I arrived in Amsterdam on Friday the 16th, and it was so incredibly cold and windy. Amsterdam Centraal train station is very beautiful and historic looking on the outside, and on the inside it's pretty modern and you even have to scan your ticket to get out of the station.

Caught an Uber to my airbnb then proceeded to The Burbs (Amstelveen). My apartment was a studio inside the home of an older couple. Really cute little place all to myself at the very top of the house, almost like an attic apartment. The couple was so sweet, every morning they left breakfast outside my door and included a nice note the first morning, along with a little sheet asking me to confirm what I wanted for the next couple of days. They even provided me with a bus pass to use during my stay. It wasn't free, but whatever balance I did not use would be refunded to me at the end of my stay.

The next day (Saturday), I bundled up for the below freezing weather and headed to the bus stop so that I could go catch my day tour to Holland. Riding the bus is very interesting because the names of the stops are hard to understand unless you see them spelled out (even though there are more English speakers in Amsterdam, I had an easier time understanding French while I was in France). Dutch is not an easy language to grasp. It's sort of like listening to Rose Nyland from The Golden Girls talk about St. Olaf.

I checked in at the tour agency, got my ticket and follow the group to the coach bus. It took us all over the countryside that day, including to see cheese making demonstration, windmills, a nice lunch and a fun Stroopwafel shop/museum (yum!). However, because the wind was so freaking cold, it became too unbearable to complete the tour, so I stayed inside the bus while the rest of the group went to some wooden shoe factory tour.

The next day, I just wandered around Amsterdam and joined a Canal Cruise. It was slightly above freezing and the sun was out, but it was still bitter cold. I walked through the red light district, accidentally let my glove blow into the canal where ducks were hanging out, and checked out some other parts of the city. By the end of the day Sunday, I was just exhausted and ready to go home. I love Amsterdam though, very cool, hip city with a fun vibe. Definitely want to go back someday.

On Monday, I got up early, packed up, checked out of my airbnb and set out to find a Post Office to ship home some souvenirs to avoid schlepping them on the plane. The first place I went to (per Yelp) appeared to have disappeared, so my uber driver had to take me to another place where they made me pack up my own items for shipment. I was already stressed out enough about making it to the airport on time, so this did not help. I was really pushing it with Monday rush hour traffic as well. Finally got to the airport, and after a bunch of confusion on where to go, lengthy security screening, then passport check, I got to my gate with less than 30 minutes to spare before boarding. Took a short KLM flight from the Netherlands to London then proceeded to the designated uber pick up spot to get a ride to the Marriott. 

There are some Uber drivers in London who are jerks when it comes to picking people up at the airport. A lot of them will just cancel the ride because they don't want to deal with airport traffic or confusion. So you could be standing there for 30 or more minutes waiting for someone to come get you. It was ridiculous. After multiple cancelled rides, and waiting in the cold for almost an hour, I ended up complaining to Uber on Twitter and getting a $20 credit. 

Finally got to my hotel, dropped off my heavy backpack, then cut another uber to go to my (overpriced but fun) Mad Hatter afternoon tea at the Sanderson Hotel. 

After a bit of carb overload and sitting in yet more traffic with another uber driver, I finally got back to the Marriott to unwind and decompress from the day. Long travel day ahead of me tomorrow.

So long, freaky elevator!

Checked out of my Paris apartment on March 14 (so long, freaky elevator!), though it was a great apartment overall, and I will probably stay there again one day. After trying unsuccessfully to find a Geocache in Paris (Google it if you don't know what it is), I caught an Uber to the train station to catch the Thalys to Brussels Midi. Very comfy trains and only about 1.5 hours to Brussels. 

When I checked into my Brussels apartment, I was amazed at the gorgeous view from my bedroom...wow! 

Caught it again around sunrise the next morning. View did not suck.

After getting settled, I had a lovely dinner of beef cheeks and frites with some Belgian beer and chatted with a guy from DC. Turned in for the night, but wasn't able to sleep due to street noise...drunks singing, fighting and just being obnoxious. Because of this, I could never stay at this particular apartment again. There's also a crazy steep stairway, which apparently is very common in Europe.

The next day, I set out to explore and find a Geocache in Belgium so I could get my first international Geocache souvenir (AKA badge on my profile). Success! 

Later that day I attended a chocolate walking tour, which included a stop and samples at Pierre Marcolini, one of Belgium's most renowned chocolatiers. Tour guide definitely saved the best for last. We even got to make our own chocolates as part of the tour.. really fun!

