Brussels and Amsterdam

Since ireland we have visited Brussels in Belgium, Amsterdm in The Netherlands, and Berlin Germany - the current location.  

Brussels was full of Belgian Waffles, yummy flavored fruity beer which I loved, and many replications of the famed Manekeen Pis (a statue of a little boy peeing in a fountain) and inevitably lots and lots of belgian chocolate shops!  Brussels had a pretty good personality about their city.  They replicated the statue of this little boy peeing in nearly all of the shops we walked into.  You could  even buy chocolates in the shape of this chubby little guy.  And if you were willing to play a little hide and seek for the afternoon you could look for Jeanneke Pis, perhaps his sister? This was a less famed fountain of a little girl peeing.  She represented loyalty for a loved one... Because most people clearly associate  peeing in public with unconditional devotion and love.? ;). If you eat a Belgian waffle here, have it plain without all the whipped cream, chocolate and fruit.  It is much better off on it's own!  We wandered the city for 2 days and found a cool outdoor bar where we lounged at and tried some framboise rasperry beer.  I miss the fruity beer already!

Amsterdam, oh amsterdam!  We actually flew into Brussels from Dublin as a means of geting into Amsterdam for "Queens Day" on April 30th... One of the largest street parties this side of the Mississippi ;)  Rules for Queens day: Dress in Holland's national color, orange, and debaucherize the city streets to celebrate the Queen...Seemed easy enough!  We were able to meet up with a few friends I studied abroad with, Steinar (Michael's patner in crime for the weekend) from Norway, and Judith from Germany.  This would without a doubt be a fabulous weekend!   Queens day arrived and we were awaken by eagre party goers already painting the streets orange -Wakie wakie!  Our goal for the day was for mikey to meet a girl who would be partying on a boat in the canal, so that we could party on a boat in the canal.  Mikey was our most eligable bachelor and this would be a group effort.  We met Americans from Colorado instead, but they were cool so we spent the day with them - WALkING along side the canal ;)  We met some Londoners there for a stag party (bachelor party) we stayed with them for a while as they embarassed the groom to be and entertained us.  The rest of the day was spent wandering the red light district canals, meeting interesting people, dancing to music, mikey attempting to jump into boats passing by along the canal, and street food - lots of it.  This day could only be described as "Fun", with a capital "F"!   We napped then found a bar that played a mix of hip hop, house, and rock and roll - the surprises kept on coming.  I went to the bar and asked for a water - it was time. The bartender looked at me like I was crazy, said "this is much better" and poured me a beer.  He did not charge me for this :)  By the end of the night we had formed a circle consistent of sweedish, switzerland, german, norwegian, and american descent.  We jumped, danced, sang - all accents combined must have been so harmonizing to hear ;)   Mikey and I bought an American football in Ireland and because it was orange we chose to bring this football to the bar that night.  Our walk home consisted of interceptions and touchdown passes to passers by.  Because the shape of a football is foreign to most Europeans these throws were not quite as accurate as they should have been and a taxi cab windshield as well as a man's head had to fall victim to this relaity.  This football was entertainment.  

One thing about Amsterdam, i have heard from numerous people - watch out for the bicyclists!!!  This is a true story.  We witnessed a pedestrian get hit square on by a bicyclist.  This was tragic.  They fell, hard, ouch!   Despite the fact that the bicycle has its own bike lane, it is still difficult for the innocent tourist to avoid the cars as well as worry about the bikes.   Food wise we tried french fries and mayonnaise, Holland is known for this and they are supposed to have the best fries ever.  They were pretty good :) Coffee shops here, as most people know, do not focus primarily on brewing coffee.   The red light district, where we stayed has coffee shops everywwhere as well as the "girls in the window" ..... It's a bit awkward seeing people walk out from there and carry on down the street like nobody saw them.  

After winding down from the party filled weekend we visited the Van Gough museum which had works from Van Gough of course, Picasso and a few others.  I really enjoyed this museum and being face to face with some of Van Gough's less well known works.  It's inspiring that he started his career as an artist later in life and with no formal teaching.  And in just 10 years created all the works he did.  We also went to the Stedelijk Museum and later took a boat ride on the canal.  We walked by the Rembrandt House were he had his studio for years and years, and wandered that general area with the markets, canals and cafe's.  That night we met up with Steinar's sister who happened to be in Amsterdam that weekend as well.

So after Amsterdam's tulips, Heineken, the red light district, the bikes, Queens Day celebration, coffee shops and canals I'd have to say that we had a great time there!

Berlin was the next stop.  At this point in our trip we have no plan until early June.  So we contemplated going from Berlin, down through Frankfurt through the "Romantic Road" and on to Munich, but we decided unsted to head to Prague after this and if we can make it to Southern Germany we will go after Switzerland.  More upates on Berlin to come!!!