Yes, it's been over a year since I posted. Blogging fail. As expected, I'm not great at this blogging thing, forgive me.
But here's a little of my summer trips. Summer was awesome, much traveling makes me happy. Here's most of the update I sent my family after I returned from my last trip:
My most recent trip, to Europe, was fantastic!! I flew through Germany to Paris on Lufthansa, great airline. In Paris I took a train to Belgium where my former roommate, Melissa, picked me up. She lives in a small town called Mons about 15 min. from the French border. The next morning we drove up to the Netherlands, about a 3-1/2 hr. drive. We stopped at a few towns on the way, including Delft (known for their pottery), a town w/ 19 windmills, the Hague and then to our hotel near the airport and Rotterdam. There was an art museum we wanted to see in the Hague but it is currently closed for a year or so (it houses the girl w/ a pearl earring painting).
The next day we went in to Amsterdam, only about a 1/2 hr. away. It was a busy Saturday for Amsterdam. Amsterdam is very cute. Every road has a canal to go with it. Canal bridges are lined with bikes and I think the Dutch equally use their bikes, cars and boats on the canals as forms of transportation. We took a canal boat tour and went through the Anne Frank house which I highly recommend even though there is usually a line to get in. They get lots of rain in Belgium and the Netherlands so we waited out rain on more than one occasion, once in the flower market. B/c of all the rain and water there, everything is very green with beautiful yards and flowers all over.
We went to Church in Haarlem and they translated for us so that was nice. Haarlem also looked like a cute town. We visited a fishing village up north the next day in the Netherlands before we made the trek back to Belgium. In the fishing village we toured a little shoe and cheese shop and got to see how they make their great cheese and Dutch shoes. :) There were probably only 1 or 2 other Americans that I heard/saw in the Netherlands although further south in Belgium there were many more and than of course in Paris there were lots of Americans. Unfortunately, we are usually the loud ones. I guess there's nothing wrong with using your outside voice, outside though. Fortunately we are the loud ones so I could usually pick them out of the crowd. ;)
I visited Brugges & Brussels in Belgium and really liked both of them. I found that Belgium is very quaint and has many beautiful palaces but lacks the touristy tours and such to show it off, unfortunately. As my Rick Steve's guidebook says, Belgium is often an overlooked part of Europe but equally as charming. Brugges is a medieval town, so old!! I climbed their bell tower to get a good look at the city and also happened upon a great temporary Picasso exhibit to go through as I entered the city. In Brussels I went to the European Parliament chambers there and got a tour. Brussels Grand Palace square is amazing, so beautiful! My last couple of hours in Brussels (which does smell like chocolate) I went through a chocolate museum and did a self guided chocolate tasting tour through some of the big chocolatiers (one of which is Godiva :) there. Pretty awesome!
Finally, Melissa and I drove to Paris and set out to see the Eiffel Tower that night. After dusk, they of course light it up and then it twinkles on the hour, every hour for about 5 minutes. We went to Versailles the next day and got separated about 11:30 and didn't meet up again until back at the hotel about 7:30, sure glad we eventually met up again!! I briefly saw the Louvre highlights so I may have to schedule about 3 days the next time I go to Paris to see all of that art museum. Melissa headed back to Belgium at that point and Camille Jackson (our 2nd cousin, also a MC graduate) met up with me.
We attended Church downtown, where the ward they have translates most all of their meetings in to English and Chinese. Then we walked all over Paris to see Notre Dame, the Latin Quarter, the Champs Elysees, and all of their gardens. Paris has so many beautiful parks with tennis courts, fountains, play areas, etc. Not to mention they are usually surrounded by palacial buildings that have been turned in to museums. Everyone sits in the gardens eating their macaroons and everyone walking by is eating ice cream. I think it's kind of the adult version of Disneyland, you know, the happiest place on earth?! We even saw a couple getting married at Luxembourg Gardens, there were no guests, just a pastor and photographer so one can only surmise they were eloping. Haha. Paris was charming. I told Melissa & Camille, I could only hope to live close to Paris someday so that I can visit it often.
I'll tell you about the food all together. :) Lots of cheese up north, it was fun to find shops where they had samples. There is an actual city called Gouda in the Netherlands but there's not much there. Melissa's theory is that they have great milk in northern Europe, with different types of cows and that is why their cheese and chocolate are so good. They had great rye bread up north too and don't eat a lot of chicken. They eat more beef, seafood and other even less common meats like duck, etc. Belgium of course had chocolate and that's where french fries come from. Though they always serve gross mayonnaise with their French fries, but with a little ketchup I definitely made fry sauce on more than one occasion this trip. Belgian waffles are amazing, they kind of have a sugary inside and in grocery stores are sold like bread/bagels but best served warm and with a topping. Nutella is very common in Europe, much to my delight. I was converted to macaroons in Paris. Not the coconut macaroon that you're thinking of. They're kind of like gourmet sandwich cookie things in all different flavors - strawberry, lemon, pistachio, etc. Had I left more room in my luggage I definitely would have come back with macaroons for everyone as well!!
