Dag Beatrix, Hoi Willem Alexander!

It has been a BIG week here in the Netherlands! After taking some well needed time to re-coop from another month of travels and get in some homework, I was ready for Queen’s Day. Queen’s Day celebrates the Queen’s birthday (roughly… since Beatrix’s birthday is actually in the winter, but partying then isn’t ideal) and overall love for the Dutch Royal family. This year was a particularly large celebration since Queen Beatrix was stepping down (it must be exhausting work being a queen) and her son Willem Alexander and his wife MAXIMA were being coroneted. However, for an excellent description of the holiday, I encourage you to read this. So decked out in orange (for an explanation of the Dutch people’s love of orange see this) I headed to Amsterdam for a full day of activities and the last Queen’s Day (it will be King’s Day until he passes the crown to his daughter). On the train ride there I finally caught my first glimpses of the dazzlingly bright fields of tulips!

Dam Square and the Royal Family

At Centraal Station I met up with my Dutch friend Judith who took me to Dam Square where the legal documents were being signed to make the switch and where I even saw the royal family wave to us from a balcony! From there we walked to one of my favorite parts of the day, Vondel Park. One part of Queen’s Day is that anyone is allowed to sell things on the street without a permit, but in Vondel Park the children take advantage of this entrepreneurial opportunity. The park was full of kids selling their toys, performing dances or playing instruments for money, selling baked goods, or offering games. After getting our fill of adorable children, we cruised through other packed streets in Amsterdam stopping at people’s open living room windows to watch scenes from the coronation and royal festivities.

Vondel Park

Biscuit Eating contest. I WON!

Judith and I in Vondel Park

Compliments and hugs only 50 cents!

Finally we met up with my friend Danean and few others at a park with music and dancing. When we had had enough techno music (it was one beat over and over again with a few variations) we took a ferry to my friend Nouha’s apartment. Even the ferry was a party with decorations, a DJ playing, and people dancing away. Once there we headed to a festival and danced for hours. By the end of the evening Danean and I took a much calmer ferry back to the train station and headed to Leiden which was covered in trash since the celebrations were just as huge there.

Party on the ferry!

Awesome freight apartments

celebration

Danean, Nouha, Me, and Judith at the festival

After a day to relax and study I then had my next jam-packed day. My Dutch culture class went on a bike trip through Zouterwoude’s polders and dikes before ending at a petting zoo of sorts! The baby pigs, goats, and lambs were too cute for words; plus Dutch children climbed into the pens with them to feed them from baby bottles. From the bike tour, I headed back to Leiden for a boat tour through Leiden’s canals with snacks, drinks, and friends to celebrate Danean’s last week in Holland. From the tour I had dinner at a student association (Quintus) with my Dutch partners and finally ended the evening at another student association, SSR, for hours of awesome Dutch student style partying.

biking past some sheep

Dutch culture professor

baby pigs!

kids and kids!

Leiden boat tour

This past weekend, I finally made it to Gouda! Danean and I caught the end of the cheese market and walked around the small charming city. Most importantly we sampled plenty of cheese and enjoy a delicious wine and cheese plate! The next morning we were up bright and early to take a train to Wageningen (the pronunciation is ridiculous). It’s a small student city about 2 hours east of Leiden. Actually, after visiting I realized the university would have been a much better fit since they focus on life sciences and I finally found all of the Dutch hippies. Anyways, the reason for our excursion was because on the 5^th of May, Wageningen puts on a huge celebration for Liberation Day (when the Netherlands was liberated from the Germans in World War II). We spent the day exploring the town, enjoying the sun, and hopping from stage to stage each offering a completely different type of music. We took a break for dinner with the family we were staying with and then headed back to keep on dancing.

