It's a little disorienting to arrive in a brand new city at 6 am on a Sunday with nowhere to go and no real plans. It's even more disorienting to then walk through Amsterdam's Red Light District...but it's probably better than walking around at 10:00 pm, am I right?
Visiting Amsterdam had been a dream of mine ever since reading The Fault in Our Stars, and it's definitely a city worth visiting. Most people associate the city with the Red Light District, weed, and bikes, but we explored the islands north of the city and that was exciting too! Our first stop (after the Red Light District, of course) was at our CouchSurfing host's place. This couple was interesting, to say the least, but so very kind and welcoming and lived in the most amazing location right on the canals in the middle of town! They both have some type of social disability I think...I wouldn't be surprised if they're both on the Autism spectrum. But they were wonderful hosts! And we had our own room and the place to ourselves a lot of the time. They even had a beautiful rooftop terrace where we ate breakfast and played with their three-legged cat.
After dropping our stuff off we headed to one of the many bike rental shops near the house. The rental guy recommended that we ride up to the island of Marken, about 15 miles north of the city. Once again, we really didn't have anything planned, so we took his advice and went for it! What a beautiful, peaceful bike ride it was! We were a little citied-out since we hadn't really been outside a city since Switzerland so it was so good to get out of the business and into the countryside. We saw some cows, found some delicious plums for sale, and stopped at a yummy french fry joint in the middle of nowhere.
Some guy at the bike rental shop told us that these were the best fries in Amsterdam, and he wasn't kidding! They were the perfect combination of crispy and salty. Amazing.
We stopped in the little village of Marken and got some fresh fish...Hayden's dream come true! It's no wonder a lot of people from Utah say they don't like fish. It's hard to love it from a landlocked area but when you go right to the coast, DANG. It's good stuff.
I mean, is this place even real? It was seriously almost too perfect to believe.
The next day we still had our rental bikes so we took another long biking trip, this time to Zaanse Schans. Before heading out, though, we stopped at this guy's haring stand and tried some of the slimy, really fishy fish. It was pretty good, actually! Definitely better in a sandwich with the crunch of some pickles. Hayden liked it a lot better than I did.
These iconic windmills are another good, long bike ride from the city and the weather on the second day was a bit dismal, but we still enjoyed ourselves! We walked around the touristy little city, sampling local cheeses and little treats. Here's us with a fresh stroopwafel. This thing was MONEY.
Here's us BEING the windmills.
Not too long after we got there it started pouring rain, so we took shelter inside a little cafe and got our dinner paid for by a nice older couple. Our bums were incredibly sore at that point, but we hopped back on our bikes and rode all the way back to the city.
When we got back we did some more exploring of the city. What a unique place! I think it's basically a manmade area of land that was once a huge trade hub because of its ingenious canals. The buildings really are as cool as everyone imagines, but they're actually sort of sinking into the soft foundation so a lot of them look really lopsided and uneven. The park in the middle of the city is probably the most beautiful of any of the green parks we saw. So many colorful flowers, ponds with ducks and swans, and lots of people just out having a good time.
St. Maarten, one of the islands where I served my mission, is owned by the Netherlands so citizens of either country can travel and live between the two as they please. My best friend from St. Maarten just happened to be living in a neighboring city so she came and we met up for dinner! Ayana was just as hilarious as I remembered, and I loved catching up with her and hearing all about her journey to the Netherlands. Look at her cute little pink fro! I love this girl!
The next morning we got up early to explore the enchanting streets one more time. We did yet another audio tour in the more wealthy part of town, and we passed the Anne Frank house along the way. We didn't get to go in because you have to book tickets like two months ahead of time and we didn't even really know where we'd be traveling even when we started this crazy trip, but just seeing the outside was neat and brought back lots of memories of reading the Diary of Anne Frank.
See? The streets really ARE as pretty as everyone thinks.
We had some confusion trying to find the train station where we caught our bus to Brussels because our host volunteered to take us there but couldn't remember how to get there and ended up just calling us an Uber...sweet girl, but it was a little frustrating. We made it though, and just in time to board the bus to Brussels. But anyway, on our way to the bus station of course we had to stop for some more haring!
Okay, this is great. So Europeans don't have much of a problem with nudity right? Like privacy isn't really an issue because they're verrry open about, well, everything. This is an outdoor urinal at the bus stop, just out in the open, and four guys could be using it at once.
Yes, this is Hayden actually peeing. Don't get me wrong, I had my fair share of weird peeing locations since we were constantly drinking water and didn't want to pay for bathrooms, but I think this thing takes the cake.
Possibly the most spontaneous part of our trip was our stop in Brussels! It was definitely not on the itinerary when we left Spain, but since the UK was still not allowing tourists in we had to improvise. Luckily we met these two awesome friends in Florence back on the Fourth of July! (I told you we stayed in touch!) They were so awesome to meet up with us and host us in their home, which they happened to be moving out of the very weekend we were there. We met up with them in the city and got some pho and some famous Belgian waffles (HOLY COW). We also stopped by a chocolate shop and loaded up on THE BEST chocolate truffles in the world...that stuff isn't famous for nothing. Anyway, Taycee and Yoni! We love them, and hanging out with them was just so much fun.
Since they were in the process of moving, their house was completely empty but they set up a blowup mattress for us. Unfortunately, that blowup mattress had a huge hole in it, so several times during both of the nights we were there we had to get up and pump it...NOT luxury travel. But we helped them clean the house a bit and get ready for the inspectors, and I think they really appreciated it.
I loved our time in Brussels, mostly because of Taycee and Yoni but also because it was a nice little rest from our crazy adventures. We got up and went running in the mornings, explored the little town of Mons where they lived, and ate way too much chocolate. On our second day, we went back to the city to do more exploring. We tried to go chocolate tasting but, of course, corona wouldn't allow it. We got more waffles and French fries to make up for it. Also, Belgium is where French fries come from! Who knew??
Somehow this little baby peeing is an iconic thing in Brussels.
SMURFS. We had to snap a quick pic of this Smurf mural as an ode to uncle Joel whose mission companion spent most of his time building Smurf villages. Had I known this is where the weird little cartoons originated, that would have made a lot more sense!
Like I said, our time in Brussels wasn't too terribly interesting, but it was a much needed little break and I still can't believe how fast of friends we became with Taycee and Yoni. I really feel like we've known them for a long time and I really hope we can meet up with them sometime in the US! This was the pretty town square in Mons where we grabbed some sushi on our last night. Isn't it so cute?!
The next day we boarded our final bus, this time to PARIS...