Amelie must've been in some shape

Paris is sunny, which is nice; but also bad, because we were expecting rain and are now sunburnt. Also, since our trip here in Paris was chopped in half due to seat reservation difficulties, we decided to squeeze all our sightseeing into one day and are now very, very, very sore.

Paris is really pretty, though.

Quick run-through:



Amsterdam was cold and rainy. We got lost on the way to the hostel, and I apparently brought too much because with my toiletry kit on top of everything I had already packed, my bag weighs way, way too much to be trekking around a city for an hour with it on my back. My shoulders were very sore; this isn't saying much as I have pretty weak shoulders, but my bag does weigh quite a bit.#

We waited in line outside Anne Frank's Huis for about 45 minutes; we saw a bike wreck. Some American girls opened a taxi door without looking and a bike collided with the door and smashed out one of the windows. A culture clash ensued -- the American girls, of course, insisted the biker should have stopped, while all the Dutch insisted the girl should have looked. We don't know how it was resolved, but we did see the girls in Anne Frank's Huis later, so obviously something got worked out.

The museum was very somber, as would be expected. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I'd been more awake. I liked the set up, but I wish they had actually furnished it; I feel like I could have pictured it better.

The only other thing we managed to do in Amsterdam (besides get lost, rained on, and watch Brittany fall on her butt because Victoria's Secret flipflops have no traction and neither do wet Dutch sidewalks) was the hash museum, which was an earnest effort but pretty badly organized and very reading-heavy.

Basically, Amsterdam was quite a disappointment. We left a little early. And, of course, it got sunny as soon as we reached the train station.



Brussels, on the other hand, as I stated in my last post, was awesome. So pretty and sunny and cool and oooh, I just loved the feel. We went to a nice little Dutch restaurant and got these meatballs and potatoes and Belgian beer (lambic!) which is as girly as all beers could be, but delicious. Then we wandered around and saw Mannekin Pis and watched restaurant owners heckle tourists and got a Belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream and them some fries and Belgian chocolate and oooh, Brussels.

Paris: