'Dam Good Time, Part 2

So last weekend, it was back to the 'Dam again. We did not get to see enough of that fair city last visit, since we spent the majority of the time inside museums. We had 5 goals this trip: 1.) walk around more 2.) see the (free) sights 3.) spend less money overall 4.) take in more of the wonderful atmosphere 5.) eat some Belgian Vlaamse Fries. We accomplished all of these in style...



This time, we stayed in a much nicer hotel with a much better breakfast, much closer to the city center, and all for barely 3 euros a night more than we paid for our crappy hostel last time. Hotel City Garden was a great place to stay, so if you're ever in Amsterdam, look it up.


Saturday morning we started out our day by walked through the park to see the famous I AMsterdam sign in the daylight. It was a beautiful day- the temperature was mild, and the sunshine and light breeze made for a nice day to walk. I will remember the sound of the bicycles, with their bells chiming and spokes spinning noisily. I thought to myself that one day I would like to live in that place, and ride my bike on the streets in the sunlight...


We walked past the flower markets and through Vondelpark. It was a really relaxing, but quick trip. It was nice this time around because we were more familiar with the city and knew our way around. It felt natural to be there and visit the places that we enjoyed before. We made another stop to this amazing chocolate shop, Puccini. They have a bar with at least 40 different types of bite size chocolates in varoious flavors such as dramboui, congac, plum, and caramel. We each got one to share since they are quite pricey.


Shawn and I have been craving some mexican food, particularly guacamole and cheese dip, the entire time we've been in Europe. We found a well-recommended place in Amsterdam, but it was closed when we tried to grab a bite. I guess this will have to be continued...

A la Suisse

This is a slightly delayed posting because we have been so busy with travel (and sometimes school) that it's hard to stay up to date.

The weekend before last we went to Switzerland, heading through Strasbourg and Bern to a little place in the mountains called Interlaken. We stopped in Strasbourg for a 30 minute break from the train and to take a couple of pictures. It's a nice little place, even though they got mad at us for taking a picture inside their train station. Perhaps we'll take a day trip there sometime...


After a long day of travel, we finally got to the Interlaken train station. I snapped a quick photo while waiting for the bus.


We got off the bus in a tiny little 'town' just a 20 minute drive from the center of Interlaken. I say town, but it was really just a cluster of 10-20 houses on the edge of the lake. We checked in to our hostel, and it turned out that we were the only guests for the entire weekend! So, we were happy to have our space and privacy. Here's a shot of me in the room, followed by a picture of the hostel the next morning.


The morning after our arrival, we set out to walk from the small town, called 'Iseltwald' to the city of Interlaken. The bus ride took us about 20 or 25 minutes, but the walk felt like a marathon. It took us over 3 hours to get from Iseltwald to Interlaken, stopping for photos and walking leisurely. But, we got some great views of the lake amidst the enormous Swiss Alps.


When we got into town, we snapped more photos, shopped around for Swiss watches, and had traditional Swiss fondue. Everything was great--except for the fondue. I had no idea that it was such a strong cheese, and by the end of the dinner I was feeling sick from the taste of it. But, it was a good thing to try, and I can say that I've had genuine Swiss fondue.


The next day, we checked out of the hotel and headed to a little town called Winterthur, just 20 minutes east of Zurich. We met up with a few locals to check out an air guitar contest at their favorite bar. I forget the name of the bar, but the air guitar contest was unforgettable. Picture a small room, packed full of Swiss people and the smoke from their cigarettes. Then, add a loud sound-system, and 15 extremely drunk 'air guitarists', and you've got a decent idea of the contest. It started out relatively well behaved, but by the end it had descended into sloppy drunkenness and not much actual air guitar-ing. Here's a shot from the champion's performance; he had people from the audience come and pick him up like a crowdsurfer and then pour beer in the general area of his mouth (I think very little actually made it in).


On our last day in Switzerland, we went to a local ice skating rink. Even though it was my first time ice skating, I turned out to be pretty good. We had a lot of fun on the ice, and I hope to go ice skating again soon. Anyway, that's all for this post. Soon to come: A Dam Good Time pt. 2