London and Amsterdam

London 11-20-12 to 11-22-12

Getting to the airport on Tuesday was fairly easy, because we trained to Milano Centrale and then took a bus to Bergamo. While in Milan, a few of us had extra time and went to get pizza for lunch. It was delicious and definitely a change from the usual bread sandwiches that we eat from the villa. Our flight left for London Stansted at 5pm and we arrived shortly after 6pm UK time. Stansted is about an hour outside of central London, so we took a bus to Liverpool street station and then took the tube to Paddington station. Our hostel was right near the Paddington stop and everyone but Sam, Cody, David, and Allison stayed there. The rest of them were lucky enough to stay at the Hilton that was about 500 feet away. Our hostel was called The Pride of Paddington and served us free full English breakfasts every morning. It was fairly late by the time everyone ate that evening, so we did not stay out very long. 

Pride of Paddington Hostel

Wednesday morning started with a full English and then we ventured off to Abbey Road. The boys (David, Holland, Sam, Cody, and Brent) attempted to take a Beatles picture, but there were so many cars it was difficult to do. We did not stay there long, because we wanted to make it to Buckingham Palace in order to see the changing of the guards. The ceremony took a little bit longer than expected and it was raining outside, so I got a little bit chilly. The band played “I believe I can fly” and “Walking on Sunshine.” It was a little bit bizarre, because it was so unexpected, but it was a lot of fun. When we walked over to the Parliament buildings, there were a lot of police officers outside, because a protest/manifest about the government was occurring. We got fish and chips at a pub right across from Big Ben and it was delicious. By the time we were finished eating, it was pouring outside and extremely windy. It was funny to watch people as we were walking across the bridge towards the London Eye, because things were blowing everywhere and we all looked ridiculous. Instead of being outside sightseeing, all of us decided that going to Harrods would probably be a better option. There were so many luxury items inside; none of us could afford anything! We played in the toy store for a long time and it was so much fun. There was a lady that was very serious about her job of making fake snow, but it was fun to play with. On the way back to the hostel, we stopped by Piccadilly Circus just to see the cool Christmas lights. I quickly went back to the hostel and got dressed for the Arsenal game! There were five of us that went to the game: Sam, Cody, Holland, Caroline F, and I. We hung out at the Hilton for a little bit before we headed on the tube to the game. Once we got to the Arsenal stop, we walked to the South West ticket collection and picked up our tickets. We were in section 122, which was quite high up but we could see the whole pitch. Arsenal was playing Montpellier and we won 2-0. Jack Wilshere and Lukas Podolski both scored, and Podolski’s goal was especially remarkable. The Montpellier fans were in a small section and were going crazy the entire time even though they were losing. Considering I have been an Arsenal fan since I was born, it was a tremendous experience. It was Kacey’s birthday that day too, so we all met up after the game and went out. Meeting up with people, when we do not have cell phones that work properly, is very difficult. Luckily I was able to turn on my service for a few minutes at the same time as Ali did, so we chose a spot to meet!

  

Buckingham Palace for changing of the guards

Changing of the guards

Sam being silly!

Protests outside of the House of Parliament

House of Parliament

Christmas World in Harrods

Beautiful Harrods!

Arsenal game!

At the Arsenal game!

Thanksgiving Day started off a little bit later than normal. Matt, Gretchen, Allison, David, Allyson, Cody, Sam, Holland, and I all went to the edge of Hyde Park and looked at the winter wonderland fair that was being set up. Too bad we would not be there for it, because it looked amazing. It was a beautiful day and we spent the morning and early afternoon just walking through the park and kicking around a tennis ball. It was so lovely to spend Thanksgiving with some of my best friends in a beautiful park with perfect weather. It was one of my favorite moments. We ended up at the end of Hyde Park where Kensington Palace is and took a brief look inside. Outside of the palace we took some pretty goofy pictures and all huddled together for a big thanksgiving group hug. Afterwards, we made our way to the bridges but I had to stop at Lloyd’s on the way and deposit money. It ended up being quite the debacle because I messed up the numbers. Luckily most of us were not in a rush and they all said they had no problem waiting which was so sweet of them. Once I got that sorted out, we went to the tower of London and the Tower Bridge. After taking a lot of pictures, we walked over the bridge and sat in a pub for a beer. There was a fire going and it was a very cool atmosphere. I was there with Sam, Matt, Holland, Gretchen, and Allyson. It was our Thanksgiving celebration! We spent about an hour there and then decided to head back, because we had to catch a train to get to the port for our boat to Amsterdam that night. By the time we got to Liverpool street station, we had missed the earlier direct train. We made it there anyway with a little bit of luck on our side. The boat was very cool; it was a ferry but seemed like a cruise ship. The rooms were pretty small but surprisingly very nice. It was Kacey, Allyson, Stef, and I in a room. We all went and hung out in the café area for most of the night. At midnight everyone sang happy birthday to me which was so sweet!

Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park!

Beautiful Thanksgiving Day with Allyson and Gretchen

Hyde Park

Just hanging out in a phone booth with Al

Hyde Park

Gretchen, Allison, Allyson, and I near Kensington Palace

The group!

Goofing around in front of the palace

Westminster Abbey

We love Matt!

Tower of London

Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge

At the pub!

Our room on the boat

Hanging out on the boat!

Amsterdam 11-23-12 to 11-25-12

It was an early morning on Friday, because our boat got to the port in Rotterdam around 7:45 AM. Once we got off the boat, we had to make our way to the train station and find the train that would take us to Amsterdam. It took about an hour and it was freezing once we arrived. Luckily our hostel was not too far from the train station. We stayed at the Flying Pig Downtown in a room with a lot of random people, so it was quite interesting. Once we got there is was too early to be able to go to our rooms, so we left our things and went off to explore. We ate breakfast and then walked around. We stopped by a bakery and all bought apple beignets, because Brent kept talking about them. After that we all became obsessed with them, but Brent took it to a whole new level. While wandering we found this amazing shop that let us sample so many different types of cheese and spreads. I definitely spent a good half hour there. Afterwards we found the I Amsterdam sign and took a few pictures. At that point it was a little bit after 3 in the afternoon and we were all fairly tired. We decided to head back to the hostel and nap for a few hours. Once I got back to the hostel there were flowers sitting on my bed and a note that told me to go down to reception. At reception they gave me a bottle of champagne. I read the little note in the flowers and found out that they were from Katherine and Charlotte as well as the champagne. Needless to say it was the perfect birthday surprise. Ali also bought me a little cake from a bakery, which was very thoughtful! After an extremely long, much needed nap, we all went to different places to eat. I went to Burger Bar with a few other people and it was absolutely delicious! Afterwards we just walked around the city for a little bit. That night I got over 10 hours of sleep, because we all decided to meet around noon on the 24^th.

 

Typical Amsterdam buildings!

The hostel

The wonderful cheese shop

Apple Beignets

I Amsterdam with Kacey!

Birthday gift from Katherine and Charlotte! I have the best sisters :)

Our first stop on Saturday was Anne Frank’s house. The line was quite long outside, but it moved fairly quickly, so we didn’t freeze outside. It was a very interesting tour/museum and I learned a lot that I never knew before. I had no idea that they had created their own apartment within Otto Frank’s office building and that another family joined them after a few weeks. It was sad to hear many of the stories, but reading some of the statements Anne Frank made was amazing. She had such mature thoughts for such a young girl. After the museum, we all went to the Pancake Bakery, which is a famous pancake restaurant. I had the Indonesian pancake which was massive, but definitely worth the money. Afterwards we all just did a little bit of shopping and wandered around the city. That night we all went out together and just hung out in a bar called Black Tiger.

The girls!

One of my favorite pictures!

Anne Frank house

Anne Frank House

Pancake Bakery!

Indonesian Pancake

The next morning, most everyone had left on an early train back to Riva, but there was a group of us that had bought flights home. We had all day to wander some more and just hang out. We started off the morning just wandering around aimlessly and eventually came across this cool building called the Nemo. Allyson, Kacey, Brent, Holland, and I all went on the rooftop terrace which was really cool. The building was shaped in a bizarre way, so you could take steps from the ground all the way up to the top of the terrace and you were on the roof the entire time. It eventually became too windy, so we had to go inside the building and exit by walking through it. Usually you have to buy a ticket to go inside, but we avoided that because we were just leaving. We played with a few things on our way out, because it was a children’s science center with amusing activities. Brent really liked the architecture of the library, so we stopped by there as well. We stopped by the hostel so that Holland could meet up with everyone else that was on the earlier flight. Allyson, Brent, Meghan, and I met up with Brandon and Ben in the afternoon, because we were all on the evening flight. All of us made our way over to the famous windmill, but it was definitely anticlimactic. It took us a while to get there and once we did, the windmill was a lot smaller than I expected. We then made our way back to the hostel and stopped to get food for later along the way! All of us took a train to the airport and then waited there for a while until our flight at 8:55. Once we got the airport in Milan, Brandon had prearranged a taxi van to pick us up. The man was holding a sign that sad Brandon “Big Mac” McMichael, which was just absurd! We made it back to the villa around midnight. 

Allyson, Kacey, and I

The Nemo

View from the top of the Nemo

One of the many weird games inside of the Nemo

So many bikes in Amsterdam

The windmill

Those five days were a wonderful way to end my time traveling abroad. I could not believe that I would not be traveling with these wonderful friends again. As they say, all good things must come to an end and goodness me what a way to end things!