European Vacation

I've always wanted to see the world and I got my first taste of it about a week and a half ago.

It took longer than expected to get there and let me tell you JETLAG IS A REAL PHENOMENON! However, the travel was well worth the experience.

First couple days were in Nijmegen, Netherlands. This city is one of the oldest, if not THE oldest in the country. It has rich history, including a great story about WWII (if you're into that sort of thing). The old architecture was beautiful and I enjoyed walking around, looking at the mixture of old and new and taking lots of pictures. That evening, I had the pleasure of attending a dinner party with some coworkers of my friend and host for the week. This was a taste (for me) of what it's like to live in Europe. There were individuals there from all over the world, many of which worked for the same company as my friend, and they were all living in this town in Holland and had all become friends. I encourage those of you who have been to Europe as a tourist to try (if possible) to experience (even if briefly) what it's like to live there. I will cherish my non-tourist experiences the most while on this trip.

While in Nijmegen, I enjoyed the BEST cappuccino that I had the entire time I was in Europe. I had many good cappuccinos, but this was the best. Unfortunately, it was the first, so all the rest just did not live up to it. It was a place called the "Blonde Pater" (ironic, I know). This place has actually won awards for their coffee. Each of the baristas has a signature design that they make in the foam on the cappuccino. I got a heart...and I "heart" my European vacation!

After the rain appeared like it was going to hold off for a day (which is a rare occurence in Holland), the trek to Amsterdam was on! WHAT AN EYE-OPENING EXPERIENCE! The day was spent looking at the beautiful scenery, complete with canals and houseboats. Amsterdam is a wonderful place. Everyone owns at least one bike and they use them. It's a fantastic contribution to the well-being of this place. I don't remember seeing near as many "large" individuals as you see in droves in the US. And, cars actually stop for pedestrians and cyclists! What a concept!! As the day went on, we had coffee with a fantastic couple from the US. One of these women had been living in the Netherlands for many years and the other for only about a year and a half. They were expecting their first child. They chose to do this while in Amsterdam (and plan to stay to have their second child) because health insurance in Holland pays for it. I enjoyed learning about what it was like to be living overseas and the differences in culture. I think we do things differently here because it's how we have learned to do things. I won't make any statements about the validity of either process. I'll just say that it's beneficial to explore differences.

While in Amsterdam, I was fortunate enough to visit 2 tourist attractions with very different feelings and impacts, the Anne Frank House and the Heineken Brewery. The Anne Frank house is something that everyone who travels to Amsterdam should experience. While the area that she and her family "lived" in was larger than I expected, walking through there and spending time there while reading excerpts from her diary was truly moving. To spend any portion of your life in complete darkness and in total silence for a large portion is unfathomable to me. The Heineken Brewery, though cheesy and a bit like Disney World had designed it, was much more light-hearted and fun, but I'll stick to darker beers, thanks :).

I'm going to leave out my description of the red-light district...but, yes I did experience it and yes, I have some opinions and stories about it.

The very next day (and without enough rest), I hopped the train for Paris. Train travel is wonderful and I wish I could take advantage of it in the states. I read for hours and listened to my ipod and it seemed like almost instantaneously we were there. Now this is where I REALLY appreciated my tour guide the most (THANK YOU SO MUCH LUKE!) because I did not have to navigate one bit in Paris (or anywhere else for that matter). I'm sure that my time in Europe would not have been so stress-free had I had to figure out where I was going, what time to be there, where the trains would take me, which metro/subway/streets to take. All I had to do was tell him what I wanted to see and he made it happen. I'm a little spoiled and I'll admit that here.

I spent 2 half days and one full day in Paris. If someone told me that I had a job and a place to live waiting for me, I would leave tomorrow and live there for the rest of my life. I loved it. My favorite place was the Rodin Museum and I can't pick a favorite thing that I ate because I loved it all: escargot, wine, bread, crepes, coffee, onion soup, more bread and the list goes on. We stayed in a fabulous little hotel in the Latin Quarter, Hotel Saint Jacques. The hotel had skeleton keys attached to cute little rope keychains. You couldn't take them with you. You gave them to the concierge/bellhop/front desk person when you left and they handed it to you when you came back in. The first thing I did when I got off the metro near the Notre Dame Basillica was buy a new scarf (I have a bit of an obsession). The Eifel Tower was magnificent, though I must say that when I saw it from a distance, it didn't look real. I had seen it so many times in pictures that the vision of it in the sky looked just like every photograph I had ever seen. Only when I was standing under it did the realization that I was actually there come to me. Then, I KNEW I was in Paris.

I enjoyed myself photographing tourists and locals, observing the sites, smelling, touching, tasting and just experiencing being in another country. I was so glad that I purchased my camera before I left. I came home with over 400 pictures and will have fun going through them, having some printed for frames, and just remembering everything I saw, smelled, tasted and experienced.

Thanks again to my host and tour guide for the week!