Day 11

Ugghh.. my belly full of paella overrunneth. You should see this laptop balancing on my gut like a teeter totter. I can't complain though, the food we had at dinner tonight was delicious. Kicked it off with a fried tapas sampler and a bottle of the house white at el restaurante "Elche" en la Barri Gotic neighborhood. I'm getting ahead of myself though, time to hit rewind.

We began today as usual here in Barcelona- slept in and then went poolside on the rooftop for an hour or so. The concierege had suggested we take the "Bus Turistic" around town as a relatively inexpensive (20 euros pp) way to see a lot of the city. One of those double decker buses with the convertible top on which all of the locals can point and laugh at the tourists wearing big blue earphones as they hit all of the city's main attractions.
Our first stop was la Sagrada Familia, a church designed by world renowned architect Antoni Gaudi. The scale of the church is astounding. Construction began in 1882 and isn't predicted to be finished until sometime in the mid 2020's. Gaudi devoted 40 years of his life to this project before he was nailed by a train at the age of 73. He was well aware he wouldn't be around for its completion, but said it would be done on God's watch instead. We could have taken an elevator up one of the spires but decided it wasn't worth it since the line was an hour long and cost 4 extra Euros, but we were still able to take quite a few good pics from the ground up.
We hopped back on the bus headed to the Park Guell, another one of Gaudi's masterpieces. Amy and I thought it looked like a mixture of Candyland and a Dr. Suess book, so needless to say it was pretty sweet.
The heat was getting to us at this point and Amy stubbed her toe, so we decided to ride out the remainder of the bus tour without getting off at any of the other stops. After arriving back at the hotel, we ate more of Amy's bag of gummi's along with a Toblerone and some of the famous "Dinkle Sticks".
This brings us back to the beginning of the blog entry, dinner time. It was about a 10-block walk to the restaurant which we had Googled under the search terms "Best paella in Barcelona". This place was one of the 3 mentioned on Tripadvisor.com. We ordered the "peeled/deshelled" meat and seafood paella which was pretty tasty. For desert we had vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce and Amy got the creampuffs. Great way to fill our bellies for the sleep time ahead of us before the big trip back home. Barcelona is a great laid-back city with good food and nice people. We'd like to come back again when la Sagrada Familia is finished.

We can't deny we're exited to come back home where our guineas be and signs are written in English! But we wouldn't mind having a few more days off of work, of course...

Day 10

Had a relaxing morning, finally! We slept in and then laid out by SOHO's pool. We were lucky enough to get two chairs in the sun. I start reading The Diary of Anne Frank that we bought in Amsterdam and Nate jammed out to some tunes on the iPod. When we decided to head back and get ready for the day, the cleaning crew was just putting the final touches on our room. So, we decided to take a stroll around our neighborhood for a quick bite to eat. We ended up at a pizzeria (always a safe bet in all the countries we've been to). We were definitely their first visitors of the day so it took awhile to place our order. We wanted to order one pizza to share and when we did, the waitress told us in broken English that it wouldn't be enough for two people. So, I ordered the mozzarella pizza and Nate had the chorizo. When the pizzas came out they were completely different then what we expected. It looked like a flatbread sandwich but it was delicious and really hit the spot.

