Amsterdam

After seven long hours of train delays & running around stations, we arrived in Amsterdam a bit frazzled. It was dark & pouring down rain. We had less than 30 minutes to arrive at our b&b & we were lost. We asked people, but street names don't really exist in Amsterdam (only canals). We finally agreed to get a taxi. After unsuccesly trying to enter with my pack & umberella, I got in & showed him the address. He said oh & Threw the cab in reverse (!!), and stopped 1/2 block down. He got out & said to get out. Then he said we were standing on the right street, just to go down further. It was less than a block. So then we checked into the cutest suite with Europe's largest hotel bathroom. So needless to say, we weren't enjoying our first night.

However, it got soo much better!! Here's a short run-down of our crazy two days/nights here.

During the days we walked around the entire central ring of the city & saw all of famous canal bridges, statues, squares, & buildings. It truly is a beautiul place and the canals make it even more gorgeous. We visited the Anne Frank house (my dream come true), the Dutch Resistance Museum, the Shipyard (the maritime museum was closed for rennovation), & the Hermitage. No, of course we didn't jet into Russia. There is a one of a kind satelitte museum in Amsterdam. They allow two exhibits out of Russia for 6 months. We saw two exhibits on the royal families. Oh the dresses, jewels, & army hats!!!

Amsterdam is known for the nightlife. Imagine a town that is New York mixed with Carrboro & a side of New Orleans. Fun! The first night I signed us up for a tour of the Red light district. I was scared to go alone. We were the only two there, so no tour, but the awesome lady asked us if she could buy us a drink. We said sure & she took us to the gay part of the district. We had a mini-bar hop. Crazy times, which included the most beautiful bar room where you could touch the water & me holding a dog for someone in the middle of a disco dancefloor.

We ended at a bar where in WW2 the German officers came to drink. Also, the owner was a famed Dutch resistance worker. The next night we got to go on the tour for free! It was great because it combined history with fun facts. Who knew there was so much history in that district? For fun modern pop culture fans, we saw where pulp fiction was written & where Janet bought the famed superbowl dress.

Anyways, I loved Amsterdam. I wish we were staying longer but we are already on the Thalys to France.

--Lauren

End of Germany

Since our last post, the trip has become a bit more adventurous. You know the scene in Home Alone where they are running down the airport hallway to catch their plane? We look like that catching trains lately. We haven't really missed one yet, but there have been many close calls. Luckily, we made out of Munich, in & out of Rothenburg, & just ran onto the train to Amsterdam.

Our last 1.5 days in Munich were good. Sunday night we went to an Aussie bar & got to watch the NFL! And met some rowdy brits. The next day we went to the BMW complex, got trapped in the Olympic park, & went to the city's largest park-the English gardens.

The next day we had our adventurous train trip to the Medival town of Rothenburg. The town was primarily built in the 1300s.

We saw the town & went on the famed Nightwatchman's tour. We even went to hell-which is a bar opened in the 1500s! This town was beautiful & full of charm. We also visited the Christmas shops, which our moms would have happily spent days in.

We are on to Amsterdam! This is the town I (lvc) have been looking forward to the most!



-- Posted from Lauren

Munich day 1/2

We arrived! We saw the sunrise in Frankfurt (while we ate McDonald's-we now know the feeling of seeing McDonald's in foreign land!) & the sunset in Munich.

We conquered the jet lag- sort of. Munich is a beautiful, peaceful town. The people are a bit disengaged but in a polite way & they are kind enough to speak whatever English they know. The town is laid out sort of oddly, so we get somewhat turned around. We have seen all the major sights now. The buildings are exquisite & the town is also pretty.

Today we went to Octoberfest. Marty was dead on when he said it was the state fair on steriods. Like the illegal ones Arnold took in the 70s. Even though we did not have a ticket to drink in the tents, we still had fun. Afterwards we went to Munich's famous pub/beer garden. It was great too!

We have one more day to go in Munich. And then on to Rothenburg.

-- Posted by Lauren

Kick Off!

I think it is standard blog practice to write an entry before you leave, so here goes…
Tomorrow we are leaving for Europe. I have waited a long time for this trip and spent the last couple months planning this trip. I took the initiative to plan this trip myself, rather than use a typical tour group. Most of my friends have traveled around Europe this way, but I am worried about my lack of international experience and the millions of things that could go wrong. However, I have found my new favorite thing by planning this trip myself. The thing is actually a person and he is Rick Steves. A few friends have called this planning process “stalking Rick,” but I say I just really enjoy reading about his travels. If you do not know the name Rick Steves, then you are truly missing out. He is the best travel writer and he writes guidebooks for Europe. I plan to own his whole collection by 30, which means I will have conquered Europe and can check one more thing off my Life to-do list. I am sure no one is shocked I have a Life-to-do list. I would call it a bucket list, but I am too young for that.

Before we leave, we did want to give a little shout-out to few special occasions we will miss while we are away: Happy first anniversary to the Elkins, Happy pre-one-year wedding date to the future Bowmans, & Happy Birthday to Colleen! Also, thank you to Amber & Marty for answering my endless questions while I was planning this trip. And last but not least, Moms please don’t worry too much while we are away.
For the next two weeks we plan to update “Away from my Desk” as much as possible. We have never blogged, mostly because we consider it one of those TMI things, but our friends think it will be entertaining. We hope you enjoy our European travel blog and we will return on October 17th!

Here’s our itinerary:
Germany: Munich- 3 days (Oktoberfest!), Rothenberg ob Tauber -1 day
Amsterdam- 3 days
France: Normandy- 2 days, Versailles -1 day, Paris - 4 days


--Lauren