By the end of the day though, I felt like I had overdosed on sweets and needed a nice hot meal, so I got my "mussels in Brussels." :)

(Odd label)

The next day I attended a Brussels half day bus tour, which was pretty cool because it took me outside of the neighborhood in which I was staying.

We saw the European Parliament, Royal Park and Palace, among other things including the Atomium leftover from the world's exhibition many moons ago. There is a restaurant inside the Atomium and I'm sure there is a gift shop too. There's always a gift shop!

Before I left Brussels, I had to get one of their infamous waffles. But I kept it simple. I didn't get one doused in Nutella, whipped cream or fruit, I just got a caramelized vanilla one. OMG, best waffle ever! People here are remarkably thin considering I see them walking around with fries and waffles all the time. Hence how they stay thin, all the walking around. :)

My apologies for stinking up the fridge

On Monday March 12th, I decided to cook myself a nice little breakfast using eggs I had purchased at the local grocery store. They were by far the best eggs I've ever eaten in my life. Clearly not GMO'd like so many things in the US and very fresh.

I was supposed to do a half day tour with a small group at the Louvre, unfortunately I got the time wrong and arrived too late to join the group, so I ended up walking around the Louvre by myself. It actually ended up ok because I get bored easily and couldn't handle more than a couple of hours in a museum anyway. Wanted to see the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and a few other famous works and was able to do that.

At one point there was a silent protest of the Louvre's support of a fossil fuel company called Total. They were laying on the floor in front of a large painting and had media there to take pictures and get the word out. I also helped them by spreading the word on Twitter. Not sure what, if anything, came of it, but at one point the museum staff ushered all the visitors out of the area they were hanging out in and I'm not sure what happened to the protesters.

After the Louvre, and before the Eiffel Tower summit tour, I decided to head to a restaurant called Angelina (at the recommendation of a coworker) for some hot chocolate. I was skeptical because I mean, how good can hot chocolate really be? Holy shitsnacks was this stuff to die for! It's very thick and they provide it to you in a traditional creamer pitcher that you then pour into a separate mug and add fresh (non sweet) whipped cream to. It was amazing, as was the dessert that I had with it. I know, sugar on top of sugar, but it's Paris! What's funny is that a lot of their desserts don't seem very heavy or sweet as compared to what we have in the US. Probably because most of our food is so processed. By the way, that is not a muffin in the pic, it's a meringue type dessert.

Later, I met up with my tour group to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We first went to the second level and walked around and it was crazy cold and windy. We then went to the very top and, I'm not exaggerating here, the tower was swaying in the storm wind. It was really freaky and I wanted to get back down to the bottom as soon as I possibly could. Got some great pictures, but I will never do that again.

Forgot to mention a couple of things about my apartment in earlier posts. One was that when I first arrived in Paris, I hit up the local grocery store and not only did I purchase those fantastic eggs, but I also got some camembert cheese, saucisson (salami) and bread. A previous guest had left some Dijon mayo in the fridge. This was my go to sandwich almost all week, absolutely delicious! As some of you know, I really wanted to try some stinky cheese while in France, and boy did it stink up the fridge at the rental apartment! I felt so bad, but it was totally worth it and delicious.

On Tuesday the 13th, I attended a short tour at the palace of Versailles and was blown away at the opulence of this place. Crazy how these people lived back in the day. Some beautiful paintings, chandeliers and gold throughout.

I had a hankering for crepes, and found a great little off the beaten path tiny restaurant via Yelp where I enjoyed both sweet and savory crepes and some cider for lunch for less than €10. Chatted up it up with a couple of locals who gave me some tips on things to do. The restaurant itself is no bigger than my small one bedroom apartment in Portland, and the entrance opens right into the kitchen, which kind of threw me off. I didn't know if I had come in the wrong way and the guy who greeted me didn't speak English, so he had no idea what I was asking. It was a bit awkward at first, but all ended up well and I enjoyed a delicious meal.

Later that day I had planned to do a wine and cheese tasting in a Paris cellar that I had booked through Viator, but apparently they changed the meeting location at some point after I booked it and never told me. So I showed up and the guy had no idea about the group and was unable to help me. So I just decided to wander around, checking out cute shops, chatting with people and petting their dogs and just enjoying the day. It's funny saying 'bonjour' to a dog, but the owners appreciate it and seem to get a kick out of it. Snapped a couple more pictures of the neighborhood in which I was staying, then went to a place called Pink Flamingo where I got an 8 cheese pizza... unfortunately one of those cheeses was goat and it almost ruined it for me. Otherwise delicious.