Berlin

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting up with my dear friends Ali and Brian one last time before they headed back to the US. 

They were in Berlin! So I hopped on the train and met them there for the day.

I took the train from Wolfsburg since Blake drives there for work anyways. It was all going fine, until it wasn't! There was a 30 minute delay to my train. A train arrived about 20 minutes later, so I got on... It said Berlin HBF (my destination), and I paid no attention to anything else. Well, guess what? It wasn't my train! My train was still coming in 10 minutes. Whoops. But, thankfully I did not get in trouble and all was fine! A quick hour and ten minutes later I was there.

Berlin was lovely. It is a HUGE city. But we had great weather, and a full day planned.

We saw museums. The day was packed with a boat tour, and a walking tour. So we didn't have time to go in any of them. But Blake and I have plans to go back. So I am sure you will see a lot more of Berlin!

This is part of one of the museums.

 

Time for a boat tour. :)

Some neat pictures from our boat. It was really fun to sit back, enjoy the sun and see some of the sights!

We were awfully close to some of the bridges. You weren't allowed to stand up when passing. For obvious reasons...they wanted everyone to still have their heads.

After our boat tour, we grabbed a quick lunch and went on a free walking tour! Truthfully, our guide was excellent. He was witty, and kept our attention, all whilst making us laugh. BUT. It was INFORMATION overload. I couldn't keep up. Or half the time I couldn't hear. But all in all it was good!

I found it the most interesting when he talked about the Berlin wall. There is a piece of it. 

We saw some Trabi's. 

We visited the Holocaust Memorial. 

Truthfully, we saw a lot more. But I forgot to take pictures because I was trying very hard to pay attention. And it was 1000 degrees outside. So I will blame the heat on my forgetfulness to photograph. 

The tour ended at the Brandenburg Gate.

I thought this was a lovely picture. 

After our tour ended, we didn't have a whole lot of time before I had to be on the train again. So we walked to the train station, and found a place to eat before I went on my way!

It was a lovely last day with Ali and Brian. It offered a good glimpse of Berlin, but there is much more to see. Look forward to another Berlin post. :)

On the way home, I quickly tried to snap this photo of the VW factory. 

Tomorrow I will be sharing Colmar, France. 

Amsterdam: The Final Day (Day 3)

I'm sharing our final day in Amsterdam.

See the other days here:

Day 1

Day 2

It was really nasty outside. Raining very hard. So we saved the museums for this day.

But first breakfast.

Look at that waffle covered in Nutella greatness. It was delish.

And yes, it was raining. I did not care. I walked in the rain, happy as a clam, eating my waffle. 

Our next stop was The Heineken Experience. Now, none of us are huge fans of the beer, but we heard it is a must see. And it was raining, so why not!

For18 euro, you can guide yourself through the whole tour plus get 2 beers.
For 49 euro, you can get the VIP experience, which gives you a guided tour into a few more places the normal tour does not allow. Plus 5 beers and snacks. We went with the 18 euro experience. 

First up was history.

We really embraced the experience!

Early Heineken bottle. 

Heineken was founded on my birthday! I thought that was pretty cool.

The Heineken logo over time.

Plus, a great quote: "There is always something happening around a beer."

And more history! 

Then they show you all the ingredients that go into the beer. They let you smell the hops and the barley. Blake was loving it!

After, you see how beer is made! They walk you through all of the steps.

We're helping the brewer by grinding the barley! He loves me. 

After this you go to the stables where they keep the Heineken horses. BUT GUESS WHAT. The horses were on Holiday!!! Yep, they were on vacation for 6 weeks. So we didn't get to see them. But the worker for that station told us that they work really hard and they really love the 6 week vacation. (Like he knows what a horse loves!)

We went up way too many stairs and were told to enter room 2. We were not sure what was going to happen, but you stand in rows. And it elevates up, kind of like at the theater. After the room was full, a guide came in and dimmed the lights. A movie was going to begin. But it wasn't just any old movie. It was a 4D movie of the whole process of becoming beer! It was actually really cool. There was water that sprayed, and bubbles that shot at you. Plus heat, and lots of shaking. IT was seriously a surprise, but so so so much fun!

After the movie, they give you a small beer and teach you how to correctly drink it in 4 steps.

Us with our beers!

Then you see a little more of random Heineken-ness. And you get to watch the bottling process.

Fascinating!

Then it is time to go to the bar and get your two big beers!

Blake and I each tried a regular Heineken, and this special brew. H41 Lager. It was not very good.

We had every intention of also going to the Anne Frank House, but we missed the memo where you had to buy tickets at least a month before you come. Otherwise you can't go until after a certain time.

All in all our last very rainy day was pretty cool! 

We ate a quick lunch with Ali and Brian in a Carousel :). 

I thought I snapped a photo, but I guess I forgot.

We headed to the train station to catch our 3pm train home.

Amsterdam was amazing! So amazing that this entire week I have been fighting a nasty cold. So experiencing the Pharmacy here was fun!

But Amsterdam is a place I would return to in a heartbeat. Who doesn't love flowers, and cheese and canals?!

Amsterdam Day 1

At 7am on Saturday, we put on our backpacks and hopped on our bikes. We were heading to Amsterdam! Okay, only joking. We weren't biking there. But we did ride our bikes to the train station to catch a train to Amsterdam.

 

On the train, leaving Braunschweig! We changed trains in Hannover. We quite enjoyed taking the train. It was nice that both Blake and I were able to relax.

A beer and a novel on the train! Traveling in style. P.S. I read Cancel the Wedding by Carolyn T. Dingman, and it was amazing! I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a summer read.

Amsterdam Centraal

We walked from the train station to our hotel.

But first we stopped for some fries. Yummy!

We arrived at the hotel around 1pm, our room wasn't quite ready yet. So we put our backpacks in the luggage room and waited for Ali and Brian. They were meeting us at our hotel so we could go exploring.

We ate a quick lunch and just wandered around a bit.
*It should be noted that during our quick lunch we also got attacked by pigeons!
I about knocked the entire table over when it pecked my foot!

Bike parking! There were bikes everywhere. And the bikers mean serious business in Amsterdam... They are NO joke. 

We went to the flower market. 

Cheese!

And we went to a cheese shop. They are everywhere! I am not sure which store is the best, but the store we picked was pretty delicious! I probably sampled 30 different kinds.

Lavender cheese! I thought it would be amazing...it was not. 

I settled for a hunk of red pesto cheese. It was mild and delicious! 

Just a hunk a cheese hanging in my purse! HAHA I thought this was the funniest thing. So like me to have cheese in my purse. And our ornament all wrapped nicely!

We went on just wandering the streets, stopping in shops, and catching up! It was lovely. After a few hours, Ali and Brian headed back to their hotel, as they were quite jet lagged. Blake and I went exploring some more!

A bridge!

We stopped for a snack and I was totally creeping in this boat! But look how close we were!

Delicious fruit beer!

Our hotel was across the canal from the Ballet!

We checked in around 7pm, and relaxed a bit before venturing out for some dinner. We were also pretty tired so we decided to go somewhere close that had some great pizza!

I pretty much inhaled the pizza, so I don't have a picture! We got some wine! Mmm.

We passed the famous Ice Bar... but Blake was not at ALL interested in going inside. So we passed! But at least we got to walk by.

A canal at night!

It was a beautiful evening!

After dinner we got a few more drinks and walked around Rembrandt Square! There was a festival going on and people were rowdy. We just explored and took it all in. And of course got some gelato. I had dark chocolate, it tasted like brownie batter and it was heaven! 

Join me tomorrow for days 2 and 3 of Amsterdam!