Dutch and Flemish

{Amsterdam}

At the end of my fall break I came back to London for a night, which was absolutely fantastic. I advise no one to ever travel for ten straights days hostel style, you miss comforts and home too much.  Although I meet a bunch of Australian boys in Florence who had been traveling for four months that way and they were doing alright.  But I came back for the night and then got up before the sun came up the next morning and caught a bus on a guided tour to Amsterdam. After something like eleven hours on a bus we made it to Amsterdam where they speak Dutch and English.

{Windmills outside of the city}

{Traditional wooden clogs}

 I had no idea that Amsterdam was built on so much water with canals running through the whole city.  We took a canal cruise of the city, and it is a gorgeous city. Later that night we walked through the red light district.  It was both very strange and at the same time not.  We then ventured to a bar where everyone was smoking cannabis, everyone.  The streets literally just smelled of it. It was amazing and unsettling how readily available lots of drugs are there.  The next day we went about twenty minutes outside the city to see windmills, Dutch clogs, and cheese. 

{My favorite little clogs}

{Just clogging in wooden shoes}

{Almond Blossom}

 The rest of the day was spent getting lost in the city, going to the Van Gogh Museum. My favorite Van Gogh piece, Almond Blossom, is there and it is absolutely beautiful in person. The colors are just gorgeous; I could have stared at it all day.  We then walked through Anne Frank’s house, a chilling experience, but one that left an impression.

{Traditional Dutch Pancake-yum}

{Brugge}

The next day on our drive back to London we stopped in Brugge, Belgium, where they speak Flemish and English.  Unfortunately we hit lots of traffic and did not have much time in the city.  The little bit that I saw was pretty.  We got lunch and had delicious moules-frites and I tried to get Belgian beer but our waiter was a jerk that was serving way too many tables and never brought me the menu.

{Moules-frites and no belgian beer :( }

To make up for it we went and got Belgian waffles after dinner and they were scrumptious. I love waffles and have been craving them so these hit the spot. We then proceed to drive home and I could not have been happier to get home.

{Waffels!}

{Delicious, no?}

I am so over guided tours, entry fees and things that seem like they should be included in the price aren’t.  Half the time you’re not with the tour so you have to figure things out for yourself even though you paid for a guided tour. Personally, I’m never doing one again and I advise others to carefully look into them before booking one.