Harbour City Ramblings

Too many bizarre occurrences in the last couple of weeks, I’m starting to realize you sometimes have to just sit back and let the super-unknowns do their dirty work while you go along for the ride.

Meeting Brian & Elizabeth

Our second to last day in Amsterdam, a new couple arrived late one afternoon to the bunk across from Dylan and I. As it turned put there were incredibly friendly Americans: Brian of Phoenix and Elizabeth of Boston. We got to talking and they were also traveling Western Europe for an entire month, including some of the very same cities on our itinerary.

It was odd enough to encounter a couple from our very own continent, as the majority of people there were from Australia, the UK, other parts of Europe, or unidentifiable non-English speakers. The perfect part was their Oktoberfest dates landed on Sept. 24th, 25th, and 26th… The very same three days we were going. So of course we exchanged details and planned to meet up for a night of debauchery and 1-Liter German beer consuming.

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We lucked out while in Amsterdam. With the city having a similar climate to back home in Victoria, we prepared for rain and temperatures around 15 to 20 degrees. What we got was much more pleasant.

Amsterdam is a city you could literally walk around for days and days on end. Through it’s multitude of museums, beautiful parks, pedestrian-only shopping streets, and those amazing canals at every turn to wander beside. So with the weather in our favour, at an upwards of 23 degrees (all days except that of our arrival and for two hours mid-week), wander for days is what we did in fair Amsterdam.

The first night in, as my last post stated, we enjoyed a wicked concert at an amazing venue. The remainder of our days were spent just taking in the laid-back vibe and cool culture. We rented bikes, which is truly the very best way to get around. The city is built for cyclists. Every street has separate bike lanes, and usually bike traffic lights. So we hopped on our rented rides and got further access to areas than we would have just walking, as it’s a flat, well-spaced out city.

The Vondelpark & the Anne Frank House

The Vondelpark was the perfect hang-out on the sunnier days for people watching. And it’s near to the Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum, which we opted not to partake in. But the small park behind them (the name unfortunately slips my mind), is gorgeous and a must-see, even if you don’t actually spend the many € to enter the museums. Instead, Wednesday around 7:00pm, we found ourselves in the Anne Frank Museum, one of the few things we actually planned to accomplish. It was well worth the €7 admission and took only around an hour to see. It was truly unbelievable to have the opportunity to step inside the Secret Annex that Anne, her parents, sister, and four others spent around two years of their lives in, before their discovery, capture and- for Anne and a few others- untimely deaths. Highly recommended.

Other than that Amsterdam was fortunately pretty chill, compared to nutty France. So it was a good break before hopping on the train Friday morning, Sept. 12th to Berlin for one night, for one well-known metal band’s Album Release party… and what I guarantee will be the best concert of my life.

Tonight is our first night here in Amsterdam, and only our second hostel experience on this European journey since we have found ourselves spoiled with comfortable spots to rest this past week. This one, however- the Aivengo Youth Hostel- is pretty outstanding so far. Extremely clean, safe atmosphere, free WiFi and close to everything the city has to offer.

This evening we were privileged to be at the last show on Pennywise’s European tour- something they made very clear they were extremely stoked about as well.

They played at a venue that was previously an old factory. These days the Melkweg houses multiple rooms in it’s various areas for cinema, dance and theatre productions, art and photography exhibits, and- in the “the Max” area- concerts. It’s one of the two concert halls under the same roof and has standing-room-only anywhere you’d like- balcony, bar stool, steps or floor (with no barricade between crowd and stage) for a mere 1,000 people. The sound was within it’s tightly enclosed brick walls was pretty impressive.

A Wilhelm Scream opened with huge energy. Shortly after their brief set Pennywise took over with a wide range of old and new. From Broken, Living for Today, Pennywise, Perfect People, One Reason, Society and of course ending with Bro Hymn.

Now, I’ve seen Pennywise before in a way, though I don’t think I’ll count it, as it was at Warped Tour a few years back. And I recall listening to them (only, I know) around 10, maybe just under a dozen or so years ago… That made me feel a little old! Their experience and that venue this evening made for an amazing show here in Amsterdam.

I live in a tourism driven community. Approximately twice weekly on my way to or from James Bay, I find myself behind the lens of a foreigners camera, taking that memorable family photo in front of the Victoria Legislature. Finally, it’s my turn…

We touched down in Frankfurt, Germany on Sunday around 4:30pm local time. Upon arriving at the airport we quickly regained our strength at one of the many airport cafes, dinning on tomato soup (or more so, delicious tomato paste), frankfurters and cold beer. Much to my dismay Frankfurt was a practically unbearable 30 degrees… Didn’t much help to have 16 kilos of clothing strapped to my back!

