Day 4 - Delft, Leiden, Haarlem, Amsterdam

After a luxurious continental breakfast in Rotterdam, we were off to Delft, a small but beautiful town. It is most famous for it's blue and white pottery. The central square was gorgeous with a large cathedral, adorable cobbled streets and plenty of shops! Danielle and I went a little crazy in the souvenir shops while Jenna took a wee nap in the car. This was one of my favorite places, with it's beautiful canals, strewn with lillypads and small colorful boats. It was really so enjoyable and a great kickoff to another eventful day!We left Delft and drove through another small town called Leiden. There wasn’t to much going on here except a big windmill in the middle of town so we decided to listen to our bellies and mosey on to the next destination for a bit of lunch. Haarlem, which is just outside of Amsterdam houses historic streets, great antique shopping and a massive cathedral. We parked in a side street, once Rue (the GPS) told us we were close enough to the square and decided to walk the rest of the way. Parking in Holland is no small feet as you must parallel between trees and backing up a bit too far can land you straight into the canal. Talk about upping the stakes! It's a good thing we eased the tension with Jenna yelling "ALLLO!" at every poor Dutchman who'd pass the car. There was so much excitement in fact that certain rules had to be established as this continued throughout the trip...Rule #1 - No geriatrics, Rule #2 - Not so loud whilst passing those on bicycles and Rule #3 - No yelling if we're about to stop.

Once the parking and yelling had ceased, we meandered down a busy street filled with shops, making mental notes of those we'd need to return to on the way back, we finally arrived at a perfect lunch locale. After enjoying a beautifully sunny lunch on the square we started to head back to the car. The girls were uber-excited as we finally found our first truly FREEEEEE bathroom on the trip at none other than...McDonald's, of course. We wouldn't eat there but we were certainly more than happy to use their facilities. Danielle said it best when, and I quote, "Leave it to them to sympathize with the Americans and offer free toilets so we don’t have to run around like potty training children to try and find a bathroom before we pee our pants."Not more than 8 minutes and 3 blocks later we arrived at the car, I mention the time because for some reason Jenna was in toddler 'I gotta pee' mode and insisted on having a wee moment right out the car, canal side of course. While Danielle and I shielded her, we desperately tried not to pee our own pants from sheer laughter and fear of falling into the canal ourselves. As if things couldn't get anymore interesting, much to the dismay of us all, it began to absolutely pour.
Unfortunately this was no ordinary rain and the streets began to instantly flood. As the windshield whippers swept back and forth furiously, we desperately looked to Rue for guidance. There is a fantastic Flip video that perfectly depicts our sheer panic at the overwhelming amount of water. It was one of those moments that had us laughing hysterically and feeling absolutely ridiculous.

Despite the Tsunami, we made our way to Amsterdam. Our hotel, had a location to die for! The only thing was we nearly did die climbing the narrow, windey, steep stairs! Fortunately we were right around the corner from Leidsplein Square with hundreds of pubs, restaurants, bars and transportation. We were quite excited to experience the nightlife of Amsterdam so we headed out right away and found a pub on the square to enjoy a beer and do a little people watching. We were heading down the street, when we ran into some Australians who had tried to entice us into a Pub Crawl and with a few beers in us already, we said Why not? We quickly hurried home and got dressed for our first night out on the town. We really surprised ourselves a bit with our enthusiasm to dive back into the world of 20 year old Mexico drinking shenanigans but what matters is that we had the time of our lives! As shots were poured the night grew longer as we moved from bar to bar, at some point we stopped in a coffee shop and sampled the local fare. Unfortunately, it wasn't quiet what we were after, but we became professionals in the next few days. After a fantastic night of debauchery inclusive of some late night Egyptian Felafel's (Holler!), some crazy old man in checkered pants and a lot of booze, we were off to La Hotel Boheme and some late night laughs.

