Morning!
So last night, I apologise for my lack of blogging but I have a decent excuse. We'll get there.
So yesterday I woke up at 10 which was pretty early considering the time I went to bed and then did my blog (woo!) After, Lois and Anne dawdled downstairs and I said g'day to them and we decided what we wanted to do for the day, it had limited options due to the sad rainy weather. There was stuff to do in the city but we didn't want to go in (I am listening to a really cool song right now on the Muller computer iTunes its called 'That Man' by Caro Emerald, swing kinda stuff I like it so check it out) so we ended up staying inside and, get this, playing Monopoly. Oooohhh yea, we are the cool kids.
At around 3.30 we went and dropped Anne to the train station because she had to go back to another party in Zwolle. It was good meeting her. Back at Lois' place I was happy to hear that even though we didn't finish the game of Monopoly while Anne was here, Lois no longer wanted to continue (thus forfeiting which I couldn't do) and wanted to watch a film instead. We went to the cinema with cake and coffee and watched 'Take the Lead' which was a good mindless movie to stare at and smile along with.
When that finished we went upstairs and I met some of Jelles friends, set the table and the family and 3 extra guests had dinner- chicken. Then Lois and I played on youtube and finding different videos that were funny or that we knew. We also watched some of Hollands got Talent and Popstars because one of Lois'... not friends... not aquaintance... someone she doesn't like much was auditioning (and was actually good and got in). We watched some of the news too because Sneek week was in it- I looked for myself but to no avail.
At 12 o'clock we left and then we partied till 3.30 arriving home and talking until 7.00am. Bed. I should explain this all in tonights blog, because it wasn't yesterday ;)
Ciaociaociao
x
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Part 147: Sneek Week
Hello!
So, yesterday was pretty good, waking up at 10 and upstairs talking to Annet until Lois woke up at 11. We decided that today, being Sneek Week (a huge festival in Sneek that people from all over Holland come to for parties and sailing competitions) we would go to an island not far from here and watch the last part of a sailing competition between all the Friesian cities (I cant spell Friesian, but its a part of Holland with its own language and everything, Sneek is apart of it, but most people still speak Dutch anyway)
We arrived at the Island by bike/ boat and then met one of Lois' freinds who has a Friesian name I have no hope of remembering... Sietske Lois tells me. We went to her boat and waited for her to get ready then we went and sat on a big cargo ship, which was pretty cool in itself, and watched the sailing in the sun. Speaking of sun, I somehow managed to get sunburn... I hate the sun now, not that its a bad burn (I can barely notice it now) but still, how rude of it to think it can burn ME! The sailing games were pretty bijzonder but it was relaxing to watch them even though I had no idea what was going on. Sneek came third of 14 apparently so woohoo! Gooo Sneek!
After that, Lois and I stood awkwardly as whats-her-name said hello to all the Sneek competitors. We didn't know anyone.. Well I didn't, and Lois only a few so we left and walked around, got ice cream (ben & Jerry's, mmmm) and then boated back to here. When we got here Lois went and picked up her friend Anne who was here for Sneek Weeks opening night thing. I stayed at Lois' place and watched the start of 'The Curious case of Benjamin Button' with Maud.
Lois and Anne came back and I met her.. obviously, she is pretty funny so it was good. Dinner, Movie, out to SneekWeek Festivities. We watched some boat parade which is apparently the whole reason for Sneek Week then went out partying amongst the masses of people. It was again, quite bijzonder partying out in the open with sooooo many people but pretty cool. Yea... We tried clubbing a few times but I just dont dance so...yea... Anyway. Home at 2.30 sleep at 3 (early for Sneek Week) up at 9 wait for Lois and Anne to wake up, blog.
Voila.
Oh! also the other day me and Lois made apple crumble from scratch (this was the day I didn't blog) it was yum and a very typical dutch thing to do apparently! Good ol' apple crumble.
