minute of it.  The last day that we were in London, Rani and I browsed the shops along Oxford Street.  Thankfully, we had already visited Primark earlier in the weekend (Primark...think forever 21, but not quite as many strange clothes).

London was such a great experience.  It is not the cheapest city, but I would go back again in a heartbeat.  Also, I was able to master the Tube system, which is saying something for this direction challenged individual.

Until next time, London, until next time!