After lunch, we hit La Rambla. From our hotel, it’s only about a 10 minute walk, no more than a mile. We had read that the area is home to street performers, bird stalls, and tourist gift shops. We were not aware that at the bird stalls guinea pigs are also sold! As you can imagine, we were so happy to see the little cobayas (Spanish for guinea pig) running around, eating lettuce, and popcorning (what a guinea does when it gets excited). Along with the birds and guinea pigs, the stalls sold bunnies, turtles, chipmunks, and a number of other small pets. After the happiness of seeing all these guineas past, I was sad that I couldn't take them all home with us. Thinking about it, this is no place to keep guineas. Its way too hot and loud for their little bodies and brains. We talked about creating a "Save the Guineas in Barcelona" campaign but figured we'd get little to no response from friends and family at home. However, if you're interested, let us know!
About halfway down La Rambla, just off the side of the street is a large market that sells vegetables, fruit, candy, ice cream, meat, and seafood. The sights and smells were amazing! All of the produce was fresh and the seafood still moving. The vendor that first caught our eyes was selling gummy candy. We purchased 20 euros worth of sweets and then stopped at the gelato booth for a scoop of vanilla and oreo flavored cream. We kind of wished we had an apartment to go back to so we could make a meal with all the local ingredients.
The end of La Rambla is lined with artists making caricatures for tourists. There were also many street performers dressed up in all types of costumes. Just imagine a street performer in downtown Chicago and multiply that X 10. These people go all out for tips from tourists visiting. Mostly, people give them money to take pictures with them. Another main attraction on La Rambla are the pickpocketers and scam artists. This is the perfect place to have your purse picked through especially when you're infatuated by the guinea pigs at the bird stalls.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a small cafe for a few cervezas and chatted about our trip so far. Nate couldn't believe that we were already on our tenth day and thought for sure that we had a few more days to explore Barcelona. Nope... it’s coming to an end!
We also stopped for dinner on the intersection of La Rambla and SOHO's street called La Tramola. We ate outside and enjoyed the tapas style menu. We ordered: garlic potatoes, marinated meat, cheese and tomato salad, fried chicken, and marinated mushrooms. After seeing a neighboring table with fried calamari, we also ordered that. It was very delicious and filling.

While Barcelona is home to a great nightlife scene, we just couldn't find the energy to do more exploring. It was another early night in bed but just want we needed after a long day on La Rambla.

Day 9

Hola! We are officially on our last leg of the trip in Barcelona, Spain. We left Paris this morning around 10 a.m. for our flight at 12 p.m. Everything went off without a hitch. We even took the metro to Orly airport and found our way just fine. Its bittersweet leaving a place we grew so familiar to in just a short time period. Sure, Paris had its ups and downs but it was a great trip and we learned a lot about the city, ourselves, and each other.

The flight from Paris to Barecelona was about an hour and a half. I finished reading "My Sister's Keeper" which I wouldn't recommend to anyone! What a depressing story and so unbelievable. I was really disappointed in the ending..Anyway, after the flight we stopped for a quick bite to eat near the airport exit. Two chocolate cream filled donuts. It was heaven.
During our trip in Barcelona, we are staying at Hotel SOHO. The location is good because of its proximity to the metro but we are not on the Mediterrean which was a little disappointing. Also, there is construction all around the area so we'll probably be up at the crack of dawn listening to jackhammers. The hotel itself is an intriguing building with modern rooms. We have to use our key to activate all the lights and even have a button to open and close the blinds. Its a step above our last two apartments. We are so happy to be relaxing in Barcelona. We have the air conditioning cranking, have been using all the free tolietries, and have taken full advantage of the front desk for things to do and places to eat. Not to mention the rooftop pool/lounge area! Our neighbors are a family from Madison, WI so maybe we'll get a chance to exchange stories.
I'm not sure if any of you have noticed but Nate didn't fulfill his promise in Amsterdam or Paris of buying me flowers everyday. Now, I'm probably the one to blame because everytime an opportunity arose, I didn't really feel like carrying them around with me. So, upon arriving at the SOHO, Nate surprised me with a bouquet of flowers. The largest arrangement I've ever received. Its so beautiful and we'll be able to enjoy over the last few days of our honeymoon. Take a look at our pictures on smugmug!
After we checked-in, we layed out by the pool for a few hours and relaxed. The pool is really an oversided jacuzzi but the sun was shining and it felt good to be outside and not on our feet touring a museum. We made reservations for dinner at a local restaurant recommended by the front desk - La Fonda del Port Olympic. The restaurant is just south of our hotel on the Meditearrean in a very toursity area. We were a little leary of the location because we've read about overpriced food in areas such as this. But, we were pleasantly surpised. The food was delicious and the service was great too. We orderd the hardshell seafood plate with crab, lobster, snail, shrimp, oyster, and prawn and the vegetarian paella which is an out of this world rice dish that can be made with either veggies, seafood or meat. For dessert, we had ice cream and free cookies offered by La Fonda. Very delicious and by the far the most full we've been on this trip. We're going to try out a new location eat day for paella to see who makes the best!
That about sums up our day. Tomorrow we'll be sleeping in as long as the construction allows and haven't planned anything for the day except maybe some more sunshine.