Toodle pip!
x
p.s I go back to Scotland tomorrow. :) :( :S
So, yesterday was pretty good, waking up at 10 and upstairs talking to Annet until Lois woke up at 11. We decided that today, being Sneek Week (a huge festival in Sneek that people from all over Holland come to for parties and sailing competitions) we would go to an island not far from here and watch the last part of a sailing competition between all the Friesian cities (I cant spell Friesian, but its a part of Holland with its own language and everything, Sneek is apart of it, but most people still speak Dutch anyway)
We arrived at the Island by bike/ boat and then met one of Lois' freinds who has a Friesian name I have no hope of remembering... Sietske Lois tells me. We went to her boat and waited for her to get ready then we went and sat on a big cargo ship, which was pretty cool in itself, and watched the sailing in the sun. Speaking of sun, I somehow managed to get sunburn... I hate the sun now, not that its a bad burn (I can barely notice it now) but still, how rude of it to think it can burn ME! The sailing games were pretty bijzonder but it was relaxing to watch them even though I had no idea what was going on. Sneek came third of 14 apparently so woohoo! Gooo Sneek!
After that, Lois and I stood awkwardly as whats-her-name said hello to all the Sneek competitors. We didn't know anyone.. Well I didn't, and Lois only a few so we left and walked around, got ice cream (ben & Jerry's, mmmm) and then boated back to here. When we got here Lois went and picked up her friend Anne who was here for Sneek Weeks opening night thing. I stayed at Lois' place and watched the start of 'The Curious case of Benjamin Button' with Maud.
Lois and Anne came back and I met her.. obviously, she is pretty funny so it was good. Dinner, Movie, out to SneekWeek Festivities. We watched some boat parade which is apparently the whole reason for Sneek Week then went out partying amongst the masses of people. It was again, quite bijzonder partying out in the open with sooooo many people but pretty cool. Yea... We tried clubbing a few times but I just dont dance so...yea... Anyway. Home at 2.30 sleep at 3 (early for Sneek Week) up at 9 wait for Lois and Anne to wake up, blog.
Voila.
Oh! also the other day me and Lois made apple crumble from scratch (this was the day I didn't blog) it was yum and a very typical dutch thing to do apparently! Good ol' apple crumble.
Toodle pip!
x
p.s I go back to Scotland tomorrow. :) :( :S
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Part 146: Aye Aye, Captain
Ciao friends,
Today I was the captain of a sailboat.
This morning I woke up at 10.30. Lois and I made an arrangement to wake the other if we weren't already awake by 11 so I had time to jump in the shower. Unfortunately I feel back asleep. At 11 I woke up again, not by Lois and went into the shower then was greeted by Lois who was awake talking to Annet. We decided that today we would go into Sneek where there was a bunch of Street acts going on just for the day.
We left by 1.30ish after dawdling around in the morning. The street acts were pretty cool, especially the first one in which I was attacked by the performers toy dog and hit on a head with the hammer... I was the only one :( Lois, on the other hand, actually got selected for the good roles, she was given the dog to look after and also had to stand up and be involved, it was pretty funny. Very entertaining. The rest were okay but I wasn't feeling very well so I wasn't quite myself. We did have ice cream any way and these typical dutch pancakes which are just teeenie pancakes- very good when you're not well, I assure you.
When we got back to Lois' we sat and talked for a while then I did sudoku while Lois did something else for a bit until we had dinner- a very nice pasta dish. Lekker. After tea, it was agreed that Lois, Jelle (pronounced Yell-eh, Lois' 17[?] year old brother) and I would go on a sailing trip. Not like the boat that we used the other day, this was an actual sail one with well...sails... IT was really fun but apparently due to lack of wind not as good as normal- I liked it anyway. We were gone for a good while around the main lake which is huuuge and good fun to sail around. I also used the trapeze which is a bit on the side of the boat where you dangle out the side attached and with no hands just hang over the water. ITs pretty fun too. I like boats... hehe. I also got to steer the boat a couple of times which was interesting. I can now steer a sail boat, I cant do anything else like work with the sails but I can steer... rocket science? No but good to know.
It was good, I dont know what we're going to do now, Lois said she is tired and wants to go to bed so I may do the same...probably.
Oh! Last night I also met another Australian who is friends with Lois' younger sister Maud, who was staying in Holland for the last 2 months with her mum. It was cool to talk to another AUstralian just because we both had been away for a long time. We got along pretty well but I was grossed out by her accent- so Australian... bleargh. Lois and Maud both agreed my accent wasn't as strong as hers and I hope it never is.... Nice girl though! The 4 of us went to some circus thing too last night which was mad fun. Hard to explain and had a stupid story... I might also add a royal 'woof' but only Lois and I would understand.
Toodle pip!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
part 145: From Lois
Hello everybody!
