Amsterdam nights, Belgian waffles and a cruise to the UK!

Hello everyone!!

We've got a lot to share with you...

Our second day in Amsterdam began with a nice stroll through the Museumplein on our way to the Heineken brewery. We both agreed that the Heineken Brewery was the best brew tour we'd ever been on - super interactive and fun for people of all ages (plus it includes a few free beers). On the tour, we met a friendly Canadian brother and sister who were also visiting Amsterdam for a few days on their own. We instantly made friends with them, and despite the fact that they were both over 6'2", they were not intimidating at all, eh? We made plans to meet up with them for dinner and we checked out the Red Light District, which was exactly what we expected - insane. Women of ALL shapes and sizes posted up in the windows, waiting for business (biznasty as Mike called it). After this, we decided to go on a pub crawl we had heard about near our hotel. Let's just say this - the pub crawl began at 8:30pm and we got home at 4am. We met some fellow Californians and a crazy Australian guy (who was hilarious) and we had a great time dancing to songs like 'Happy Days' and 'Hakuna Matata'. P.S. Nick, our Australian buddy was showing off his one-armed push ups in the bar and would like to take you on. We think you could beat him though. As you can probably imagine, the next morning we slept in and had a late pancake breakfast that was PHENOMENAL! These pancakes were about 14" in diameter and they were so tasty - one had ham and cheese on top and the other had nutella and bananas. After lunch, we headed to the Anne Frank Huis (house), which was extremely interesting to see. We couldn't believe that her family could live in the quarters they did for several years before being discovered. The story was inspiring but sad at the same time - very memorable. We finished up the night eating outside along one of the canals with traditional dutch appetizers, which included bitterballen (fried meatballs) and vlammetjes (spicy egg rolls). On our last day in Amsterdam, we stopped at the Van Gogh museum. We enjoyed the Van Gogh paintings, but we both felt sleeeepy afterward. On our way out of town, we stopped at a local grocery store for snacks and we found fresh windmill cookies (one of Kristin's favorites). We checked out some of the other things in the store to see how they compared to the US and we found Frosties (Frosted Flakes), Loops (Cheerios), and Honey Pops (Corn Pops). Lots of the same, just slightly different.

Next, we moved on to Bruges, Belgium for a little rest and relaxation. Bruges is a quaint town, full of beautiful medieval architecture. We stayed at a great bed and breakfast (which has been the best free breakfast we've had yet on this trip) and we were just a short 10 minute walk to the central square. On our first day, we did some laundry (at a laundromat - so thankful we didn't have to wash it in the sink!) and then we were off to rent bikes for further exploration of the city. Bruges is set up with these great biking routes, where you can follow signs and bike out into the county, or even to other cities, without getting lost. We went for a nice 10mi bike ride out into the countryside and then we came back to the central square to watch the Belfry concert (where there was a program of about 8 songs that the Belfry played). That evening we started working on our plans to get to the UK and we discovered that there was an overnight cruise from Amsterdam to Newcastle (which is only about a 1.5hr train ride from Edinburgh, where we were ultimately heading to). Our Eurail passes don't work in the UK, so this sounded like a perfect opportunity for us to make it over for cheap (the cruise only cost €66 per person - and it basically turned into our hotel for the night with free entertainment!). We booked the cruise and our hostel in Newcastle and we went to bed excited for our adventure the next day.

In order to make it to our cruise, we needed to leave Bruges by about 11am, so we made to the Belfry tower when it opened and climbed to the top. We got to the top right on the hour and we heard a loud, but peaceful ringing of the bells...very cool. Next, we headed down to grab some Belgian chocolates and Belgian waffles to snack on for our train ride back up to Amsterdam. We rode our first train up to Antwerpen, where we were to connect to Amsterdam... and this is when the craziness of our day began. We got off our first train to find that our connection to Amsterdam was cancelled and that we'd have to wait an hour for the train ride. We were a little worried about making it to the cruise, but we figured we could still make it if we can quickly find a train/bus/taxi when we arrive in Amsterdam. We found that there was a 'fast flying ferry', as it was called, which was a hydrofoil boat that could give us a ride to the general area our cruise ship was leaving from. This sounded like our best option. We boarded our train to Amsterdam 1 hour later and about halfway through our trip, it was announced that there was an accident on our route and that we would be going a different way (which would tack on another 15-20 minutes). We finally arrived to Amsterdam at about 4:15pm, where we quickly boarded the fast flying ferry and made our way to Ijmuiden (where our ship was leaving at 5:30pm, last boarding call at 5pm). We started asking people if they knew the best way to get to the ship from the ferry dock and a really nice local guy said that his girlfriend was picking him up and that she would probably know best. We showed up to the ferry dock at about 5pm and we thought that we had surely missed the cruise. The friendly guy we met on the boat talked to his girlfriend and they offered us a ride to the cruise ship because it was only a short drive but could take us a while by bus. We judged our instincts and took the ride, desperately trying to make the ship... and we did!! We walked in the doors at 5:08pm and they allowed us to board! Needless to say, we immediately headed up to the bar once we threw our stuff into our room. :)

