Holland, A Place like Home

The Netherlands, the country of my roots. Visiting this country is always special—I was here in 2009—and I was excited to show Nicholas where some of our family traditions had come from and for him to meet some of my European family. As always, we didn’t stay long enough, but I could easily rent a bike and spend a month exploring this beautiful country. 

Nicholas’s introduction to the country was not quite as pleasant as I was hoping; we missed our flight from Berlin (oops) and had to resort to taking an overnight bus, which is not the most enjoyable way to travel. The one thing I had attempted to avoid the entire trip was overnight busses. It’s basically the same as pulling an all-nighter, which I am decidedly too old for. Let’s be real, I’ve been too old for all-nighters since, well, the age of 1 year; I hate them! Even in college I only ever pulled one! Either way, it was our only option unless we wanted to spend 600 euros on a train, so off we were. We left at 10:30 p.m. on June 19th and arrived in Amsterdam on the 20th at 7:00 am. My sweet Tante (Aunt) Hinke made us breakfast and we proceeded to take a well-deserved three hour nap. Nicholas fell asleep in about 8 seconds! 

After napping for a few hours we got up and enjoyed afternoon coffee with Tante Hinke. Nicholas was able to meet her more fully and we enjoyed telling her about some of our travels thus far…not to mention coffee and treats is a Dutch tradition Nicholas and I both really appreciate; Nicholas loves the coffee and I love the treats! ;) We had planned to visit our friend, Joost (pronounced “Yost”), that day and didn’t want to miss our opportunity, so headed out in the afternoon after coffee. Here our story takes a turn for the worst. Those of you following this blog remember our train ordeal from Spain. Well, on the way to Rotterdam, guess what?! Another train broke down and blocked our train! We were in the unlucky 2% of people who end up NOT reaching their destination on a Dutch train. We asked a guy on the platform what was going on and he explained the situation and that the next 3 trains had been canceled. Kees (pronounced “Case”) was extremely kind though, and told us to just follow him; he had to get to Rotterdam as well. He led us to the bus, chatted with us the entire ride and made sure we knew where we were going once we arrived in Rotterdam. Dutchmen are so nice! 

Once we finally MADE it to Rotterdam, Joost met us and took us on a fast, but wonderful tour of his city! We originally met him in Cambodia and met up again in Vietnam, but travelers really become your family, and we had a blast getting to know him and hanging out. We had a delicious dinner, walked some of the city, saw some sights, took a water taxi to an old hotel in the harbor and had drinks before we had to head back to Amsterdam. It was great! Joost (and his girlfriend) are planning to visit the U.S. in about 2 years, so hopefully, we will see him again then! The train that had broken down earlier was still causing issues, so our train was late arriving in Amsterdam and we missed the last metro (it ends at 12:30 a.m. if you’re wondering). We met ANOTHER nice dutch guy though, and we shared a cab with him to get to our final destination. If nothing else, this trip has taught us a lot of flexibility and problem solving skills! Tante Hinke is a night owl, so she was up when we arrived back at home. We told her our story, enjoyed a beer and, finally, headed to bed. 

The next day we slept in until about 9 a.m. Breakfast was very Dutch and consisted of cheese, cold cuts, tea and some delicious, dark bread. I’ve never been much of a cereal eater, so it was perfect for me and a new experience for Nicholas! Then it was time for sightseeing, so decided to go to the Heineken Brewery first! Nicholas enjoys beer and you usually get a few free ones if you take a tour, so it sounded like a good idea. It was actually interesting and the company has done a great job with the tour. It’s technically self-guided, but there are a lot of videos, interactive spots and a few people who talk to you about what you’re looking at/trying. We really enjoyed it. Afterwards we took a boat tour through some of the canals. That we were somewhat disappointed in; we used a company called Stromma, which is well known, but the tour was cut 20 minutes short and our audio guides cut out as well. We think that because it was the last tour of the day the captain decided to skip some of it. It goes to show that even with research, sometimes you just get unlucky. Afterwards, we headed back to Tante Hinke’s for a nice homemade pasta meal, some good wine and conversation.

