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On our last night in Amsterdam, we decided to eat at a Sports Cafe, where Melissa thoroughly enjoyed their all you can eat special on ribs. Delicious! Then we headed to the Boom Chicago comedy show, where four Americans did mainly improv skits. We felt like we were back in America because we got free water (with ice!) and even the bathrooms were free (a luxury we realize we take for granted).
Monday we took an early train to Brussels where we stayed for one night. Once we got there we decided to walk our own self guided tour of the city, which is the headquarters for the European Union. For lunch we stopped at a small cafe where the owner made our sandwiches and salads right in front of us with fresh ingredients (a better version of subway). Throughout our day tour, we basically just stumbled upon peeing statues. A statue of a boy peeing is one of the classy symbols of Brussels, and they promote it proudly. They decided just the boy wasn't enough, so why not keep it equal and have a girl squating to pee too? But they couldn't leave out man's best friend...so they have a peeing dog statue as well. After having our fill of peeing children, we went outside the city center and looked at the atomium, which was made for the 1958 World Fair, when they thought nuclear energy would save the world (or something like that). It was huge! Another statue we found during our day tour was one that is commonly rubbed for good luck.
Of course we couldn't go to Belgium and not get waffles, so we finally succumbed to the calling of the numerous waffle stands. Their version of the waffle is more like a dessert (so of course we ate it for dinner), and it's a denser fried sweet dough, with any sweet toppings you want (we mostly stuck to strawberries, chocolate and whip cream). Heaven in your mouth basically. After our healthy meal, we went back to our hostel bar and sampled the local beverage...and by that we of course mean beer. Trend? We were still hungry even after our traditional Belgium cuisine, so we headed out for a "night snack" on the only road that has food past ten (the Turkish road...duh).
Tuesday we got up and were once again on the road. Apparently the luck from that statue was in short supply because we almost missed our very expensive chunnel train due to multiple security check points, which we haven't had to do since France. We found ourselves running down the never-ending platform with forty pound bags on our backs while the train station employees cheered us on. We made it (sweaty but happy), and headed to our recently booked hostel just outside of London. The original plan was to head up to York for a day, but we decided the bus ride was too long and the train was too expensive for just one day. Instead, we stayed in a small ghetto area right outside of the city. After lunch, we took some time to relax and chilled out in the tv room (TV!). Then we ventured into the ghetto once again for food. Basically we just rested up for the home stretch.
Wednesday we checked out of the hostel and headed into downtown London. We arrived at our last hostel, which is the famous hostel of London, and it's huge. There is even a cinema room (Dana almost cried with happiness). Keeping up with our tradition, we started our London adventure with a free walking tour. This basically just covered the royal parts of the city, including Buckingham Palace, Westminster, and Parliament. It wasn't one of the better ones we've been on, but it got us started. After the tour, we were starving, so we headed to a local pub with a few Canadians (of course) from our tour group and ate fish and chips (served with baby food peas..weird). After the tour, we did some more walking to Piccadilly Circus. This is basically just an area of the city next to a large shopping district. Here we stumbled upon the greatest store ever...the M&M world at London! It was four floors of all the colorful M&M merchandise you could ever want. There were plenty of picture opportunities with big M&M figurines, which we obviously took advantage of. After a long day of walking, we went back to the hostel to look into what movies they had. Of course we had to pick what turned out to be the best movie ever...not. The Big Labowski was substandard to say the least. We got bored and decided to read instead. Dana has accumulated quite the library during our trip.
Thursday we took a train to Oxford, where we hoped the air of intelligence would somehow seep in. Turns out, they just had graduation, so their streets were covered in confetti, and we even saw a beer can! Seems they have fun in between cramming their heads with knowledge. The university is comprised of separate colleges which visitors must pay to enter. So we didn't get to see the inside of any buildings, but the outside was amazing. Some buildings dated back to 1100s. We wandered into an old style candy shop, had lunch at a little cafe (where professors debated the registration processes...with their British accents it sounded so much more important than that) and found our way to a small shopping center. After a few hours, it was time to head back to the city to get ready for our traditional barcrawl. But not before getting some subway (it didn't quite taste the same). The barcrawl was pretty much like every other barcrawl we've been on. The music was good and the drinks were expensive. But good times were had all around.
This morning, we decided to grab breakfast at our hostel. We found out their version of pancakes are basically crepes, and the french toast should be left to the French. At least it was cheap! Afterwards we found out the chef was new...figures. Today we're heading to Hyde Park to see if we can creep on a festival going on there. Technically it's 100 pounds to go see the bands, but we're hoping we can hear them from outside the gates.
Until next time...
- comments
Aunt Mary Sounds like you are really enjoying being back to a country where you can understand the language!! Looking forward to hearing about England - I've always loved books about the lords & ladies in London!! Have fun & see you soon, Dana!!
Audrey 4 more days. Enjoy. I've always wanted to see London, the place of so many of my historical novels. Sounds great. Ashley stayed last night. She looked so pretty going to work this morning. Love you, Grandma & Grandpa (who's working on Ophelia's steps)