Playing Catch-Up

As usual, I've not been the best at keeping this blog consistently up-to-date. In my defense, I didn't really think I had enough to write a solid post on until I realized that I have 2 day trips (Rotterdam and Gouda) and a weekend in Belgium to catch up on. So again, bare with me as I try to remember everything that's happened.

Rotterdam

About two weekends ago, there was a Caribbean/ Latin American festival in Rotterdam. Being college students with nothing else to do on a Saturday afternoon, we figured we might as well go and check it out. It actually turned out to be a pretty cool festival. It was complete with a Brazilian Carnival-type parade and lots of food. The costumes in the parade were incredible, but I couldn't help feeling bad for all the people walking the parade. It went on for hours as they walked around the city in blustering wind that was obviously out to destroy their costumes. After the parade finally finished, we got some scrumptious Surinamese food. We first had bara which is a type of fried herb bread filled with curried chicken. I never knew that my life was missing it until I tried it. Of course we had to finish with desert, so we tried three different types of cake. Also delicious, but I guess it's very hard to go wrong with traditional deserts. They've survived throughout generations for a reason. After listening to part of a concert, we headed back to Leiden after a full day of culture.

Belgium- Ghent and Bruges

Last weekend, I did a three day trip to explore the cities of Ghent and Bruges. The adventures began a bit early when we were delayed 2 hours in the Rotterdam train station. We were there on time and already on the platform when we realized that the train was no longer on the schedule. After some investigation, we found out that there had been a gas leak in a tunnel out of the station and that no trains were allowed to go in that direction until the fire department gave the all-clear. Once the next two hours passed, we were on the train to Ghent and everything else went smoothly.

The first day in Ghent we walked around and saw all the churches that are in that city, and it's a lot. The city had a really cool vibe to it and all the buildings still had a Dutch flare to them. That night, we went to a beer house (because, hey, Belgium beer) that had over 150 types of beer. I only managed to try one. I'm not that big of a beer fan, but I tried their home-brew which isn't available anywhere else in the world! So check that item I never knew I had on my bucket list off. The next day we did a tour of the castle. Basically the only thing I took away from that was that basically every single room in that place had been used for torture at one point or another. So that was an uplifting message... 

Next, we headed over to Bruges. Even before we had a chance to see much of the city, we managed to run into a triathlon. It was a bit of a surprise, but I'll give anyone a thumbs up if they willingly decide to swim through filthy canals for a chance to win a medal. We then grabbed some fresh waffles and took a short boat tour around the city. After coming from the Netherlands, the canals were a bit underwhelming, but it's so cute that they tried. For dinner we found a place recommended by the free map at the hostel that was close to 500 years old. We were all a bit flabbergasted that this one pub/restaurant is older than the United States. 

The next, and last, day was filled with even more sight-seeing. We climbed the bell tower and actually got to see the bells while they were ringing. We also went into a church and saw one of the only Michelangelo statues outside of Italy. We finished off the day with another waffle before catching our train home.

Ghent

Bruges

Gouda

Last but not least in this post. I'd wanted to go to Gouda for a while, and I figured I might as well do it on a day that they have their famous cheese market, so I did. We walked around the city for a bit, ate some stroopwafels and bought some cheese. We also went into the Janskerk which has some of the best stained glass windows I've seen. My favorite was the one depicting Jonah and the whale, mostly because of the whale bit. Once all of that was done, we went to a little town, Oudewater, and went into the old witch weighing house. It was a super cute town with practically zero tourists, so that made me appreciate it even more. It was a pretty short trip, but delightful nonetheless. 

Generic "Czech" Pun Here

Since my last post (which seems like ages ago), I was busy with studying for exams and finishing up the academic year. But that in no way means that my adventures in the Netherlands and Europe in general are over. Oh no, they are still in full swing. Early last week I headed off to Prague for a few days. What started off appearing to be a near disastrous trip turned out to be a fantastic time in a great city.

About two days before I left, I found out that the country was in a national state of emergency and that there were floods in Prague and that many tourist destinations were closed. This of course caused me to panic, and over the course of the next couple of days, I was searching the internet, trying to find information about how severe the flooding was. Luckily a few hours before I left, the tourism website was saying that the city was visitable and that most sites would be open to tourists. With this huge rush of relief, we were off to Prague!

We got in to the city pretty late, so we decided to check-in at our hostel and call it a night. The first full day started with a FREE tour! The tour company we went with works off of tips, and then overpricing on all other tours they offer. It was definitely a good introduction to the city. We got our barrings and some history about the Czech Republic and the city itself. The tour lead us around to most of the main sites, and ended close to the Jewish Quarter. For the rest of the afternoon we visited synagogues and Jewish graveyards. I was very impressed with all the decoration inside the Spanish Synagogue and shocked by all the names of Jews that died during World War II on the walls in the Pinkas Synagogue. We ended the day with buying a sausage from a street vendor in Wenceslas Square.

Day 2 was a day full of walking. We walked along the Vltava River to see the Charles Bridge (which was closed), the National Theatre, and the Dancing House. It was a nice walk and shocking to see how high the water level in the river was. We did manage to cross the river a bit further down and began our trek up the hill to see a bird's eye view of Prague. Unfortunately the tram that usually runs up and down the hill was closed due to the threat of falling trees, so we hiked up unlike the lazy college students that we are. The view was stunning, so that made the climbing worth it. From there we went to see the castle. In the whole complex, my favorite part was St. Vitus Cathedral. It had incredible decorations and stained-glass windows. Golden Lane was also pretty neat, because they had recreated houses from the past and had a huge display of medieval armor. 

The next day we traveled to the town of Kutna Hora- aka the place with the church with all the bones. The ossuary was amazing and creepy at the same time. I couldn't believe that they had 40,000 human remains placed in such a decorative fashion. I was a lot less creeped out than I thought I would be. After we finished staring at dead people, we headed into the town itself and wandered around for a few hours. It was a nice change from the bustle of Prague.

For the last day, we had a last ditch effort to walk across the Charles Bridge, which was still closed. I guess this just gives me a reason to go back. We finished off our trip with wandering through the city and chilling in a park tourist-watching for a while. Then it was back to Leiden, waiting for the next adventure to begin!

Old Town Square

Outside the Spanish Synagogue

Castle from Afar

Previously Mentioned Stained-Glass

Ossuary

Wolverine Spirit on the Lennon Wall