Gouda

SO MANY cheese samples in Gouda

Wine and cheese in Gouda

Wagenigen dancing

Veteran's parade

We borrowed some marines hats =)

I ended my week of amazing weather with a trip to the beach, Nordwijk which was absolutely lovely. Now I am off to London and could not be more excited! 

beach

Berlin: Big City, Big Inferiority Complex

            The last time I was in Berlin was when I was a freshman in high school and journeying there as a part of a Holocaust trip with my Rabbi and confirmation class. In my eyes this harsh, industrial city could only be seen as the extermination of millions of people. This time though, I was determined to see the city in a different light. Today Germany is a world leader, has one of the biggest Green Parties in the world, and has a rich history that is more than just WWII. I arrived Thursday night and took the train to stay with a friend from Clark, Stef, who has been studying abroad there for the semester. She gave me my first new taste of Berlin by going to a few of Berlin’s clubs. The first one we went to was in an area called the Raw Temple which is a bombed out section now covered in graffiti and hidden dance venues and bars. Since the trains don’t start running again until 4am we had some time to kill exploring Berlin by night and of course enjoying some fantastic falafel.

            The next day I was on my own, which I am normally quite good at when I travel, but for some reason Berlin made me terribly uneasy. I was overwhelmed by the vastness of the city and had pangs of discomfort walking by the enormous Holocaust memorial again. Nonetheless, it wasn’t long before I met up with my friend Josh at our couchsurfing host’s apartment on Karl-Marx-Allee (the street is known for its Stalinist era housing once used as tenements, but are now quite nice). Our host Sebastian was quite busy, so after briefly getting acquainted he gave us his bedroom to use for the weekend and key to the apartment! Josh and I headed out for an awesome Indian dinner and an alternative pub crawl. The pub crawl took us to places we would probably never go including a 60s/70s themed bar (well maybe I would go there), a gothic/dominatrix bar, an absinthe bar, an 80s themed club, and finally a club underneath a furniture store! Unfortunately, the furniture store club was not very busy so we joined an Irish couple to another club with techno music and hipsters galore. What a night!

Berlin has so many construction projects there are colorful pipes everywhere transporting gas and pumping out water

Holocaust Memorial

Holocaust Memorial for Homosexuals (inside the small window are clips of gay couples kissing)

             The next day we took a free walking tour to see all the main sites of Berlin starting at the Brandenburg Gate, to a parking lot sealing off the site of Hitler’s bunker where he married Ava and committed suicide, the old Nazi Airforce headquarters (now the German tax office), Checkpoint Charlie (the checkpoint between the American and Soviet sides of Berlin), past 2 very impressive cathedrals (now museums), Frederick the Great’s impressive cultural square, and Museum Isle. Afterwards, Josh and I walked around and grabbed Vietnamese food (another cheap and delicious food found all over the city). Tired from walking all day and the night before, Josh’s “half hour nap” turned into a 12-hour sleep so we stayed in that night.

Brandenburg Gate  

Parking lot over Hitler's bunker 

Checkpoint Charlie (American soldier looking at Soviet side) 

Checkpoint Charlie (Soviet soldier looking at American side)

Controversial Memorial with an unnamed Nazi soldier and unnamed concentration victim buried next to eachother

Our tour guide in fron the world's largest granite bowl

            Sunday we got off to an early start for breakfast and took Berlin’s alternative tour (if you ever go to Berlin, this is my number one recommendation!) Our guide (very alternative), took us through Berlin’s walls of notable graffiti, explained their significance and the notable artists that did them. Considering that the graffiti can change over night, he did an excellent job pointing all of it out. We concluded the tour at a beach venue on the River Spree called Yam that has been fighting to keep their location since investors have been trying to buy up the land along the water for businesses and apartment complexes—and also re-tearing down the Berlin Wall (the East Side Gallery). The East Side Gallery is the longest strip of the wall still standing and covered with artist’s work. After strolling along the wall, Josh headed to the Jewish Museum (I had been on my first trip) and I headed to a massive flea market at Mauer Park (once again, hipster central). I fell in love and spent quite a few hours there, before Josh and I re-met and he left for his bus back to Copenhagen.

The future of Berlin?