Jenna - All I need for my bachelorette party is a midget in a suit to make me happy

Danielle - When you talk in my ear it vibrates my spine

Nathalie - Jenna don't come up on me like that

Day 3 - Antwerp, Kinderdijk, Den Haag, Rotterdam

Goedemorgen! We are officially leaving Belgium today but not before a quick stop to Antwerp, known as the diamond capital of the world and the location of the Cathedral of Our Lady or Onze Lieve Vrouwekathedraal, I'm so happy I don't understand a lick of this language...can I get a vowel please haha...anyways it's the largest church in Belgium and Holland. The tower itself is 403 feet tall and contains a belfry with 47 bells. Although Antwerp is Brussels second biggest city it still has a small old world feel when you are in the old city centre. We picked a quaint cafe and had a cappuccino and practically fell asleep we were all so beat, that's until Danielle found a disco ball and started an impromptu dance that sparked us back to life. We were interested in checking out the much talked about church, however when we came to enter, there was a charge! I've been to the Vatican and they don't even charge you there, I could believe this church was charging people for to enter a house of prayer...capitalists!After a quick stroll around the city and some much needed postcard purchases, it was goodbye Belgium, Hello Holland. We like to refer to Holland as Danielle's people since she's blonde. This excites us a lot more than it does Dannie, but she's a great sport. Our first stop was Kinderdijk, a minut blip outside of Rotterdam. The reason for our wondering was a UNESCO World Heritage site where 19 massive windmills have stood tall and proud since 1740. These mills were once used to scoop up water and then transfer it to a local river.

We found a little trail off the beaten path and walked down to get a closer look. What was fascinating was that people use these windmills as their homes and there are huge gardens and animals in the grassy marshes that surround the site. We of course made good friends with a local goat. Upon proper introductions, the goat decided to give Jenna's foot a friendly nibble, this threw her into such a frenzy she stood up, lost her footing, fell down again and almost ended up in the marsh on the other side. Quiet the excitement for us and this poor old goat.

After our 'women who stare at goats' escapades, we headed off to Den Haag which is the judicial seat of the European Union and a very commercialized city. We headed right past the big buildings and got lost in the suburbs of the diplomats. It was so fun going from house to house trying to spot a sign or a flag indicating which embassy lived in which mansion. Once we finished parousing the streets of near royals we headed to the beach as Den Haag is right on the coast of the North Sea.We grabbed some candy by the pier and headed to the waves. After sticking exactly one toe in the water just to say we did it, we entertained ourselves for a good hour dabling in a little sand are and scripting messages back home to our friends and family.Our accommodation for the night was a business hotel back in Rotterdam, we decided to have a picnic dinner in our room and stopped in Gouda on the way over. It was about 8pm and the streets were baron but there was a nice square and wonderful rounds of cheese hung across the alleyways as streetlamps. We came across the last open market and headed inside to be pleasantly surprised by a young man at the cheese counter who spoke perfect English! He has studied abroad on the east coast for a semester and his enunciation was impeccable. He helped us make only the best selections and we ended up getting some great Amsterdam cheese as well as 48 month aged Gouda. We headed to our hotel and layed our gastronomic findings of the day... the cheese, salami, prosciutto, French bread, tapenade, olives, and beer.

Nathalie - I need water

Jenna - No, you need beer

Danielle - Beer is water with hops so you're cool!

Day 2 - Brugge, Oostende & Ghent

Today marked our first full day together. We woke up early in an attempt to get a jump start on the day, however the girls have a dirty little addiction to caffeine and needed some badly! Poor Danielle was still fresh off the boat..or should I say plane?Unfortunately, 'To Go' coffee is not a notion that exist in Europe. The traditions of coffee consumption are rooted deeply into Europeans' veins and their way of life. Coffee is to be enjoyed, not consumed through a plastic syphon whilst strolling around town. This does not make for a happy start but an interesting one ;) In the words of my dearest friend Danielle, "What the heck do NO Europeans drink coffee and walk, we have places to go and people to see and don’t have time to just lallygag every time we want to have a coffee haha."

With caffeine streaming through their veins, we were off! Brugge and our clothing wasn't what you would call a match. It was pouring and none of us really had any rain gear with us. This prompted a quick stop into the local tchotchke shop and the purchase of some oh so elegant ponchos!

Rain drenched and laughing we wondered into one of the cafes in the main square. With our second coffee shop of the day underway we planned the rest of our adventure. As the rain let up, only slightly, we took a quick walk around the square and walked into a beautiful cathedral, Sint-Salvatorskerkhof, for some dry time.

From there we waddled our way back to the car and headed to Oostende which is a small seaside town west of Brugge on the North Sea. Like any respectable European town there was a gigantic church in the middle of this small fishing village. However, we foregoed more sanctuaries for the real treat of the day; a walk on the boardwalk, picking and choosing fresh seafood from the local vendors.