Good night!

And congrats to Adam Sturtewagen and Laura Taff! They are engaged!

Day 8

Another day on the move canvassing the remaining areas of Paris we haven`t seen yet. Amy really wanted to see the Picasso Museum so we agreed that would be our first stop. After the Metro ride we headed toward the museum but then realized we needed food to proceed. We stopped at a little corner cafe called Cafe Sevigny. The food was pretty good and a little pricey, but we had to get an official French crepe before we left town. We opted for the butter and sugar crepe (because we both thought it would taste most like lefse) and it was really awesome. It definitely hit the spot for some morning urban exploration.

When we eventually found our way to the Picasso Museum, we found that it was closed for renovations until 2012. Rick Steves failed to mention that in his guidebook. Suprisingly enough, this actually turned out to be a good thing because it gave us more time to visit the Centre Pompidou which is one of, if not the most, exclusive modern art museums in the world. It contains work done by Picasso, Dali, Matisse, Pollack, Warhol, and a whole lot of other freaky artwork I had a difficult time grasping.

The building itself was really cool. It was built about 30 years ago and Parisians hated it thinking it was disgraceful to the other architecture around the city, but apparently they`ve grown to love it. It looks like it was built inside-out. Amy and I both thought the elevator to the top offered the best view of the city, even better than the view from the Eiffel Tower itself.

Since we had tickets to the Coldplay concert later in the night, we wanted to make sure we were rested beforehand so we headed back to the apartment for a siesta. We drank a bottle of Riesling (yum) and ate a French frozen pizza (meh) before we left for the show. The concert was at the Parc des Princes "football" stadium where the team Paris Saint-Germain plays. 

We were really excited to see one of the opening acts, the Flaming Lips. The crowd didn`t respond well to them, not sure if it was because they weren`t familiar with them or because the sound sucked but the crowd was really lame. Amy and I both really like the show they put on.

A total transformation occured when Coldplay hit the stage. The crowd went nuts, the sound was great, and they played an awesome show. We started right up front but our bladders told us we needed to find the port-o-potties toward the back of the field only a few minutes into their set. Another blessing in disguise for us as the guys in the band left the stage to play only a few feet in front of us! The best part about it was when they played "Green Eyes" which was Amy and my first dance song at our wedding. We have a video of it so hopefully everyone can check it out.

My glass of champagne is empty so that tells me it`s time to stop typing and go to bed. Another big day ahead of us... quick flight to Barcelona then kickin it into full-on relaxation mode. Paris- you`ve been painful and lovely, hope to come back soon.

OHH, and we did stop at the louvre for a few photos but didn`t get a chance to see the infamous Mona Lisa. Oh well, we needed to save a few things for our next trip to Paris.

Day 7

Good morning! Yesterday proved to be a better day here in Paris. We got an earlier start and took the metro 30 minutes southwest of Paris to Versailles where the royal chateau is located. On the ride down, we listened to Rick Steves`Versailles walking tour to give us a head start on the trip.

The line for tickets was about 35 minutes but well worth the wait. Louis XIV is responsible for the monstrosity of Versailles. The property is sprawling with the chateau, gardens, sculptures, waterfalls, and Marie Antoinette`s private home and playground. We spent over 3 hours in Versailles and probably only saw 1/2 of the exhibits. The most memorable locations are the gardens and, of course, the hall of mirrors. Nate and I wondered why we weren`t born into royalty because obviously this palace was built with us in mind. If you have the chance to take this trip, we definitely recommend it. Make an entire day of it and pack a picnic to enjoy in the gardens. Or you can purchase a fromage and baguette sandwich like we did! The pictures from this excursion are stunning and give you a better idea of Versailles` beauty.

After Versailles we wanted to squeeze in one more excursion. The Orsay Museum (full of impressionists`works) was on my mind all day and would work into our schedule because it is closed on Monday, our last full day in Paris. Well, the 20 min train ride was sweltering hot and we just couldn`t bear going through another museum. So, we took a quick detour from our apt stop to Notre Dame. The line to get in the cathedral was about a mile long so we opted out and just took in the exterior views. As you can see from the pictures, another breathtaking structure in Paris.

