i'm back! france, amsterdam, and everything in between!

sorry for the long delay everyone. I've been very busy and very lazy, but now i'm back and I have a lot to update on.

First, my trip to Alsace, France! basically, it was amazing. we stayed at Zach's family's beautiful farmhouse in a very small town called Oberlauderbach. the first day we went to a lake and laid out for the first time since being over here, and it was great. very relaxing. the next day we took a train into Strasbourg, Germany and walked around for a while. The cathedral there is amazing and we rode the cute little carousel in the square. the boys were making fun of us so we decided to embarrass them and yell their names and wave while we were on it. they loved it. and we were definitely the oldest people on the carousel. haha anyway, strasbourg is beautiful and it was luckily a very nice day. the canals are gorgeous and the lock system is very interesting, so watching the locks was also a neat part of being there. the water builds up behind the lock and then when a boat approaches, the lock opens and forms a path for the boat. very cool. then we took the train back and were treated to a delicious French-German specialty called Flammekuchen. its a type of pizza with no sauce that you pour vodka on and light it on fire to make it crisp. it was so cool to watch the blue flames and then eat it.. it was delicious!

on our last day, we headed in the direction of the airport at Baden Baden, Germany and went to the baths in the city. We decided to go to the regular (not nude) one and we had a great time. it was all very modern, kind of like in indoor public pool. they had a eucalyptus steam room that was really relaxing and heat lamps above some of the chairs to make sure you didnt get too cold. there was also a hot tub with a pounding waterfall that felt like a massage. overall it was a great way to end the trip and we headed to the airport straight after. i loved it.

anyway, since then it has been a lot of work and travel. the next weekend we went to oxford to tour the university and the city. the best part of that trip was going to Christ Church College and seeing the Great Hall, used in the first two Harry Potter movies as the Great Hall of Hogwarts. it was soooooo cool. other than that it was a very nice town but everyone walked really slow. and they have a famous bookshop called Blackwell that has 3 miles of underground bookshelves for their massive collection. it was really neat, and I bought the 7th harry potter book to have as a keepsake but mainly to re-read, because seeing the Great Hall led to several deep and heated harry potter discussions. yes i have accepted the fact that i am a nerd, its fine.

three days later, on wednesday, abe got here. it was really good to see him, but since he was coming with us to amsterdam we only had 1 day to sightsee before he left. after he got there we went to the tower of london, which was absolutely breathtaking. there are two big exhibits there: the crown jewels and the armory of Henry VIII. the crown jewels, to say the least, were overwhelming. you literally couldn't put a price on these diamonds. they are the size of my fist. they even have a golden coronation spoon. a SPOON. for CORONATION. first of all, how often does someone get coronated? like, once every 30 years. second, of what purpose is a spoon during that sort of ceremony? yet its still a priceless item. what??? basically the jewels were ridiculous but really cool. after that, we were off to amsterdam!

we left friday morning at about 2:30 am to get on a plane and arrived in amsterdam at about 9 am. it is such a cool city. the first thing we did was go the Anne Frank House, which was amazing to say the least. it was so sad but so surreal to be in the same rooms where the families had hidden. it was extremely powerful and put together really well. there was no furniture, but one of the coolest parts was that anne's pictures of celebrities and magazine cut-outs were still on the wall, they had just put glass over them to preserve them. i kept staring at them in disbelief, knowing that she had put them there with her own hands. it was just crazy. i'm so glad we got to go. then we went to a dutch pancake house where i had the most delicious pancake/crepe ive ever had. it was caramel and almond and it was to die for. fortunately, that was our only taste of dutch pancakes because i refused to let myself eat anymore for fear of becoming obese. that night for dinner we ate at an Indonesian restaurant, and it was some of the most delicious food i ever had. i feel like i keep writing the word delicious, but its so true!

