Amsterdam was the mandatory ending point for our trip. My flight home had to be through Schiphol Airport, so my family ended up flying home from Schiphol as well. Each time I visited Amsterdam, I liked the city more and more. This final visit was by far my favorite visit to Amsterdam. It was sort of like I was home again going back to the Netherlands. My family noticed that I got very excited and animated once we arrived in the city. I was eager to show them a little bit of the country that I spent five weeks in, even if we didn't get to make it to Delft.
Funnily enough, my family did not have the same enthusiasm for Amsterdam that I did. Everyone said that they were glad to see the city, but it was probably their least favorite destination that we went to (not including Luxembourg). They had the same enthusiasm I had for Amsterdam after my first visit nearly a month and a half earlier. But fortunately I had enough enthusiasm for everybody. I was very glad to end the summer with one last taste of Holland.
Thursday (8/27/15) was our final day of long-distance train travel. Our journey today was from Bacharach to Amsterdam, with layovers in Koblenz, Cologne, and Utrecht (only four different trains we needed to travel on). We left Bacharach and caught an early local train that brought us to Koblenz. From Koblenz we transferred a more express train that brought us north to Cologne. We had a short layover in Cologne (like 10 minutes or so) but I decided that was enough time to run outside the train station and take a look at the famous Cologne Cathedral. It's right next to the train station, so of course I had to go take a picture of it!
Now I can say I visited the Cologne Cathedral!
Our third train of the day was the most luxurious. Somehow we had reserved an entire cabin just for our family. It felt like we were traveling in first class!
Someone is excited for the private cabin.
I think he found somewhat drinkable coffee on the train.
Who let us in here?
Sadly our luxurious travels did not continue for the final leg of the journey. We were on a local Sprinter train from Utrecht to Amsterdam and it was a little more crowded. Luckily the trip from Utrecht to Amsterdam was under an hour.
I think someone is missing our private cabin.
We arrived in Amsterdam in the early afternoon. Some classic Dutch weather greets us, as it is down-pouring rain when we arrive at Amsterdam Centraal. Our hotel is across town, so we purchase tickets for the tram. Around this time, my suitcase decides that its had enough and part of the handle breaks off. It's a little upsetting that it broke, but I'm glad the suitcase lasted as long as it did. I'm able to fix it enough where I have half the handle that I can use (it looks like the sickle the Grim Reaper uses because part of the connecting rod for the handle fell off). Ah well!
Our accommodations in Amsterdam were at the City Hotel in the rembrandtplein. I thought the hotel was fine, but some members of our party did not enjoy the hotel. They were used to the nicer hotels and apartments that we had stayed in previously. The hotel wasn't luxurious, but it was centrally located and had beds and a bathroom. What else do you need?
View from our hotel room. I think I've been to that Starbucks before!
After checking in we have a late lunch at one of the restaurants in the Rembrandtplein. It's still raining, but they had a large awning. After lunch we spent most of the rest of the day just wandering around the city. The rain mostly held off for the rest of the afternoon and evening, which was refreshing.
Famous Amsterdam canals. And famous Dutch weather.
Another shot of the Iamsterdam sign. Much less crowded than the last time I was here.
We found the houseboats!
I think its the architecture and the bikes that made me really excited to come back to Amsterdam. Coming to the city multiple times made me really appreciate all of the charm beyond Dam Square and the Red Light District.
People are riding bikes again!
I don't know who this guy is, but the statue looks cool
Back in Dam Square. It's a shame for people who only see this side of Amsterdam.
We decided to take a boat tour to truly experience the canals. Boat rides seemed to be the theme of this family vacation, as this is like the 6th boat ride we've taken in the past two weeks. It was an interesting way to see the canals though! I never got the chance to take a boat ride on the canals before when I was in Delft.
View of the open harbor beyond the train station.
Hi, A'Dam!
A cool looking old bridge.
One of the many bridges we traveled under on the boat ride.
Classic Amsterdam street. Apparently most of my photos from the boat ride came out pretty poorly, so I don't have too many.
After the boat ride we walked back through the city to Rembrandtplein. We stopped and got fries on the way back. We ended the night by having a few drinks at an outdoor bar near our hotel. Going straight from Bacharach to Amsterdam is a very drastic change. While the average in Bacharach is like 60 and all of the businesses close by 9:00 pm, the average in Amsterdam must be like 18 and all of the bars stay open until like 4:00 am. We sat outside for awhile in Amsterdam just people watching everyone going out in the bars and clubs located near the Rembrandtplein. We ended the night by getting fried snacks from a vending machine kiosk called Febo.
Friday (8/28/15) is my final full day in Europe. It is also our only full day for the family to see Amsterdam. While I am very excited, it seems like most people's energy is beginning to drain.