With at least 5 other museums/monuments on the mind, we decided to do something out of the ordinary that was by far the best of the day...a siesta at our apartment. But before that could happen, we had to watch the 100`s of rollerbladers cruise down our main street, Saint-Denis.

We have been on the go non-stop since we arrived in Paris not to mention the action packed wedding weekend just prior to our European excursion. There is sooo much to do and see in Paris that at times it can be overwhelming. After our much deserved 2 hour nap, leftover spaghetti from day 1 was in order. Yummmmm!

After dinner, around sunset, we took the metro to the Grande Arche La Defense in the center of Paris`business district. This modern structure is so different from anything we have ever seen. The building itself is mesmerizing but its the surrounding landscape and views that complete the design. From the top of stairs you can see the Arc de Triomphe. *See the surplus of pictures! After the arch, we took a small walk to a fountain and watched the show with the Grande Arche in the background.  

Later in the evening, we decided to take a walking tour through Montmarte (northeast of downtown  Paris). This area was the stomping ground for the likes of Renoir, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Picasso. The start of the tour take you to the highest point in Paris, Sacré-Coeur. This was so much fun and had we known it was going to be so much fun we would have brought along a bottle of wine, some fromage and of course a baguette. The stairs were packed with locals drinking, relaxing, and listening to music. We listened to a few Bob Marley jams and then took the rest of the tour. In a perfect world, we should have walked past Picasso`s studio along with Van Gogh`s home but of course we couldn`t find them. We did see a few cafes that inspired some very important masterpieces including the Moulin de la Galette (in Renior`s Bal du Moulin de la Galette). Our last stop was the Moulin Rouge. This was definitely on my top 5 list of things to see in Paris so I was genuinely happy in the photo after a long day of walking.

This was a great day and brought our spirits up a lot after Saturday`s mayhem. 

We are officially 1/2 way through the trip! What will we blog about after? Any suggestions?

Day 6

The theme of our trip is - so close yet so far away. So far nothing seems to be going our way in Paris. We are trying to get an early start today to see more of the sites. Pics are up on smugmug from day 6 and we`ll update you more about it tonight!

Of course the first stop any American in Paris needs to take is at the Eiffel Tower. We took the Metra (Paris`subway system and by far easier to understand than Amsterdam`s but unfortunately smells even more pee soaked) to the Ecole Militare stop. We followed the signs up the street and eventually hit the end of the Eiffel Tower mall area. And there it was, the world famous steel tower we had read and heard about all of our lives:

We started our walk toward the tower so we could get our tickets to the top. While we waited in line with other tourists from across the world, Amy pointed out that the Jules Verne restaurant`s elevator station was right there. Uncle Tub and Aunt Carmen had given us dinner for two on our honeymoon at the restaurant so I decided to walk over and check the menu and see if I could get a reservation for 9pm. The menu listed the entrees at around 55-70€ a piece, but we expected that and thought it would be a chance to have the dinner of a lifetime. I asked the security guard out front if they were taking reservations and he said yes, but the earliest one would be for 9pm. Perfect! That was the exact time we were looking for. He sent me inside to set the time with the maitre de. "Table for two at 9pm, please!" I said. He looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language (which I was) and notified me that the restaurant was booked solid for the next three months. I believe kids on the internet these days call that a "fail" and this follows the theme of the Paris trip Amy explained in the first paragraph.

Based on a friend`s recommendation, we decided to take the stairs up to the first and second floors of the tower. The reason for doing this is because the line is at last 100 people shorter than the elevator line. So, we took the stairs... The first floor was a breeze! We were amazed by the views, completely breathtaking. Before proceeding, we stopped at the cafe/cafeteria/tourist trap for a frommage and baguette sandwich (our new favorite meal) and french fries. We were joined by a handful of very hungry pigeons and a family celebrating a birthday with a never ending birthday song candle. How romantic. Did we mention that at this point a storm cloud was right over the tower and the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees?

