Amsterdam: Take 3

And now it's time for my final blog post of the summer! It probably would have meant more if I had not waited 10 months to write it, but I can still pretend that it's my last few days of the eight week adventure. After nearly two months traveling away from home, it was a little hard to believe that I had made it to the final destination. I only had two days in Amsterdam before it was time to head to Schiphol Airport and fly back to Boston. Where did the time go??

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!

The Rhine River: Oodles of Storybook Charm

Time to head to our second to last destination of the trip: Germany! I was very excited to return to Germany. I had a great time earlier in the month when I was there with my friends and I was excited to return with my family. I needed to get another liter of beer!! This time though our destination was the town of Bacharach on the banks of the Rhine River. This was a big change from the past few weeks, as Bacharach is a sleepy town in the countryside. Very far removed from the big city bustle of Paris, London, and Berlin. It was a beautiful region though! Looked like something out of a storybook. The average age of the other tourists may have been 60+, but the scenery was absolutely amazing. And the people of Germany were also very accommodating. I was worried again with the language barrier, but again most people spoke English. I would say that Bacharach and the Rhine River was a surprise gem of the trip, as I didn't really know what to expect before arriving in the region.

Tuesday (8/25/15) started with us leaving the hotel in Paris. We took the Metro at rush hour to the Gare du Est Station where we caught our train eastbound. Since Bacharach is a small town, there were no direct trains from Paris. We ended up taking three different trains. We went Paris to Luxembourg, Luxembourg to Koblenz, and then Koblenz to Bacharach. Since Luxembourg was a new country, naturally we had to stop so we could say we've been to another country. We factored in a 3 hour-ish layover in Luxembourg so we could walk around and say we saw the city and the country.

The train from Paris to Luxembourg was uneventful (I can't even picture it inside my head anymore it was so uneventful). Once we got to Luxembourg we put our bags in the bag check and walked around the city. We got lunch at another donor kebab place. Overall, I was pretty unimpressed with Luxembourg. It was a rather boring city with not much to see. It was probably my least favorite part of the whole vacation and in retrospect we didn't need to factor in a layover long enough to leave the train station. But it's ok, because now I can add Luxembourg to the list of countries I've visited!

Skyline of Luxembourg City.

The central square of Luxembourg City

Some old architecture. Maybe I had been in Europe too long at this point, as I was no longer impressed by these styles of buildings.

The coolest part of Luxembourg were the giant canyons right in the center of the city. We had to cross that bridge to get from the train station to the city center.

An old castle-looking building in the distance.

After wandering around a bit we were back at the train station and boarding a train for Koblenz, Germany. I said goodbye to Luxembourg for what will probably be the only visit in my lifetime. 

Unlike the previous train journeys, the trip to Koblenz was very eventful! Everything was going smoothly until we got to the Town of Trier. Once we stopped at the station, the conductor made an announcement in all German. We thought nothing of it and didn't react. However, the train sat at the station for longer than normal and after a few minutes Lauren noticed that the message board no longer said "Koblenz," but now said "Luxembourg." Then we panicked that something was wrong. John and I got out of the train to try and find a conductor on the platform but we couldn't find one. Then the passenger in the seat behind us must have noticed our panicking and asked if we needed help. He was able to tell us that the all-German announcement that we ignored was that the train was now reversing directions back to Luxembourg and all passengers to Koblenz had to get off and transfer. We then gathered our belongings and got off the train as fast as we could before it departed. We did not want to go back to Luxembourg! We made it off the train and finally found a conductor to talk to. Apparently we had missed the express train we were supposed to transfer to, but there was a local train leaving soon that also was going to Koblenz. We hustled to that train and made sure that we did not miss it. This train did go much slower than the express and stopped at every little village on the way, but at least we didn't end up going back to Luxembourg! Crisis averted!

Once in Koblenz, we found the next train heading to Bacharach. We had missed our initial train, but we were able to just get on the next one. Overall, we arrived in Bacharach about an hour later than we initially were supposed to, but we had no complaints at this point!

View of the countryside on the train to Koblenz

The Mosel River on the ride from Trier to Koblenz. Lauren also thought it was picture-worthy apparently.

My first impression of Bacharach was that it was much smaller than I thought it would be. There was really only one main street that stretched for maybe half a mile. But the town was super cute! All of the streets were cobblestone (which made rolling our suitcases very loud) and it was perched right on the Rhine River below a bunch of tall hills. On top of one of the hills is an old castle that had been converted into a hostel. The town felt very German. 

We checked into Altkolnischer Hof Hotel located in the dead center of town. The hotel was also super cute. It only had about 15 rooms or so and one of our rooms had a balcony that overlooked the main street. After checking into the hotel we walked around a little bit. It seemed like everything in the town closed at 5:00 except for a few restaurants. It must have been around 7:00 and the town already seemed like a ghost town! We had dinner at a restaurant located in an old courtyard. It was really cool. I got my liter of beer I was looking for (only 6 euro!!) and the food was delicious.

View from the balcony overlooking the center of Bacharach.

