AmsterdamNew Years in Madrid was pretty nuts. My friend Jack arrived around 5pm on the 31st. Main problem in Spain on the 31st and the 1st: nowhere is open to eat. We were looking for a regular place to have dinner when he arrived, but I guess new years isn't a big fancy eating night like it is in the states. We settled for some tapas which ended up being expensive and sort of gross. Then, we looked into going out to some bars...everything was empty! We finally realied that the entire population of Madrid was camping out in Puerta del Sol. We headed over there...oh boy. Although I've never been to NYC on new years, Sol reminded me of Times Square on New Years. We could barely walk...it was a little too crowded for comfort. But it was an experience...so much champagne all over, and Spaniards have a weird tradition of eating 12 green grapes in the last 12 seconds before new years. So there were a lot of grapes around there. After that, we went to a party at my Israeli friend's. On the 1st, we went on a long walk through the whole city. Everything was closed, so I couldn't really show Jack any of my favorite places, except from the outside. We went to Retiro Park, walked along Paseo del Prado, and all up and down Gran Via and in Opera to the Palacio Real. I did live in a beautiful city this semester, didn't I! At night, we went to some bars in Malasana with a few Israeli friends again. (all the others went home at the end of IES!)
January 2: Brussels time! Of course, RyanAir is the worst and we were delayed about two hours. But, we finally arrived in Brussels around 10pm...our hostel was pretty gross and the staff was not very nice. The lady at the desk said there's a curfew at 1am when they lock the front door! So we grabbed a map and headed out for a quick exploration of the city. We found ourselves in the main square, called Grand Place. This is the most beautiful square I've seen in Europe. Huge castle-like buildings surrounding the square. I think it was better at night (we saw it again the next morning) because there were cool lights and music on the big buildings. The next morning we saw the famous Mannekin Pis statue, a little boy peeing. Not really sure why this is so famous. Had an excellent Belgian waffle and some Belgian chocolate, of course. Jack is still looking for a Brussels sprout.
In front of the Mannekin Pis statue
Jan 3-4: Amsterdam! Three hour train ride from Brussels to Amsterdam, free with my eurailpass. Beautiful scenery outside the window the entire way. I love trains. Our hostel was a short walk from the train station...in the center of the red light district. Just walking to our hostel we saw probably ten prostitutes in their windows and many many drugs. It was a great hostel-if anyone needs a recommendation, stay at St Christopher's! We couldn't believe how many coffeeshops there were (can buy weed and smoke it here) all over the whole city. We mostly stayed in the red light district for our first few days. On the 5th, we woke up and decided we should leave the red light district and do a little exploring of the other parts of the city. We walked all the way to the Van Gogh museum, and found ourselves in a part of the city that looked completely different than the red light district! The canals are really beautiful there, and all the buildings, including all the homes, are so old and pretty, even more so because they're so crooked. The guide of our walking tour told us that they are crooked and falling in every direction because Amsterdam is built poorly on a swamp. We also saw the Anne Frank house...very museum-y, but interesting to see. I did think this was a very beautiful city. We eventually took the train back to Brussels, and stayed at a hotel near the RyanAir airport in Charleroi, south of Brussels, in order to catch our very early flight the next morning. Jack headed off to Dublin this morning where he'll study this semester, and I to Venice where I am now! Will update soon.
January 2: Brussels time! Of course, RyanAir is the worst and we were delayed about two hours. But, we finally arrived in Brussels around 10pm...our hostel was pretty gross and the staff was not very nice. The lady at the desk said there's a curfew at 1am when they lock the front door! So we grabbed a map and headed out for a quick exploration of the city. We found ourselves in the main square, called Grand Place. This is the most beautiful square I've seen in Europe. Huge castle-like buildings surrounding the square. I think it was better at night (we saw it again the next morning) because there were cool lights and music on the big buildings. The next morning we saw the famous Mannekin Pis statue, a little boy peeing. Not really sure why this is so famous. Had an excellent Belgian waffle and some Belgian chocolate, of course. Jack is still looking for a Brussels sprout.
In front of the Mannekin Pis statue
Jan 3-4: Amsterdam! Three hour train ride from Brussels to Amsterdam, free with my eurailpass. Beautiful scenery outside the window the entire way. I love trains. Our hostel was a short walk from the train station...in the center of the red light district. Just walking to our hostel we saw probably ten prostitutes in their windows and many many drugs. It was a great hostel-if anyone needs a recommendation, stay at St Christopher's! We couldn't believe how many coffeeshops there were (can buy weed and smoke it here) all over the whole city. We mostly stayed in the red light district for our first few days. On the 5th, we woke up and decided we should leave the red light district and do a little exploring of the other parts of the city. We walked all the way to the Van Gogh museum, and found ourselves in a part of the city that looked completely different than the red light district! The canals are really beautiful there, and all the buildings, including all the homes, are so old and pretty, even more so because they're so crooked. The guide of our walking tour told us that they are crooked and falling in every direction because Amsterdam is built poorly on a swamp. We also saw the Anne Frank house...very museum-y, but interesting to see. I did think this was a very beautiful city. We eventually took the train back to Brussels, and stayed at a hotel near the RyanAir airport in Charleroi, south of Brussels, in order to catch our very early flight the next morning. Jack headed off to Dublin this morning where he'll study this semester, and I to Venice where I am now! Will update soon.
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