Finally, Some Fun in the Sun

For some reason, whenever I take Maddie shopping here in the Netherlands, I end up buying more than she does...well nonetheless, Monday we had a lovely day walking around the Alexandrium (shopping mall) as well as peeking in Primark. Tuesday sky finally started to clear up, and the sun came out! Taking advantage of the weather, we hopped on the metro and headed to Scheveningen, where we hung out at the beach with Fiona, Maartje and Pascale, eating ice cream and walking along the shore. Maddie enjoyed a mojito on one of the terraces along the strand, making the best out of her vacation in Europe!

Yesterday everyone piled in the car and went to an Indonesian Market in The Hague, where we were surrounded by different booths selling all sorts of trinkets, under a large white tent. The food was to die for, we ate dinner at a "restaurant" also located under the tent. We tasted foods such as fried bananas, Spekkoek of course, and other oriental treats. The different booths sold everything, from incense, jewelry and back-scratchers, to dried fruit, cooking utensils and lingerie. You could even get your fortune told! It was quite the spectacle.

Tonight we have the Eind Feest for school! First, the girls from my class will go out to Hello Pasta (a delicious, but relatively cheap italian restaurant), and wine and dine. Afterwards we'll head over to the Oude Haven part of Rotterdam, and find the location of our school party. I'm so anxious to see what Maddie will think of it! Granted she's older than most of the kids that will be there, but I think we'll still have fun. Looking forward to it!

-Molly

Enjoying my time with Maddie still!

Since Paris, Maddie and I have been keeping ourselves quite busy. Dennis showed us around Delft last week, where we grabbed ice cream and lunch. I finally showed her Bergschenhoek as well, going into all of the clothing stores and such.
Friday evening we went to Vierkantje with the girls, and we made Maddie order our drinks in Dutch! We all got a good laugh out of it. The bar was more crowded than normal, due to the fact that many high schooler's had just finished their final exams for school. I'm not sure if Maddie enjoyed it, or was just overwhelmed with the crowd! In any case it was fun to show her where I spend all my Friday nights at.

Yesterday (Saturday) we used our Day Train Tickets, which allowed us to travel all day on the train, only paying 14 euros each! We chose Haarlem and Deventer to visit, because Maddie was interested in seeing Haarlem and I wanted to catch up with Marlo in Deventer. We spent most of the day in Haarlem, where the sun was shining and the weather couldn't have been better. We shopped again until we dropped, buying gifts for friends and family as well. In the evening we ended up in Deventer after all, where we dined with Marlo in a nice restaurant. It was so good to talk to her again, we hadn't seen each other in six or seven months! Of course we are both experiencing many of the same emotions around these last few weeks of our exchange, so being able to relate to someone was comforting.
We headed back home on the train as soon as it started to drizzle, and were back in Bergschenhoek by eleven. On our way home, we stopped and had a drink at Braaf, talking about what we wanted to do in the upcoming week.

Tomorrow we are headed to Primark in Rotterdam! I'm hopeful that because it's Monday, there won't be as many people...Tuesday we are thinking about going to Scheveningen, because the weather is supposed to warm up a bit. Can't wait!

-Molly

The City of Love

Paris, France- the home of the Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, Notre Dame, and much more. Where a crêpe stand is around every corner, or in between a bakery and a hole-in-the-wall cafe. Where couples fill the narrow, stone brick streets, blissfully walking along while sharing a baguette. Where Maddie and I spent what seemed to be, the best five days of our lives together! 

The hotel that we stayed at, Hotel Bonsejour Montmarte, couldn't have been in a more perfect location. The street below us was filled with cafes, bars, and restaurants- where in the evening, were hopping with live jazz music and artsy vibes. If we kept walking down for about five minutes, we would end up at the Moulin Rouge! In this section of town, tourist stands, sex shops and bars surrounded us...which wasn't the best place to end up at night! Luckily, we didn't run into too much trouble or mischief... If we walked ten minutes north from our hotel, we were at the Sacre Coeur! This was an artsier part of Paris, where markets, bakeries, painters, musicians, and quirky/cute stores were located. It was the perfect place to split a sandwich, sit on the side of the street, and watch all of the different kinds of people walk by! 

