Hi all,
So I arrived safely and actually 45 minutes early in Europe. We landed in Frankfurt but immediately took a train to Koblenz, our destination for a few days. When we arrived, it was only 9AM local time. This meant that we had a minimum of 5 hours before we could check in at the hotel. However, we wasted no time and immediately headed for the city of Trier, leaving our luggage back at the Hotel.
Trier is the oldest city in Germany. Some of the structures date back to when the romans conquored Germany, the very first time. It was a beautiful city full of amazingly old and eligant buildings. We saw a church, ruins of a building that I do not know, and an ancient amphitheatre (Think Gladiators). After our 28th hour awake, we headed back to Koblenz for some much needed R&R.
That night, we had our first German delicacy, Schnitzel. It was amazing and surprisingly cheap. The next morning we headed for the sights that Koblenz had to offer. Koblenz is a quiet little city on the shores of the Rhine and Mosel Rivers. Also situated near the river’s junction was a large fort. After hiking up nearly 20 stories, we had anamazing view of the city from the fort. The fort itself was not much to see as the majority of it was under renovations.
The next day we just toured around the city, checking out the city hall and surrounding area.
The next day we headed for Amsterdam making a quick stop in Cologne (Koln, as it is spelled in Germany). As we walked out of the train station, we were instantly amazed by the intensly HUGE “Dom”, a medival cathedral. We only went in the front entrance because there was a spiritual mass going on as it was a Sunday. We did, however, go into the cathedral treasury. In the treasury, there were tonnes of ancient artifacts including the only remains of the three kings.
In Cologne, we also headed for the Lindt hocolate factory. Tonnes for free samples and well assembled exhibits made this museum quite entertaining – it even had an indoor rainforest. Soon after the factory, we headed back to the train station to get some lunch and continue our train journey to Amsterdam.
Amsterdam, upon first glance, was a little intimidating. Thousands of pedestrians combined with hundred of bicycles make for an interesting hike, regardless of where you walk. Not to mention the cars, trams, busses and scooters that speed flying past you. The first night, we opted to go directly to the hostel for a much needed sleep-in. Though in a somewhat sketchy neighbourhood, the hostel is very nice and new. We have “loft” beds in the room with six beds, but as of right now, we are the only ones in the room.
The first day in Amsterdam was spent in the Keukanhof Gardens. Think thousands and thousands of tulips!
Today, we went to the Rjiksmuseum (sp?) and the Van Gogh Museums. Both were equally amazing. It was kind of neat being able to actually see paintings that are so famous (think Rembrant and Van Gogh). After the museums, we headed to a local cinema to enjoy Star Trek, with Dutch subtitles.
Well that is it for now, I will keep you posted.
Jon