#4 Amsterdam - First Impressions

We arrived in Amsterdam today.  Here's some first impressions:

1. I giggle whenever I hear Dutch because it makes me think of the Swedish Chef.
2. Amsterdam feels like a European Vegas.  There are small casinos everywhere, neon lights, tons of bars and clubs, prostitution, drugs, debauchery, etc.  Such a stark contrast to the small and quiet Brussels that we just left.
3. Lesbian bars are the same everywhere - hard to find, tiny, and crowded.  We thought we would venture out since we just got here and it's our only chance to check out the weekend nightlife and went hunting for a bar that The Girlfriend found online.  Walking through the alley where it should have been there was nothing.  We found a gay men's bar and asked them if they knew where it was and they said it closed down recently.  They gave us a map and recommended a lesbian bar.  We found it and it was a tiny little box so full of people so bad that we didn't even try to go in.  Sad face.
4. Everyone speaks some English, I feel guilty that I know nothing about Dutch.
5. We can barely read the street names here.  Examples: Oudezijds Armsteeg, Heintje Hoekssteeg, Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal
6. If you go outside the city, like where we're staying, it's beautiful.  There's canals, woods, and blue skies.
7. The coldest weather we've encountered so far, in the 40's.  Today I wore almost one piece of every type of clothings I brought.  Shirt, long sleeve shirt, sweater, rain jacket, beenie, gloves, scarf, pants.  My knees were freezing.  Another contrast from the day I wore shorts and a shirt in Brussels in the 70 degree weather.
8. From what I read, the street food to try here is raw herring covered in raw onions... it sounds like a joke but knowing me I'm going to have to try it.

We'll see how the next 5 days go.

View from the room in our AirBnB

#1 London, England

*Note: I'm actually currently in Brussels but didn't have the chance to blog yet.

While The Girlfriend naps (we do a lot of napping), I'm going to recap a little.  Unfortunately, I only have a few pictures, since I switch between my phone and my point and shoot camera and sometimes she will snap some and I don't feel the need to repeat pics.  So hopefully some of you will have the attention span to read this (which is probably my family) but I'll try to throw in a photo here and there for the rest of you ;)

Things we've learned in Europe: a draft post that i decided to post after more than a year

1.  Europeans like to sit outside for long periods of time.  Parks are filled with people just sitting, either with food or not and groups or single, and it doesn't matter what time of day it is.  It's also been great weather since we got here.

2.  Canned tuna tastes better.

3.  Eggs are treated differently and can be kept outside the refrigerator.

4.  People dress better.  Everyone has decent shoes, and fashionable clothing.  No one walks around in shorts, tennis shoes, or flip-flops.

5.  We look like tourists, you can mostly tell by the shoes.  We've started playing a game called "spot the tourist" when we stop anywhere.

6.  There's more asians than I expected.

7.  So far French people have been nicer than what we were warned.

8.  Goji berries are big here, or at least bigger than in the US.

9... Always have a backup plan.

#2 Paris - Bonjour!

Today was our second full day in Paris.  I had some anxiety coming to France.  Most people I talked to said that people would be rude here and I felt some hesitation to talk to anyone,  but so far it hasn't been bad.  Sometimes they don't smile or they respond in short quips but some do smile and even make small talk. When we first arrived we spent some time relaxing in the park waiting for our AirBnB host.  I decided to go explore while The Girlfriend watched our luggage.  A playing toddler ran up to her and his brother tried to retrieve him but he wouldn't go.  The mother came up to The G and asked her if she spoke French.  In English she said "He didn't want to leave you."  And then a woman with a newborn baby sat next to her and chatted for a while.  That's a pretty nice first impression of the French people.

A friend in London recommended the Fat Tire Bike Tours, no relation to the beer unfortunately.  We signed up for a day tour and a night tour for our first full day.  It gave us a chance to stay active, see a lot of the tourist sights at once, and get a little bit of a history lesson.  It was also refreshing to be in a group that spoke English.  I don't know any French except the basic words that are common knowledge or you hear on TV.  I'm picking up a few things here and there but I wish I had given it some time or at least learned how to sound out the words.  Anyways, the day tour was a great experience!  I highly recommend it and we're planning on doing the sister tours in Amsterdam, Berlin, and London.

 The park across the street.

A random fancy cheese shop we found and bought the gooiest soft cheese I've ever had.

For our second full day we realized we were pretty tired and decided to call it a rest day.  We slept in without any alarms, which ended up being past noon, and made up an agenda on the fly.  I made a breakfast of fried eggs and a wedge of cheese we bought at the local convenience store and we ventured off in search of the Marche des Enfants Rouges... The market of the red babies?  Apparently one of the oldest open air markets in France it was made up of a cafe, several ethnic restaurants, wine shops, and a couple of produce stands.  I thought it would be bigger but it was nice for a late lunch stop.  We also passed a large tent of protestors at the Republique train station.  To finish it off we followed the European tradition of sitting in a park for a long period of time to people watch, then walked around the Marais, the gay district. While wandering we found a couple gay bars full of men and posters for leather, bears, and more men.  Even in France, the lesbians are harder to find.

Tomorrow we plan on going early to the Louvre, then possibly a nice dinner at a restaurant my coworker recommended.

Here's to many more pleasant days in Paris till we leave on Monday, and for all the croissants and cheese I've been eating to melt away with all the walking we're doing.

Travel WODs

Sitting at my AirBnb, enjoying breakfast as we chat with our host.  Super gracious woman who offered snacks and tea.

Very British sounding "Let's have a proper brew".

This morning we got up around 8am with the sun shining through the window and did a small workout in the grass outside.  I've been trying to do something everyday.  First day I did a WOD based off of Team's:

"If it was anyone else..."

"... I would think this was rushed."

I wanted to tell you all months ago but knew I had to wait.  For years I told friends I was going to quit my job and teach English in Japan and it never happened.  I was scared.  Every time I started researching teaching jobs the anxiety would build and I would end up on the floor trying to meditate and calm myself.  I wasn't willing to jump off this cliff on my own.

Then I met The Girlfriend.