We got very lucky with the weather the first two days- the sun shone and there was no wind! I thought we were in paradise. Unfortunately, the third day was a bit cloudy, and the last two days it rained. We had a lot of inside activities saved for the rainy days luckily, for example going to museums or churches. 

I'm trying to think of what we didn't do in Paris...but I feel like we packed in everything that was possible in five days! Every morning we'd get up early and go down for breakfast, where we were served bread, a croissant, and hot coffee, by the owner's wife or daughter of the hotel. We'd pick a few things to do on our list that were located in the same district, buy a metro ticket, and head out!

Of course we went to the Eiffel Tower...I mean, who could go to Paris and not see it? We went up to the second floor, where we could see all of Paris. What. A. View. There we sat, on top of the Eiffel Tower, sharing french fries and enjoying what a perfect day and perfect life we had at that moment.

Going to the Love Lock Bridge has to be one of my favorite activities that we did in Paris. It's a bridge located near the Notre Dame, where couples, friends and families lock a padlock to the bridge, and throw one of the keys in the water. We bought a cute lock with the Eiffel Tower etched into it, and fortunately it had three keys- one to throw, and two to keep! Very sentimental, and something that we can always hold onto in remembrance of our time in France together.

The Sacre Coeur was incredible as well. The location made it even better, with the painters and markets surrounding. It overlooks on Paris, which had almost as good of a view as the Eiffel Tower! We went to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Notre Dame Cathedral, The Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Sainte Chapelle, Rodin Museum, Opera National de Paris, and many more! In the evenings we talked over white wine and split an entrée. It was really the perfect vacation, and who better to spend it with than my older sister.

Monday we headed back home on the train, passing again through Belgium. Today we have laid around the house, enjoying being able to relax! I swear I walked more in Paris than I have ever walked in my life...good thing though, we had to burn off all of those crêpe, macaroon and baguette calories somehow! 

Not sure about our plans this week, but I still want to go to Amsterdam and back to Antwerp with Maddie. Stay tuned!

-Molly

On the bus to Paris!

What are the odds that we have Wifi on the bus...well, I'm certainly not complaining! We just left Brussels finally, after a very exciting encounter with the Belgium Police. We stopped by the Eurolines office, where many police officers came on, looking in every cupboard and shelf. Canines were outside as well, and everyone sat in their seat slightly uncomfortable. Being that we were in the French speaking part of Belgium, I understood nothing that was being said. Before we knew it, we were handing over our passports!

They started asking each passenger to get off the bus, one by one. At first only the men were asked to get off, but eventually we were too. It ended up being just a routine border check- which we had no idea until it was over! We were taken into a warehouse, where our bags were searched and we were patted down. The Belgium police were exceedingly attractive however, so we weren't bothered by the experience. After a good fifteen minutes of waiting, we were let back onto the bus! I'm pretty sure the same amount of people got back on that had gotten off, so no one was without legal papers of some sort.

This journey has already started off exciting! Luckily we haven't run into any actual trouble...yet!
Going to go back to sleep for now,  we still have a long time until Paris...

-Molly

Morgen, Parijs!

Luckily the sun shined for us today! The Dierentuin in Blijdorp was a hit- I even went to new exhibits that I hadn't been to before! We spent about two or three hours walking around from one exotic animal to the next, seeing baby gorillas, beautiful butterflies, and much more!

For dinner, we had Gourmet....which is quite possibly my favorite dinner here. It's the one where everyone gets their own small pan, and cooks for themselves. At the end there are pancakes too! Yummmmmy, Maddie thought it was the cutest set-up ever!