Berlin Graffiti

Alternative tour guide in front of a tree house built next to the  Berlin Wall when it was still standing

East Side Gallery

East Side Gallery

Mauer Park Flea Market- AWESOME

            The next day I got an early start and rented a bike as per usual for me. Starting in the East I biked to the end of Treptower Park and explored an abandoned amusement park and saw the WWII Soviet Memorial, which was huge and absolutely over the top, but a common thing to do for Stalin. Then I continued on and explored Kreuzberg, Berlin’s new trendy area and new reason to hike up the rent. From there I got lost for quite some time and finally made it to the Reichstag (Germany’s main government building) and biked all the way to the west through Tiergarten park to see their victory tower and finally Charlottenburg Palace.

Abandoned amusement park

I went exploring...

Soviet memorial 

Reichstag

Victory Tower

Exhausted, I took the metro back East to meet my final host Dave (originally from England, but has been in Berlin for the past few years). Since I had seen Berlin east to west, Dave took me south to Neukolln, an area resembling what Berlin used to look like when it was comprised of small villages and now predominantly populated by Turks. After a delicious Italian dinner, (German food never really happened since their main delicacy is curry wurst), we headed north to meet some of his friends. One of them was from Iraq and told me how much he approved of the war we started there—in fact, if he met George Bush, he would even shake his hand. Although I was surprised, it made a lot more sense once I learned he was a Kurd from northern Iraq (which he told me is beautiful and he’d be happy to host me there!) Since we were all having an awesome time hanging out, after a while it didn’t make sense to sleep before I had to catch my flight at 7am so we stayed out until one of his friends kindly drove me to the airport and gave me a small architectural tour of the center of the city.

Like I said, curry wurst is a big deal here

Berliners love their city and so do the tons of other people that have fallen in love with this raw and still growing city. Although Berlin definitely grew on me by the end of my trip, I’m not sure I will be rushing back any time soon. The city lacks the ornate and lavish air of other European cities and despite Germany being a world leader they are very much so debt. As their mayor stated, “Berlin is poor, but sexy.” 

Belgium: A Politer, Frencher Netherlands

           Although Belgium had not originally been on my list of destinations in Europe, the allure of an easy train ride and charming cities drew me in. Belgium is a fascinating country split into 3 regions: the Dutch/Flemish side, the French side, and a tiny region of German speakers. With the exception of Brussels that has French and Dutch as their language, I was mainly in Dutch speaking areas (although, Belgian Dutch is much flatter and more subdued than Netherlands Dutch which is almost raucous). Anyways, I hopped on the train to my first destination, Antwerp (a city known for its student population, large port, and diamond industry). As soon as I arrived I was amazed by the intricate and beautiful train station in the city center. I didn’t have long to wait before my first couchsurfing host, Han, picked me up (like most Dutch, I couldn’t pronounce his name correctly, but he appreciated that I made it sound like Han Solo from Star Wars). We walked through the main shopping area and to his small student apartment where we made dinner together before seeing Antwerp by night. We walked through the main square, Antwerp’s tiny Red Light District, along the Schelde River, and stayed up until 4am getting to know each other and learning about each other’s cultures (although he was quite an expert at both the English language and American culture already).

Antwerp Central Station

Antwerp Friday Market

Han and I taking the OLD escalators into the tunnel

Schelde River in Antwerp

Antwerp City Hall

            The next morning, Han took more time away from writing his thesis to walk through Antwerp’s furniture market/auction, the tunnel going under the Schelde (often used to film Dutch music videos!), get lattes at an excellent hipster coffee place, through his university, and a tiny Chinatown. As soon as we parted ways, I met my second Antwerp host, David. Our first stop was biking to MUHKA, another VERY absurd modern art museum (he promised me that Belgium had better art than this)! Next we biked along the river to the MAS, Antwerp’s new museum with a fantastic view of the city and finally through a lovely park back to his apartment where we made dinner together, shared music (my taste was a little too indie for him), and sampled some awesome Belgian beers. The next morning David prepared a lovely breakfast before I left for Ghent.

