Friday evening (April 18) I met up with Sarah so that we could take the bus to Paris-Beauvais airport. Our plane to Dublin was pretty delayed, and didn’t take off until probably about midnight. It was also filled with Irish high school kids, so not only was it late, it was also noisy. When we landed we took a taxi to our hotel, got there at about 1:30 or 2, and went to bed.
Day one consisted of going to the office of tourism to see about seeing some countryside, and a lot of walking. We saw St. Patrick’s and visited the Irish Museum of Modern Art, which is in a cool building that used to be the military hospital. That night we went to a cute little Italian restaurant for dinner, and then found a pub where Sarah drank her first ever beer.
The next day was Sunday, and we got a pretty late start to the day. We spent some time shopping/exploring and took a tour of Dublin Castle, which was pretty interesting. That night we found a small pub that had a group of people just sitting around and playing their instruments. It was really cool. It was a group of people that seemed to know each other, and people kept coming and going, joining in the music. It was fun to watch.
Monday was our tour of Glendalough and Wicklow! We took a tour with a small group of 12 people plus the guide. There was a Spanish couple, two Belgians, two Finnish people, two Swiss people, two other Americans and us. They were all really nice and fun people. The morning was really foggy, and not much could be seen. We supposedly saw the fields where Braveheart was filmed, as well as Excalibur and King Arthur. After stopping for a cup of tea, the fog started to clear and we could see more of the countryside. We stopped for lunch in a little Irish village, and then were off to Glendalough, which is a 6th century monastery. It was soo pretty there, and by that time it was really nice outside. So we walked around the actual ruins while the guide talked, and then got to walk around and see the lakes and mountains for a bit before heading back towards Dublin.
That night after dinner we went to a hotel pub where we had heard they had Irish dancing shows. The dancers were REALLY impressive.
Tuesday we did the Guinness Brewery tour which was pretty neat. At the very end you get a pint of Guinness up in this bar at the top where you could see all of Dublin. We also looked at Trinity College and the Irish National Gallery that day, and that evening went to one last Dublin pub which had more live music. The music is my favorite part.
Wednesday we flew into Amsterdam! Once we got to the airport we took a train to Weesp where Aunt Nancy picked us up. We had a pretty relaxing afternoon- went with to take Andy to football (soccer) practice and to go to the grocery, and relaxed at the house that evening.
The next morning we went and saw Andy and other classes at his school in a dance recital. It was really adorable, all the classes had prepared a dance and had costumes and everything. Andy’s class did a hip-hop/break-dance routine. Afterwards we went with Aunt Nancy into Bussum to go to the market and to shop for birthday gifts (she had four people to get gifts for). That night Uncle Allan and Aunt Nancy took us to dinner, which was really nice and really yummy.
Friday Sarah and I took the train into Amsterdam. We saw the Anne Frank house, which was crowded, but never-the-less worth seeing. After that depressing morning, we went to a place called the Pancake Bakery for lunch, which Aunt Nancy had recommended, and had delicious pancakes. We also stopped by the Poezenboot (catboat), which is a cat-shelter in a boathouse. Some of the cats were friendly, but most of them were so scared of everyone. It was so neat though. After we got our fill of playing with the cats, we went down by the Van Gogh museum, where Sarah got her fill of Van Gogh’s paintings and I explored Vondelpark and the swanky stores nearby. After that we were tired from all the walking around, so we took the train back to Naarden.
Saturday Sarah and I got off the train before Amsterdam to explore Dappermarkt, where we got some French fries with mayonnaise, warm stroopwafel, and cheap but snazzy-looking sunglasses. Then we got back on the train and went into Amsterdam to explore some of the parts of Amsterdam we hadn’t seen the previous day. We walked around the red-light district and walked to Dam square where there was a big carnival going on. About the middle of the afternoon we went back to Naarden, where a couple of Uncle Allan and Aunt Nancy’s neighbors were hosting birthday parties that day. The first one we were taken to was hosted by their Indian neighbors. They were the nicest people and fed us the most delicious Indian food. It was really nice that day, if a little hot, so sitting out in the backyard was really pleasant. After a short break, we went to a party at a different neighbor’s house, where there was less English and more Dutch, but still plenty of delicious food. A couple of people talked to Sarah and I in English, and one woman spoke to us in French. Sarah and I didn’t stay very late (10:30 or 11??) before going back to Uncle Allan and Aunt Nancy’s house.
Sunday morning Sarah left to meet up with her dad in Barcelona
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday I pretty much hung out around Naarden with Aunt Nancy and Andy, which was relaxing and nice for me.
Wednesday morning Uncle Allan took me into Amsterdam for Queen’s day! It was really neat. There were lots of people and lots of orange. We walked to Vondelpark first, where there were lots of adorable kids playing their instruments, people who had set up games and who were selling their old junk or their homemade food. After Vondelpark we went by the museums were there was a radio-show concert packed with people and as we walked around there were just masses of people streaming in. We stood along side the canals some to watch the boats, which were so neat. There were huge boats with big parties (and speakers to make you go deaf), small motorboats with just a few people, medium boats, and most of them were decked out in orange and supplied with food and drinks. In the afternoon we headed back into Naarden for a short break, and then biked into town for the Naarden Queen’s day. It was like a mini-version of Queen’s Day in Amsterdam, but without the huge party boats on the canal, and people knew each other. Andy came too, but got kind of bored and biked back home before Uncle Allan and I did.
Overall it was a cool and unique thing to see.
Thursday was my bus ride back to Paris. That was pretty boring. It was neat to drive through the country, and there was a stop in Brussels so now I can kind of say I saw Brussels.
So that’s a cliff notes version of my break! I don’t have any real big events planned for the rest of the semester, which is probably good because I have papers to write now.
The past couple days in Paris have been sunny and kind of hot. It feels like summer.
Upper lake at Glendalough, Ireland:
Partyyyy:
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