Here I am myself, 'the famous Lois from Holland' Haha I suppose Doug told stuff about me where we've been together so you already sortof know me in a way and some of you would have to know me too from two and a half years ago when i lived in the greatest city ever... Maryborough! Haha lol but oh well, I actually really enjoyed living there! another great city is Sneek! (mine) Thats where Doug has been too lately which is quite obvious. Oh gosh I really don't know what to write in someone else's blog, it is sortof strange and cool at the same time. Probably also because when I was in Australia I had a blog as well and wrote really quite a lot on it. It's just different now.. If you're interested have a look, don't think you will understand it so there's not really a point doing it but anyway this is the one lois's blog!
I really like having Doug here and do some sightseeing. I feel like a tourist in my own country but oh well it's not bad. Yesterday I showed him two towns close by Sneek, Workum and Hindeloopen. These are two really small cute cities, (very touristical too) it's hard to explain to strangers and Doug said too that you just can't picture it somehow. I find it also funny to see what he find so odd from what I say that's just so normal over here, people do it all the time and I see it all the day. Like we bought a waterbottle because we were thirsty obviously and he absolutely loved the bottle and I was like euhrm, yea sure Doug.. it's a good bottle hmmm. Another example is that we go by bike everywhere instead of walking or by car (we do have cars tho and drive them too) As long as you are in your own town or live close by we go by bike to work, school, city, shopping, everything so when he saw Amsterdam Central station he was amazed how many bikes there were. That also the best spot to do it tho, there were thousands! (I'm not overstating) So the best dutch experience is go biking in the city too! (which I do all the time, except for now I feel like a guide, telling simple facts what's just normal for me) It's also good for me because now I realize what is actually quite special about Holland and Sneek while I normally see it as nothing special at all! Oh well that's enough cliche talk for now haha. My dad loves history too so he explained a lot in his really really bad dunglish (dutch-english) stuff to Doug about how we dutchmen (used to and now) keep our feet dry, because we live below the sealevel. Mainly by dykes but Doug can tell you all about it now because my dad overloaded him with that sort of information a lot! Doug said that he likes telling people about it but I still doubt it... Haha (not completely true because if I really think about it too it is quite interesting) Oooh crap I've gone to the cliche talking again,, damn!
Well what we did yesterday too when we came back from those towns is that we went by boat via a lot of small canals to the Sneeklake. We have a boat in our backyard which doesn't mean we are really rich because many people have it here in Friesland (province in the north of Holland, where I live) because we have sooo much water and lakes around us. So it is nice to go boating or sailing for a day or a few. We had dinner over there, near the lake at a nice restaurant. If I haven't been to Australia and seen how dry it is there it would just keep suprising me what is so odd to Doug, because it's the opposite of dryness over here. We have several massive pumps around the lakes which pump out the water to prevent us from flodding. If they weren't there we would not be able to live here!
So yea in Australia I really missed the water and had to throw out the showerwater in the garden.... but oh well I survived :-) I should send a lake in a postbox to Maryborough!
We are planning on going sailing tomorrow and stay the night over somewhere and after that it's Sneekweek, (the most famous week of Sneek) which is a huge event and very known in Holland. It begun as a big sailingevent and it still is but by the years came past it became pretty much a drinking and partying event as well! Haha I love it (both the sides tho) There is a lot to do and see for everyone so it's cool. Dough picked the right time to come here because it has it's 75th anniversary too so that's even bigger then it normally is! Yaay
Ok I better go now because we have to hang out with the tourist some more ;) Oh and sorry for my possible spelling/grammatical mistakes, let's hope that I speak better then I write. Lol
Goodbye and I might see you again one day!
xoxo 'the dutchie' Lois
P.s We are having a relaxing day so don't be suprised if he is not writing today because it won't be that exciting..
Here I am myself, 'the famous Lois from Holland' Haha I suppose Doug told stuff about me where we've been together so you already sortof know me in a way and some of you would have to know me too from two and a half years ago when i lived in the greatest city ever... Maryborough! Haha lol but oh well, I actually really enjoyed living there! another great city is Sneek! (mine) Thats where Doug has been too lately which is quite obvious. Oh gosh I really don't know what to write in someone else's blog, it is sortof strange and cool at the same time. Probably also because when I was in Australia I had a blog as well and wrote really quite a lot on it. It's just different now.. If you're interested have a look, don't think you will understand it so there's not really a point doing it but anyway this is the one lois's blog!