MUHKA... art

David and I at the MAS

            Just as I was entering my Ghent host’s apartment (Jochen), another couchsurfer was leaving. Jochen took me through Ghent’s medieval streets, around the Count’s Castle, through the big cathedrals, the meat hall, and even passed by a cooking show being filmed. As we toured, Jochen encouraged me to continue enjoying the sunny weather and stop for beers each time I asked him a big question such as “What are Belgian politics like?” (I learned they are VERY complex). Jochen also told me about his trip to Israel which was very interesting since its rare I meet non-Jews that go there and how his pro-Palestinian position (most of Belgium feels this way) was altered through his trip there. Next we met up with his friend Sarah who joined us on our tour and brought us to a delicious vegetarian restaurant. After dinner, we went to see a Dutch band play in someone’s kitchen. Although I couldn’t understand any of the lyrics, listening to the cello, xylophone, and guitarist was lovely. Finally, we explored Ghent by night (all of their buildings are lit up) and tried Jenever (a very tasty drink similar to gin, but with tons of different flavor options—I tried chocolate).

Ghent

Jochen in front of Count's Castle

Sarah and I in Ghent

The Mystic Lamb by Van Eyck

Dutch band

Sarah and I on a bar on a boat!

Ghent by night

            Jochen had to catch an early train to Leuven, so I also left early and headed to Brugges. The small city of Brugges (only 20,000 residents) could be likened to a medieval open-air museum full of giant groups of Asian and senior citizen tourist groups. Brugges was unbelievably charming and full of chocolate shops (I got plenty of samples), more cathedrals, windmills, a large flea market, and surrounded by a canal with several gates. I also had my first Belgian waffle and Belgian fries (Belgians are very adamant that they were the inventors of fries, not the French). My favorite place in Brugges was the Beguinage, a UNESCO World Heritage site, that claims to have housed the first feminists in 1200 who took a pledge of chastity and formed their own community (different than nuns though).

Brugges

Beguinage in Brugges

Brugges

Brugges

            With another quick train ride, I traveled to my final city Brussels. Sasha, my last host, picked me up at the station and took me around the city (the weather was absolutely perfect!) Sasha, originally from Ukraine was very interested to learn about the United States and differentiate reality versus movies. His roommate was in the same boat since she first asked me if I was Texas (I was a little offended ;)) and then asked me if I knew where Finland was since Americans don’t know geography (good to know I could conquer that stereotype). Next, Sasha and I met up with Rachel, a friend from Clark, who flew in from Valencia. She was able to catch the Grand Palace lit up at night, Manneken Piss (Brussel’s iconic peeing fountain), and join us at the Delirium Café that has a menu of beers the size of a thick clothing catalogue. We had a few hours to see Brussels the next morning in the rain before catching our bus to Amsterdam. Although Brussels had many things to offer, I found it to be like a less impressive Paris with its prestige coming from being the home of European Parliament (I was glad to get back to Holland).

Manneke Piss Fountain

Brussels (view from Palace of Justice)

Rachel's first Belgian Waffle

            In Amsterdam, I was able to be the tour guide as we strolled through Amsterdam’s swanky Jordaan neighborhood, the flower market, and hit the main tourist spots in the center. The next day, I showed Rachel Leiden and even convinced her to ride on the back of my bike (a must for the authentic Dutch experience). Before her whirlwind trip to Holland and Belgium ended we went to the Windmill Museum, de Volk. Since I can’t seem to get enough of windmills, the next day, my friend Danean and I ventured to Kinderdijk! Kinderdijk is a small village near Rotterdam and also a UNESCO site featuring 19 windmills that pump out the water around the polder and plenty of tourists. From there we took a spur of the moment bus ride to Utrecht. Although, I didn’t get to see much of it, I did finally meet up with my fellow Clarkie, Leah studying in the Netherlands for dinner (I definitely need to go back). Now I’m off to Berlin, more on that next week!

Rachel and I at the Burcht in Leiden

Danean and I in Kinderdijk

Kinderdijk

Utrecht

Clark in Utrecht!!