Amsterdam Nov 11-12, part 2

Our bus tour continued and we went to visit this windmill. It was really old and nice. It was so big. I knew they were big but this was insane, and this wasn't even a really big one! The tour went all around Amsterdam and there was so much to see...too much to include on here but I can assure you that it is gorgeous. I loved going here!


Angela and I had a lot more time after the bus tour which ended at 12 (noon). We walked around a little bit and we decided to visit the Heineken Museum ( the post will come after this) which was a lot of fun. Then we walked around Amsterdam a little more. The buidlings are all so big here. After the Heineken Experience we went to the Anne Frank museum, which is in the house where she lived and wrote her famous diary. There was a chilling feeling when you walked through the house and saw how and where she stayed. It was a changing experience.

There was time for some more tourist fun after the Anne Frank museum before we had to meet my friend Brie for the night. We wandered around some fun stores and ate a good meal at this gorgeous restaurant. I have never travelled with only th bag on my back and I felt a little under-dressed and messy going to this restaurant but the food was really good and I had a good time.

This sign says it all!!! These were everywhere along with the XXX sign. (which is the city's logo).
This is the royal palace which is located in the centre of the Dam square. It is huge and gorgeous! The architecture is amazing and it's sometimes hard to comprehend that this was all built so long ago.
NowI know you have all been waiting for the Heineken Experience to begin so I can assure you it will have been worth the wait!!! Enjoy!

Amsterdam Nov 11-12, part 1

This trip was interesting to say the least!!! SOoooooo many different adventures and it was so much fun. Angela and I left for our Amsterdam adventure at 9pm Friday night after school. We took an overnight coach so we had to get on the ferry from Dover, UK to Calais, France. The ferry ride is 1 1/2 hours so it is not too bad but getting there we were both so tired and I slept the whole way across the English Channel.


Angela seemed to have a little more energy than I did at the moment so she took some pictures of what was going on. Little did you know, she too feel asleep a few moments after I did. I woke up when we were docking and got Ang up so we could go back to the coach and get on the bus for another few hours. Back on the coach the bus driver asked me a question, he asked if I had any other luggage (other than my backpack) and I answered No. Which is not weird at all. Well Angela, and the man behind me both looked bewildered. I guess the bus driver had spoken Dutch to me and I answered his question. I found that cool that I understood what he was asking me, even though I don't speak Dutch...maybe I should learn that language next!?

The bus was supposed to arrive in Amsterdam at 8:30am, which would have been wonderful except that it arrived at 6:30am!?!? What were we supposed to do so early. We had hoped to get a little more sleep on the bus but that didn't happen. We went into the bus station where they had the most UNCOMFOTABLE benches in the world. I luckily did get back to sleep crunched into a little ball on one of the benches until a man came over and lifted my scarf off my face to ask if I was going to Barcelona. What?? Then I had to go to the washroom (which you have to pay for!!!) and I asked Angela to watch my stuff...DO NOT FREAK OUT BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS OK!!! When I was in the washroom, a man walked by and Ang saw him take something out of my bag...it was my wallet...which had EVERYTHING in it. She went after him and he threw it back at her...I HAVE ALL MY STUFF...but it was the scariest thing in the world...I was not impressed. But that is over now and I am never NEVER going to have someone else watch my stuff again.

NOW...at about 8:30am Ang and I decided to take a metro into the city, since the bus station is on the outskirts. We arrived at the Centraal Station, which is HUGE and gorgeous!!! (see below). We bought this special card to take the metro and trams and trains...but we had no idea how to use it, so we ended up not getting to card stamped to the city. Not that bad, we didn't get caught and we saved some money!!! Good times! We walked down the street opposite the centraal station which had a lot of tourist shops and bus/boat tour operators. We signed up for a bus tour which started at 10am so we had some time to kill. We were both really hungry so we went to find somewhere to eat and then did some shopping.

During the time before the tour we walked down a lot of side streets and around the main part of Amsterdam and we came across many of these contraptions.

Do you know what they are??? They are "toilets"...weird. They are in place for men so they don't pee anywhere. It's so strange but the strangest part is that men use them ALL the time. We even saw two men chatting and using them at the same time. Different culture. I guess it is good in a sense that they are not going all over the street.

Our bus tour started beside this canal. Amsterdam is gorgeous and has various canals around it. Before beginning the bus tour the woman giving the tour asked a question to everyone on the bus. The same thing happened that happened on the coach. I answered another question which was asked in Dutch...I really think I should learn the language seeing as I can understand some of it anyways.

Good times in Canterbury!!!

Steph's Birthday!!! We had a good celebration on Tuesday November 7. We sang happy birthday day and had some cake. Then we played Balderdash...yes!!! I know....it was so much fun! We played for hours and much fun was had by all.


