Europe is a continent in the northern hemisphere, separated from Africa on the south by the Mediterranean Sea and from Asia on the east roughly by the Bosporus, the Caucasus Mountains, and the Ural Mountains. We flew into the Netherlands, land of windmills, tulips, and orange. But more about those later. Let's start where it began for Kate - we'll get to my beginnings later.
Den Haag, or the Hague, is the seat of government in the Netherlands though not the actual capital - that would be Amsterdam, mostly for historical reasons. Anyway, our experiences in the Hague revolved around:
COUCHSURFING
For those who don't know, couchsurfing.com is an online community whereby anyone can create a profile to either offer a couch or to find couches offered - all for free. The general idea is nothing more (or less) than an international exchange of ideas and a way for people to a) afford to travel and b) 'travel' without leaving home.
We, especially me, had been a little skeptical about this before our trip but we talked to so many people who had great experiences and decided it was time to give it the proverbial whirl so we contacted a Dutch reporter by the name of Jan who invited us into his huge apartment just a five minute walk from the train station. We had a great time with Jan who, during the course of our stay, cooked us a traditional Dutch meal of meatballs, potatoes, and chicoree with ham and cheese, gave us a bike tour of the city, and taught us the correct pronunciation of Scheveningen. We also stayed with Rob in the Hague, after failing to find a host (or any other sort of accommodation) in Leiden. Rob answered a last minute request and took not only Kate and I into his house but also our friend from home, Ilan. He also proved the amazing trustingness of the couchsurfing community when he let us into his house, gave us the keys, and then promptly took off for a few hours as he had to go to Amsterdam for Japanese lessons. We did our best to pay back his hospitality by cooking him some admittedly-below-average-but-still-scrumptious fish tacos.
DEN HAAG
Because of these two separate visits, we spent about a week in the Hague in total and, thusly, got to see a fair bit of it. Jan, being a reporter who covers transportation, was imminently qualified to give us the lowdown of the city's myriad of public
transportation options, the most interesting of which was cheap bike rentals for those who, like Jan, were in possession of a certain card which allowed for bike rentals in train stations across the country. Thus, Jan was able to get us each a bike for about 2 euros a day and we crisscrossed the city in true Dutch style, realizing just how flat the country truly is. We spent most of our time just biking around and marveling at how peaceful and beautiful everything was. One unexpected find was the park across from Den Haag Central which includes a nature preserve complete with deer. And one day, we biked out to Scheveningen itself to check out the North Sea beaches and the beachfront pavilion/mall.
But mostly, it was just to enjoy the bike. One night, we met up with my old Belgian friend Sebastien who was working several days a week in the Hague on a consulting job. We went out for dinner and drinks, but nothing too crazy as Seb had work in the morning.When we went back to the Hague we again mostly just relaxed though this time we managed to make it to the Escher museum, which was really interesting and contained a great collection of his work as well as some really cheesy interactive stuff on the top floor. And Kate and I took one day on a day trip to:
LEIDEN
Where we saw flowers. Lots and lots of flowers. Ridiculous amounts of flowers. Mostly tulips but other flowers as well. Such incredibly vibrant colors that really, words would not do them justice.
So I'll just say that we rented bikes at the station, rode into the fields (as opposed to the Hoegevellia park, which is supposedly pretty touristy), and, quite literally, tiptoed through the tulips before having a light lunch and getting rained on HARD as we rode back... and now, a brief photo essay of our day:
But I'm skipping around a bit. Before Leiden, before the Hague part 2 - but after the Hague part 1 - there was and always will be:
AMSTERDAM
Where we met our friends. All of them. Well, not all, but almost. We had booked a hostel a few months ago so that we could all be in the same room and take advantage of a ridiculous deal that was probably a computer glitch whereby we all got our room for 1 euro a person on the last night of our stay.
Everyone slowly trickled into the basecamp of CBFTtA (an acronym I will not explain) over the course of the day, with Ilan being the last to arrive around midnight after hitching a ride from Berlin with a man named Crazy Peter (here's Rosanna with his sign). But then we were all there - Aaron, Kate, Sean, Rosanna, Avi, Ilan, and Mike. We spent most of our time in Amsterdam wandering around, hanging out, and, of course, partying, but also managed to go to the Van Gogh Museum, go on a canal cruise, check out the Vondelpark, and, of course, watch the terrifying carnival in Dam Square. This was mostly terrifying because of a single ride that essentially mimicked the sensation of being grabbed by some sort of movie monster, lifted a few hundred feet off the ground, and flung to a bloody death while the monster continues pillaging the city.
Yeah, exactly like that.We were eventually joined by Asher, Lannice, and a few of Ilan's friends from home, bringing our group total all the way up to a highpoint of 11 Californians trooping through Amsterdam. A bit unwieldy, but a most excellent time. And when everyone left, we stayed on with Ilan for an extra night as we failed to get a host in Leiden, which brings us back up to Den Haag and up to date.
Don't worry, just one more jump. And that, of course, is to:
BELGIUM
Where we stayed with Seb's family. Again. His parents, Martine and Bernard, opened up their house to us even though Seb now lives with his girlfriend, Laurence, the three days a week he's in town.
Our first night, Seb picked us up from the train station and took us straight to his place for a delicious multi-course Belgian meal cooked by Laurence. And then we woke up to a meal all set out by Martine, complete with fresh squeezed orange juice. Belgian hospitality is the best. We also got to see Olivier, Seb's brother, who I hadn't seen for about 8 years. He promptly offered to drive us into the city center. Again, great hosts. We met up with Ilan and Asher, who were staying with couchsurfers in the city. I got to play the tour guide as it was my fourth time in Bruxelles so I took them around the Grand Place, Mannequin Pis, and then through a really cool garden that we stumbled upon before going up to the Royal Palace where we spent the afternoon.
Then we met up with Seb, Laurence, and an old friend of his I'd met a few times, Jerry, for some drinks and good times on an unseasonably perfect Belgian evening where short sleeves was all that was needed. The next day was started with another round of OJ, then it was time to relax and get some work done before heading back into the city to meet Ilan and Asher. They were late and we had to leave early as we had dinner with the family Meeus, but we still took a most excellent walk through the city and wound up back at the park again. Dinner with Seb's family ended the evening and then, in the morning, Martine drove us to the train station, ending our brief visit... but I'm sure we'll be back and, this time, speaking French...
So we got on the train and actually made a bit of a u-turn, back to:
UTRECHT
Dudes, I'm running out of steam on this one so Utrecht is gonna be brief.
First off, I flew in a day earlier than Kate at the start of this trip so I actually began in Utrecht,
staying with Avi's friends, Nicole and Dries in their trap-doored room at the top of a narrow house. Most excellent accommodations on the floor for the night. Then we came back to Utrecht after Brussels to meet up with Avi and again stay with Nicole and Dries, this time in their new place across town. Thanks for hosting us, guys.But basically, this time around was all about Queen's Day, the day when everyone in the Netherlands wears orange and drinks beer in honor of their Queen. Queen's Night was spent partying at Nicole and Dries' place but Queen's Day, we headed back to Amsterdam with about 15 of Avi's friends.
We actually ran into Asher, lost him, then got a call from him after he'd managed to run into more of Avi's friends. But we also partied the day away, complete with orange and dancing in the streets (above is Kate dancing with Nicole and Dries).And our last day in the Netherlands was spent hanging out with Avi's friends Erwin and Matt (aka the Russian) at their place, playing lots of video games, generally recuperating, and gearing up for the ridiculous series of events that would lead us to Spain. A blog which is, I swear, not going to take us three months to write.
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