I really like having Doug here and do some sightseeing. I feel like a tourist in my own country but oh well it's not bad. Yesterday I showed him two towns close by Sneek, Workum and Hindeloopen. These are two really small cute cities, (very touristical too) it's hard to explain to strangers and Doug said too that you just can't picture it somehow. I find it also funny to see what he find so odd from what I say that's just so normal over here, people do it all the time and I see it all the day. Like we bought a waterbottle because we were thirsty obviously and he absolutely loved the bottle and I was like euhrm, yea sure Doug.. it's a good bottle hmmm. Another example is that we go by bike everywhere instead of walking or by car (we do have cars tho and drive them too) As long as you are in your own town or live close by we go by bike to work, school, city, shopping, everything so when he saw Amsterdam Central station he was amazed how many bikes there were. That also the best spot to do it tho, there were thousands! (I'm not overstating) So the best dutch experience is go biking in the city too! (which I do all the time, except for now I feel like a guide, telling simple facts what's just normal for me) It's also good for me because now I realize what is actually quite special about Holland and Sneek while I normally see it as nothing special at all! Oh well that's enough cliche talk for now haha. My dad loves history too so he explained a lot in his really really bad dunglish (dutch-english) stuff to Doug about how we dutchmen (used to and now) keep our feet dry, because we live below the sealevel. Mainly by dykes but Doug can tell you all about it now because my dad overloaded him with that sort of information a lot! Doug said that he likes telling people about it but I still doubt it... Haha (not completely true because if I really think about it too it is quite interesting) Oooh crap I've gone to the cliche talking again,, damn!
Well what we did yesterday too when we came back from those towns is that we went by boat via a lot of small canals to the Sneeklake. We have a boat in our backyard which doesn't mean we are really rich because many people have it here in Friesland (province in the north of Holland, where I live) because we have sooo much water and lakes around us. So it is nice to go boating or sailing for a day or a few. We had dinner over there, near the lake at a nice restaurant. If I haven't been to Australia and seen how dry it is there it would just keep suprising me what is so odd to Doug, because it's the opposite of dryness over here. We have several massive pumps around the lakes which pump out the water to prevent us from flodding. If they weren't there we would not be able to live here!
So yea in Australia I really missed the water and had to throw out the showerwater in the garden.... but oh well I survived :-) I should send a lake in a postbox to Maryborough!
We are planning on going sailing tomorrow and stay the night over somewhere and after that it's Sneekweek, (the most famous week of Sneek) which is a huge event and very known in Holland. It begun as a big sailingevent and it still is but by the years came past it became pretty much a drinking and partying event as well! Haha I love it (both the sides tho) There is a lot to do and see for everyone so it's cool. Dough picked the right time to come here because it has it's 75th anniversary too so that's even bigger then it normally is! Yaay
Ok I better go now because we have to hang out with the tourist some more ;) Oh and sorry for my possible spelling/grammatical mistakes, let's hope that I speak better then I write. Lol
Goodbye and I might see you again one day!
xoxo 'the dutchie' Lois
P.s We are having a relaxing day so don't be suprised if he is not writing today because it won't be that exciting..
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Part 143: I AMsterdam
Hello!
I had a really really great day today! I went with Annet (Lois' mum) and Lois down to Amsterdam for the day. We woke up at 7 and were out of the house for the hour and a half drive by 8.30. After getting lost, its becoming quite a habit, Annet eventually found and dropped Lois and I off just near the Anne Frank house in the old part of the beautiful city.
I didn't have many expectations of Amsterdam because all I really knew about it was the legalised marijuana and the red light district so upon arriving I was very surprised at how pretty the city was. Lois and I queued up for about 40 minutes to get into the very house were Anne Frank lived during her time hiding out in the war. It was made into a museum by her father Otto Frank when he found out that Anne had been a victim of WW2. His goal was to reduce racism and prejudiced in the world and the museum really has an impact. We pretended to be 17 and got cheap entry and then spent a good hour or so exploring her house. The upstairs is just crazy because it has little things left from when the families were hiding out in there. Pictures on the wall, markings from where the children measured their height and all these other things they had to try and turn this place into a home. The story of Anne Frank become suddenly real to me and it was fascinating and saddening to see how these people lived for so long only to be caught out in the end anyway. We also saw her original diary on display in the museum too, which was pretty interesting to see. Definetly, if you are in Amsterdam, make an effort to see this place.
