Kimmy InAMSTERDAM

The first thing we decided to do was to check out the 3hr "free" walking tour. Best choice we could have made. There's an organization that hosts great free walking tours in most of the big metropolitan cities in Europe. The tour guides aren't paid, but depend on tips based on the quality of their tour. They mainly attract young student travelers (like us) so the guides gear the tour towards a younger crowd and it shows that they truly love what they do. We had an Irish guide named Finn who lead us through Berlin to see all the sights and told great little anecdotes. Over about 4hrs of walking, we saw everything - The Brendenberg gate, the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby out the window, the Jewish Holocaust Memorial, Hitler's bunker, some of the few still remaining Nazi buildings, a section of the still-standing Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie, and the ever popular big Europe cathedrals. I found it so interesting that 90% of Berlin was destroyed during WWII so most of what I was looking at was a complete reconstruction to look like the original. Amazing, cause I probably would have never been able to tell.

That night, we weren't too sure where to go out to. So after a few failed attempts, we found a big pub area and settled. As we were walking down the street, we noticed about 30 Scottish guys dressed up in Oompa Loompa costumes and a Willy Wonka walking into a bar. We obviously found this to be hilarious and asked them why they were dressed up so ridiculously. They were doing a "stag" party which I guess would be a UK-version of a bachelor party where it's common to pick a theme and go all out. All out as in a complete costume, orange faces, green wigs and white eyebrows. A "hen" party would be the same as bachelorette party. Needless to say, they provided us some free laughs because they were so ridiculous.

The next morning, we decided we'd spend the day in Oranienburg which is just outside Berlin to visit Sachsenhausen - one of the first concentration camps. Obviously, it wasn't the most fun day but it was really important to me to at least visit one camp to grasp an better understanding. Sachsenhausen was an all male concentration camp and mainly used for political prisoners in the mid 30s and later for all types of prisoners in the 40s. For me, it took an abstract event that I've read and learned about and made it very real through that experience. I'm really glad that we took the time to go out there.

On the second night, we decided to join a pub crawl put on by the same company that organized the free tour and the Sachsenhausen camp visit since we'd had such a great experience with them. For 12 euro, we definitely got a deal. Free beer, Jagermeister shots and entrance to a club which normally charges 10 euro at the door. Goedkoop!

To expedite the journey back on Sunday, my friend Lisa and I caught an early train back. 6hrs later and literally barrels of laughs about the weekend, we made it back to Amsterdam. I love coming "home", it's always so sunny and beautiful. As much as I love traveling right now, I absolutely love coming back to Amsterdam. I wouldn't have picked any other city to live and study in.

On Friday, I'm heading out to Barcelona for the weekend. So frickin' excited! It's supposed to be 65 and sunny, let's hope that stays true. Kara gave me a great list of places to see, eat and drink. Wish she was coming!

Last weekend, CIEE organized a little day for us all. So we packed into what they call a "touring car", basically a charter bus, at 8am and headed up north. We drove for about an hour and stopped in a little fishing village called Urk, had some coffee and cake and got a great tour by a witty old guy. Urk, about 70 years ago, used to be an island. But in the 40s, they brought in the dikes, pumped out all the water, and now it's connected to the mainland. It's a really small village up on the highest point where all the streets are narrow and houses are inches apart. Ten bucks says they could touch their neighbors house from their kitchen. Our tour guide was awesome. Probably 70 or so, witty as hell, wrote a couple books and really enjoys his life in Urk. After we wrapped up our tour, we got back on the bus and keep trucking up north.

Our real destination was Groningen, which is the most northern city of Holland. It's also the hometown of Renee, one of our program directors, so she was excited to show everyone where she grew up. It's a big student city and actually kind of reminded me of a smaller, more friendly Amsterdam. We spent a few hours seeing the city on a canal cruise, strolling through a cool modern art museum, and rooming the markets. We got some Belgian french fries (which are hands down the best in the world) and a fresh stroopwafel (a traditional Dutch cookie which has two big wafers with carmel in the middle). We had a great dinner at one of Renee's favorite restaurants. I had some delicious pork sate and apple pie. They always give us so much food it's unreal. So we all got back on the bus at about 7:30pm, stuffed and happy, and headed the 2hrs back to Amsterdam.

And the best part about the day: it was all paid for by CIEE… love 'free' trips.