We decided that we would be cool and see how long we could keep the pens between out nose and upper lip, lets say it was a funny sight...I love Brian's hair in this picture. HILARIOUS, is all I can say about this picture!


Brian ~Calgary~ stole Steph's birthday har...but he loved it so we couldn't take it away from him. Plus...the Balderdash game was only for people wearing hats so he had to get in on the action!

Night out at BaaBars!!!
Rebecca and I inside the top floor of BaaBars which is the big night club in my city. There are 3 floors so it is a lot of fun, usually a different type of music on each floor. Every wednesday night is Studen Night so it is a lot of fun!!!

Jordan, Cailtin and Jake out one night at a pub. We always have a good time in the pub!!

These are some snap shots of what has been going on over here. IT has been a blast and I am having a good time. :-)!!!

Cuba - Reading week!?!?

So... I will start off by saying I am sorry that this will be a very blah post because I have no pictures to put on. I "left" my camera in Cuba...which was not on purpose. I thought I had it with me and then I discovered on the bus ride back to Havana that I had no camera. If any of you know me well you will be very surprised that I would misplace my camera because I love taking pictures and when I travel my camera is a lot like my child...so I was freaking out on the bus and until I found out that Maikel had my camera because I left it in his dad's car.

So now I can tell you my adventures...and there were many!!!

Getting to Holguin was an adeventure on its own because I had to take one flight to Havana and then connect on the national plane to Holguin...well I got to the national terminal and found out that my flight reservation had been cancelled and no one could tell me how. It took me almost an hour to find out that it has been cancelled which was no fun. Then I was the only non-cuban in the airport and I had to get some more money to pay for the new flight, since mine no longer existed....which was $100 but my card was not working in the machine and I could not take money out....I only had a limited amount of money with me cause I hate travelling with money but luckily I had enough to pay for the flight....so I eventually got there, expect it was 3 hours earlier then I told Maikel I would get in which was the second problem....

Maikel was going to be picking me up from the airport, so I tried to call his neighbours house to tell him that I was going to earlier, but he was not at home so I left a message, and then I tried to call again when I landed in Holguin....eventually I was so tired from travelling all day that I decided to take a taxi to the hotel....after a few hours maikel showep up at the hotel because he went to the airport to look for me since he did not get the message about me being early......but it all turned out ok and things were going well....

I was able to meet his whole family which was a great experience and I love them all because they were so nice and welcoming...this was one of the most magical weeks of my life and I wish I could relive it again....I miss Holguin and Maikel a lot but I will never forget the experiences I had there!!!!

Te extreno mucho!!!!
(again, I am sorry about no photos...never got the memory card :-()

Bath

On the same day that we went to Stonehenge we were also able to go to the city of Bath. This city is gorgeous. It was so nice. The buildings are amazing. You feel like you are walking in the past when you are there. We had a really great time in Bath but I would have like to spend some more time there since we were only there for a very short time. We had a guided tour for a couple hours through the city to point out some of the important buildings and areas then we were given almost 2 hours to wander around and explore on our own.

This is the entrance to the Roman Baths (what the city is famous for). This is where people used to come from all over to have baths in the natural hot springs. They are/were the only springs in England and when to Romans were situated here they created this atmosphere where people wanted to come. It was said that the springs had healing powers so people who were sick would come here for weeks and even months at a time. They would spend their whole days in the baths for healing purposes. People would rent out houses in Bath when they were there using the springs so people brought their whole families along. It was the popular thing to do back in the day!


This is probably one of the most famous views in Bath. It shows the river going through with the bridge. I thought it looked beautiful. It was not the nicest day out but it was still gorgeous!

This is a row of houses which is where all the rich people would live. It is still known as the richest property in Bath. If you wanted to buy one of these lots it would be about £5 million!?!? AND...that's when one becomes available. Most of these houses have been turned into appartments so they have been divided up but there still are a few which are still whole houses.

Here is the cathedral in Bath. You can see how much detail there is on the stone work. I am still blown away at how much detail goes into everything around here. It's so gorgeous!!! The architect even put his mark on the cathedral by carving his name into the side of the cathedral at the front where he put his name as symbols. There is also something to note about the front of this cathedral, however it is not easy to see on this photo. There are angels climbing up the lattice on the side. I love all the detail!!!

Last but not least...another view of one of the old baths. This was the side where there is now a new spa where people can once again bathe in the baths. Until recently people could not bathe in the water because it was really polluted however you can now go to the city of Bath and bathe in the waters, the natural springs. I would love to try it sometime because it is said to be very good for you, but that will have to wait until the next time I get a chance to go since we ran out of time.
I hope that you all had a good look into Bath. It is an amazing city and I urge everyone to get there is they can because it is worth seeing!!!