More about my travels...

Amsterdam was awesome. Megan and I got up early on our second day and visited the Anne Frank House. It was amazing. To actually see where it all took place and watch the video interviews was heart-wrenching. It was especially moving to watch a video of her father (who was the only survivor out of the 8 people in hiding) talking about finding his daughter's diary and reading it. I felt like the presentation put together by the Anne Frank House Museum was much more heart felt than that of the concentration camp we visited previously in Germany, and I also felt more connected to the terrible events that were endured by people of the WW2 terror.

After the Anne Frank House, we walked over to the museum area where we had planned to see the Van Gogh Museum, but due to the very expensive tickets we decided to pass and instead visited the Rijksmuseum (the national museum). The Rijks was full of beautiful paintings and Megs and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as we meandered our way through the magnificent building.

After the Rijks, we walked through Vondalpark. Vondalpark is a huge oasis in the center of the hussle and bustle of Amsterdam. It is a grassy, green park filled with a meandering lake, with bridges and swans, and children playing as people ride their bikes through the sandy pathways. It is such a peaceful place to have in the middle of such a large city.

The next day we left this channel ridden city for Paris, or so we thought...

After checking out of our wonderful Amsterdam hotel, we lugged our increasingly heavier backpacks to the train station to reserve our seats on a Paris bound train. Well, apparently France is not an easy country to get into. First the lady behind the ticket desk told us it would be €60 to book the ticket and then she informed us that the trains were all booked for the next two days.

For the next three hours we sat in the train station frantic to find somewhere to stay for the night. Finally, we found a hostel in Rotterdam, Netherlands and hopped on a train.

For the next two days we stayed in this port town, which similar to Stuttgart, had been completely bombed flat during WW2 and is now known for its modern and artistic feel. The biggest highlight to the town was the hostel we stayed in, which ended us being pretty cool (other than the fact that we were in a 6 bed dorm with three other smelly guys).

On Tuesday we finally made it into France. Hooray! Bordeaux, France.

Bordeaux is the most beautiful city I have ever seen. It is simply stunning! The buildings are so beautiful, the statues are so beautiful, the weather has been beautiful, it is just so BEAUTIFUL.

The first day we arrived we decided to start sight seeing right away. Our first stop was the St. Andre Cathedral. The size was incredible and the bell tower directly beside it allows visitors to climb to the top to view the city-which of course we did. I could have stayed up there for hours. You could see for miles and the day was so clear that I swear I could see home :-)

After St. Andres we walked to the waterfront to sit by the wonderful fountain/lake they have and then walked to the Jardin Public (a public park). It amazes me how all these big cities make the effort to have these big open areas for people to go and relax. I feel like back home we just don't have the same kind of places, and if we have ones similar we don't utilize it in the same ways that it appears that people here do. In fact, life in the shoes of a European appears to be more about enjoying your life and family, whereas I feel that we live our lives more based in work and the worry of what our status is in society. I suppose it is all part of how the American Dream has influenced all of us to work towards the age of retirement and then start worrying about enjoying life and family. I can't yet decide which way is necessarily better, considering that it is annoying to have all the stores close at 5 because the owner has to be home for dinner with the family, but I can say that there is something refreshing about knowing that the europeans have figured out that there is more to life than what we refer to as the American Dream.

Today we visited the museum of Aquataine, which featured a lot of archaeological finds and also sat out by the waterfront to catch some sun. We also decided a few days ago that we needed a little vacation from backpacking, so we are planning on spending six days in Lagos, Portugal (here is the link for where we are staying: http://www.goldcoasthostel.com) so we booked our train ticket for that today too :-)

Tomorrow, we will be going on a guided wine tour in the wine country of Bordeaux, and Megan and I are so excited! Then one more night here before making a 26 hour train ride to Lagos.

Hope all is well back home!
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