After that, we found the stairway that led up to the second level. We could definitely feel the burn in our thighs on that one. Our tickets granted us access to the top of the tower but we were worn out by this time and ready to head back down so we skipped the top and began our descent.

We took a few more pics back on the ground and then headed to the Invalides. It is an old veterans hospital which has been converted into a military museum. It had a pretty cool central square in the middle and we also checked out the museum portion that had lots of armor and antique weaponry.

We kind of rushed through the museum so we could get back to the apartment to clean up and get into some nice clothes for a champagne cruise we had scheduled the night before. We only had a couple hours to work with to change and hurry back to the foot of the Eiffel Tower by 6pm to board the ship that would take us through the city on the Seine River and sample different glasses of the bubbly. Quite the romantic concept, indeed.

Cutting it close, I knew we had to hustle to get there on time... Amy was more relaxed this time around than I was, which to me was a bad sign because it usually goes the opposite way. After my Amsterdam fiasco, I wasn`t about to let us miss both a train AND a ship on the same trip.

As the sun beat upon us, we snaked our way through the tourists, African trinket pushers and Indian scam artists (don`t fall for the postcard trick) and actually arrived with five minutes to spare. There was a long line, of course, of people buying boat tickets but we figured we were ok since we had purchased ours online the night before. Walk up, give them our name, hop aboard, and start sippin. Or at least that was the plan.

Every second we waited in line felt like an hour until we were right up to the ticket booth. These two girls ahead of us were just having the hardest time figuring out if they wanted to go or not. Not like they had 20 min before that waiting in line to figure it out or anything.....

They finally decided they did want to go and then they had issues with the credit card they wanted to use. At this point it was 6:04. I finally pushed past them and told the ticket lady we had reservations and to let us on the boat asap. As I said this, they closed the gates to the boat and set sail downstream. What happened after that is far too infuriating and frustrating and to try to type on this French keyboard, so I will save everyones time. Plus I`m tired.

So, we decided to chug ourselves a bottle of Merlot with baguettes and fromage to simmer down after the debacle. It helped.

We walked down the street and found a nice little restaurant and had dinner. Both of us really liked the escargot.

Definitely another long day full of excitement, we`re running a day behind on updates but we`ll get `em crankin after the sun rises "demain matin". Au revoir for now!

Day 5

Nate trying to get into the US Embassy for his passport.

We are off to a great start! Lost Nate's passport, missed our train... Here is the brightside (and a very one at that) - the US embassy actually had the passport! We are so thankful that someone turned it in because we would have been stuck in Amsterdam for the rest of the trip. Not such a bad thing but my heart was already in Paris this morning.

So... we are at Ben & Jerry's typing to you. No, Nate isn't eating ice cream yet (must be because of all the excitement this morning).

Hope your day starts off better then ours! Happy Friday! Happy long weekend for Labor Day.

The old gates to Paris just down the road from our apartment.

Warning! Im typing this on a french keyboard so i will not go out of my way on spelling. Also the Q is in the position of the A..not fun.. The good news is, we have arrived! The train we took from amsterdam to paris is called the thalys and moves at speeds over 125 mph.  At times it was moving so fast that it was tough to look out the window. The scenery was kind of dull with many areas looking a lot like the miserable I-90 stretch from Schaumburg to Rockford. Because of this, I started documenting all the grafitti I could find - there was a lot! Still the train was moving so quickly that it was hard to snap any good shots. 

The trip was about 4.5 hours long. After all the morning excitement, we both took naps and relaxed. About halfway along Nate decided to journey up a few cars to get some snacks. He returned with a small bottle of white wine, a heinekin, a twix bar, and a can of pringles. When i inquired about his selection, he said that he picked the items he could translate over in English. Lucky for him, the twix bar made the cut.

After arriving at the Paris Nord, we took our first stab at the metro system. It was a breeze, even with our luggage. We hope to have better luck this time around on the public transit system. Our apartment is on Rue de Clery. Not to be confused with the hot spot Rue de Cler (sorry Cheryl!). We are five stories high overlooking the beautiful street. The apartment is TINY but very cozy with internet, phone, TV, movies, video games (uh oh), and a beautiful porch decorated with the owners plants and flowers. If you are still stuck on the five stories high sentence, so are we, especially having to carry our luggage all the way up. 