When we left, we pondered around looking for the next thing we wanted to do which was the Heineken Experience. On the way, however, we got distracted by my stomache saying it needed food and now. We ended up going to a restaurant in the middle of a square which was right in the middle of sooo many 'coffee shops' It was pretty funny that you can just go in in buy weed there and no one even batts an eyelid, there are even people smoking just outside and, yea.. very odd. After some re-feulling we walked to the Heineken Experience which was annoying because we were, before I got hungry, like right next to it but didn't realise... bah!
Heinekens original factory is in Amsterdam and has a museum type thing as well. You walk around learning about the beer and tasting the beer at different stages and learning about it. Its also really hands on and you can do things and watch things and interact the whole way. Its hard to explain it, but it was really good fun. At one point you go into a simulator room and become a beer going through the process, its really fun! Ha ha, also you get a lesson on how to taste beer which includes a free one then you at the end, you get 2 more free beers too! The history of Heineken was pretty interesting too and again, for any beer lover, go! It was really so much fun and my new love for beer has increased even more! So cool.
When we left the second awesome museum of the day we walked around the streets of Amsterdam looking around the canals and exploring what it had to offer. It is an very beautiful city and honestly, I was shocked at how nice it was. The architecture was stunning and the boats just add character and gave it an almost Venice vibe but in a more edgy way. Interesting. Hard to compare to anywhere else really.
We eventually (around 5ish?) caught up with Annet again who was waiting in a main square somewhere. We went into a tourist shop because she wanted to buy something then got our photo taken in a giant clog, which was funny but had to be done! Annet then wanted to show me the red light district which is... well, a red light district. Again, hard to compare to anywhere else because its Amsterdam. Whores in windows and sex shops galore, its a strange city.
After that, we went to go to the car but then Annet asked if we had done a boat canal tour of the city yet, they were a bit expensive when we saw them the first time so Lois and I didn't do it. Shocked, Annet said that we must do it and even paid for my ticket (which I reluctantly accepted in the end) on the condition that I take lots of photos, I did until my camera died... The tour was great though but it was funny because Annet and Lois were both going on about how silly they felt being a tourist. I just laughed and was all 'well I am a tourist so :P' ha ha. It was good though and I had extra details explained to me along the way. The tour went all the way around the canals and I really got to see the city from a very different perspective. Again, I was amazed. So cool. Oh! when you get on the tour there is one of those photographers who snap your shot as you hop on the boat. Lois and Annet just ignored the camera, like most people, but I was being stupid and give him a big cheesy smile and thumbs up knowing that I would never see the photo again and it was just stupid....so I thought, at the end of the tour everyones photos were put on display and were available for €3.00 each. I saw mine and laughed because its so stupid and has all the 'Greetings from Holland' stuff on it, such a touristic souvenir which Annet said I had to have because it was so good. So she got it for me... Its so stupid but it makes us laugh when we look at it so its good ha ha.
We then went to meet Lois' aunt whose name I am not going to attempt to spell but it started with S. Her aunt is very arty and was very welcoming and up for many-a-chats which was good. We stayed there for about 2 hours which included dinner and coffee and it was nice to just sit and chat and get to know each other some more. Everyone spoke English perfectly so it was good for me to understand what was going on. Lois' aunt also invited me to come back if I needed a place to stay if I came to Amsterdam again- nice. I might actually be going back down on Saturday the night before my flight because its much more practical than from Sneek.
The drive home was good fun just talking about whatever and learning more about Holland which is increasingly gaining my interest and respect. I think its such a cool country and there is so much to learn and do here. Like, the history of how the country started and that they built the land themselves is just fascinating. Hmm... I like Holland a lot.
When we got back, we spent a while oggling the new coffee maker that Annet purchased today and the way it was oggled was just funny but really reminded me of something we would have done at home in Australia. Just the way the family interacted and how Mark (Lois' dad) was making jokes and Annet was mock annoyed and I don't know, it was really nice but reminded me a lot of home. Many laughs were had all because of a coffee machine... Its golden.
Anyway, everyone has gone to bed now, leaving me in charge of the kitchen! Bwahaha! No, I am gonna go to sleep in my cinema room/ hotel now too! Long day and its now 12.30!!
A great day though.
