Hello all!!
Dani here, back safe and sound from Holland. Lydia and I had a fabulous weekend vacation with my good friends Jessie and Jacob -- we are now looking forward more than EVER to our backpacking trip coming up at the end of this week!!
Let's recap this weekend in the life of Dani, shall we?
Thursday evening, April 2nd
We began our trip as any fancy people would: with a reservation at the five-star resort called The Floor, conveniently located in the Charles de Gaulle airport.
An open and airy room with lots of natural light and modern, industrial touches, the spiders came free and the tile offered only a mildly glacial sensation. What a deal.
 |
| At least we can laugh. |
Friday, April 3rd
After a restful night of a solid three hours of sleep, we were up at 6:15 to catch our flight to Amsterdam and landed at about 9:45 am. We immediately dropped off our backpacks at the AirBnB in Haarlem and headed back into central Amsterdam, where we...
1. rode bikes.
2. ate cheese along a Jordaan canal.
3. pointed and laughed at the people waiting in line for the Anne Frank House (don't worry, I was one of them a month ago).
4. Found magic clogs that fit both of us perfectly!
5. stopped for a much needed latte and apple pie in the Quartier Putain coffee shop off of the Red Light District, thoroughly confusing the barista with our charming insanity (note: do yourself a favor and choose something other than the chai).
6. toured a used English book store owned by an American ex-patriot, with whom we denounced today's youth, tourism, and advanced technology like old people (damn you, Facebook!).
7. went to a free folk indie concert in the Red Light District, courtesy of the Puppeteers. Watch them here!!
We had a lovely day exploring the city... But you can't escape Amsterdam without something totally bizarre happening. It's just impossible. Our bizarrerie happened later that evening.
We were enjoying two Leffe beers at the Temple Bar, east of the Red Light District, when a herd of fifteen 25-30 year old Englishmen came trampling in and essentially absorbed us in the middle of their group like a thirsty ameba. Clearly tipsy and tired of marital responsibility, these guys were out on the town for a friend's bachelor's party. From this group of individuals, we learned four primary things: one, that getting drunk and partying are the most crucial activities in the world; two, that women are stupidly difficult creatures to get in bed with; three, that Lydia and I are far friendlier than most English girls ("an English girl would just tell us to fuck off and be done with it!") and finally, that the United States is utterly the best place on Earth (or, at least, THEIR version of the US is, which consists wholy of Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York).
....Well, at least we got a free beer out of it.
After an incredibly hilariously awkward two hours of loud and heated conversation with our new friends, paired with the overbearing attention of a 70-year old who tried to make out with Lydia and the fact that we were the only women in the entire bar, we decided it was a good time to take our leave around 1:30 in the morning. Back to Haarlem we went, to rest up before a day at the Keukenhof bulb gardens with Jessie and Jacob!
Saturday, April 4th
This weekend I had the chance to catch up with this lovely couple for the first time in at least nine months. Currently studying in Scotland, Jessie and Jacob will be headed back home to the States mid-June. We were so lucky to be able to meet up with them in Holland, and we shared many many many laughs!!
 |
| GAWWWWWWWW. |
In the morning, we headed to the Haarlem market in city center to buy a picnic lunch for our day in the gardens. We bought clementines, apples, three different kinds of cheese, and a variety of fabulous bread loafs. We then swung by the copy center, in order to print off our bus and entrance tickets for the Keukenhof.
I suppose, however, that this specific copy center was made for giants, because our tickets came out looking like this:
 |
| You said we had to print them, so HERE THEY ARE GOSH DARNIT. |
Needless to say, the bus and garden personnel had some good chuckles when they asked us for our tickets, which I clearly struggled to even pull out of my purse. I think we may have broken some world record for "Most enormous tickets to any event ever" or something.
The next three and a half hours, we toured the gardens. We were a bit disappointed that many of the tulips, including the famous nearby fields, were not in bloom -- however, we still had a fabulous time looking at the early bloomers and partaking in the hedge maze, visiting the goats and pigs in the petting zoo, climbing a windmill, eating waffles, and other genres of tom-foolery.
As it was cold and we were all exhausted, we decided to head back to the AirBnB in Haarlem for the evening, which turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the trip. Eating vegetable stir fry and playing hours of Hearts, I cannot remember the last time I laughed so hard for so long (Unsurprisingly, I was, once again, the loser. Or the winner at being the absolute worst. Perspective, you know).
Saying good bye until June, we went to bed around 11:30 pm in order to get up at 4 am for our 6:45 flight to Paris. We arrived safely in Rennes at about 1:00....
....and I immediately took a three and a half hour nap. If you're gonna play, play hard y'all.
Thank you for such a fun weekend, Jessie and Jacob. Good luck with your final papers, and for the LOVE OF ME, please stop being so darn cute!! *Oh my freaking gosh!!*
Five days until Switzerland = five days until I see my wonderful and beautiful and fun aunt Colleen in Geneva!!!!! :) In the meantime, Lydia and I have our end-of-the-year choir concert Tuesday. Wish us luck, and happy Easter to all my friends and family members. I miss you.
À tout à l'heure with the next travel post,
Love and hugs,
D
What a good time had by all! I am so glad Jessie and Jacob were able to meet up with you and Lydia. I can tell by your faces you laughed a lot. I think your faces are hurting from laughing and smiling so much! Loved the pics. I told you your feet were bigger than mine! And those big tickets--hilarious! They would be just right the right size in Uncle Billy's hands-hee hee.
ReplyDeleteToo bad about the tulips. I know how excited you were to see them. But, the flowers that were in bloom were so pretty. We here in CO are in brown still. Snow maybe this week. Your dad and I have been walking around the lakes on the warmer days. The mountains are snow capped and the clouds reflect in the water. Nothing like your pictures but so pretty to me. The ducks and geese come and go. Quacking and pooping. We have an Osprey nest on a tall pole. I think they went where it is green and warmer because we have not seen them in awhile.
Your Aunt Nee Nee is so excited to see you. I am very jealous. Your dad wanted to come so much with Chris and travel with you but it just did not work out. He so loves you and no matter how old you get, you will always be his special and cherished Dani Girl. For us, the time you have been away feels like forever. That is a good thing. It means we love and like you! It is hard to believe we are empty nesters. Seems just like yesterday I was holding you all in my arms reading stories. Some of the happiest times of my life. Now, your dad and I will begin our new chapter as well as all of our treasures. All 4 of you are doing so well. I do believe we successfully gave you all a good start and want you all to have the best lives ever. We must make a real commitment to get together every year. Looks like we may be in different places but our love is constant.
You said you ate a lot of cheese. I can not get enough whipped creme with fruit and nuts.
All is well here. Everyone sends their love and always want to know what adventure you are on. I domtell them you really do go to college but they are giving me funny looks. I like the way the French live life slower as you have described. Relationships are so important. Enjoying nature. Eating little and laughing much! The cobblestone streets and fresh markets sound wonderful. Your dad would be in dessert heaven!
Well, off to sleep. I am again so glad you had time with good friends. And next is your dear Nee Nee. She is very excited to see you too. Take some pictures for me. It will warm my heart.
Love you my little adventurer,
Mom��
Man, this is the third time I've tried to comment. I sure hope you don't get all three. :) My main jist in them all was that I love the blog. Thanks for the laughs. Love ya and miss you tons! Can't wait to have you back.
ReplyDelete