Last night we laid low and made our very own italian dinner in Paris. There`s a grocery store just down the street from our apartment. The locals weren`t friendly but neither are the people in downtown Chicago so we won`t judge them just yet. Also, they do not sell peanut butter here!!!!!! This was a major disappointment for us PBJ lovers. 

We can`t wait to get out and explore. If you have any suggestions for our itinerary, leave a comment!

One last note - laying in bed last night, I started to think of all the different states people came from to attend our wedding (yes Mom, I couldn`t sleep..). Take a look at the list. Its pretty amazing. 

NY

DC

NC

AL

TN

AR

MO

IL (duh!)

WI

MN

SD

IA

NE

CO

TX

CA

and Brasil!

Thank you all! We miss everyone very much.

Day 4

We both woke up around noon today. And we will not apologize for sleeping in our honeymoon! I had a dream about eating a pancake stuffed with chocolate with ice cream on top... and little did I know that my dream was about to come true (sort of).

We caught the # 10 TRAM westbound to the Jordaan neighborhood looking for the "Anne Frankhuis". The morning weather started out pretty bad with gusting winds and blowing rain. We got off the TRAM started across the canals toward the house where Anne Frank and her family lived in hiding toward the end of WWII. Before we made it to the house/museum, a whiff of pancakes sucked us in to a place called De Oude Wester.

We decided to get crazy and order some traditional Dutch foods.
Bitterballen was one of the things we picked. It contains a meatball sized mixture of beef, beef broth, flour and butter for thickening, parsley, salt and pepper and then is deep fried . They were extremely hot and also one of the greatest things we've ever eaten. If I started a fast food place in the US called Bitterballer's we would be instant millionaires, probably.......... but back to the pancakes- they actually HAD chocolate pancakes with ice cream and chocolate syrup on top, but I thought it sounded too rich and sweet so I went for the strawberry pancakes with strawberries and strawberry ice cream on top. Amy also got split pea soup (aka erwtensoep) with the Vegeterische Schotel (creative way of saying vegetarian dish). The soup was really thick and more like a chili texture which we both thought tasted better than the reg version. As for my pancakes, they were ok. I guess pancakes with cold ice cream didn't make much sense to begin with anyway. Waffels are a different story.

After eating a lunch and saying hello to another cat, we headed toward the Anne Frank house. On the way there we walked passed the Westerkerk Church:


Just down the street we saw the line for the Anne Frankhuis. We waited for a bit before they let us in and found that you can't use cameras inside. As you make your way around the house there are video clips and passages of her diary painted on the wall. We walked through each of the rooms which don't include furniture since it was removed by the Nazi soldiers after the family was captured. Only a few items were recovered from the living area, including the actual diary. The hidden staircase behind the bookshelf was especially steep.

Frank House is the one right of the pointed house.

Amy and I were suprised to learn that Anne Frank's father survived the Holocaust and there was a clip of him talking about the main thing he took away from reading her recovered diary for the first time was about how he saw a side of her he had never seen before and that he thinks most people can't know what's actually going on in their children's minds.

Amy thought this guy looked awesome and so did I. She took his picture. Pretty sure he didn't mind.

We wandered the streets in Jordaan after that and getting lost for a while, which I will take the blame for this one time. Amsterdam is a great city to get lost in and getting lost here is easy. When every street in the city runs parallel in a "U" shape, it gets hard to realize what direction you're headed. Plus each of the maps we have suck, especially the TRAM map because it doesn't label stops or street names. That's ok though, we figure that it won't be the last time we get lost on this trip. Love will conquer all and this Expedition will never stop!!

Day 3

Good morning! We've uploaded all our photos to a site called smug mug. You can access the link here:

http://wixadventures.smugmug.com/

Thank you to Rick Rutter and Denah Taggart for the idea!

Shout out to UCA who is 'blog stalking' us. Get to work!! Big event on Thursday!

