The End

Yesterday was our last day in Amsterdam as well as our last day in Europe. Amsterdam practically has more bikes on the road than cars, so of course we rented bikes first thing in the morning. Biking in Amsterdam is not for the faint of heart. Everyone whizzes around, there are a whole new set of bike-traffic signs and road lines, and I think my life flashed before my eyes at least ten times. Since it was still early, we made our way to the famous Iamsterdam sign so we could take some pictures before all of the crazy tourists showed up.

We then biked to the Vondelpark right next to our hostel and monkeyed around a bit: 

After that we decided to lock up the bikes for awhile and walk around. We went and got a giant Dutch pancake with bananas and Nutella. At least it's fruit, right? 

We had made online reservations for the Anne Frank House so we headed there after consuming this monstrosity. I went to the Anne Frank house last time I was in Amsterdam, but this time I re-read her diary right before which made it even more fascinating.

The house is empty of all furniture because it was all taken out when they were arrested. However, the original bookcase that hid the entrance to the annex is still there and it is so cool to see. Also, there are things like pencil marks on the wall from the Franks measuring the girls' height over time, and the original photos Anne had pasted on the wall of her favorite movie stars and such. It is very sad but so cool that Anne documented her experiences and the diary miraculously survived. She even wrote that she hopes to be a famous writer one day. Pretty crazy.

Next we walked around a bit more and boldly headed back to our bikes. 

We headed away from the city center which made for a much more less crowded and pleasant ride. 

We found a little patch of absolutely beautiful tulips: 

~no filter~

Then we found a botanical garden! There was a butterfly greenhouse and another greenhouse where we got to go on a walkway above everything.

The flowers in Europe are just insane: 

We saw some carvnivores too: 

*nom nom nom*

After this we headed back to the hostel and happily returned the bikes. I'm just so glad we made it home in one piece!! 

Now we are headed back to the good ole USA!! I can't wait for my own bed, my friends and family, and finally some vegetables! 

Having a Gouda time

Today we arrived in Amsterdam, Netherlands! I've been here before when I studied abroad but I was so excited to come back. It's totally unlike any place we have been so far. All of the buildings are so Dutch and adorable and the canals make it extra unique. 

SO many bikes.

Our hostel is in a perfect location and is literally right next to Vondelpark, the biggest park in Amsterdam. Once we got here we walked around a bit and decided to go to the Tulip Museum! 

It wasn't the wildest museum I've ever been to, but we learned that in the 1600s people were so crazy over tulips that the price of one bulb was equal to a town house in Amsterdam!! They're very pretty, but that's insane! 

"Sugar coated tulip"

When we left the museum Julie looked next door and saw the glowing yellow words, "Amsterdam Cheese Museum." Of course we ran straight there.

This was a cheese shop that had like 30 different cheeses and you could sample all of them! Downstairs they had a little info area and I learned a little bit about how cheese is made (I honestly had no clue.)

it was pretty cool and they had this awesome photo booth: 

Hallo cheese!!

I'm super excited for tomorrow, we are going to rent bikes. Woohoo!!! 

Das Boot

This This morning we actually let ourselves sleep in for once. We got up around 9:15 (I sound just like my parents.) We headed out and immediately got Belgian waffles topped with strawberries, bananas, and whipped cream for breakfast. I would absolutely leggo my eggo for these any day. 

After that we headed out to explore the city. We found a little market and both bought some adorable scarves. On thing I noticed here is that the stand owners don't bother you or shove things in your face trying to make you buy everything. I've been to markets like that and it just takes all the fun out. Of course we saw some more enormous, amazing buildings: 

We then came upon another market. Every vendor pretty much had a sheet out on the ground with a bunch of junk laid out.

We hunted around and I found this adorable little clock that I bargained down from €10 to €5, oh yeah!!! 

After that we headed to the Cantillon Brewery, which is the last brewery in Brussels! 

When we went inside the guy greeted us and we got a self-guided tour and two beer samples for €7, woohoo! He gave us a little pamphlet and told us to walk around the building and follow the red numbers that correspond to pages in the pamphlet. 

He said the brewery is as-is with no decorations or tourist frills, which is awesome!! He gave us a short intro and left us to explore and learn. The first few stops were the typical mashing tun, hop boilers, etc. 

The coolest part was definitely the cooling tun room. 

Typical beers use bottom fermentation (lagers) or top fermentation (ales, Trappist beers, abbey beers, or white beers). Cantillon makes lambic beers which use spontaneous fermentation. This means they spread the wort out on this flat bed and let the natural yeasts from the Belgian air come in through the vents and ferment it. These microorganisms are specific to Brussels so this can't be made anywhere else. How awesome!! 

Another neat thing about this brewery is that they store the beer in used wine casks rather than stainless steel containers. This gives it a wine-like flavor.

They have to wait to seal the barrels for 3-4 days after filling them with beer because the fermentation process is so wild that the barrels would explode! Since the beer is matured in barrels, the lambic beers do not foam, which is quite unique! 

We noticed that there were cobwebs everywhere and soon learned that they leave them there on purpose. Using insecticides is harmful to the beer so instead, they let the spiders catch the insects that come into the brewery! "A lambic brewer will never destroy a cobweb and killing spiders is very much frowned upon." Yay nature!

We then got to see the barrel cleaning rooms, bottling, and cellars. 

Of course, at the end we got to taste. It was definitely unlike anything I've ever had before. The wine taste is quite obvious. The gold is the famous geuze and the other is a Kriek which is soaked in cherries. They taste almost like olive juice.

After the brewery we walked around the city a bit more. 

We went to a park and this adorable little dog came up and sat on Julie's foot and just let us pet him. Such a teddy bear. 

Then snack time:  

That night we headed back to Delerium Village (the area of bars) and split a liter of beer. They made us out down a €30 deposit for this €11 beer because so many people steal this adorable glass: 

Das boot!! Of course we got our deposit back, no worries. 

Brussels was an awesome place with so much to see. It was the only place I've ever been that speaks French so that was pretty cool. 

Now we are on the train to Amsterdam, Netherlands!!