Spring Break Blog-a-Palooza, Parts 4 and 5: Awesome Amsterdam and Brewin' Brussels

It's been a while. 20 days (March 22-April 10) and 5 cities (London, Paris, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Brussels). We have a lot to cover.

I will be splitting my coverage of my spring break travels into a couple of sections. This fourth part covers Amsterdam, April 5-8, during which Katie and I hung out with our friend David Farley and coincidentally met up with one of my oldest and best friends, Tyler Laubach. The fifth and final part covers Brussels, April 8-10, where Katie and I enjoyed chocolate, waffles, and an incredible selection of beer.

April 5-8: Awesome Amsterdam

This was our hostel, the Rembrandt Square Hotel. It was right above a club, which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Hey, at least we got a good price.

Amsterdam is such a beautiful city. Its sort of a cross between New York (in terms of small building architecture, obviously not skyscrapers) and Venice (in terms of canals being everywhere). People LOVE bikes there too. It's kind of insane.

I thought this was a cool picture more for the sky than the church. This is one of the oldest churches in Amsterdam and its ironically located in the red-light district.

The famous "I am-sterdam" sign. People love climbing on this thing!

This was one of the best "museum" experiences I have done so far. The House of Bols was basically a self guided tour of Bols flavored gin distillery. It was a very reasonable 14 Euros, which included a sample drink and 2 sample shots (Don't worry Mom and Dad, the alcohol content was mega-low because of all the flavoring). All in all, a very awesome time.

There's an insane amount of flavors to choose from, as you can see.

Katie, Dave, and I each picked 2 shots: From right to left the flavors are Elderflower, Yogurt, Watermelon, Green Banana (my favorite), Vanilla, and Pomegranate. Good times!

House boats are big in Amsterdam as well. I'm not sure if it would be fun to live on something like that all the time, but it they do seem pretty cozy.

We visited the Anne Frank House as well, which was quite a moving experience. At the end, there was an interesting interactive poll you could take regarding legal and social discrimination today.

The door to the Anne Frank House. (No pictures inside)

My friend Tyler saw on Facebook that I was in Amsterdam, as he was too traveling with friends from his NYU study abroad program in Prague, so we luckily were able to meet up. I will be seeing him again in a few weeks when I'm in Prague. It was awesome seeing him and being in another city around the world with such a good friend that I grew up with.

Another day, Dave, Katie, and I took a canal cruise tour, which was about an hour to see Amsterdam by water. It's not quite a Venetian gondola, but you do end up with some pretty awesome views of the city!

More canal cruising.

Ok, so this was actually a store, but you could walk around and get as many free samples of cheese as you wanted. We spent a lot of time here before feeling like jerks. I wanted to buy some cheese, but was unsure if it would keep. Plus, I knew if I did, I would probably end up eating a whole wheel of cheese.

Solid blond beer from the Netherlands and Belgium really highlighted my time there. Katie actually liked this brand so much, she ended up buying the same glass pictured here. I've been collecting many interesting glasses in my travels. Hopefully I can get them all back home safely!

The canals and bridges are really great, aren't they?

 

Katie, Dave, and I decided to rent bikes for a few hours and ride around the city. This at times was more stressful than fun (I think Katie may need some traffic lessons), but we did manage to have a few laughs.

This is Rembrandt Square, where our hostel was located. It was a great area to hang out and walk from.

This is in Leidseplien, a nice square in Amsterdam. Lots of shops and dining options.

 

Amsterdam was an awesome place to visit. It was even more special because I got to share it with Katie, our friend Dave, and one of my best friends from home, Tyler. It would definitely be fun to go back one day.

Next stop: Brussels!

April 8-10: Brewin' Brussels

This is the "Grand Place", which I guess means "Big Square with cool buildings and shops". Works for me. I'm just here for the beer, waffles, and chocolate.

Belgian beer is really, really good. Also, they use beer to cook with a lot of different types of foods. Who knew mussels in beer sauce could taste so good? Anyway, the mugs sold me too. Trip advisor queen, Katie, found this awesome restaurant 'T Kelderke, which was one of the best meals I've had in my travels. We got the mussels and, of course, some high quality beer and...you guessed it! A certified Belgian waffle (as they call it, "Brussels" waffle) for dessert. It's even better than it sounds.

The Grand Place looks pretty cool at night. The gothic architecture reminded me a lot Boston College. I miss being there, but these trips are too good to pass up!

Unfortunately, the next day was pretty rainy, so our bus tour was limited by a covered roof. This was the best picture I could get of the Atomium, one of the strangest buildings I have ever seen. Quite interesting though.

This is where the European Union meets. The EU presence causes Brussels to feel more "European" than Belgian. Even Belgium itself has 3 national languages: Dutch, French, and English. I will say that hearing and being able to fully use English in Amsterdam and Brussels after 4 nights in Istanbul was definitely refreshing.

This is a Hemgie's burger from Hemgies. Really, really great. Of course, comes with "chips" and delicious beer. I love food, by the way, it might be my favorite part of traveling.

This is Mannekin Pis, which is, well, a little kid peeing. If you needed evidence that people from the Low Countries are strange, here it is. This statue is a big, big deal there.

Of course, it does provided a lot of comedic fodder too.

Probably my favorite stop in Brussels, Delerium. It is constantly in the Guinness Book of World Records for beer variety (over 2,000). The fun thing to do there is to get little sample glasses and just try anything that looks like it might be good or has a cool name. Cherry Beer is phenomenal. Katie and I really enjoyed this place.

Delerium is also open all day, so instead of waiting around at the train station back to London, we got a pint and played cards. Delerium is the best.

There are 3 levels all with different types of beer.

Brussels was pretty great. Definitely a nice 2 day stop before heading back to London. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did, but again, what isn't to love about beer, chocolate, and waffles?

So there you have it: 20 days (March 22-April 10) and 5 cities (London, Paris, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Brussels). Unfortunately for me its back to the grind as I have to write and hand in 4 essays by next Friday (Apr 19). I guess you do have to study sometimes while being abroad, right?

Thanks for reading my blog. I will be sure to keep you posted, especially when I head to Budapest-Munich-Prague in a few weeks and then Marrakech-Barcelona a little after that.

Til then - Cheers!