Tomorrow we will be on the bus to Paris! I'm not exactly looking forward to the nine hour ride, but I know it will be worth it. Hopefully we'll drive through Antwerpen or Brussels! 

I am curious to what our Hotel will be like...and of course a bit nervous for the traveling. Although I always get nervous when riding on busses or trains! Marijke printed many maps out for us, of where to go and how to get there...she's the best! I'm sure they'll help tremendously. 

For now though, it's time to pack and get ready for the journey.

Trembling with excitement, and so thankful of my parents for making this trip happen for us!

-Molly

Reunited and it feels so good!

Finally I am reunited with the most important person in my life...my sister, as well as best friend. She flew in Sunday, where Marijke, Tim, Renee and I awaited her arrival. Tim and Marijke snuck away and bought her a bouquet of tulips to surprise her with, which was so sweet! I watched her through the window as she got her bags, trying to hold back the tears that were swelling in my eyes. Of course I was unsuccessful when we hugged, but at that moment I couldn't have cared less. I was with Maddie once again!

Once home and acquainted with everyone, I began to unpack for her. I swear that she brought more stuff with her than I did! I was hoping that she would bring a suitcase half empty, so that I could send her home with all of my winter clothes. Helaas, it looks like we will have to look into buying a second suitcase! I did enjoy looking through all of her new clothes that I had never seen, all of which I hope to borrow at some point!

The rest of the day was spent mostly at home, eating dinner with everyone and talking. At one point we walked to het dorp (Bergschenhoek), but of course, being that it was Sunday, all of the stores were closed. Braaf was open, and Maddie was eager to buy her first legal drink! She said that she would buy, so of course I went along, and enjoyed a glass of wine. We shared stories and photos for an hour, and for a moment I felt just like I was home again.

Monday she came to school with me! I was so excited to show her my school, to meet my friends, and sit in on my lessons. I'm sure she thought it was a bit boring due to the language barrier, but I was still glad that she came! Afterwards we went to Rotterdam, to go shopping...Surprisingly we both only ended up buying one thing each- I think that I have become too Dutch when it comes to spending money! That's probably a good thing though...

After enjoying a nice sandwich for lunch in Bergschenhoek, we went back to Rotterdam for more of an educational/cultural experience. We visited the Boijman van Beuningen museum, as well as the large outside market. Unfortunately the rain got the best of us, as we ended up running from tent to tent in the market until finally giving in and buying an umbrella. Welcome to the weather in the Netherlands Maddie! She had even curled her hair that morning...poor girl!


The museum was nice as always, but then again doing anything with her would have been nice! I think she was impressed though....I hope so!

Around nine this evening, Maddie wanted to go do something- like walk around town. I hesitated, but agreed of course. To her surprise, Bergschenhoek was empty once again; everything was closed and not a person was in sight. Coming from Boulder I could see how this would be a shock, but I guess I had gotten so used to it that I never thought closing times were weird here....luckily, one Pizza Shop was open, where we grabbed a Ben&Jerry's Ice cream to go. Tomorrow Marijke, Renee, Dennis, Maddie and I will be headed to the zoo! Although I have only been once, the zoo in Rotterdam is still one of my favorite places that I've been...hopefully the weather will be nice!

-Molly

Tent Feest!

I spent the last night in Pijnacker with my friends, at a music party called "Tent Feest." This Feest, or mini-music festival, had famous Dutch musicians such as Van Velzen, Memphis Maniacs, and  other known artists. My friends and I cycled to the Feest in Pijnacker, where we spent the evening enjoying the music, company and atmosphere.
The Memphis Maniacs were probably the most bizarre band that I have seen perform. Clad in cheetah print attire, they covered songs like, "Sexy and I know it," while dancing around the stage like Elvis! They were geweldig nonetheless, quite the entertainment!
In an hour we will be on our way to Amsterdam, to pick up Maddie in the airport! I woke up at eight this morning because I couldn't sleep!

-Molly