Friday, November 18, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Amsterdam: The Grand Finale
Today we arrived back to the United States! I wanted to do one last post talking about our time in Amsterdam over the last couple days as well as an overall trip wrap up in another post! :)
Amsterdam I loved and would definitely live there! The city is incredible. It's clean and beautiful with the canals and very lively. We arrived in Amsterdam at 8am from our crazy early Madrid flight. Once we got to Amsterdam we took a high speed train downtown to the main terminal. From there we first walked to get a real Pannekoeken. They are very different than the ones we have here in the states, however they are equally delicious! Adam and I shared an Apple one. They are very thin and almost reminded me of a mixture between a crepe and one of my Dads famously thin and delicious pancakes.
After there we walked to our hotel which was in a great location of downtown. We stayed at a couple of NH Hotels on this trip and would definitely recommend them to anyone traveling over in Europe. After checking in we headed out to explore and first ran into THE donut stand. I say "the" because I'm telling you this is the best donut I have ever had in my life. They are a plain ball of fried dough that they drop in powdered sugar and then hand to you in a napkin. After the powdered sugar went all over me while I scarfed it down I looked like a cocaine addict...but it was totally worth it. Haha After walking through the streets for awhile we got tickets for one of the hop on hop off buses. Once again it is a great way to see a large area of the city quickly, especially when it was as chilly as it was in mid November! However, the Amsterdam city center actually is quite compact and next time I would definitely recommend a walking or biking tour. Speaking of bikes...little did I know that Amsterdam is definitely the city where it seems more people bike than drive a vehicle. I swear. I thought a lot of people biked in Minneapolis...well Amsterdam blows it out of the water. They have a separated bike lane everywhere, it's awesome.
Next, Adam and I hopped off the bus at the Anne Frank house. I had heard that it was a very moving thing to see and it definitely hit where we expected it to. I learned a lot about what she had gone through and it was really crazy to walk through the house where her and her family had been in hiding. Despite the story being very sad, I'm so glad that we went. Afterwards Adam introduced me to the best frites (French fries) that I have ever had. Apparently they double fry them and then put them in a cone and put curry sauce on them. Absolutely delicious. After doing some window shopping (darn backpack and lack of space) and taking a break at the hotel we went to a place for dinner called Eden and Drunken. It was also recommended by our friends at trip advisor and once again they hit a home run! They sure do know how to do some meat in the Netherlands as Adam got Ribs and I got some kind of Chicken Satay peanut/curry dish. Both were delicious! We also sampled some cheese fondue and delicious beer.
Today we left Amsterdam at 1045am and arrived in Minneapolis at 1230pm. Not too shabby with the 7 hour time change. :). When going through customs the officer asked me where I was coming from and I just stood there looking at him blankly. After he looked at my form and saw that we had been in 7 Countries he laughed and said he understood the confusion. Haha
It's great to be back in the States. It's still our favorite country to live in. :) We feel so grateful as we feel that we truly had the trip of a lifetime. We loved every city that we went to and look forward to exploring Europe further someday in the future!
Cheers!
Shelby
Amsterdam I loved and would definitely live there! The city is incredible. It's clean and beautiful with the canals and very lively. We arrived in Amsterdam at 8am from our crazy early Madrid flight. Once we got to Amsterdam we took a high speed train downtown to the main terminal. From there we first walked to get a real Pannekoeken. They are very different than the ones we have here in the states, however they are equally delicious! Adam and I shared an Apple one. They are very thin and almost reminded me of a mixture between a crepe and one of my Dads famously thin and delicious pancakes.
After there we walked to our hotel which was in a great location of downtown. We stayed at a couple of NH Hotels on this trip and would definitely recommend them to anyone traveling over in Europe. After checking in we headed out to explore and first ran into THE donut stand. I say "the" because I'm telling you this is the best donut I have ever had in my life. They are a plain ball of fried dough that they drop in powdered sugar and then hand to you in a napkin. After the powdered sugar went all over me while I scarfed it down I looked like a cocaine addict...but it was totally worth it. Haha After walking through the streets for awhile we got tickets for one of the hop on hop off buses. Once again it is a great way to see a large area of the city quickly, especially when it was as chilly as it was in mid November! However, the Amsterdam city center actually is quite compact and next time I would definitely recommend a walking or biking tour. Speaking of bikes...little did I know that Amsterdam is definitely the city where it seems more people bike than drive a vehicle. I swear. I thought a lot of people biked in Minneapolis...well Amsterdam blows it out of the water. They have a separated bike lane everywhere, it's awesome.
