Greetings from Bruges, Belgium! Many happenings have occurred since my last update like missing Audrey and Julie's Hallowscreen party. Sad times. Perhaps next year I can bust out my Wilson costume.
My first stop since my last update was in Bremen, Germany. As I mentioned before, I really only stopped there because it was halfway between Arhus and Amsterdam. It's hard to judge a city when you only spend 8 or so waking hours in it, but Bremen was awesome for the brief time I was there. As I mentioned a few posts back, I try to walk from the train station to my hostel/hotel whenever feasible, because it gives me a good feel for the city. I'm glad I did in Bremen because had I not I probably would never have seen the festival that was going on. I have no idea what the festival was for or even what it was called. I would call it mini-Oktoberfest, but there were far more unattractive people and mullets so really it was more like the Tulsa State Fair then Oktoberfest (no hate...I live there too!). It was great walking around, people watching, and eating WAY too much. In the span of an hour, I downed a giant ham steak sandwich, a currywurst (think bratwurst with curry sauce), and a giant ice cream cone. Pretty sure my stomach didn't like that too much. Bremen seemed charming even without the festival, but since I spent the majority of my time there, I have to say my love of Bremen mostly stems from reliving my Oktoberfest days.
My next stop after Bremen was Amsterdam. Amsterdam is well known for a lot of things: The Red Light District, canals, flowers, cafés (where they don't sell coffee), Anne Frank's house, the Van Gogh museum, Heineken, and more. I don't remember much from Amsterdam from my visit as a kid, but what I envisioned couldn't have been further from the truth. When conjuring up images of Amsterdam in my head, I thought back to my visit to Las Vegas one New Years and envisioned people smoking weed everywhere. Not the case. Most of the smoking takes place in the cafés, so it's pretty tame. The Red Light District is what one would expect. Solicitations and graphic sexuality are abound.
Overall, I found Amsterdam to be lacking. The Van Gogh museum was far too expensive to warrant going when I've been to London already and have a Paris stop planned for the future. Van Gogh is a great artist, but I'd rather save my money for The Louvre. The Heineken brewery tour was €15 and I like Heineken but not $21 worth. I went to a few parks, but they weren't anything special. At least I had cool roommates to hang out with while I was there.
Aside from the aforementioned disappointments, the Anne Frank House/Museum was excellent. One of the best stops I have made so far. It's hard to compare it to my experience at Sachsenhausen, but I found the house to be a different kind of sad. While there are 3rd party accounts of what occurred in the concentrations camps and even first hand stories from survivors, there's nothing like Anne Frank's day-to-day "live" account of the persecution of the Jews. When walking through the Secret Annex, it's as if you are back in the 1940's and the story is unfolding in front of your eyes. Add to that a 12-16 year old girl with a remarkable talent for expressing her thoughts and unbelievable awareness of the situation unfolding and it only intensifies the experience. Truly a remarkable place with unimaginable sadness and heroics.
Since I didn't find much to do in Amsterdam besides the Anne Frank House, I decided on my last day to take a day trip to Delft and The Hague, both in The Netherlands. Delft is a quaint little town that produces world renowned porcelain and flatware. The designs are incredible! Delft proved to be a fun place to escape the big city. After Delft, I stopped in The Hague on my way back to Amsterdam. The Hague is the capital of The Netherlands and has plenty of interesting shopping, architecture, restaurants, and an excellent China Town. It was worth a few hours of my time to see the city and hit a few of the important sights.
On to Belgium!
Prost!
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