The next morning we got up early. Courtney had forgotten her passport so she had to make a quick trip back to Amsterdam to grab it. Ironically, we never once got our passports checked. We head down to Antwerp on a 9am train, took about 2hrs to reach the city. We weren't really sure what to expect surfacing from the metro into the city center, but it was beautiful. It felt a Dutch and French town had a child - Antwerp. Their were the small, narrow streets leading in and out of big squares. The Belgian where huge on the outdoor setting. Too bad it wasn't too much warmer than the Netherlands. Probably still high-30s. We made our way to the hostel, which was conveniently joined with a bar on the first floor. I wouldn't say it was the cleanest, but it had alot of character and the staff was really nice. After we dropped our stuff off, we headed over to check out a huge 16th century cathedral which was the town's main focal point. It was beautiful inside and out. We grabbed some lunch at a nearby cafe and sampled a couple beers.

That night, we headed out to a cafe and began talking to the owner about what beers he might suggest we try. Needless to say, he was very helpful and we got some delicious (and strong, about 10/11/12%) blonde and brown beers. The rest of the group meet up with us at the cafe and joined in on the sampling. I was pretty tired, so I headed back to the hostel only to find that the bar was going off. Every weekend night, they feature live in-house music. It was pretty good Irish-folk music. I stayed for a bit, then headed up to our room and turned in for the night.

I awoke at like 6:30am with the biggest headache, thanks to the beer from the night before. With no water to drink anywhere around me, I headed downstairs to drink from the sink faucet as a last resort. As I got downstairs, I heard voices coming from the bar. I decided to peek in and see if I could score some water from them. I might have forgotten to mention that the people who ran the bar/hostel were full-blown Irish. So they were still up partying from the night before, sipping their Guinness. They hooked up with a couple glasses of water and tried offering me a pint of Guinness, but beer was the last thing I wanted. We had a nice conversation and I headed back up to bed to try to get a few more hours of sleep. I saw the owner later that afternoon, around 4ish and he greeted me with a 'good morning'. I don't know how the Irish do it.

The next morning we just set out walking in a different direction and came upon an absolutely gigantic art baroque museum featuring some of Antwerp's most famous painters - Peter Paul Rubens. The entrance was 1 euro with a great audio tour. We spent about 2hrs wondering around and probably didn't see everything. It was beautiful artwork - saw alot of baby Jesus. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around, near the river looking at old forts and churches. I hit up a walking street (huge shopping streets with no cars) and got a new purse and scarf for 20 euro. That evening, our goal was to get a good meal and after being heckled all day by the guys who stand out front of their restaurants and tell you how you need to come try their food - we did. We went to an Italian restaurant where I got a delicious plate of penne with meat sauce (my favorite). We took it pretty easy that night and went out to a low-key bar. The night concluded with a cone of the most delicious Belgian french fries. Perfecto.

The next morning, I decided to head back to Amsterdam to get started on the schoolwork I blew off to go to Antwerp. Courtney and Tyler were going to check out Brugge, Belgium so we all packed up and went to the train station. About 2.5hrs later, I was back to rainy, overcast Amsterdam. Antwerp was a good, augural trip. I'm heading back to Belgium in a few weeks to check out Brussels with some girls. Should definitely be a good time. For now, here are some pictures from my trip :)

http://kimberlypalmer.shutterfly.com/

We started out our day by visiting an old social housing neighborhood built by the New Amsterdam School of Design of the 1920s. It wasn't so much as school as much as it was a movement for reform. The architecture that we saw was focused on building housing for the day laborers in a cost-effective way by getting creative with form and everyday materials.

Next we went to the NDSM Warf. The NDSM Warf was created in 1999 by a group of artists who needed cheap spaces to rent to create and were running out of room in the city. There are all types of artists working over there - painters, sculptures, theatre artists, graphic design, etc. The Dutch government basically gave them a lease to the abandoned shipyards just North of the city centre to run free with. They have brought life, culture and personality to the warf. It's a neat little community. There's a couple bar/cafe/restaurants in the warf. As well as, abundant space and a skate park for little kids in a big, open hanger.

It was a really fun day; I just wish it was a little warmer so I could have enjoyed it a little more. I'll definitely be going back in the spring when it's more lively. In the summers, they hold big concerts on one of ship/loading ramps.

Here's some pictures, but check out my Shutterfly site too (I'll be upload most pictures up there from now on):