Next, Adam and I hopped off the bus at the Anne Frank house. I had heard that it was a very moving thing to see and it definitely hit where we expected it to. I learned a lot about what she had gone through and it was really crazy to walk through the house where her and her family had been in hiding. Despite the story being very sad, I'm so glad that we went. Afterwards Adam introduced me to the best frites (French fries) that I have ever had. Apparently they double fry them and then put them in a cone and put curry sauce on them. Absolutely delicious. After doing some window shopping (darn backpack and lack of space) and taking a break at the hotel we went to a place for dinner called Eden and Drunken. It was also recommended by our friends at trip advisor and once again they hit a home run! They sure do know how to do some meat in the Netherlands as Adam got Ribs and I got some kind of Chicken Satay peanut/curry dish. Both were delicious! We also sampled some cheese fondue and delicious beer.
Today we left Amsterdam at 1045am and arrived in Minneapolis at 1230pm. Not too shabby with the 7 hour time change. :). When going through customs the officer asked me where I was coming from and I just stood there looking at him blankly. After he looked at my form and saw that we had been in 7 Countries he laughed and said he understood the confusion. Haha
It's great to be back in the States. It's still our favorite country to live in. :) We feel so grateful as we feel that we truly had the trip of a lifetime. We loved every city that we went to and look forward to exploring Europe further someday in the future!
Cheers!
Shelby
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Madrid round two
Back to Spain, but only for one night. It was very sad to leave Vienna. We both had such an amazing time. We would love to come back for Christmas because the Viennese know how to do it right!
http://www.christkindlmarkt.at/
Our flight took us through Palma Majorca airport. This Spanish island was cool to see from the air. We only had a quick layover though. We landed in Madrid, but this time we are old pros. We know the airport and metro well enough to not look like first timers.
We grabbed some quick tapas before bed. Our Amsterdam flight is at 5:30am tomorrow! Ugh
- Adam
PS: Forgot to post this last night, so it's a day late.
http://www.christkindlmarkt.at/
Our flight took us through Palma Majorca airport. This Spanish island was cool to see from the air. We only had a quick layover though. We landed in Madrid, but this time we are old pros. We know the airport and metro well enough to not look like first timers.
We grabbed some quick tapas before bed. Our Amsterdam flight is at 5:30am tomorrow! Ugh
- Adam
PS: Forgot to post this last night, so it's a day late.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Wien
Austria is amazing!
Our flight to Vienna provided some pretty amazing views of the alps and was only about an hour long. I really didn't know too much about Austria or Vienna before we arrived. I have to say it quickly jumped close to, if not the top of my favorite trip city.
Our first day we walked around getting used to the layout and trying to see the sights from our map. We got lost a few times but it was a good thing. We ran into so many fun areas of the city. It was so exciting to turn a corner and see a new museum, plaza, or cool side street. The circle road around old downtown made an easy landmark to guide us. There are two downtowns actually; old and new.
The big deal in Vienna is the wiener schnitzel. We googled the best place to have it and it's amazing! Seriously it's so good. It is basically veal pounded paper thin and then breaded and fried. Not too unlike the Indiana tenderloin. I ate mine and half of Shelby's.
Day two we spent more time walking around and eventually caught a bus tour around the city. Like I said before, there are two downtowns. The bus tour took us to both. Old downtown is full of old cathedrals, palaces, and museums. New downtown is much more modern with tall buildings and very modern architecture and lighting. The two are only a mile or two apart!
In the middle our bus stopped at a little street with strange architecture. The architect hated straight lines which made for a very unique building. See the picture.
We grabbed some homemade sausage for lunch which was also excellent. I had it with sauerkraut and mustard, Shelby with French fries. We are doing a good job with the Austrian food. After lunch we hit up the history museum before going to what Shelby and I called Christmas town.
Vienna does Christmas right! They are already full on celebrating. Christmas town is actually a market that pops up around one of the main buildings (I'm not even going to try and spell it here). The market is full of toys, chocolate, punche (hot alcoholic punch), and other tasty treats. It was packed with people and Christmas cheer. We had a blast eating things we didn't know couldn't pronounce.
Tonight we had a few yummy beers to escape the cold before heading back to the hotel to write a quick blog. We head back to Madrid tomorrow to start our journey back home :(
Vienna was a fabulous surprise. I can't recommend it enough! So fun!
Our flight to Vienna provided some pretty amazing views of the alps and was only about an hour long. I really didn't know too much about Austria or Vienna before we arrived. I have to say it quickly jumped close to, if not the top of my favorite trip city.
Our first day we walked around getting used to the layout and trying to see the sights from our map. We got lost a few times but it was a good thing. We ran into so many fun areas of the city. It was so exciting to turn a corner and see a new museum, plaza, or cool side street. The circle road around old downtown made an easy landmark to guide us. There are two downtowns actually; old and new.