Had breakfast at a cafe directly behind our apartment. The menu was in all dutch but the lady who served us and owned the restaurant helped us along. Nate ordered a Dutch version of french toast. No syrup, just plenty of brown sugar. And my 'breakfast' grilled cheese sandwich was delish! Good start to the day!

The Heineken Experience was next on our list. The brewery isn't at this location anymore but Heineken did a great job of recreating the brewing experience without having to smell all the nasty smells that come along with beer making. During the tour we played along in a virtual bottle ride which showed us every step along the brewing process. Afterward we had three nice tall glasses of Heineken and relaxed!

The weather has been pretty nasty for our entire trip. Low to high 60's with rain or overcast. So, we did lots of walking around for most of yesterday's afternoon. We took our first trip to the 'Red Light District' and we think we'll leave that description for each of you to figure out on your own... Let's just say Amsterdam is pretty lax on most laws. Pictures were out of the question unless we wanted our camera broken by a local.

For dinner we stayed in our neighborhood and walked to a brewery that was recommended by our flight attendant called Brouwerij 't IJ. The brewery was filled with locals having a drink after work. People are even invited to bring there dogs into the building for happy hour. There were over 10 different beers to choose from - all brewed at the location. We had the Plzen and Columbus. Check out their brews at: http://www.brouwerijhetij.nl/producten_en.htm. The best thing about Brouwerij 't IJ is that it's connected to the De Gooyer windmill - built in the 1800's.

After happy hour, we walked over to the nearby Langendijk eetcafe for a nice dinner (hamburger and salad! Hamburger was mooing). It was a fun night in the midst of the Dutch culture.

Day 1-2

Goodbye Chicago! See you in a bit. Hopefully that guy who was catapulted from his Lexus SUV onto the golf course next to I-90 made it out alright. (It wouldn't be a true Wicks family vacay without seeing the remnants of a horrific auto accident.) We were able to make our flight on-time despite the slight gapers block.


Hello Amsterdam! Neither of us slept very well on the flight (Amy had the upperhand with her hot pink blanket, pillow, and 2 pd. bag of gummy bears/sour patch kids). But what a beautiful city to wake up in. Many windmills were visible from the plane. Thanks to our flight attendant Pam and Amy's Aunt Mary Ewert who hooked us up with a bottle of champagne for the first leg of the journey.

Had some trouble figuring out the transit system but we arrived at our apartment safe and sound. Our 'home' has three levels - top floor = sitting area and kitchen, second floor = outdoor garden and patio, bottom floor = bedroom and bathroom. Its very cozy so Kathy and Jan can put their minds at ease!



Just showered up and we're ready to hit the town. Not sure of today's agenda but pancakes are definitely on the to-eat list.

BTW, it take almost 2 minutes to upload each picture. Once we have some more time, we'll upload more or link up to a site that is quicker. Also, Amy wanted everyone to know that she is wearing skinny jeans.

NO PANCAKES!!! But replenished ourselves with an egg sandwich and beer:

Made the most of our first day even though we were up for 30 hours straight. The overnight flight definitely put a damper on our energy (and had a direct effect on getting lost every time we took the tram). So... our first stop was the Van Gogh Museum. A real treat for art lovers - Van Gogh, Gauguin, Monet, Manet, Breton, Rodin, Redon, and Toulouse-Lautrec. Of course the highlight was Van Gogh's work everything from Self portraits, Sunflowers, Irises, and the ever-so famous Bedroom. We even were able to send PBJ (Paulie) a video message email from the museum!
After the museum, we walked through Vondelpark which is 120 yards of beautiful land with gardens, sculptures, museums, and even an open air music theater. Looking it up on wiki, I realize we gave up well before we hit the highth of its beauty. Nate was comparing it to Krape Park and I was convinced it was something like Central Park in NY. Apparently we missed out on a Picasso sculpture. Luckily, we have two more days!
Also stopped at stopped at the Bull Dog and Mellow Yellow cafes.
On our way back to the apartment, we picked up a delicious 5 euro pizza. Ate that and went to bed at 7 p.m.

Some advice to other Amsterdam travelers - Don't look down when you're walking. The bike riders are ruthless!