The cruise was a good time. We pretty much just relaxed and watched some bingo, a cheesy but entertaining magic show and a band that was performing classic songs like 'Brown Eyed Girl'. We were tired from a crazy day, so we hit the hay early and woke up arriving to Newcastle! Exiting the boat and going through customs in the UK was an interesting experience. For the first time, we felt questioned like we really weren't welcomed to the country. The guy questioning us wasn't rude or anything, but he wanted to know how long we were visiting the UK, why we were visiting the UK, how much money we had with us, when we were going back to the states, if we had return tickets already, then he wanted to see the return tickets and our credit cards, etc. We're sure it's a standard procedure, but it made us wonder what it would be like for people entering the US that aren't US citizens.

After the questioning, we made our way to downtown Newcastle and dropped off our bags at our hostel. We hit up a local cafe that we'd received coupons for (free cappuccinos) and grabbed a quick bite to eat. Meanwhile, Mike noticed that there was a group of about 5 deaf people that were signing to one another across the cafe. We made our way over to chat with them on our way out (for those who don't know, Mike's grandparents were deaf). They were really excited that we stopped to say hello, and although they didn't use American Sign Language, we still managed small talk. Their enthusiasm and animation reminded Mike of his grandpa Henry, which got us off to a great start for the day. Next, we were off to check out St. Nicholas Cathedral and the Castle Keep of Newcastle upon Tyne. St. Nicholas Cathedral had a gigantic organ that was pretty impressive, along with lots of beautiful stained glass. The Castle Keep tour had a great student rate of only£1, which we both qualified for (wink wink). Climbing up the staircase of this castle seemed easy after our previous 2 tower climbs, but the views from the top were just as impressive as each other tour we've been on. We went for a nice stroll across a couple of the main bridges in Newcastle, which led us to an architectural masterpiece known as the Sage Gateshead, an amazing and funky glass building used for music education and performances. We also found a library in there with free internet... an extra bonus! On our way back to the hostel, we stopped in a fish and game store that we randomly stumbled upon. Mike wanted to take a look inside and we ended up chatting with the owner and his son for about 30 minutes about the differences between the US and the UK. We also got some advice from the owner's son on Edinburgh (our next destination), as he attends college there. After leaving the store, we noticed that many of the people walking around were wearing football (soccer) jerseys. We knew that the Europeans and Brits love their football, but we had a feeling that there must be a game that night. We asked around and found out that, indeed, there was a cup match that night. We decided to mosey on over to the stadium and we were able to get 2 student tickets for £10 ($16) each. We had a great time at the game, and it was everything you could expect from an English football game... lots of yelling, lots of booing, lots of cheering that we didn't understand - truly an experience! On our last day in Newcastle, we toured the contemporary art museum (the Baltic), which was a free exhibit. We both agreed it was just as good of a gallery as any other one we've seen thus far, and our favorite exhibit was by Sarah Sze - her work was called installation art, where she took everyday items (like tape, tacks, sand, nails, yarn, water bottles, paper, chairs, toothpicks, fans...you get the picture), and she turned them into these crazy, super-detailed works of art, all connected, that covered an entire 80' x 100' room...unreal. Our last hour in Newcastle we spent having hot chocolate with marshmallows, watching the Millennium Bridge tilt for a passing boat. This is a pedestrian only bridge that raises up for passing boats (but is unlike an bridge we've seen before... you should check out the pictures).

Yesterday, we took a train up to Edinburgh, Scotland and checked into our hostel on the Royal Mile. We've been enjoying the International Fringe Festival that's been going on, which is a combination of the arts (including music, theater and comedy shows). Edinburgh's medieval architecture, hills and bridges make it such a beautiful place. We are looking forward to a few more nights here and then we're off to London to meet up with some of Mike's old friends!

Hope you enjoy the pictures we've managed to get up... and we'll try to keep them coming!
Love, Mike and Kristin