The big deal in Vienna is the wiener schnitzel. We googled the best place to have it and it's amazing! Seriously it's so good. It is basically veal pounded paper thin and then breaded and fried. Not too unlike the Indiana tenderloin. I ate mine and half of Shelby's.
Day two we spent more time walking around and eventually caught a bus tour around the city. Like I said before, there are two downtowns. The bus tour took us to both. Old downtown is full of old cathedrals, palaces, and museums. New downtown is much more modern with tall buildings and very modern architecture and lighting. The two are only a mile or two apart!
In the middle our bus stopped at a little street with strange architecture. The architect hated straight lines which made for a very unique building. See the picture.
We grabbed some homemade sausage for lunch which was also excellent. I had it with sauerkraut and mustard, Shelby with French fries. We are doing a good job with the Austrian food. After lunch we hit up the history museum before going to what Shelby and I called Christmas town.
Vienna does Christmas right! They are already full on celebrating. Christmas town is actually a market that pops up around one of the main buildings (I'm not even going to try and spell it here). The market is full of toys, chocolate, punche (hot alcoholic punch), and other tasty treats. It was packed with people and Christmas cheer. We had a blast eating things we didn't know couldn't pronounce.
Tonight we had a few yummy beers to escape the cold before heading back to the hotel to write a quick blog. We head back to Madrid tomorrow to start our journey back home :(
Vienna was a fabulous surprise. I can't recommend it enough! So fun!
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Such a small world!!
Hello friends!
Today was day two for Adam and I in Zurich. Today we started off the day by stopping into a grocery store on our way to the tram. Needless to say we headed to the bakery area to pickup some croissants the size of your head. It was definitely the most inexpensive thing we have had here in Zurich. :)
Afterwards we headed to the City Center for our Zurich and Surrounding area tour. Our hotel is downtown however to walk from one side to the other it would take about 40 minutes so the chosen mode of downtown transportation for the 1 million residents is the above ground tram. The tram is very clean, quick, and easy (one you figure out the German ticket system).
Today our tour consisted of approximately 12 people, a guide, and our bus driver. Today proved to be another example of just how small the world can be at times. Of the 12 people on the tour we met one girl from California who went to Engineering school at Purdue, and a couple who live in Indianapolis/Broadripple and went to Butler and IU respectively. We couldn't believe that all of the way across the world we ran into each other! The tour took us all around Zurich and then we took a cable car into the Alps. Unfortunately it was so foggy it took away from the view but it was still incredible. At the top of the mountain was of course a coffee shop that we had cappuccinos and Swiss chocolate at. To end the tour we took a ferry across lake Zurich which provided wonderful views of the nearby towns and hillside.
After the tour we headed out with our new friends mentioned above as well as a woman named Sarah who is from Melbourne Australia that we had met on the tour as well. The six of us wandered around downtown for awhile, checking out the local shopping. I saw the sweater that I had purchased yesterday in London at Zara for 19.99....here the sweater was 39.99. :). We found out on the tour today that the average salary here in 65-70k which is much higher than the states and probably also leads to the high prices of things. After working up quite the appetite we decided to experience a
Traditional Swiss fondue dinner that had been recommended on the tour. Here we had wine, beer, cheese fondue, and steak fondue. It was delicious and a lot of fun sharing travel stories with our new friends.
Afterward we exchanged information and made plans to meet up again in Indianapolis shortly. Adam and I headed back to our hotel to have a German "bier" nightcap in the bar and are now getting ready to head to bed as we head to Vienna (Austria) tomorrow morning.
More to come from Vienna!
Guten Tag!! (goodbye)
Shelby
Today was day two for Adam and I in Zurich. Today we started off the day by stopping into a grocery store on our way to the tram. Needless to say we headed to the bakery area to pickup some croissants the size of your head. It was definitely the most inexpensive thing we have had here in Zurich. :)
Afterwards we headed to the City Center for our Zurich and Surrounding area tour. Our hotel is downtown however to walk from one side to the other it would take about 40 minutes so the chosen mode of downtown transportation for the 1 million residents is the above ground tram. The tram is very clean, quick, and easy (one you figure out the German ticket system).
Today our tour consisted of approximately 12 people, a guide, and our bus driver. Today proved to be another example of just how small the world can be at times. Of the 12 people on the tour we met one girl from California who went to Engineering school at Purdue, and a couple who live in Indianapolis/Broadripple and went to Butler and IU respectively. We couldn't believe that all of the way across the world we ran into each other! The tour took us all around Zurich and then we took a cable car into the Alps. Unfortunately it was so foggy it took away from the view but it was still incredible. At the top of the mountain was of course a coffee shop that we had cappuccinos and Swiss chocolate at. To end the tour we took a ferry across lake Zurich which provided wonderful views of the nearby towns and hillside.
