Hello Everyone!
I had the most amazing weekend, I cannot wait to share my stories and pictures with you! On Friday all the American Missionaries went over to Nicco's House (sp?) *you say it like knee-co* and had the most amazing French dinner. All of us had Crepes with Formage (cheese) and it was so amazing, You make it in the middle of the table fresh off the grill and it was so tasty! I have never tried dinner crepes before and I loved them! After great conversation and a lot of laughs with Kevin spilling food and drinks constantly on Debbie we watched a French film with english subtitles :) it was so funny! It was about the north region of France where I am at, and somewhat like a comedy about this man who gets deported to northern France. He thinks there is like freezing fog and everyone is like hicks, he comes and loves it. It is nothing like people say. And anyway I just thought it was very funny. I forget what its called. But anyway the next morning I woke up sooo early to catch a train from Mons to Amsterdam, I met some really interesting people on the train on the way up and had some good conversations with some people who spoke english. It was an 3 hours and 53 minutes of a train ride and boy was I sleepy, but the way up there was so beautiful I didn't want to shut my eyes. I arrived there all by myself :) and took a canal tour that was a hop-on hop-off deal like London. I thought it would be a good idea except it was so slow and there was not a lot of information I could get on the tour, which was a bummer because I came to Holland looking to learn about some Dutch history and see clogs! haha. I think I am the only person on the planet who did not know that weed and prostitution are legal there, and so that kind of got old after a while. I had to be careful of what food I bought because it was in everything. Like even candy. Coming from America it was a big culture shock to just see people rolling joints out in the open. The only problem I had was when it got to be around 2:00PM I felt like the whole town was stoned, like even my canal tour driver, he ran into some paddle boaters AND a wall. I just had to laugh some times because it was really ridiculous. But Besides all of that the buildings were beautiful, it was a really hot and muggy, gray day so the pictures aren't too amazing, but it was just nice to see a new country.
The Train Station I arrived at...
Some views from the canal boat tour...
I got a little lost when I decided to go to the flee market, but I really had a great time. It was so fun to look at everything all the colors are amazing
Home of Heineken beer.. that was a landmark lol..
This Area was beautiful, At the Rijks Museum..
This Area was beautiful, At the Rijks Museum..
Finally reaching one of my main stops the Van Gogh Museum.. It was so amazing I cant even tell you. It was my first art museum of my europe trip and I was amazed with all of the work showcased. I think the coolest thing was seeing his brush strokes up close in person, you could see the layers and see where he went up to the edge of the canvas. I loved looking around here.
Me waiting in line to by a ticket for the Museum..
Everywhere you go there are TONS of Bikes, look at how crazy this garage is for them they even have two security guards to watch them. I have been to bike towns but nothing like this. I was so amazed 3 floors!
I met/saw a lot of interesting people.. RIP Michael Jackson..
I also saw Anne Franks House but my picture did not turn out, so that is a bummer but it was just awesome to be in a place where so much history was and being in the same neighborhood as Anne Frank once hid was really impacting. After finishing the canal tour hopping on and off the full cirut I had about 1 hour before I had to catch the train back to France, so I decided to go into the middle of town and see the buildings there. I am so glad I did because this was probably my favorite part.
The OudeKerk Church
Me waiting in line to by a ticket for the Museum..
Look a Clog flower pot! It was so cute I just had to take a picture.
Everywhere you go there are TONS of Bikes, look at how crazy this garage is for them they even have two security guards to watch them. I have been to bike towns but nothing like this. I was so amazed 3 floors!
I met/saw a lot of interesting people.. RIP Michael Jackson..
I also saw Anne Franks House but my picture did not turn out, so that is a bummer but it was just awesome to be in a place where so much history was and being in the same neighborhood as Anne Frank once hid was really impacting. After finishing the canal tour hopping on and off the full cirut I had about 1 hour before I had to catch the train back to France, so I decided to go into the middle of town and see the buildings there. I am so glad I did because this was probably my favorite part.The Royal Palace...
The OudeKerk Church
The National Monument
Me very tiered at the end of the day...
After a long day of traveling I caught the 6:00PM train back to France to arrive close to 11:00PM at night. The next day we all woke up early at the house to go over to the church for Melanies Baptism (She is my bosses daughter) It was incredible to see a Baptism in France I really liked the way the service was and how people who dont even attend church come to celebrate this occasion with their friends. I was able to take pictures of the whole thing for Melanie and I glad the ceremony went so well. After the baptism the church had a big BBQ where they cooked up 100 links of sausage. It was amazing and so fun to meet so many new people and try to talk. This one lady kept insisting on telling me about everything in French, she spoke no english and I kept trying to tell her I dont understand, haha but I dont think she really cared just as long as she was able to talk. I enjoyed it very much here are the pictures of the 3 people that go Baptised this weekend.
This is Melanie...
Alvin who is Valerie's (my friend who went to paris with me) Brother..
This is David..
Love and a Hug
Nicole
