The Netherlands!

I went to Amsterdam! Exciting, right? I also went to Utrecht, so that added more excitement, and then to top it off I was traveling with Sam and Nicole. So I was really happy to go and I had a great time. The people were all really friendly and easygoing, and the country was so beautiful!

We walked around most of the city center in Amsterdam, went to the market, tried some great food, and enjoyed the waterways. In Utrecht we visited the Dom Tower and Kasteel de Haar, both of which are the biggest in the country. All in all it was a fantastic few days, and I'm sorry I couldn't visit more places and stay longer. But here are some of the awesome things we did see (and eat)...

I don't know how I missed the memo, but there are a ton of beautiful canals to see!

I was expecting the tulips though.

We visited the Anne Frank house and museum. No photos inside, so this is it!

The Rijksmuseum.

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There's more than one of these signs! It makes so much sense for them to do that, but again I didn't realize it. Sam has some pictures of us standing next to it, so I might have to add that later.

Fresh stroopwafel from the market. It's kind of like a soft waffle cookie with a caramel syrup center. Very yummy. (For those of you who don't know her, this is Sam.)

And then we had some fries, which were also fantastic.

The Heineken Experience. It was really well done and if you were actually a big fan and did all the stuff they had you could spend the whole afternoon there.

Pretty sure the menu said this was a classic favorite. Now we know why.

And then a chocolate/nut covered banana to top off the day. Turns out I have pictures of pretty much everything we ate haha.

Not the best windmill photo you could take, but at least I got one!

The tower we climbed. 465 steps to the top and well worth the effort for the amazing view!

In the belfry. I can't believe how big and heavy these bells are!

The tower was supposed to be attached to this church, but there was a huge storm that destroyed the center part (which they cheaped out on during the building process because they were low on funds).

More from inside the tower.

And from the top.

Me and Nicole

Then we went to Kasteel de Haar, but this is the road we had to walk on to get there. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the time in the countryside.

Here's the castle! It's the biggest one in the Netherlands.

Complete with a moat, of course.

 

And me :)

So that was my little trip! I would love to go back and see more. Who knows, maybe someday I will. For now though, I have other things to look forward to. Mitch gets here tomorrow and he's staying for a whole week! I'm definitely really excited about that, in case you couldn't already guess.

That's all for now. Take care everyone!

More Tales to Tell... (which makes it sound like I'm lying, but I'm not so don't worry)

I've been in Paris for about 3 months already, and in another month and a half I'll be on the plane back to Canada. It's so crazy! But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Here's a bit of what I've been enjoying lately.

Parc Monceau is about a 5 minute walk from my residence but I've just recently started going there. How silly of me, because this is what I've been missing out on

There's even a waterfall!

Then there was the Modern Art Museum, which is called Centre Pompidou. The building itself is worth going to check out and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the exhibits too. 

The outside of the building

The escalators are in tubes that go along the outside of the building, so you get to see the city while you're going up.

And here's the type of view you get!

Some of the art. I don't really understand what makes the pages from magazines art, but it looked cool on the wall so I took a photo.

Reminded me of the art Gramma and Heidi did.

A definite highlight of my trip (and a great way to start off Easter vacation) was visiting Bois de Vincennes. There was a carnival/fair right at the beginning, but besides that it was like instantly stepping into the countryside. Which is pretty impressive for a park easily accessible by public transport. 

I felt so relaxed and like there was actually space around me again. Definitely a rare feeling living in Paris.

Seems like a great way to spend an afternoon to me!

Tiff showed us this sweet cave

there was so much greenery! I loved it!

This is part of Chateau de Vincennes. Basically a castle right outside of Paris, no big deal.

Complete with a moat (sadly, no longer filled with water and alligators).

I feel like this was supposed to be the main entrance, even though it's the door we left by. Either way, it's still pretty impressive.

And more recently, I went to see some more impressionist paintings at Musee d'Orsay. Turns out I am a big fan of Claude Monet and I didn't even know it! You're not allowed to take photos inside and there were a ton of security people making sure nobody was breaking the rules, so I mostly have pictures of the outside of the building. It's basically across the river from the Louvre and in a smaller building. 

Here's what the museum looked like

The main open part of the building. This is where a security guard saw me sneaking a photo but then got distracted by the two older women trying to figure out how to turn their camera on. What luck!

It's pretty cool to be able to look out of a clock.

And this is where I was.

So that's the update on my adventures so far. I also got to hang out with Sam and Nicole (Mitchell's cousin and her friend) for a couple days and show them around the city. Sam's got all the photos on her camera, so I'll wrote more about that when she posts them. On Tuesday I'm going to meet them in Amsterdam for some more sightseeing, which I am really looking forward to. 

Happy Easter everyone :)