Amsterdam and bicycles

Amsterdam was a little overwhelming at first, since we arrived at the central train station in downtown at rush hour - note rush hour includes as many if not more people on bikes than cars. The number of bikes and the way people ride them there is just hard to describe. Not only are the bike lanes excellent, there are stop lights for bikes, people carry their groceries, dogs, babies, 2 or 3 friends along with them and the bikes themselves are so nice (at least the ones we rented were).

Bike parking lot outside central station - does it NO justice, could not capture all the thousands? of bikes there in one picture
Our fancy rentals - so much fun.

Renee, I don't think I'm in Texas anymore..

Eureating What?

The best part of traveling? This is not a trick question: Eating. While we had some damn fine non-traditional foods while abroad - tapas in Berlin or Indonesian in Amsterdam, for example - I think we did a good job of sampling local cuisines.

Here are some highlights:

Frites, chips, fries - whatever you want to call them, I ate SO many fried potatoes on vacation, I've sworn them off through the end of the year.
Belgian waffle with chocolate sauce ... yummmmmm

Mussels in Belgium. Expensive and honestly not any better than the mussels you get in the States.

Dutch food - Renee had a chicken pancake (crepe-like) with a sort of curry sauce and I had a hutspot - potatoes mashed with carrots and onions, topped with what I would describe as little meatloafs. Deee-lish. Oh and hot chocolate!

Pickled herring sandwich from a street vendor in Amsterdam. Really good but your hands will smell of herring for the rest of the day.

Dutch cheese tasting - learning is delicious!

Currywurst , a Berlin specialty. I loved it.

White ("breakfast"?) sausage with pretzel and kaesespaetzle - basically German mac n cheese.

Ireland was the only place I needed to take tums. All week my system was a little, um, off. Suspect #1: Guinness beef stew with carrots and cabbage.

This was what I would describe as a seafood pot pie with peas and chips. And a hot whiskey.
Fish n' Chips = of course!! It was the size of my arm!

European Bachelor Parties

You know how traveling abroad can be a real educational experience? Well in Europe, Renee and I learned a few things about bachelor/bachelorette parties - known as stag parties and hen night, respectively. We saw a couple parties on the overnight ferry to Holland, as well as a couple parties our first weekend, in Antwerp, Belgium.

They tend to have themes that all the party attendees dress in accordance with. For example, the bachelorette party on the ferry had a nautical theme. That would be the hen of honor wearing her underwear outside of her trousers ...
One guy was Tony the Tiger - maybe Renee got some explanation on that one ...
And this was my favorite. . the bachelors tend to sell something for beer money. This particular Dutchman was selling pieces of his shirt - at one Euro a pop, I couldn't pass it up!

Ireland

We LOVED Ireland - so scenic and music everywhere. And sheep! Go to Ireland if you like sheep.
We took a 3-day Paddy Wagon tour of Ireland's Southwest coast, including Galway (one of our favorite spots on the trip!) and Killarney. The bus tour was great - stress-free and got to meet a lot of other travelers of all ages.

Me with donkey


Thatched roofs
Colorful buildings

One of the awesome bands we saw play (frequently there was no stage)

Beer Gallery

Berliner Weisse - a wheat beer with syrup in it, usually raspberry or woodruff, a sweet herb. That's our host, Alex. He was caught off guard by the bright flash of my camera.

Oktoberfest



Guinness was 5 Euro, or about $8 a pop! So I drank a lot of whiskey in Ireland.

Antwerpen

The little bit we saw of Belgium was SO beautiful - and supposedly there are other parts that are even prettier. It was the perfect place to officially begin our Eurotrip, as Antwerp is relatively small and has a very relaxed, hang-at-the-cafe-all-day culture. And we also might have enjoyed the beer.

Tons of sidewalk cafe's and great people watching..
Love the architecture ..
history ...

Plus there's this guy.
he owns a dive bar.

Germany

A tip: if you plan to travel to Germany, take a flask and fill it with water. Yes, water - there is no such thing as free water in Germany, and bottled water isn't exactly cheap. But despite being poorly hydrated, we got to see a nice chunk of Germany.

Berlin Wall

Holocaust Memorial, Berlin

One of many gorgeous churches in Wurzburg

Oktoberfest, Munich

The bedding that Renee's in-law's lent me when I was a guest in their house in Ravensburg (Ben's hometown). ha!