European Adventure Part 3...Amsterdam!!

After our last night in Paris we had to wake up crazy early to catch our train to Amsterdam at 630 in the morn!

We all made it and we were super excited to ride on into the lovely Amsterdam!



We only had about 24 hours in Amsterdam so we had to pack a lot into our day...

We started by visiting this huge I Am Sterdam sign...which is Amsterdams little slogan...It was fun to see...




After walking around the Van Gogh museum it was lunch time and Courtney was super excited to show us her favorite place to eat in Amsterdam!



It was a delish!!

After lunch we hopped on a boat and took a nice canal tour....We learned that many vehicles each week fall into the canal because all they have to stop them from going over is that little tiny metal bar....They even have a special branch of their police and fire departments that handles getting cars out of the canal!



We also learned that the homes in Amsterdam had pulley systems attached to the top of house. This was used because with the homes being so narrow it was difficult to get furniture up stairs. You could then attach it to the pulley and hoist it right on up! See the pulley's at the top of the houses???



They also have a lot of houseboats along the canal...



Some of the other landmarks of Amsterdam were a cool looking watch tower, Anne Franks house, houses with cool shutters, and even a bike parking garage!!






Farther on in the tour we went out to bigger waters and got to see a pirate ship, cool chapels, and a drawbridge...






After the canal tour we realized that Holland won their World Cup game that day so everyone was in this little square celebrating! It was like Hiney Gate but orange! We even bought some orange leis from some guy for a Euro!






We wandered around the city a bit after that taking in the sights...including the amazing tulip market they have! I wanted to bring back a wooden shoe full of tulip bulbs but I was assured that it would not make it through customs....stupid...



We even got to sit in a wooden shoe outside of a souvenir shop!




Courtney told us she had a big surprise for us after the big shoe. She said it was a fantastic place...and this is where she took us to...



A condom shop! It was nutso!

Steph and I broke off from Courtney here and went to tour Anne Franks house...outside of the house is a statue of her...Steph and I took our pics in front of her...I felt weird smiling but Steph didn't!





The house was incredible to see...I can't believe it's all still there...it was pretty eerie to walk through...

Steph and I hung out by the canal to wait for Courtney after we were done...we got to see a tulip museum house boat, and a party boat floating down the canal complete with a generator, TV, and stereo!




The night ended hanging out, having some drinks...across the street from a "special" coffee shop, and wandering around taking in the night life...including the infamous Red Light district...which I will say was quite the experience!





We found a fun bar to go into...all in all it was a great night in Amsterdam!




We rounded out our trip the next morning by going to a pancake place across the street from our hotel...We got pancakes with bacon and they baked the bacon into the pancakes! It was DELICIOUS!!! Completely amazing...I should have taken a picture!

I think Amsterdam was my favorite stop on our adventure...I wish we could have spent a little more time there. We has the most amazing weather, the people were super nice, and it was just all around lovely!

Next up...rolling on into Berlin!!

European Adventure Part 2.,..Paris!!

So I left us on the train to Paris right??? Sit back and relax cuz we spent 4 nights there kids!

Well the train ride went off without a hitch...no real issues on the train...and we thought we could hop off the train and just wander the couple minutes to our hotel. We were a little mistaken.

The streets of Paris are a little difficult to navigate so it took us a little longer to get there then we thought. Since it was getting a little late and we were a little tired from our train ride we decided to just go hang out near our hotel at the Sacre Coeur which is a church in a part of Paris called Montmartre. It's on top of a HUGE hill and overlooks the whole city. Just beautiful!






Our first full day started off with the Louvre. Just walking into the entrance was awesome! Just like the pictures with the huge glass pyramid!







I found out that I'm not a huge museum person, but it was pretty cool to see some of the art there. Stephanie loved it a lot...here are a couple of the things I thought were the most fab...






After a rousing afternoon at the Louvre we were on our way through the beautiful gardens called the Tuilleries on our way to Eiffel Tower!





The Eiffel Tower was of course amazing! Too bad the line to ride the elevator to the top was a 3 hour wait! Steph stood in line to walk up to the first level but Courtney and I couldn't handle the 50000 steps and hung out on the lawn instead...




Once Steph came down from her adventure we all hung out on the lawn for a bit...







That night we decided to stop by Notre Dame...BEAUTIFUL!! Especially because of the sky at night and the rain that was coming in...made the colors in the sky amazing!!




Then we ate dinner in the Latin Quarter which was just delightful! Courtney had frog legs and said they were tasty...I'll just take her word on that. I had my camera set on a weird setting so it looks like everything was stained red!






On the way home we walked by Miss Rizzo's cafe...



The next day we were off to the Arc de Triumph...it was amazing! You have to walk through an underground tunnel to even get over to it. We climbed the stairs all the way to the top and got a great view of Paris!!







Later that day we went back to Notre Dame to see the inside and see it in the day light. It was a little odd because there was an actual mass going on at the time we went in see it and I felt like I was invading...but it was quite beautiful inside! It also holds one of the oldest crucifixes on earth...or so I'm told...






That night we found a pub and watched the USA England World Cup game. It was a pretty good time. The cheeseburgers were definitely European and it wasn't the same as watching it in a bar in America but still fabulous! After a tied game we decided to head back to the Sacre Coeur to hang out a bit, drink some wine, and take in the sights of Paris at night. We bought cheap wine at the store, and then decided we also need a couple beverages to quench our thirst during the walk up there...we had to put them in plastic bags to walk down the street...



We thought we would have a perfect night hanging out, drinking wine, and watching the Eiffel Tower go "Razzle Dazzle"



It was hard to take pics up there that night for some reason, but let me just tell you that the night ended like this....man throws beer bottle at another mans head...crowd runs away...we come back...meet Parisian man from Morocco that tells us it was actually a staged fight by the Algerians to get all the things like wallets and cameras that the tourist leave behind when they run away...genius but awful!...continue to chat with guy from Morocco...then guy proceeds to ask Steph "So how much for just a little bit?" ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!? "Yeah you know how many Euros for just a little??" Holy crap balls we have got to go!

And there ends our lovely 3rd night in Paris...

Day 4 began with a very uplifting tour of the catacombs. When a plague hit Paris and they were running out of places to bury people they started digging them up and moving them stories below the Paris streets into the catacombs....and we got to go check it out...creeeeepy!!!







To lift our spirits after all the skulls and bones we decided to hit up the Saint Chappelle which is a chapel that has the most beautiful stained glass windows you will ever seen in your life! And they depict stories from the Bible. Some of the windows were being restored but the ones that were available to see were just breathtaking!






After the stained glass we decided to go see more art at the Centre Pompidou. It's a cool place...and you can head straight to the roof top and take in the sights of Paris...





You could also hang out in front of the museum and see all the artist and performers at work...some were quite interesting...like so guy with a box on his head pretending to be a robot??? A gypsy like couple playing some awful sounding music??? A guy deciding to wrap peoples hair just??? I thought they hung out at Cedar Point...not Paris... Stephanie thought they were all nuts!





The rest of the night consisted of stopping by the Moulin Rouge, going to a cafe to watch the Germany Australia World Cup Game where the waiter bought us roses...and Stephanie shoving multiple bananas in her mouth at one time... :)







And finally let me just show you our living quarters during our stay in Paris...our lovely little closet, desk area that we used as a "kitchen", and the comfy beds we got to sleep in...





And that ladies and gents is my lovely Parisian trip...If you made it this far your're pretty freakin awesome and should stand by for the Amsterdam leg of the trip!!

We only stayed there for one night so it should be short and sweet!

Stay Tuned!