Secondly, get comfy. This is going to a bit longer than my previous posts. I have three cities to get through. Arnhem, Luxembourg, and Brussels. Ready? GO!
Okay, so last Monday, I did a day trip to Arnhem with two friends for a school project. We have to write a report about a Dutch city that isn't Amsterdam or Leiden. So why not go to a city that had a major battle during World War II? Because we went on a windy Monday, that's why. Don't get me wrong. The city looked really nice and it could've been a lot better if stores and shops had been open and the weather had been a bit better. There wasn't a lot for us to do, but we did walk around a bit, get a feel for the city, and see the bridge that brought us there in the first place. One thing that was open was a small museum about the Battle of Arnhem. It was really cute, and a nice way to display information about the battle. After we finished with the exhibit, we headed back to Leiden. It was a quick trip, but I think we'll be able to write an essay about it.
The famous bridge
Don't worry, it didn't explode when I kicked it
Arnhem's church
Now for the more interesting things!! I just got back from a weekend trip to Luxembourg and Brussels. We saw a ton and did a lot, so bear with me as I try to recount it all.
Usually getting to your destination is the boring part of the trip, but of course that's not what happens when you have three Americans traveling around Europe. We took the train from Leiden to Brussels, and had a bit of a rest before the next train we had to get on. We almost missed our train to Luxembourg because of some lollygagging, but somehow I managed to stall the conductor long enough for us to all plow on the train right before it took off. I don't think I've ever cut it that close with public transportation, but thankfully it worked out all right.
After that mini-adventure, things calmed down a bit. We got in to Luxembourg around midnight, so there wasn't any sight seeing until the next day. We did manage to see a ton just meandering throughout the city. We saw all the highlights in a day and even got to go in the old fort and walk through what felt like caves. For dinner we managed to find a place among all the pizzerias and Chinese restaurants that had Luxembourgish food. I got what's called "bouchée a la reine." It was pretty good. It had a puff pastry cup, chicken, gravy, and veggies on the side. It was unlike anything I'd ever had before, but still yummy.
The next day, we wandered through a park and found an art museum that we got into for free (yay being a student!!). Then we went to the national museum of history and art (for free!). Both were really interesting and all culture-y and whatnot. Very cool. Since it was St. Patty's, we ate dinner in an Irish-feeling restaurant, but turned in early since we had a super-early train the next morning.
Palace
View of the down-part
Bouchée a la Reine
Fort/Caves
Main shopping strip
And finally, Brussels! We managed to get there without a hitch, and had a full day of walking ahead of us. I think we managed to see just about everything there was to see. The only thing was that we didn't always know what we were looking at or why it was important. I guess this means, I'll have to go back at a later date. We also did the food thing right. We got waffles for lunch, had some fries at dinner, and bought some chocolate for dessert. Most definitely a delicious day.
The one thing that we actually did was go to the Atomium. It was built for the world fair in 1958. It's now a museum, and you can go in and walk through all the individual atom structures. There's a panoramic view from the top and exhibits in lower levels. It was recommended as a must-see by many people, but in all honesty, I didn't think it was that fantastic. It looks awesome, sure, but once you get inside it's not that spectacular. But that's just my opinion.
Grote Markt
Delicious waffle with chocolate
Atomium
It was definitely a full weekend, but it was fantastic and I'm glad that I got to see these places. Two cities down, countless more to go!
(As always, go to my photos page to see more pictures!)
