Amsterdam- Spacecakin around the canals

 To get from Paris to Amsterdam was quite a headache! We thought we could take a high speed 3 hour train straight to Amsterdam, but when we went to the ticket counter we were informed that they had no seats left for our passes and we would have to pay 200 euros to get on the train! So instead, we had to take a 12 hour train ride to get there! It was a longggggg day. We finally arrived around 5 or 6pm and after checking into our hotel, strolled around the city a bit. The canals were all lit up at night, it was quite peaceful and very pretty. Surprisingly most of the side streets along the canals in Amsterdam were quiet and peaceful. Not exactly what most people imagine Amsterdam to be. The following day we went to the Van Gogh museum. Some of his paintings were amazing, and it was interesting learning about how he cut his ear off and then committed suicide shortly after.

 

 

 

 

 After the museum, we took a stroll through one of the parks and then walked around the city some more. We walked through a flower market, selling millions of flower bulbs!

 

 

 

We walked by several "coffee shops" which sell marijuana and other hallucinogenic drugs. We even saw a "magic mushroom" shop, with all sorts of crazy substances I've never heard of!

 

"Coffee Shop"

 

Alien mushroom man!

 

 

We wandered our way to the Red Light District where we went in the Sex Museum to learn about the history of sex in all the different cultures around the world. Then we got a few drinks at one of the local bars, and after that wandered around the Red Light District to check out all the "Red Light" windows.

 

Sex Museum:

 

 Red Lights! 

 

Cannabis Beer anyone?

 

 The following day, we strolled around the city some more, getting lost in the canals. The fall colors were beautiful along the water. There were several houseboats in the canals as well that were really cool.

Houseboat:

 

 

 

After checking out a local clothing market, we headed back towards our hotel to go to the Anne Frank House. We got there right at 5:40, but unfortunately I read the ticket wrong and it was 7:40! So we strolled around some more and then went back 2 hours later. The Anne Frank house is the original house where her and her family stayed in hiding during the war. The house looks just like any of the other houses along the canal. Inside, the bottom level showed where the shop used to be with the offices of the workers and the people assisting them in hiding. As you went up a set of stairs there was the original bookcase that blocked the next staircase leading up to the secret annex. Once up in the annex you were standing in Anne's parents bedroom and just next to that was her bedroom. The walls of her room were still decorated with newspaper and magazine clippings that she had glued to the wall. It was very surreal being in the room where she wrote her diary and spent her last days with her family. Just past Anne's room was a shared bathroom and then another staircase leading up to the rooms of the Van Pels family. There was a larger room that was used as a bedroom, shared living room and kitchen by everyone and then there was a smaller room where Peter Van Pels slept. In his room was the ladder leading up to the attic where Anne would frequently go to get away. The final parts of the museum housed pieces of Anne's original diary and videos from friends, helpers, and her father Otto Frank who set up the museum after the war. It was heartbreaking listening to him talk about Anne.

 

Overall, Amsterdam was a very relaxing and beautiful city. Besides the Red Light area, most of the streets were peaceful and picturesque. Tomorrow we are off to London, which I'm sure will be a lot different than Amsterdam!

 



Paris - Art, Palaces, & Stinky Cheese!

After our vineyard adventure in Beaune we took a 3.5 hour train ride the next day to Paris. Since we got into the city so early, we decided to check our bags at the train station and do some sightseeing before heading to our hotel. We started at the Notre Dame Cathedral. The original church was built in 1163 and is supposedly one of the finest examples of French gothic architecture. 

 

Line to get into the cathedral:

Inside of the Cathedral there were beautiful stained glass windows throughout:

After viewing the cathedral we took a stroll across the Seinne River and wandered through the Latin quarter in the city and then made our way back across the river near the Louvre museum.

 "Locks of Love" on one of the bridges across the Seine River:

Outside the Louvre, the weather changed quickly and started to downpour and got super windy! We hid under the archway just outside the Louvre until it passed.

Once the rain passed we wandered through the Toulerie Gardens and made our way up Avenue des Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe.