Sleep Lekker
xx
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Part 142: Milan-Sneek
This will be like a shortened version of the entire trip from Milan to Sneek. With me is Lois whom I met up with in Brussels, Belgium.
Milan was like the most stupidest place in the world haha, After the first night where we sat around doing not a lot on the top of a random hill, we went to bed and met a German who was fast asleep at 9,.30 so, not to disturb her, we went to sleep too... Because we're cool.
The next morning we woke up and had good intentions of doing a lot of touring around the city of Milan... Note: I said good INTENTIONS. We walked up to the nearest tram and arrived in the centre of Milan by around 10-11. There we went in search of the most famous thing in Milan other than its fashion- 'The Last Supper' unfortunately, to see the silly painting we had to book 2 wweeks in advance so we did not see it but instead playted cards in the park and also walked around aimlessly for the day. For tea, cereal in the park. Nice.
That night, when I was in the hostel me and Lizzy met two random Portuguese people who were really distraught because they had ALL their stuff stolen from them on a bus that I had to take the next day to get to the airport... Awkward. I did learn how to count to 10 in Portuguese. Win.
Airport. Flight. Belgium for the second time.
Belgium. Bus. Station. Look for Lois. We spent over an hour and half looking for each other in the station and all my credit was used up in this time. It turned out for like the first part of the search I was in the completely wrong station which was so annoying because I spent like $12 of my credit giving directions to places that Lois could not possibly get to, and vice versa. After that very long and worrying period of time I eventually made my way to the other station and looked around for half an hour before FINALLY finding Lois at some spot. It was the first tiem I had seen her in 2 and a bit years and I had always promised to visit her one day. Promise fulfilled. Then the next problem: I didnt actually have any directions on how to get to the hostel we were staying at...Idiot.
We looked for an internet cafe, seeing the main oart of Brussels in one hit, and then made our way to the hostel. This again took a long period of time. Eventually we found our way using my awesome french skills and Lois' native dutch skills (in Belgium people sspeak French Dutch or both) Hoorah! We were on Rue D'Elephant (lol) and were settled in our decent hostel. Pizza. talking. Sleep.
Day one in Belgium consisted of exploring Belgium and first started at a flea market. The flea market was so expensive and pretty small but I thought it was okay and Lois bought a few things there (making me carry them in my bag... well I offered...) We also tried on some random sunnies there they were so ugly or stupid we couldn't resist. Hehe...
We then spent time looking for the Manneken Pis which is the most famous thing in all of Belgium, apparently. We found it eventually after getting lost and ending up in completely opposite areas to orignally intended (Lois just pointed out 'you're making it seem like we got lost a lot of times' , well we were) We eventually found it but were more impressed by the chocolate mannekin pis behind it. Seriously, this thing was soooo small it could fit in my pocket, okay not literally but it was like... wtf? THIS is famous?
More of Brussels. Churches. Train. Antwerpen.
We hadn't anywhere to stay in Antwerpen so we spent the first part finding somewhere. We got a hotel room in a place just near the station, without realising it was actually quite crap. Oh well. The location was amazing though, right near the station. I should mention, the station is AMAZING. It is also featured here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UE3CNu_rtY ... best station in the world. Anyway, after hostel locating we went up to the old part of Antwerpen looking for something Lois had read about on the internet. On the way we got distracted by the world championship trials for a random bike sport which was just in a nromal market which was made into a Bike Parkour sport place... Its impossible to explain really but you can sort of see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g4Dft50mLA&feature=related... Ours was actually much cooler than that.
WE then did a boat tour around the outside edges of the city but were left a bit diappointed because it was a bit boring but oh well, we learnt stuff about stuff which is always good to know. Yes... Then we had Waffles (in dutch I learnt how to say I have waffles which is: ik heb wafels. Heb jij wafels? I think not!) They were good waffles too. More walking. Dinner (cold pasta salad bought from the supermarket in the street, I am so embarrasing) then we looked for a music festval which Lois thought was going on but we couln't find it... we asked around to random people and eventually found a music thing but it wasn't what Lois orignally though (it turned out that was actually in August, not July... oops) so we hung out there with a bunch of middleaged partiers listening to live music which wasnt bad anyway. We then wanted to go clubbing so we found a place in a park which was scary because we were walking through some random park in the dark and I was like we are all gonna die! and then the police came past.. scary stuff. We found the club but it was a €10 entry fee so we decided against it (I am poor... poor lois) and instead went to a pub had belguim beers (maes) and then went back to the hotel to sleep.
