amsterdam trip part.3

i'm done after this post, i swear. i have just been missing it so much lately. anyway. the finally of our trip, brussels and frankfurt.

we traveled by train this again, we just bought individual tickets instead of the eurorail pass like last year. that eurorail pass thingy last year was so cool though. trains are just awesome. so... as i was saying we rode the short train ride from antwerp to brussels in the late afternoon, checked in, and took a little siesta. (you have to remember that i was extremely sick like this whole trip so my energy between naps lasted all of a few hours :/ ) but that night, that's when things came alive.

                                                

 

that night we grabbed sandwiches and french fries (which apparently they are popular for-- how a city is popular for french fries i have no idea) and ate outside the grand palace grote markt which are those first couple of pictures ^^. after dinner we walked... and walked... and walked around brussels. exploring the highlights of our map. that night we befriended the 2 german girls and 2 boys from NY from our room and went bar hopping to some pretty historical bars around the city (unfortunately we never did find our friends though...)

the next day went something like this...

^^ the royal park and palace. weird random fact the gardens are known for rough gay sex at night... so if you are looking for a romantic stroll. don't. go. through. there. ^^

                                          

^^ next stop. brussels atomium. originally for the expo '58, the 1958 brussels world's fair, now this thing is just a crazy tourist attraction right outside of the city. ^^

            

^^ aaand finally we ended in germany for the night. we walked around and i showed kier all the places and things we did the following year there and we even stayed in the same hostel as i did last time!! not to mention we ate at the same restaurant, same table, and i got the same meal as the previous year. and it was SO. GOOD. Frankfurt and Brussels, you are sorely missed :( ^^

this trip, though last min and semi-unorganized, was once in a life time. even though i didn't pack warm enough clothes, and even though i got really sick, it was still completely worth it :)

"i'm not sure what ill do, but well- i want to go places and see people. i want my mind to grow. i want to live where things happen on a big scale."

F. Scott Fitzgerald

amsterdam part.2

so like i mentioned in my previous post, we didn't just go to amsterdam. after slowly weeding off friends (you guys totally should have stayed... it wasn't the same without you) my friend kier and i headed to brussels.

we had heard that antwerp wouldn't keep us entertained for two days. we heard of a little place for a day trip called brugge. we heard that it had good pretzels and beer. so we went. haha. and it was TOTALLY WORTH IT. man i loved that little canal locked city. that was easily one of my favorite things that we did the whole trip. sometimes you have the most fun doing the things you never planned.

the following day we went and explored antwerp. or antwerpen. what ever floats your cultural boat. anyway, i have to say that the city surprised me. after walking a few blocks out of the jewish quarter that we were staying in antwerp transformed into beautiful old buildings and modern business people bustling around the streets. that afternoon we traveled to brussels. but that is for another post.

happy fourth of july!!

i hope everyone had a safe and fun fourth of july, i know i did! i was finally able to steal away from parker and go visit some friends up in fort collins. you never realize how much you miss somewhere until you are back driving around. let. me. tell. you. oh how i miss being up at school! ... which is weird to say because, you know, you are supposed to be enjoying summer and all. fine. i will leave it with this: i was just happy to celebrate with some good friends and be back in the town i love in the country i adore <3

 ^^ fire works were late, but awesome. and totally worth it.

 ^^ my outfit of the day. i probably changed 8 times, but whatever. i have a severe lack of red, white, and blue.

 ^^ we never did come up with a better name for it than "the knife game" but I'm still down for calling it "don't get hit by the butter knife", "why are we all doing the splits?", or "knife twister"

 ^^ we went a little photo crazy waiting for the fireworks. that flash. dang. it was SO BRIGHT.

^^ HAPPY 237TH BIRTHDAY, AMERICA^^

amsterdam part.1

so way back when in may i went on a miniature europe trip. and now it has taken this long to blog about it. sheesh. well i guess the story starts back in the last week of april when i decided to use what little money i have in my bank account to go to europe, because i can't really think of anything better to spend it on then seeing the world. and so, the trip to the netherlands, belgium, and germany began.

just like my trip last year, we stayed in hostels and traveled by train. hostels are my new favorite and i don't know what i ever did before them. contrary to popular belief, they are (mostly) very safe and clean. if you can deal with picking up after yourself and putting your own sheets on your bed, you'll be fine.

for this first part of the trip my friends and i hung around amsterdam where we stayed in the heart of the redlight district. what. a. culture. shock. its still hard to imagine that they have rented rooms for the sex workers and for only 100 euros an hour they can stand in front of a floor to ceiling window selling sex for money. in amsterdam, this is a a job for women and men of all ages and it is not uncommon for people to do it to put themselves through school, support a family, or just a little extra money. fun fact. the oldest sex worker is 85 and has a two week long waiting list!! no... i didn't check that fact, a tour guide told us... haha

our days were filled with free walking tours, exploring the canals, taking lots of pictures, meeting up with friends, and meeting a lot of new friends. my favorite day was the day we rented a vespa and used those crazy bike lines amsterdam is known for, though the picnic in the park was a close second as favorite moment. most exciting moment was definitely finding a beer that i actually like. success! however, the problem is i will have to go to amsterdam to find it...

Life according to Miphone.

Do you see what I did there ;)