the last trip w/ the girls

So I met the girls in Bremen on Wednesday the 3rd after a particularly long day at work. It had already been decided that our last trip together would be to Amsterdam, so we needed to get ahold of our tickets. I had to get my roundtrip tickets, the girls had to get tickets from the German border to Amsterdam (because they had a German Rail pass, which pretty much meant they could travel wherever they wanted to in Germany for free), and we had to get one for Colin, who is a friend of Leah's from college and who was in Europe trying out for several football (soccer) clubs. After a short while, the tickets had been purchased and the trip was set.

On Thursday, the day before we left, we met up with Colin in Bremen and I got to play tour guide once again. So we walked about the historic parts of the city, checking things out, and looked through the (very impressive) Weihnachtsmarkt they have going on in Bremen. The last part of the day was spent on a tour of the Becks brewery located on the river Weser. It was a good tour (much, much better than the heineken tour in Amsterdam) with a great ending - a sort of beer testing session, where we had to try and distinguish between Beck's and Haake Beck's beers (Leah, Sara, and I were right. Colin was wrong). We ended up drinking a decent amount of beer, which helped because the weather outside was freezing with snow flurries.

On early Friday morning we began our 5 hour trek to Amsterdam. The trainride was no fun, as we had to switch trains 3 times. We eventually arrived at the old and always crowded mainstation in Amsterdam. After taking a bus to our Hostel and freshing up, which included a nap for me, we rode back into the central part of the city to do some walking around. Colin had to meet up with a friend of his who happened to be living in the city, so the girls and I went and got some dinner. After dinner, we met up with Colin and his friend. His friend ended up showing us around, kind of giving us an insider's guide for what we should do/see while there.

Saturday was a day of an immense amount of walking. We started off in Rembrandt Square intending to find a place where we could rent bikes. However, at the beginning of our search, we found a huge flea market adjacent to the square and ended up spending a decent amount of time there. By the time we had walked through the whole thing, we were close enough to the museum area that we decided to just go there by foot. We ended up seeing the Rijksmuseum (but did not go inside), which is a wonderful museum of art and history and features a magnificent selection of Dutch paintings from the Golden Age (okay, I stole that last part from the Rijksmuseum webpage), and spent time in the Vincent van Gogh art museum. That was wonderful. I had learned a decent amount about van Gogh from art classes way back in my college days (I can say that now, can't I? hehe), but wow, seeing all of these original pieces of work from him was just amazing. If you are ever in the neighborhood, the Vincent van Gogh Art Museum comes highly recommended from me. (Pictures: Leah and Sara hanging out with a Rembrandt statue, the Rijksmuseum, a sweet shot from behind the Rijksmuseum)

We concluded the day with meeting up with Colin's friend for dinner at a nice restaurant called Ocho (I couldn't help but think of Chad Ocho-Cinco/Johnson when hearing of this place), I had the ribs. On Sunday, right before our train left, we hopped onto one of the canal boat tours you can do while in Amsterdam. It was nice to be able to see the city without walking, but I still prefer to go and see things for myself. However, the very funny captain/guide of the tour had some quality bits of information to share with us. (Pictures: Te smallest flat in Amsterdam! It is only one window wide. It's the one in the center with the protruding white window. Some typical Amsterdam flats.)

After Amsterdam, the girls and I returned "home" to Bremen for their last couple of days in Germany. The last two days were essentially spent in Bremen (when I was done teaching, of course) at the Weihnachtsmarkt because the girls wanted to do some shopping and buy some gifts for their families back home (they also bought a gift for my colleague with whom I live, which was very nice). It wasn't all that bad for me though, as I made a couple of necessary purchases: warm socks and a nice side-satchel man purse type of thing, big enough to carry things I need for school, or food, or clothes for a small trip.

This past Wednesday, at 4 in the freaking morning, the girls were picked up by a taxi and went to the Bremen airport for their 6:30 flight back home. I had a wonderful time with Leah and Sara, and am so thankful that they found the time, money, and motivation to visit me over here in Germany. The three of us accomplished a great amount in 3 weeks and had a heck of a time in doing so. Now, after 3 weekends of spending money, I have accepted the fact that I will have to have a few quiet, uneventful weeks of life if I want to keep my money budget where I want it.

Coming up very soon is Weihnachten (Christmas), which I will be spending with my Uncle Stefan, his wife Thesi, and their family in Luebeck, which happens to be the Marzipan capital of the world, if I'm not mistaken. I am very exited to have the opportunity to spend a Christmas in Germany! Although, nothing beats being home for the holidays, and I will definitely be keeping my family and friends in my thoughts during my time here.