The last day in Belgium was raining so we went to a museum. Antwerpen is the world diamond capital so we went to the Diamond museum and learnt a whole lot about diamonds, So interesting haha, we also cracked the diamond safe and stole 2 diamonds, no joke. I have it in my bag even now. It took a while but we did it. After the diamond museum we walked around taking photos of shop windows which was fun then went to another museum which we thought was a cartoon museum but it turned out to be a renassaince musuem or something.. I dont know. It wasn't all that great but oh well.
Coffee. More BIke watching. Train station. Rotterdam. Train. Driving with Lois in the rain. Sneek. My new home for the week. Okay, so to be perfectly blunt: Lois' house pwns all. Best. House. Ever. Its HUGE too and omg so cool. We watched a movie in her home cinema which has a MASSIVE screen I mean, bigger than me in height and obviously width as well... Its like a real cinema screen. We watched the boat that rocked. By 1.30pm I was off to sleep in my room. Which also happened to be the cinema room because it had a fold out bed and of my options it was the easiest. It has its own two person ensuite anyway, so it seemed decent enough. Best. House.
I woke up today at 1.30pm for some reason and met Lois on the computer. I still hadn't seen her family except her brother Jelle (yell-eh) who was miding the house while her family were on a n island. We decided to go to some car festival thing which was a 10 minute drive away. When we got there it was a €7.50 entry fee which was annoying but then you had to paty for EVERYTHING when you got in even the toilet, biggest waste of money ever. It wasn't event that interesting so we stayed for as long as we felt obliged to then left to go for a bike ride around Lois' town, Sneek (snake)
Sneek is very cool with rivers and stuff all through it. We had ice cream and Lois showed me her old high school and primary school and other things around the town. When we got back to her house her family arrived home so I met them and they had friends over so I met them too. Her family are so nice too. Its great here :)
We had chinese for tea and I sat around trying to make sense of the bizarre dutch language until they went home and then I came and typed this.
Sorry for my absence.
I'll be here probably from now on. Amsterdam tomorrow bright and early.
xx
p.s Happy Birthday Ruby and I well do a Month Summary for July tomorrow possibly.
Milan was like the most stupidest place in the world haha, After the first night where we sat around doing not a lot on the top of a random hill, we went to bed and met a German who was fast asleep at 9,.30 so, not to disturb her, we went to sleep too... Because we're cool.
The next morning we woke up and had good intentions of doing a lot of touring around the city of Milan... Note: I said good INTENTIONS. We walked up to the nearest tram and arrived in the centre of Milan by around 10-11. There we went in search of the most famous thing in Milan other than its fashion- 'The Last Supper' unfortunately, to see the silly painting we had to book 2 wweeks in advance so we did not see it but instead playted cards in the park and also walked around aimlessly for the day. For tea, cereal in the park. Nice.
That night, when I was in the hostel me and Lizzy met two random Portuguese people who were really distraught because they had ALL their stuff stolen from them on a bus that I had to take the next day to get to the airport... Awkward. I did learn how to count to 10 in Portuguese. Win.
Airport. Flight. Belgium for the second time.
Belgium. Bus. Station. Look for Lois. We spent over an hour and half looking for each other in the station and all my credit was used up in this time. It turned out for like the first part of the search I was in the completely wrong station which was so annoying because I spent like $12 of my credit giving directions to places that Lois could not possibly get to, and vice versa. After that very long and worrying period of time I eventually made my way to the other station and looked around for half an hour before FINALLY finding Lois at some spot. It was the first tiem I had seen her in 2 and a bit years and I had always promised to visit her one day. Promise fulfilled. Then the next problem: I didnt actually have any directions on how to get to the hostel we were staying at...Idiot.
We looked for an internet cafe, seeing the main oart of Brussels in one hit, and then made our way to the hostel. This again took a long period of time. Eventually we found our way using my awesome french skills and Lois' native dutch skills (in Belgium people sspeak French Dutch or both) Hoorah! We were on Rue D'Elephant (lol) and were settled in our decent hostel. Pizza. talking. Sleep.
Day one in Belgium consisted of exploring Belgium and first started at a flea market. The flea market was so expensive and pretty small but I thought it was okay and Lois bought a few things there (making me carry them in my bag... well I offered...) We also tried on some random sunnies there they were so ugly or stupid we couldn't resist. Hehe...
