Amsterdam

Amsterdam was more fun than Matt and I had expected. First off the prices were way lower than Paris (YAY) and second off the “Clever Dutch” were friendly happy people who were glad to openly speak English.

Anecdote:
Matt and I had dinner with a GSB’s brother in Amsterdam on evening. As we are walking out of the restaurant and Matt is paying, I grab a large individually wrapped mint. I open it and ask the cashier, “This isn’t a roofie (date rape drug) is it?” Without missing a beat the cashier replies, “Yes, it will come into affect in 3 hours when you are far away from here so we don’t have to deal with you. We put the Queen’s face on it so you know it came from the clever Dutch.” The mint did have the Queens face printed on the mint, but no side effects (except for good breath) came about. Best Hollander ever.



The first day we got there Matt and I relaxed in our new apartment with our hosts. We rented a bedroom from a two-bedroom apartment, and shared it with a nice married couple.

After a little R&R, Matt and I were off to explore the city. Our gracious hosts loaned us bikes, so we could explore Amsterdam the way it was intended.

On Friday night, Matt was sick of just talking to me (jk) so we decided to sign up for a Red Light District Pub Crawl. We participated in a pub crawl in Queesntown, NZ but the participants were underage Americans - so it was a tad lame. This Pub Crawl was a tad more exciting. We met people from all over the world, and partied hardy - pics on FB.


Our first tourist site was the Van Gogh museum. The building was small, but the collection was divine. They allowed you to get right up next to the pictures to where you could see each brush stroke. They did not, however, allow you to take pictures of any paintings.

We visited the Anne Frank House as well.

After the museum, we happened upon an interesting sign advertising Amsterdam’s new slogan.

We went to the tourist town that had windmills, wooden shoe factory and a cheese farm. We were able to walk around and sample the dairy - plus Matt and I were able to try on cool shoes too.

Amsterdam was an inexpensive fun place with great canals and great people! We didnt see any tulips, but maybe next time :)

Paris Part Two

Matt and I enjoyed every street in this city. Locals are friendly, and the transportation is designed well. The second day we were in Paris, Matt and I bought Metro tickets and took a 45-minute train ride out to the Versailles. The Versailles is a palace that many kings of France lived in. The grounds all around the palace are filled with water fountains and beautifully groomed plants. The palace itself was a haven for gold. Everything was over the top for the royalty (no wonder they started a Revolution).

The third day, after spending an entire day outside at Versailles, Matt and I agreed it was time to check out the Louvre. We spent a little extra and received the best audio guide ever! It had a touch screen, pictures of what you should be seeing and three different tours ready to walk you around the entire museum. It definitely enhanced our tour. We strolled around the Louvre and checked the history.



And many many more treasures…

We had a great time then headed home for the night.

On our last day in Paris we went to the Eiffel Tower. We waited in a line for about 45 minutes, but I didn’t care. The line curved under the tower and around the legs. You were able to stare at the underbelly of this creation before you climb to the top.

We didn’t know it, but Matt and I got in the one entrance line that led you to the stairs and no elevator. So we sweated a little to get to the first floor (13 mini-flights of stairs), then we climbed and heaved to get to the second floor (1,000 flights of stairs)…but we made it! The second floor view is equal to the Vegas Effiel Tower.

We were “allowed” to take the eleveator to the very top, and this we were thankful. The view was incredible and breath-taking.

We finished the night off at Moulin Rouge, where no pictures are allowed to be taken – ever.

All in all Paris was a delight! Next stop Amsterdam

I Love Paris! Day 1

When I was in 3rd grade, I had a Social Studies project where I could pick any one famous thing and build a model and write a paper on it. I chose the Eiffel Tower. My mom helped with the paper, and mom and dad helped me with the tower. We used popsicle sticks and it took us a whole week. We bought craft wood glue, and my hand got tired from holding the hair dryer for so long trying to make it dry. The last step was to spray paint and draw a thermometer for the top. It was our best creation ever :)

Now I am 26 years old and am finally able to see the real thing. Dreams really do come true!

We began our Parisian tour at our beautiful borrowed apartment in North Paris. We can see the tippy top of the Tower from our window!

Our sweet host for the week greeted us with coffee, chocolate crossants, and a bottle of red wine. This is the life!

We put down our stuff and were off to conquer Paris. First stop, the Arc de Triomphe!

It was beautiful, and right in the middle of the famous street, Champs Elysees.

After strolling around, we received an email from our host, inviting us to a flat party at her friend's. Now I don't know how many of you have seen the great film Breakfast At Tiffany's (if you haven't go rent it ASAP), but there is a party scene where they shove about 50 people into a tiny apartment where everyone is smoking and drinking and just being posh. Take that scene and subtract the size of the apartment and people, and that's what it was like. The host was even in a little black dress! She had cheese, baguettes and wine galore - plus a killer view of Paris.

We hung out as long as we could, between the cigarette smoke and jetlag we were spent, and then headed back and called it a night.

China Tour

China was a blast and a blur. Matt and I enjoyed a relaxing and fun filled 5 weeks, but are happy to enjoy the non-blocked internet elsewhere. We will not spend 40 pages telling you every detail, but we wanted to post a fun list of things we acknowledge and learned from the wonderful country.

*This list is not to offend or piss off anyone from China, related to someone from or in China or anyone who loves Kung-fu movies.*

1. After 5 Cocktail dresses are appropriate anytime anywhere...

2. Along with #1, heals are expected to be worn by all women, with any outfit, day or night. *Exception only being Chucks*

3. Smoking is allowed everywhere.

4. Spitting is allowed everywhere. On a bus, in a memorial museum, visiting a temple? Spit away!

5. "If you ain't first, you're last" The entire population of China is in a hurry to be first for everything. Trains, planes and operas with assigned seats are no exception. People will run and push over small children to be first. If you don't join in, then you will be last. I will take this time to apologize to lil Zhou for the subway incident, but I wanted to be first… and another tooth will grow in its place.

6. No one is fighting, they are just on their cell. People in China enjoy cell phones like any other country up to date with technology. Unlike other countries, the language of Mandarin and Cantonese sound like people are fighting, even if speaking at a normal tone. Add the insecurity of the other person possibly missing a word of what you said, and you have people screaming "angry" sounding words everywhere - restaurants and buses included.

7. Look both ways - and then look again. As many of you know I have learned this lesson already in the streets of San Diego. What you may not know is that bicycles and Vespas are just as dangerous, if not more, than cabs in China. No matter what color a light is, look 12 times then run!

8. Shopping Rocks! Everything is cheap and made to look like it's not. Enough said :)

9. You are the main attraction. Be it Lama Temple or the biggest amusement park in China, nothing is more interesting than the white person near by. Hope your hair looks good, because they want a picture with you - holding a peace sign.

10. "Hello" - you will hear this one word more times then you can count. People see whitey and think about it while you walk by, then shout it back to you when it comes to them, "HELLO!" Feel free to say it back, or say "Hello" back in Mandarin to really mess with them.

Pictures from this incredible journey are now up on Facebook… Enjoy!