Looking the other way from the Balcony.

The restaurant where we had dinner. It was located below the ruins of an old cathedral. What's cooler than eating traditional German food and drinking a liter a beer in a courtyard located beneath the ruins of an old cathedral?

I got my liter of beer again! The waiter told us that all of the beer was made by his cousin, which is super cool. Sadly, I can't remember what I ate for dinner. It was probably either schnitzel or some type of sausage.

We ended up closing down the restaurant, which meant we probably stayed until like 9:00 pm or something. The town was eerily abandoned once we left the restaurant, as everyone had gone to bed for the night.

Wednesday (8/26/15) was the day dedicated to seeing the Rhine River. The big task today was to take a river cruise to St. Goar and back, with time to see that town as well.

The day started with a full breakfast at the hotel. After that we spent some time exploring the town of Bacharach, as most of the shops were closed the night before. The town actually had some people out and about in the morning so it seemed a little less dead.

I think this is the town that Rick Steves found. Almost every shop and restaurant advertised that they were in the Rick Steves book. We also had a least two conversations with people in the town about Rick Steves. Although it is true that the only reason we found Bacharach ourselves was because of the Rick Steves guidebook.

Very quaint and quiet in Bacharach.

The front of our hotel, dead in the center of town.

View of the town from the banks of the Rhine River with the castle-turned-hostel in the background.

Another view from the riverbank with the vineyards visible behind the town.

After walking around we heading to the boat docks in town and purchased a round-trip ticket to St. Goar. The Town of St. Goar is about an hour ride up the river from Bacharach.

Looking down the Rhine River from the shore at Bacharach.

The docks for our Koln-Dusseldorfer ferry ride.

From land we can see the heavy amount of boat traffic on the Rhine River.

The View of Bacharach as we sail away. Today was a beautiful day for a boat ride!

I don't know what's happening with my hair at this point on the trip.

One of the many castles we pass on the ride to St. Goar. This one was built right on the river so in the middle-ages the castle's owner could charge a toll to all boat traffic.

One of the small towns we pass on the boat.

So many vineyard! We are in the heart of Germany's wine growing region where they produce a lot of Riesling.

Everyone on the boat is excited as we pass Lorelei Rock.

An up-close view of Lorelei Rock, one of the most iconic points along the Rhine River.

Another castle and another small town.

Arriving at the Town of St. Goar.

St. Goar is another small, super-cute town along the river. It seemed to be slightly bigger than Bacharach, but not by much. While in St. Goar we walked around, had lunch, and did a little shopping. For lunch we sat at an outside cafe in the center of town. I had the currywust and my dad had the surprise pizza (the toppings were a surprise! Sadly I can't remember what the surprise was). St. Goar is home both to a shop specializing in beer steins and another in cuckoo clocks. I bought a beer stein while the parents purchased a cuckoo clock of their own.

The main street in St. Goar.

So many beer steins!

The world's largest hand carved free hanging cuckoo clock!!!!

See, I wasn't lying!

After lunch and walking around we heading for Burg Rheinfels, the castle that sits above St. Goar. The castle is mostly ruins today, but we were able to walk around and explore what once-was a mighty Rhine River castle! It was really cool seeing the old ruins and well worth the walk up the steep hill. Plus the view from the top wasn't half bad either.

To the castle!

The view from halfway up the hill.

What's left of the castle today.

Hundreds of years of wear and tear can really deteriorate a building.

Not a bad view from the top. I can see why they would build a castle here!

Me and the Rhine River

More vineyards across the river.

Lauren has had enough of the heights.

I can only imagine what this must have looked like 500 hundred years ago. Apparently the castle was started in 1245 and at one point was the largest fortress between Koblenz and Mainz (thanks Wikipedia)!

The view away from the river. Still pretty breath-taking!

The most important room in the old German castle.

Everyone on their way through the castle.

Me and the river and the vineyard on the walk back down the hill.

After wandering the castle it was time to head back to the docks and catch our boat back to Bacharach. We had another relaxing ride down to Bacharach, and this time the boat was much less crowded so we were able to get a prime table on the top deck.

Our boat returning to Bacharach.

Still quite a bit of boat traffic in the late afternoon.

Approaching Lorelei Rock from the north this time.

Another small town with some vineyards in the background.

John really appreciates the scenery going by.

The view looking north up the river.

And we're back in Bacharach!

Once back in Bacharach, we relaxed in the hotel for a little bit before dinner. For dinner we went to a restaurant that was located in an old carousel. It was pretty cool and was located right on the river. Once again I had some German beer for what was going to be my last time this summer. I also had some more traditional German food, but again I can't remember what I ate (either this night or the previous night was schnitzel).

Lauren and John in the old carousel-turned-restaurant.

After dinner walk to see the cathedral ruins up close. Pretty eerie!

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Bacharach. I didn't think it was going to be as enjoyable as it was. The scenery was breathtaking, the weather was great, and the food and drink were delicious. I was sad to leave Bacharach because I knew that meant I only had one more destination before it was time to return home. The eight-week journey through Europe had almost come to a close.