After lunch we headed back towards Brussels and stopped halfway in a town called Ghent. This medieval canal city was the largest city outside of Paris during it's heyday and therefore had some pretty gorgeous old buildings and architecture to meander through. We made it to the central markt (square in Flemish) and went to a recommended and delicious Biergarten, Het Waterhuis Aan De Bierkant, located right on the river. There we enjoyed the next hour relaxing, soaking up the sun and sipping on the exclusively brewed beer for the pub; Gandavum.

Once we finally snapped out of our daze, it was back to Brussels for one more night and one last dinner in Belgium. Unfortunately, sometimes when you're in a new place and you rely to heavily on technology, you end up getting lost for 45 minutes within a 1 mile radius of your hotel. That being said, we parked the car and used our feet and our heads and got to a cute restaurant about 10 minutes later to enjoy a nice meal and plan some more of our adventure.

After dinner we headed back to our hotel for one final slumber and after getting quiet comfortable, we realized that our retractable reading lights made for the absolute most perfect nighttime shadow puppet show special! This extravagant display of maturity ended abruptly at about 2am when a hotel personelle had to come knocking on the door because we were laughing so hard. With tears in our eyes and smiles on our faces we finally called it a night. On to Holland tomorrow!!

Day 1 - Northern Europe Trip - Brussels

Well I have been waiting for this trip since New Years Day and let me tell you...that was the fastest train ride into Brussels for me! A true inspiration when I first hopped on, at 7:09am on a Saturday, were the three women sitting next to me on the train who were already on their 2nd bottle of Champagne. Needless to say the closer we got to Brussels, the happier they became!

I arrived to the Brussels airport on time with a quick (4 minute) change at central station. I stood in front of the arrival door for about 30 minutes until two smiling American's walked out and I became the idiot flailing her arms in the air and jumping up and down with excitement.

We headed to the rental garage and picked up our transport for the next ten days...a Ford Focus stationwagon with tints haha. After loading our first destination into the Gipers, that we so fondly named Rue la Poo, we were off to central Brussels and two days of exploration!

The first and most important tradition to all proper Eurotrips is a cafe in a cafe...or hot chocolate for me. Once we get Danielle and Jenna some caffeine, the cogs started turning and we hopped on the metro and down the the Grand Place where all the magic happens. This square is one of the most ornate and famous in Europe and is also vibrant with life any night of the week. With events going on like flower markets, farmers markets, live music, and tons of cafes, there's always some random tourist asking for directions or someone to take your photo.

Upon exiting the metro we headed into the Galleries, which is basically this majestic covered walkway with glass ceilings and beautiful elegant shops. Brussels is famous for chocolate, diamonds and lace and these shops were full of all of the above. Halfway through the atrium we hung a left to walk into the most picturesque alleyway filled with restaurants. We chose one that looked good and feasted on Moules/mussels and frites and our first beer of the day!

After lunch we made our way to our preferred attraction; a bar named Delirium. Which in fact, ironically enough, is how we felt when we exited about 4 hours later. The bar holds the Guiness Book of World Record title for having 2004 different kinds of beer to choose from. What made our adventure that much better is that we decided to each get different beers each round and share them. Here's a few that we remember...Duvle, Rodenbach, Cherry, Apple, and Mango Floris, Chimay, Blanche, and Leffe Brown. They were all delicious and the bartender thought we were nuts for mixing so many different kinds of beer. Little does he know...

After throwing quite a few back we headed out for the Grand Place. It was so beautiful with gorgeous baroque guildhalls and surrounded by outdoor cafes. Definitely a site to see even if it's just for a minute! From the Grand Place we went to the patron saint and unsung hero of Brussels, Mannekin Pis, a very famous, but small, bronze statue of a 17th century boy peeing. A fable passed down from generations that somehow became the place to check out while visiting the seat of the European Union. Hilarious!

After cruising the streets for the local fare and stuffing our faces with chocolates and waffles, we headed to dinner on this little pedestrian street by the hotel. We ate at a delicious Italian restaurant and enjoyed some wine and the beautiful weather. By the end of dinner, all the excitement and chocolate had dissipated and we headed back to the hotel exhausted from a fun filled day. On our way, we stopped by a 'night shop' to buy some bottled water. A soon to be staple of our trip as we learned very quickly that purchasing potable water and peeing whilst out on the town are two things the Europeans don't believe in.