We start off the day by getting coffee and pastries from a nearby bakery. My dad doesn't like the coffee from the bakery, so he gets coffee from an Albert Heijn grocery store. Surprisingly he likes this coffee, so he ends up getting a second cup. It's a rare day in Europe when my dad finds a cup of coffee that he enjoys drinking.
Our first real stop is the flower market (bloemenmarkt). We browse a little bit and purchase a few souvenirs.
So many magnets that are shaped like houses!
Flowers!!
Our next stop is the Rijksmuseum. This is the national museum of the Netherlands and holds their most treasured art pieces. I am very excited for the Rijksmuseum and spend a long time going through everything. I think this is the first time ever that I am the one that went the slowest through a museum. Needless to say, by the time we left everyone was very much ready to leave.
The outside of the Rijksmuseum. I did not do a very good job getting the entire building to fit into one photo.
Some Dutch art.
This may be my favorite.
The most famous painting in the museum, Rembrandt's the "Night Watch."
After lunch I lead us to a restaurant that serves traditional Dutch pannenkoek. This was one of my favorite meals in Delft, and I wanted everyone else to try pannenkoek as well. We sat outside near a canal and overall I think everyone enjoyed their lunch. I remember the pannenkoek was quite a but more expensive here in Amsterdam than in Delft. I guess they know tourists are always willing to pay more.
My final pannekoek in the Netherlands.
We walked around more after lunch and see more of the city. We walked through an old flea market area that I found very disappointing. It looked like people were just selling pile of junk. One stall literally just had a giant pile of clothes that people could look through.
The next area we walk to is the Red Light District. I wasn't too excited to go back to the Red Light District, but I guess it's an area all tourists should see when in Amsterdam. Once again, the area was filled with tourists. And now I can cross off "walk through Amsterdam's Red Light District with my parents" from my to-do list.
Somewhere along our afternoon walk.
The Red Light District is thriving with curious tourists.
I don't think it gets more Amsterdam than this picture here.
After walking around for awhile we stop and have a happy hour drink at a place right next to the canal. We have a great table to watching the water and watching people as they walk and bike past.
For my final dinner in Europe, Lauren, John, and I go to a place near our hotel that serves rijsttafel. Rijsttafel is a Indonesian-Dutch meal that includes many different plates of meat, rice, and sides. It is quite impressive how many different items we are able to split for the meal. John was very excited for the rijsttafel before coming to Europe and I don't think it disappointed.
So many different dishes to try!
I think John is happy with the dinner.
After dinner we meet up with the parents and have one last drink at the sidewalk cafe that we went to the previous night. One final night in Europe to enjoy the sidewalk culture and to just watch the world go by.
Saturday (8/29/15) is the day that I had marked on my calendar for the past two months. It was finally time to fly home. While I was sad to leave Europe, at the time I was also happy to be traveling home. After two months away, it was going to be good to be back in my own bed and in my own city (writing this 10 months later I disagree immensely with that thought though. I would love to be back traveling around again).
The last day started like any other on the trip. I woke up and decided to take one last walk around Amsterdam by myself. I wanted to appreciate all that the Netherlands had to offer one last time. I got coffee and a pastry from a bakery down the street and had breakfast sitting next to a canal midway through my walk. It was a nice way to say goodbye to my temporary home country.
Scenes from my morning walk.
Good weather for our final day!
A bike! What are the chances that I find one of those?
This is the final picture that I took in Europe. Overall I took over 3000 photos during my eight weeks in Europe. Think of how much longer this blog could have been!
I found out later that Lauren's final morning was not as nice as mine. The people in the room next to her and John were up late partying, as it was a Friday night in the heart of Amsterdam's bar district. Apparently she got very little sleep and was not pleased with the room location that she and John had. I probably wouldn't have been either.
Our flight is at 2:00 pm out of Schiphol. In the late morning we took the tram from our hotel to Amsterdam Centraal where we caught a train to the airport. We checked into our Icelandic Air flight and went through security. All five of us were on the same flight from Amsterdam to Iceland. In Iceland we said goodbye to Lauren and John as they board a flight to Washington D.C. and we board a flight to Boston. The flight to Boston is uneventful and once in Boston the line through security is surprisingly short. Once through security me and my parents grab our bags and wait for the bus to take us back home to Portland, Maine.
And just like that the adventure is over! The eight weeks went by much faster than I expected them to go by. Overall I had the time of my life and I wish that I could go back and relive it again. Now that I am writing this 10 months later, I am able to fully appreciate the experience that I was able to have. A lot of people are't able to spend an entire summer studying and traveling around Europe. I feel incredibly lucky that Northeastern gave me this experience and I will not forget it anytime soon!
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