The Netherlands

We had an ICE Train reservation for 7pm to the small Dutch town of Arnhem, a couple hours west of Frankfurt. The train system here is incredible. We moved at a speed of 250 Km+ at times through south-west German rolling plains into the Netherlands.

We were greeted at the Arnhem Central Station by an old family friend of Dylan’s, Stijn. We were then fortunate enough to spend the next few days getting accustomed to the European lifestyle at the home of Stijn, Mim, and their two beautiful young girls, Mirre and Evie in Elst, the Netherlands.

The Horse Market

On Monday, Sept. 1st, we awoke sans jet lag and attended a horse market that has been going on annually in Elst, since 1200. Horse breeders from all across Europe lined the cobble-stoned streets with hundreds of their horses. If you want the best deal on the most impressive horse you’re there at 5am… Luckily we were not. We biked in by 8am, and had a beer in hand by 9am.

Seated next to a table of 4 local gentlemen, I was offered a horse for a mere €40! Unfortunately I don’t believe my landlady Opal would allow it in my tiny flat.

Kinderdijk

The next few days were spent wide-eyed touring the southern Netherlands. We wandered the modern markets and shopping areas of Rotterdam, visited the oldest city in the Netherlands, Nijmegen (an ancient Roman settlement), took a tour of Mim’s coffee factory, and drank a lot of beer- which goes without saying. The highlight was definitely the 250 year old windmills in Kinderdiijk.

Antwerp, Belgium

Wednesday we reluctantly left our incredibly accommodating tour guide, Stijn, behind, as well as the comfort of their home in Elst and hopped on a train headed west.

Our destination was an unexpected one, we spent the night in Antwerp, Belgium last night. A decision I’m most happy we made. This was the first Hostel experience for both Dylan and I. We used his handy Let’s Go: Western Europe book and located the New International Youth Hostel about a 15 min. walk from the Antwerp Central Station. As the book states, it is a well-worn place, but it was most enjoyable and we met folks from all across Europe.

Antwerp itself is stunning, a melting pot of cultures, amazing architecture and world famous fries (to die for, especially with garlic sauce!).

At the moment we’re south-bound on the Thalys to Paris, then we will head north straight-away. Our official plan is to spend a night or two in the northern sea-side town of Dieppe, France, and get our Paris sight-seeing in most likely on Saturday. Dylan’s not big on the French culture, something to do with the French Immersion kids clashing with his English classmates back in his Elementary School days- so we’ll see how he fares with all the berets and croissants…

…We shall see if it is entirely possible.

So far we have our Eurail passes, they arrived a couple of weeks ago.  We’re free to bound across various borders throughout Western Europe for an entire month.  With the exception of a few minor obligations here and there- concerts namely- we haven’t many set plans. Only to not bog ourselves down with huge lists of must-dos/sees in one place or another, but to get up and go as we see fit.

1,000 person-venue Pennywise show, in Amsterdam? Far too good to pass up.

The Pennywise tickets for the Amsterdam, Netherlands show have also arrived, and now all we have to do is wait patiently, packed full of hope for (an official) announcement that Metallica will play the 02 World Arena in Berlin, Germany… Only then may we rest and anticipate take-off.

When we first started the planning process, some many months ago, we had to come up with the simplest way to organize the many minute details of this one huge trip.  Dylan came across a site to do just that, TripIt, which we’ve been using with much ease.  The iCal feed is a hugely beneficial feature, and this way we’re not fidgeting with a plethora of papers on the road, appearing more tourist-like than we hope to. We’ll have all necessary train schedules, maps, and tour information conveniently in one place. Maybe even as close as our fingertips, with the help of his iPhone.

I highly recommend travellers try out TripIt for future vacation planning, it makes a potential trip blunder much less likely.

I started the summer with an outstanding read.  My co-worker/great friend, Linda, lent me a novel she claimed to have just devoured earlier this spring: Elizabeth Kostova’s “The Historian.” I followed suit and enjoyed the thoroughly suspenseful tale of a girl following her family’s tracks back in time.  Her journey to better understand their history leads her through European countrysides, coasts, mountains and valleys.  From monasteries to libraries, and the depths of ancient crypts, as she comes across possible past blood connections to a well-known 15th century historical figure- Vlad the Impaler (better known as Dracula).  Truly, a page-turner.

In preparation for the Netherlands leg of our own Europe trek, I’m revisiting (though practically reading for the first time, as it’s been many years and was previously mandatory for grading purposes in middle-school,) “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.”  What a brilliant, most sharp young mind, she had, even through all of that.  Of course, we plan to stop by the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

Also picked up a couple of classics to possibly get to before or during the trip: Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” (a children’s novel, technically sure, but still a classic!), and Jane Austen’s “Emma”.  Here’s hoping I find the time to get to an optometrist this summer- the eyes, they’re strained… I wish Wii Fit could help with those types of exercises.