.... Let the adventure continue!
Amsterdam/Belgium part II
The last thing I did in Amsterdam was take a ride on a canal cruiser. It would have been much more enjoyable had there not been a loud group of business men. Why they were on the boat, I do not know. Still it was a fun ride. Getting to see how many different canals there are. Saw a lot of house boats along the way. I can imagine in the spring and summer it's quite nice, but I hope they have somewhere else to live during the winter.
Back to Belgium I went. This train was very crowded so the ride back wasn't as relaxing as going. I got off in Gent and my friend and his boyfriend picked me up. I stayed with them in their lovely apartment the rest of my trip. I met quite a few of their friends and wonderful time. Everyone I met was very open and interesting. Maybe they were shy at first to speak english, but after a drink or two they relaxed and were quite talkative. I tried to tell them their english was no doubt going to be better than my dutch. That being because I don't speak dutch.....
The day we walked around Gent I was an ass and forgot my camera. So unfortunately I don't have any pictures. It's a gorgeous town. Medieval architecture along with more modern structures. Very tastefully done. Lots of cute little shops and restaurants lining the squares. We ate at this wonderful little bakery, Julie's. I believe that was the name. I had the best cupcake I've had since being in Europe. Compares right up there with my favorites in NY.( and Magnolia's is NOT a favorite..) It happened to be one of their friends birthday so we spend the rest of the afternoon sitting outside enjoying some wonderful belgian beer. Most of the conversations were held in dutch. But i'm so used to not being able to understand most of what's going on around me, that it didn't phase me a bit. It can be quite enjoyable actually to not really have a clue what's going on, but to just feel the vibe of the people. The evening was spent back at their apartment with a handful of the people from the afternoon joining us. Eating pizza, drinking wine and playing a game similar to charades but with a few more twist!
The rest of my trip was spent seeing the town of Bruges and Den Haan. Bruges is a cute town. It's more well known than Gent and it shows in how many tourist there were. There was also a carnival the day we went. It was crowded that day to say the least. You almost feel like you are in Disney World, rather than actually in Belgium. We only spent a few hours there which was fine by me. Next we went to the beach town of Das Hann. Adorable comes to mind. Very quaint, but in the good way. The beach was full of glorious white sand.( This is why the water is so clear in Split, there's no sand..) I forgot how wonderful warm sand feels on bare feet. It was quite windy and the sea was pretty choppy so we didn't swim. I'm told it's always cold and swimming is rare, but still such a pretty site. The thing i'd never seen before were the wind barriers. People pull out these cloth fences and stick the posts into the sand. It blocks the wind and the wind from blowing the sand all up on you.
In short(or maybe not so short) my trip was amazing. Amsterdam( including the rest of the Netherlands) and Belgium are places I would love to explore even more. I can't say there was one bad thing about the trip, except that it had to end.
So thank you to everyone I met along the way for making it so memorable, I look forward to the next time.
*still having issues getting pics from camera to computer, it'll happen soon*
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