We then spent time looking for the Manneken Pis which is the most famous thing in all of Belgium, apparently. We found it eventually after getting lost and ending up in completely opposite areas to orignally intended (Lois just pointed out 'you're making it seem like we got lost a lot of times' , well we were) We eventually found it but were more impressed by the chocolate mannekin pis behind it. Seriously, this thing was soooo small it could fit in my pocket, okay not literally but it was like... wtf? THIS is famous?
More of Brussels. Churches. Train. Antwerpen.
We hadn't anywhere to stay in Antwerpen so we spent the first part finding somewhere. We got a hotel room in a place just near the station, without realising it was actually quite crap. Oh well. The location was amazing though, right near the station. I should mention, the station is AMAZING. It is also featured here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UE3CNu_rtY ... best station in the world. Anyway, after hostel locating we went up to the old part of Antwerpen looking for something Lois had read about on the internet. On the way we got distracted by the world championship trials for a random bike sport which was just in a nromal market which was made into a Bike Parkour sport place... Its impossible to explain really but you can sort of see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g4Dft50mLA&feature=related... Ours was actually much cooler than that.
WE then did a boat tour around the outside edges of the city but were left a bit diappointed because it was a bit boring but oh well, we learnt stuff about stuff which is always good to know. Yes... Then we had Waffles (in dutch I learnt how to say I have waffles which is: ik heb wafels. Heb jij wafels? I think not!) They were good waffles too. More walking. Dinner (cold pasta salad bought from the supermarket in the street, I am so embarrasing) then we looked for a music festval which Lois thought was going on but we couln't find it... we asked around to random people and eventually found a music thing but it wasn't what Lois orignally though (it turned out that was actually in August, not July... oops) so we hung out there with a bunch of middleaged partiers listening to live music which wasnt bad anyway. We then wanted to go clubbing so we found a place in a park which was scary because we were walking through some random park in the dark and I was like we are all gonna die! and then the police came past.. scary stuff. We found the club but it was a €10 entry fee so we decided against it (I am poor... poor lois) and instead went to a pub had belguim beers (maes) and then went back to the hotel to sleep.
The last day in Belgium was raining so we went to a museum. Antwerpen is the world diamond capital so we went to the Diamond museum and learnt a whole lot about diamonds, So interesting haha, we also cracked the diamond safe and stole 2 diamonds, no joke. I have it in my bag even now. It took a while but we did it. After the diamond museum we walked around taking photos of shop windows which was fun then went to another museum which we thought was a cartoon museum but it turned out to be a renassaince musuem or something.. I dont know. It wasn't all that great but oh well.
Coffee. More BIke watching. Train station. Rotterdam. Train. Driving with Lois in the rain. Sneek. My new home for the week. Okay, so to be perfectly blunt: Lois' house pwns all. Best. House. Ever. Its HUGE too and omg so cool. We watched a movie in her home cinema which has a MASSIVE screen I mean, bigger than me in height and obviously width as well... Its like a real cinema screen. We watched the boat that rocked. By 1.30pm I was off to sleep in my room. Which also happened to be the cinema room because it had a fold out bed and of my options it was the easiest. It has its own two person ensuite anyway, so it seemed decent enough. Best. House.
I woke up today at 1.30pm for some reason and met Lois on the computer. I still hadn't seen her family except her brother Jelle (yell-eh) who was miding the house while her family were on a n island. We decided to go to some car festival thing which was a 10 minute drive away. When we got there it was a €7.50 entry fee which was annoying but then you had to paty for EVERYTHING when you got in even the toilet, biggest waste of money ever. It wasn't event that interesting so we stayed for as long as we felt obliged to then left to go for a bike ride around Lois' town, Sneek (snake)
Sneek is very cool with rivers and stuff all through it. We had ice cream and Lois showed me her old high school and primary school and other things around the town. When we got back to her house her family arrived home so I met them and they had friends over so I met them too. Her family are so nice too. Its great here :)
We had chinese for tea and I sat around trying to make sense of the bizarre dutch language until they went home and then I came and typed this.
Sorry for my absence.
I'll be here probably from now on. Amsterdam tomorrow bright and early.
xx
p.s Happy Birthday Ruby and I well do a Month Summary for July tomorrow possibly.
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