the next day, i met up with our cousin Judi! it was very nice to meet her and so interesting to hear her life story. we ate at a really cute cafe in a non-touristy part of town. i had a delicious sandwich called the croque madame, which is also very popular in france. another good meal. basically all the food in amsterdam is great. Judi and I walked around for a while just chatting and then met up with my friends. after she left, we planned on going to the sex museum (supposedly a must-see) but didn't make it there as our friends needed to catch a train to Rotterdam to meet up with Zach's cousin who studies at the conservatory there with a specialization in latin percussion. very interesting, as he was the son of the family we met in Alsace, and his dad is a harpist. they had an entire music room there. but anyway, back to amsterdam. from there, abe and i walked around for a while and decided to do a canal cruise. the canal system of amsterdam is even more amazing than that of strasbourg. it was so beautiful and all of the buildings are so classic, tall, and narrow. judi told me that they originally had to pay for the amount of land they used, so everyone tried to make their homes as tall and narrow as possible.

the canal cruise was a great experience, though. we travelled into the huge area right outside the tiny canals that basically feels like the ocean. it was so cool. i'm really glad we did it because we got to see a lot more of amsterdam than a normal walking person would. that night, we went to an argentinian steakhouse. for some reason, argentinian food is huge in amsterdam and there are so many restaurants so we just had to go to one. again, it was great. its easy to see that a lot of our focus in amsterdam was food, haha. that night we decided to have a look through the red light district. it was.... interesting. i saw a lot of women that i didn't want to look at, but its so hard to look away! its like window shopping. i cant even explain it.. but the area was very bustling so we just got a little ice cream and called it a night. a unique experience to say the least.

the next day we decided to really get down to business. we really wanted to go to the Van Gogh museum, so we made our way in that direction. The Museumplein is a decent walk from our hotel so it took us about a half hour. when we saw the famous "i amsterdam" sign, we knew we were in the right place. then it started POURING. luckily, i had my umbrella, but abe didnt. so one of us was always getting soaked. but we stood under a tree with a bunch of people and were relatively safe from the downpour. it was so interesting, because across the field, you could see 1 person standing under every tree. it was so un-American. Americans would just run away, limbs flailing, like they were going to die if they had to stay outside in the disgusting rain. it was nice to see the Amsterdammers taking it so well and just chillin.

after that, we ran, limbs flailing like stupid americans, to the van gogh museum. it was really nice and really educational, but of the three floors, only 1 had works by van gogh. the next 2 were dedicated to 2 artists i had never heard of. it was kind of disappointing. but i did get to see "sunflowers" which is one of my favorite paintings. luckily, the heineken brewery is only a 5-minute walk away. and the rain had stopped which was good. i'd have to say that the anne frank house and heineken brewery were definitely my two favorite parts of amsterdam.

the brewery itself is in an old-fashioned building, but as soon as you walk in you're in the middle of a silver and green "wonderful world of heineken". we learned about the ingredients (water, barley, hops, and yeast type A) and how its made. the most interesting part was seeing the beer being made before it turns alcoholic. the mix of barley and water was available to sample, so we drank some. and it was DELICIOUS! and healthy! and warm! supposedly it was full of natural barley sugar and protein. i couldnt stop drinking it. who knew that beer is healthy and tasty before its turned into real beer?

after that, we got to go on a 3D ride called "be the beer." it was kind of cheesy but really interesting. they even splashed you with "beer". and then we finally got to taste some! they even taught you how to drink it. you have to let it warm up in your mouth for a few seconds before you swallow it so you can get the full flavor. very interesting. at the end there was, of course, a gift shop. but you also got 2 vouchers for 2 more free pints of heineken at the bar. so overall it was a really good deal and very educational! one of my favorite rooms was the Ad Campaign room, with all their adverts from throughout the years. it was really cool and colorful.

from there, it was about time to catch a train home. we took the tram back to our hotel to collect our things and hopped on a train to schiphol. to say the least, i was exhausted. but we got a lot done in a short time and saw some really cool things. the only bad part was that our flight was delayed an hour, so we got home around 1 am. but nothing other than that to complain about. amsterdam is a beautiful city with so much to do, and i would definitely go back.

well, i hope that was a good enough update. i feel like i've been writing forever! apologies again for taking so long to write on this, but I hope its been sufficient. love you all, and cheers!