The next day we took a day trip to Fryslan, which is where all of my Dad’s family originally is from. Many of my distant relatives still live there and are dairy farmers. I’m honestly not sure what the people we visited technically are to me; maybe 3rd or 4th cousins? Either way, they showed us around the farm, made us a yummy lunch, played games, took us to the closest village and provided us with coffee TWICE! Let’s just say we ate really well that day. ;) We were planning to go to the beach as well, but the weather didn’t cooperate so we weren’t able to. Tante Hinke then took us to the village she grew up in and where my Great Beppe (grandma) is buried. It was a really special day! I loved that Nicholas could see where my family came from, why we do things a certain way, and what traditions came with my Dad from Holland. 

The 23rd we went to Anne Frank’s house, explored the city center of Amsterdam and enjoyed Indonesian food with Tante Hinke for dinner. The Anne Frank house is a very moving place to visit, especially if you’ve read the book. One word of advice; you MUST book tickets in advance if you want to visit. We were lucky and found some two days before, but there were less than 80 tickets left for that entire day!

The Netherlands was one of our most relaxing and enjoyable stops during this trip. Tante Hinke is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met; extremely generous and always willing to help, not to mention her mattresses were the most comfortable ones we’ve slept on in 4 months. We slept well, rested well, ate well, visited well and traveled well. It was so nice to be in a place that felt like home. 

Beer & Cheese in Germany!

Germany! From the start of our trip planning, Nicholas was very excited to visit Germany. His maternal Grandfather is 100% german and Nicholas has always been interested in the culture, so it we decided to spend 10 days in the country, instead of our usual 7 days. We were so glad we did! 

Let’s start with a little backstory. While flying from Laos to Vietnam in the beginning of our trip we met a fellow backpacker named Steffi (pronounced Steffi), who lives in Münich. She was spending 3 months traveling SE Asia, Australia and Spain. We chatted on the plane, went through customs together and walked her to her hostel since it was late at night when we arrived. We exchanged numbers, and said we would try to meet up again at some point. We stayed in touch over the next few months; fast forward to June 8th, we were hugging and catching up on a Münich metro platform where Steffi met us at 11:30pm! Steffi and her family were kind enough to let us stay in a spare bedroom, share their food with us, spend time and energy showing us the city and surrounding area and generally speaking, completely welcome us into their home!

Our first day in the city, Steffi had to work, but that was okay because we needed to catch up on some sleep. I’m pretty sure we slept in until noon. As we’ve said in a couple other blogs, traveling can be tiring at times, so we deserved a good long nights rest! We were able to meet her younger brother, Florian, that afternoon and spent some time chatting with him…Nicholas even went to the grocery store with him later in the day. Unfortunately, Steffi’s parents were vacationing at Lake Garda, so we were unable to meet them. Steffi arrived a little later and asked if we’d be interested in going to a traditional Bavarian BierGarten. We of course said, “yes!” We made some finger foods for dinner and headed out to meet her aunt at one of her local favorites. Steffi’s aunt, Christina, was wonderful! She had an adventurous spirit as well, and was the one that encouraged Steffi to travel. Christina is an architect/professor, so is able to travel quite a bit herself and has been all over the world! We enjoyed exchanging travel stories and picking her brain. ;) The beers were a full 1 liter (yikes!) which were accompanied by shaved radish, mini burgers, pretzels with a cheese dip, veggies and berries with yogurt for dessert. It was delicious! Afterwards we walked some of the Old City and then headed back for a good nights sleep.