Toulerie Gardens w/ Arc De Triomphe in background:

Fall has arrived:

After making our way past all of the fancy shops on Avenue des Champs-Élysées, we finally made it to the Arc de Triomphe. The Arc honors those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.

The following day we decided to go to the Louvre museum. The Louvre is one of the most well known museums in the world, but before it became a museum it was actually a royal palace up until 1682 when the Royal family moved their residence to Versailles. The museum today houses many famous works of art including the Mona Lisa, the coronation of napoleon, and the Venus de Milo. Most of these famous works were crowded with tons of people trying to view them. In my opinion, I thought a lot of the non-crowded works of art were just as beautiful, if not more than their famous counterparts.

 

The best pic I could get of the Mona Lisa without being trampled!

Another painting in the Mona Lisa room:

After the Louvre, we went to the Orangerie museum which holds works by Monet, Picasso, and some other painters of the time. The Monet paintings were the most impressive paintings I have ever seen; they were beautiful. They kind of left you in a trance, feeling as if you could just gaze at them for hours. No photos though! After that we tried to make it over to another famous church in the area, but ended up going in the Concierge instead. This building used to hold parliament and also used to be a prison. It was here that Marie Antoinette was imprisoned before her execution.

Our third day in Paris we went to Chateau de Versailles! Versailles is one of the largest and grandest palaces in the world. It was the center of political power and home of the French Monarchs up until the French Revolution and the executions of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. As you approach the palace, you can see the shimmering golden gates from afar.

 

The Queen:

The King:

 

The chapel:

The decorations in the Royal Palace were exquisite. From the ceilings to the floors, not an inch was left undecorated. With gold encasings around the rooms to dazzling chandeliers, the rooms were spectacular. In the bedchambers of the king and queen, the beddings, the walls, and the draperies all followed the same grand theme. Each morning and night the king and queen had "waking" and "sleeping" rituals performed by several staff members. Imagine having to perform a ritual every morning and night! Sounds exhausting!

The State Apartment Rooms:

The Corridor of Mirrors (and chandeliers):

 

The Queen's Bedchambers:

 

The Princess' bechamber:

Once you leave the palace, you enter into the Grand Gardens of Versailles. The gardens are almost 2000 acres! Since we didn't have enough time to explore all 2000 acres, we walked through the main part of the garden to the Grand Trianon Palace. This Palace was built by Louis XIV as a retreat from the main palace. 

 

View of Versailles from the gardens:

 

Grand Trianon:

 

Grand Trianon King's bedchamber:

 

Flowers in the gardens:

Just past the Grand Trianon is the Petit Trianon palace which was given to Marie Antoinette as a wedding gift by Louis XVI. Marie Antoinette created her own gardens around this small palace as well as the "Queen's Hamlet". The Hamlet consisted of several small farmhouses with thatched roofs, a pond, and even a farm with cows and other live animals. Marie Antoinette used this Hamlet as a way to escape the pomp of Versailles and return to the country life she grew up with in Austria.

Marie Antoinette's private bedchamber in the Petit Trianon:

 

On our last day in Paris we finally made it to the Eiffel Tower!

 



We got to the tower in the early afternoon, but the lines seemed really long, so we decided to visit some of the local shops to buy some French food for a picnic under the tower. We bought some local cheese, which we didn't know what any of them were since we couldn't read French, so we just pointed to one and hoped it would be good. We also bought some fresh bread and éclairs, and Jeremy decided he wanted to try some Pate/meat bread. We set up our little "french" picnic right next to the tower.

 

Only half of the food at our picnic was a success; the wine, the éclairs, and the bread were delicious! The cheese stunk so bad that we couldn't even eat more than a few bites, and the Pate/meat bread looked so disgusting I didn't even try it! And Jeremy didn't finish it, so you know it had to be bad! LOL

 



 

After our picnic, we finally got in line to go up to the top of the tower. We waited about 2 hours to get to the top, and by the time we got up there it was raining and cold! We snapped a few photos before heading back into the warmer part of the tower and heading down. I'm sure the views would have been awesome on a sunny day, but I was too cold up there!