After the tour we headed out with our new friends mentioned above as well as a woman named Sarah who is from Melbourne Australia that we had met on the tour as well. The six of us wandered around downtown for awhile, checking out the local shopping. I saw the sweater that I had purchased yesterday in London at Zara for 19.99....here the sweater was 39.99. :). We found out on the tour today that the average salary here in 65-70k which is much higher than the states and probably also leads to the high prices of things. After working up quite the appetite we decided to experience a
Traditional Swiss fondue dinner that had been recommended on the tour. Here we had wine, beer, cheese fondue, and steak fondue. It was delicious and a lot of fun sharing travel stories with our new friends.
Afterward we exchanged information and made plans to meet up again in Indianapolis shortly. Adam and I headed back to our hotel to have a German "bier" nightcap in the bar and are now getting ready to head to bed as we head to Vienna (Austria) tomorrow morning.
More to come from Vienna!
Guten Tag!! (goodbye)
Shelby
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Mind the gap
London was an interesting experience. I have been several times and it was fun to show Shelby around, but our hotel was terrible.
Our first day it was grey and drizzling rain but we still managed to visit Harrods, Hyde park, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby, Big Ben, and the eye of London. Most of the big sights were covered. The second day we spent shopping around Oxford street during the day and walking along the river. We stopped for some photos at tower bridge which is one of my favorites. We decided it would be fun to catch a show in London's west end theater district. We landed on Rock of Ages which was a musical featuring rock from the 80s. It was an absolute blast! So much fun for both of us. You can't help but sing along. The cast was very good and the leading man had a great rock voice. The whole experience was a great escape from the crappy weather and our terrible hotel!
The hotel...the hotel was pretty bad. Thank goodness we weren't there very much. It looked like the carpet and paint hadn't been touched in decades. There were stains on the carpet, walls, and ceiling. It was just gross. We hated it and I'm so glad we are gone!
Shelby really liked London, I'm sad the hotel was such a downer. Regardless, we survived and had a great time in London! On to Switzerland!!
-Adam
Our first day it was grey and drizzling rain but we still managed to visit Harrods, Hyde park, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby, Big Ben, and the eye of London. Most of the big sights were covered. The second day we spent shopping around Oxford street during the day and walking along the river. We stopped for some photos at tower bridge which is one of my favorites. We decided it would be fun to catch a show in London's west end theater district. We landed on Rock of Ages which was a musical featuring rock from the 80s. It was an absolute blast! So much fun for both of us. You can't help but sing along. The cast was very good and the leading man had a great rock voice. The whole experience was a great escape from the crappy weather and our terrible hotel!
The hotel...the hotel was pretty bad. Thank goodness we weren't there very much. It looked like the carpet and paint hadn't been touched in decades. There were stains on the carpet, walls, and ceiling. It was just gross. We hated it and I'm so glad we are gone!
Shelby really liked London, I'm sad the hotel was such a downer. Regardless, we survived and had a great time in London! On to Switzerland!!
-Adam
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Last night in Italy
Today was a great day to wander around Venice. It rained all day, but that didn't stop us. We toured Doges Palace and saw some amazing architecture, history, and paintings. The palace was much bigger than we expected. We were there for a few hours and thought it was a great sight. I again loved the armory where they had loads of swords, armor, and other weaponry. My favorite were a pair of sword/guns (photo attached).
The rest of the day we just walked around checking out shops and stopping for a quick pastry and a few drinks at a local bar before dinner.
Tonight is our last night in Italy and we are both sad to leave this great country, it's friendly people, great food, tasty wine, and fabulous art, history, and architecture. Italy was an amazing experience and Rome, Florence, and Venice each left their own special mark on us.
Tomorrow we will catch a water bus to the airport and head to London. I'm excited to show Shelby around and finally make it up the eye of London. Time to change out my euro for pounds!
-Adam
The rest of the day we just walked around checking out shops and stopping for a quick pastry and a few drinks at a local bar before dinner.
Tonight is our last night in Italy and we are both sad to leave this great country, it's friendly people, great food, tasty wine, and fabulous art, history, and architecture. Italy was an amazing experience and Rome, Florence, and Venice each left their own special mark on us.
Tomorrow we will catch a water bus to the airport and head to London. I'm excited to show Shelby around and finally make it up the eye of London. Time to change out my euro for pounds!
-Adam
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