Apologies for the lateness and lengthiness of this post. For those of you who don't know, I've been in Germany and the Netherlands for the past week visiting with some excellent people. In one week I got to see all the people that I know who are overseas from Canada - Breanna, Ziyaad and Kate. It was a very... eventful week. Also, as of yesterday I have been in Europe for exactly one month, the longest I've ever been away from home and outside of Canada.
Important things that I have learned so far:
1. Always always always make a plan and make it early. Learned this the hard way. I thought it would be nice to visit Kate and since the Netherlands is so small I'd be able to just drop in no problem... turns out that wasnt the case. I had to purchase an 80 euro train ticket to get back to Bremen to catch my flight (the one way train ticket is actually more expensive than my return flight). Not happy, but it's no ones fault but my own - always check return prices.
2. Use the bathrooms on trains because you have to pay in public washrooms and even Mcdonalds sometimes! (stupid).
3. COMMUNICATION - lots of miscommunication this week. Breanna and I were supposed to meet in Bremen when I landed, but somehow we both thought things would just work themselves out. We managed to miss each other at the train station, she went to the airport and I was at the station, we both ended up waiting for at least 3 hours until we finally managed to meet up!
4. Dutch people know how to make delicious cookies. And vending machines!
5. It's really strange to be in a country and not know the language at all. This was my first time alone in a country where not many people speak English, it was definitely a new experience. Should probably invest in a little language book before I go to another country. I always like to know what please and thank you are!
So moving on to the eventufulness of the week.
My first day in Germany I ended up waiting for Breanna in the train station for hours and getting super anxious, followed by an eventful trip to the police station. The story: Bre and I decided to get a coffee before going back to where she lives (Steinhude). As we were catching up in a cafe the guy sitting beside us leaned over and stole Breanna's wallet right out of her purse. She accused him, searched his bag but didn't find anything and he just snuck away. We ended up walking to the police station and reported everything. The good news - Bre got a letter from the train station saying they found her waller, unfortunately she had already cancelled all her cards, but at least she got it back (minus 50 euro).
 |
| Bremen - my first day in Germany! |
 |
| Cute little street I stumbled upon in |
While in Germany we went to Hannover and Hamburg. Hannover is just like a big city with lots of shopping, but we had a nice time. Went out for delicious Italian food and then met up with some of Bre's friends. Hamburg is really nice, it's a harbour city (apparently one of the biggest). BUT the best part about Hamburg - they have something called a "tunnel". You go into this round building and it's just this huge well in the ground, with elevators and stairs going down. We had no idea what it was, so we took the elevator down and it was a tunnel to the islands off the harbour! So cool! It even has lifts for cars.
 |
| My walk from Steinhude into the city, saw ponies! |
 |
| 7km walk to the city! |
 |
| City Hall in Hamburg - it might be parliament but I'm not sure |
 |
| Inside city hall - Bre! |
 |
| Beautiful wrought iron doors |
 |
| Hamburg is one of the biggest port cities |
 |
| Cute old street we found |
 |
| The tunnel from above |
 |
| Scary! |
 |
| The lift for cars - so cool |
 |
| The actual tunnel |
 |
| Gorilla Knitting! |
 |
| Can't remember if this is Leiden (in Holland) or Hamburg.. either way it's pretty |
From Germany we went to Veendam, Netherlands where Ziyaad lives. We did Leiden and Amsterdam which turned into an interesting time. Zi has this car that his dad bought him for 200 euro (cheap!) so we decided to drive - Leiden is about a 2.5 hour drive. When we get to Leiden the car was steaming from being overheated. Fine, Zi just put cooling fluid in it. It was fine to Amsterdam but when we went to leave it wouldn't start. Finally got it started and made it just outside of the city before it started overheating again. Pulled over in a gas station, called road side assistance, waited an hour, road side assistance sayed the car wouldn't make it to Veendam, waited another hour for the tow truck, got to ride in the tow truck which was HUGE, got a sweet rental car for free, drove home. It was brutal but the replacement car was really nice - Zi had a fun time driving it! However, the excitement was not over for the day. We got home around 11:30pm and I went to plug in my computer and half the house lost electricity (including where the hot water heater was plugged in - learned later when it was freezing in the middle of the night)! It was just one of those days where everything went wrong - but I think we still had a good time.
 |
| Zi and his car on the tow truck :( |
Ended the trip by heading to Den Haag where Kate is living, very pretty city and Kate's new friends are all super nice - it would have been nice to stay a little longer, but I have to catch my plane!
At least it was an interesting week.
 |
| Early morning parting picture on the train <3 |
 |
| Den Haag - Parliament building |
