Taco Bell, aka, Duhnkuvell

Before I start this post I need to let you all know that I am exhausted, slightly delirious and excited to put my head on my pillow tonight and cuddle up with teddy while falling asleep to my new favorite tv show, The Big Bang Theory. Every bit of sleep deprivation was COMPLETELY worth it because this past weekend I was in Amsterdam and when you have less than 48 hours in a city with SO much to explore....you just don't have time for sleep! 

Sharlene and I arrived in Eindhoven, Netherlands around 7pm and we could not have had a livelier, funnier, more entertaining welcome if we had TRIED to come at this time. In the south of Holland (and all across Europe) Carnival is being celebrated! In the 4 days leading up to the beginning of Lent there are huge parties across all major cities and the airport we flew in to was essentially in the center of where everyone was meeting up to take trains to different parts of the south of Holland. After we were told that we had arrived during one of the biggest festivals of the year, it was all we could do not to take off with all of these party people!! Now when I say party people don't go thinking it's like it is in the states---college aged kids drinking too much and causing trouble---no these party people were of every age group, the youngest I saw being about 7 and the oldest I saw was probably late 60's. It was so funny and this particular band (in the video above) were playing in the car we sat in on the train on our way from Eindhoven to Amsterdam. They were so funny and friendly and even offered us their drinks though we politely declined for many reasons, my personal reason of sickness not wanting to be worsened by the green liquid being passed around and the funny faces of everyone else drinking it hahaha! 

When we arrived at the train station it was a quick 2-3 minute walk to our hotel though of course we first walked in the wrong direction for about 5 minutes before stopping in a different hotel, asking directions, and being sent back across the street with a "next time stay with us!" being said as we set off. Our hotel room was cute with an Apple tv/computer and a half view of the city out the window. We didn't stay to look too long because our complimentary welcome drinks were waiting for us in the sky lounge and we didn't want to keep them waiting. 

As the host was seating us in the Sky Lounge he made small talk and got very excited when we told him we were from California! (It's easiest to tell people abroad you're from CA because 1. everyone knows Los Angeles 2. if they've been to the states chances are it was NY or CA...) He started telling us all about the time he lived there and how he can't wait to move back when he finishes school in the Netherlands and start writing screen plays. As he was talking to us the manager walked by and he had also lived in LA so of course we talked some more with him and he gave us more free drinks! Soon we had been introduced to a couple more of the bartenders and we hit it off with one in particular, Lars, who was giving us suggestions where we could go out at nights and then decided it would be easier if we just went out with him after his shift haha so at 3am when he got off we took off in search of the non-touristy areas of Amsterdam where "the locals" hung out. WE HAD THE BEST TIME EVER! Dancing, drinks, music, pictures, an exciting scooter ride, more new friends, and talking until 7am. It was a long night that went SO fast and was so wonderful and everything I want when I go visit other countries....to hang out with people who actually know the area. It makes the experience of being in a new place SO different when you do more than the fun touristy things. Not that I am against the touristy stuff at all because after a quick 1 hour nap that is EXACTLY what we did. 

The first thing we did after finding some breakfast was head to the Anne Frank House which was absolutely worth the wait. It was very windy, very cold and the wait is outside so we were pretty frozen by the time we got inside but WOW. My emotions were honestly so mixed because it didn't feel real...that the places we were walking in and through, the small rooms that had been all in one bedroom/kitchens....could have actually been lived in for over two years by 2 families. I don't know, it really blew my mind to walk through the house/museum and as I read about what each new room was being hit by the reality again and again the atrocities that so many millions of people faced, and the Frank family were considered lucky to have even had a place to live!! wow. 

After the Anne Frank house we headed over to the Van Gogh museum where we sadly didn't have a lot of time to explore because we wanted to make it to our canal tour by 4:30. We did get to see a lot of his work and I was able to learn A LOT about him that I had never known though probably due to my lack of knowledge and caring about art in general not because these things aren't well known (did you know he committed suicide after his epilepsy drove him literally insane?) Well anyways, I loved it and wish we had had time for the Rijksmuseum but like I said before, we had less than 48 hours in this city and sadly had to pick and choose what to do. So then it was off to our canal tour (a quick clip on the left) which was narrated by a really annoyingly funny couple who kept trying to be funny but they really weren't...which made it funny....ok right anyways. It was a beautiful way to see the city and I loved it! We then had dinner at a fun coffee house/bar and then made our way back to the hotel. We rested for a couple hours before heading back up to Sky Bar to see our friends for a bit and it was pretty funny how instantly the manager, our host from last night and another bartender all made sure we had seats with a good view of the city and gave us a complimentary round of drinks. Everyone we talked to or met the whole weekend was SO NICE and honestly, the city is beautiful and I can't wait to make it back there one day because you really can't see much in such a short time frame. I want to explore a lot more and have time to walk through the city and enjoy everything as opposed to the sprint we practically had to do to see just the few things we did. I was back in the hotel by around midnight as I just couldn't bring myself to go out again when I'm still sick and have so much to do this week for school (ugh why was I raised to be so responsible?!) I still ended up staying up pretty late watching some Dutch television and reading a non-school book for the first time in months! With all of the time we spent on trains/planes I was able to read two this weekend and it was so nice to give my brain a break from school related topics. 

We had to leave Amsterdam by 12:30 today and so we didn't have much time for anything this morning though we were able to find a couple tourist shops nearby and take some more pictures by the canals before heading back to Eindhoven and our flight back to Londontown. On my way back from the airport the bus got me back home just in time to hop off at the bus stop next to my church and so I still made it in time for mass before I headed home, where I now am finishing up this post so I can get to bed! (Don't worry Javi, I'm taking care of myself ok?!?!) I have so many more travels coming up in the next 2 months and I can't wait for the adventures to come! Next destination....Manchester with daddy!! 

Love from London,

Kristin

PS. For anyone who is wondering about the title of this post continue reading: Dutch is a super hard language and mostly impossible to pronounce anything haha so we asked the people on the train from Eindhoven to Amsterdam how to say thank you so we could at least thank people who politely spoke English with us and I swear it sounded like he said taco bell over and over again until he laughed and said slowly daahhnnn-cooo-vellll. hahaha so anyways, say taco bell really fast and it's like you're saying thank you in Dutch!