Amsterdam, Leiden, and Volendam (picture overload!)

It was that time of the year again... Fall Break! I had been waiting for this, well, since school had started. Paul was going to be at a conference for the week, so I decided to join him. As he would be working all day for the week, I booked myself into a few side trips. I've already posted about Leiden, but I have some additional pictures from my camera I wanted to share.

This is definitely not my first visit to Amsterdam. A beautiful city with canals, tilting houses, historical significance, friendly people, and a very open culture, I have always loved coming back and exploring it even deeper. Unfortunately, on this trip it rained... a LOT. The first day (Sunday) we had planned to shop. But due to the rain, we hid inside a bar, drank tea, hot chocolate, and finally beer. It wasn't just raining, it was raining sideways! And my rain jacket was pretty useless, and the umbrellas kept being blown inside out. So, we hid. It was nice just spending time with Paul all day, people watching and thanking our lucky stars we were inside.

Amsterdam, where umbrellas go to die...

My first full day in Amsterdam with Paul working, I decided to have a lie in, then meet Paul for lunch. As it was too late to really travel anywhere, I wanted to find something to do. Visiting the science center Nemo was recommended to me, so I went on a little hike to find it. It was described as a "sea wreck brought back up to the surface". A pretty apt description if you ask me:

 The museum was very interesting, with everything in Dutch and English. It was a perfect activity for a rainy day.

The next day I decided to get out of town and travel to a town called Leiden. It had been recommended to me by some friends in Switzerland, so I hopped on the train. Guess what? It was raining there too (go figure), so I hid in a coffee shop for the first part of the day. Finally, the rain cleared up, and I got to explore. It was absolutely gorgeous!

 I found a fort on top of a hill. Apparently it had been built as a place for people to go when it flooded, but then had been taken over by the government. Now, anyone can visit.

 A view from the top of the fort over Leiden.

I went on a tour of the museum of a windmill. I didn't know anyone could write so much about a windmill! I had to climb up these really steep stairs (ladders?) to get to each level. The worst part was climbing down! But I did get to stand by the steering wheel, used to move the sails depending on the wind. Overall, it was an entertaining and educational day for me.

Wednesday Paul had a half day of work, so we decided to take a canal tour. It was given in 4 languages, so it meant everything was said 4 times. It was my first time taking the tour, and we really enjoyed it!

A no parking sign? Is this for boats?

Oops, we wore the same color jacket and both North Face. We are turning into the same person!

On the Thursday, I took my next trip out to Volendam. I choose this town because this summer I went on a cruise on a ship called The Volendam, and one of my Dutch friends asked me if I had ever been to the town. I hadn't even know it was a town! If I had planned better, I could have biked there, but I didn't get my lazy bottom out of bed until the afternoon, so the biking was out. One short-ish bus ride later, I arrived. There wasn't much to do in the town, but have a bit of a walk and shop. 

There were statues of people in traditional dress, and the big thing to do there is actually get changed into traditional clothes and have your picture taken. If Paul had been there, I would have made him take the pictures, but all alone? Non, merci.

A waffle, chocolate, strawberry dessert. Yum!

View from the bus on the way home - everything is just so beautiful!

That last evening was a cruise/dinner provided by the conference (but we paid extra for me to come). The food was so-so, and we had such little windows we couldn't see anything unless we went to the top deck. Mostly, it was just nice to spend time with Paul.

We got a picture of the city from the docks - just beautiful!

Goodbye Amsterdam, until next time :)

Krakow Day 2 and 3 - Shopping and Tours

I decided to split my Krakow trip into two parts. We just did so much the first day, and it was so overwhelming, that I didn't think I could keep going. But there was so much more to our trip, and I wanted to share it. That first night (after the Salt Mines and Auschwitz), we had dinner at a restaurant in the main square. Again, it was absolutely incredible. I asked for a recommendation from the staff about what to eat, and they were extremely helpful. The food I got was so delicious, we actually ended up coming back to this restaurant on the last day for lunch. On our way home, we stopped in a vodka bar for a few samples. The picture below is just one of the shelves with their different vodkas.

The two lovely ladies in the picture chatted with us for a few hours - about learning English, education, politics, vodka, minimum wage, employment, and pretty much everything else. They were so helpful, friendly (and so fluent in English!) we had a great night. We bought a cherry flavored vodka and a sloe berry vodka. They were delicious, and I don't even like vodka. We called it a night finally, and crashed into bed.

Day 2 wasn't very interesting. Other than eating a lot more incredibly food, we went shopping. We never shop in Switzerland, unless it's an emergency, because things are very very overpriced. But shopping in Krakow? I brought a whole empty suitcase just for this purpose. I was looking for a few more work outfits and some cycling gear. They had a gigantic mall right across the street from our hotel. It was a relaxing and rather normal day, the kind of day that I love.

Day 3, our last day, we took a city tour in the morning and a Jewish quarter tour in the afternoon. It was a bit of a wet, grey day, but we learned a lot and appreciated the city a bit more than we had before. For example, look at the picture below:

Before they had addresses, they sent mail to each other using the animals carved above their doors. This is one of the earliest made doors, the squirrel. 

Here is one of the statues in the main square, each part representing something different.

This weird metal head was given by an artist. Apparently, it doesn't mean anything, it's just a big head...

Part of Krakow university - right in the middle of the city and beautiful!

One of the billions of churches found all over Krakow. They love their statues. 

Same church, just from the front. I think it's used as an opera house now.

A church on top of the hill - so many people added on to it that it's made of a multitude of different materials. We went inside, and it was just as impressive. 

This is Paul's "I am not amused" face. Love you, baby!

 Later in the afternoon, I took a tour of the Jewish quarter. I was surprised to learn that there was a gigantic Jewish population here up until World War 2 - so large that 25% of Krakow's population was Jewish! Even though there were tensions between the Jews and the Poles, Jews were eventually granted citizenship and they began to just think of themselves as Polish - a huge step forward!

By the end of the tour it was absolutely pouring, and I was soaked to the bone. We rushed through the last few stops - a cemetery, synagog (that we didn't have time to go in!), and the holocaust memorial (the chairs). I would like to go back and spend more time in the Jewish quarter, and eat there to have some more delicious food. I grabbed a metro back to the hotel and we raced off to the airport. Our short weekend was over, but we loved it. Krakow, we shall be back!