The next day we decided to bike! Christina and Steffi agreed it was the best way to see the city and Steffi graciously let us borrow some of her families bikes. It was a very full day, and by the end of it we estimated we had biked close to 40 kilometers (~25 miles). Although our bums were sore the next day, it was SO worth it! We saw so many things we can’t even remember them! The BMW Museum, Olympic Park, the entire old city and many famous, historical buildings within it, weekend market, English Park, Hofbrauhaus, another BierGarten, the people who surf on the river, and finally, picnicked on the river bank. I know I’m forgetting numerous things, but unfortunately I can’t remember all the names! It was such a fun day. Spending time with friends makes the time so much more valuable and fun. By the end of the day we were planning Steffi’s and Christina’s visit to the states, which hopefully will happen next year! I’m not sure Minneapolis can meet Munich simply because it doesn’t have BierGartens, but hey, we can try. ;)

The next day (Sunday) we had an afternoon train to Füssen, but had enough time to visit a lake in the morning/early afternoon. It was beautiful! The lakes all have stone beaches, which is nice because there is no messy sand to deal with. It was surrounded by mountains and fed by mountain streams, so crystal clear and cold! We got in once, but that was all we (well…Nicholas and I could handle…Christina thought the temperature was perfect) were brave enough for! We swam, had lunch at the lake, played Phase Ten, sun bathed and headed back to Munich to catch our train. It was a nice way to relax after having a busy day biking. The only negative was that we all got sunburned (mine was terrible); kids, where sunscreen unless you want all your skin to peel off. Our train ride was smooth and only lasted about 3 hours, which was nice.

Füssen is a small, tourist town famous for Schloss Neuschwanstein, or the fairytale castle. It is one of the most famous castles in Europe. I had rebooked tickets for Monday, just in case it was crazy busy. The castle was about a 45 minute walk from Füssen. There is also a bus line, but I would encourage anyone who visits to walk instead of taking the bus on the way there. The scenery is very pretty; many wildflowers, birds and views of the castle (also the occasional person using the natural bathroom). We choose to purchase tickets for both castles: Schloss Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. The tours were not quite what we were expecting, you don’t actually get to see the whole castle and it only takes about 30-40 minutes to do the full tour. However, it was still worth it, and the pictures we got were amazing! We did take the bus back to Füssen; the sun was strong and my sunburn was so bad I couldn’t stand outside in the heat/sun for more than 5 minutes without being in pain. We went to the grocery store for dinner—salad kits and sandwiches have become our best friends—and decided to download some of our pictures before bed. It is here our story takes a turn for the worst. We realized that when i had updated my phone it changed some of my settings (darn you, Apple updates). Because of the setting change, 800+ pictures were stuck in my i-cloud and unable to be downloaded onto the computer since they were technically already downloaded in the cloud, thus unable to be put on our portable hard drive or Facebook. We messed with it until midnight, gave up, and tried again the next day. On Tuesday we spent close to 10 hours manually downloading, sorting and deleting pictures. It was horrible! Thankfully, we were able to eventually resolve it. 

Because we had wasted an entire day of what was suppose to be rest, we decided to get outdoors and burn off some negative energy the next day. We rented bikes again and biked around the large lake next to Füssen. This time we estimated we biked about 30-35 kilometers (~20 miles). It was a nice day to ride bikes; just cool enough to be comfortable but warm enough to not wear jackets. The lake, mountains and valleys were all very pretty. We found another BierGarten, although not as good as the one we went to with Steffi, and had some beers, a brat and french fries. It was a good ending to our time in Füssen. 

We spent all of the 15th on a train traveling to Berlin. Berlin is another HUGE city. I was able to find an AirBnB very close to the city center, which was awesome! Pretty much all of the sights we wanted to visit were a 30 minute walk from us, which wasn’t back at all! Over the next couples days we saw the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Unter den Linden, the Holocaust Memorial, walked the Tiergarten, the Topography of Terror, Hitler’s Bunker and a small section of the Berlin Wall. We also did some shopping and went to church on Sunday. The church spoke mainly English, but sang a few hymns in German, which was beautiful. It’s amazing to listen to people praising God in another language!

All in all, Germany was a great country to visit with so much to see…which means for us, we’ll definitely be back for a second visit. Plus, we have some pretty awesome friends in Münich who we are looking forward to keeping in contact with and continuing to build our friendship.  If you are looking for a country with big cities, vast history, yet with beautiful surroundings, Germany/Bavaria would be a great place to look into traveling…As I said earlier, Nicholas was excited to visit, now he is very excited to return some day and see more. Cheers!