Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Paris - Big City Hoppin with my Parents

We left Zwolle in the morning on Wednesday to head up North to Enkhuizen ... where we took a tour of the museum Zans Schaans or something like that. It portrayed what life was like in a sea port village - very neat - but sadly it was very COLD :( We had a nice time and then we left for Andijk - the village where my Dad's ancestors are from. There was no reason to spend time there so we left for Amsterdam. We arrived at our beautiful hotel and ate dinner at the Hard Rock- then walked around a little bit. We slept great and headed out to visit Kuekenhoff after seeing the Anne Frank house and finished our evening in Rotterdam. We ate at Hotel New York - right by the port in Rotterdam when the immigrants came over to America on a boat. It was a really great night except we missed the chance to go to the top of the Euromast - huge tower space needle like thing in Rotterdam - the taxi was stuck in a traffic jam and we were four min. too late. UGH! Oh well... we got a nice warm taxi drive tour of Rotterdam.

We slept in Rotterdam and woke up early the next morning to visit Delft and go on a boat tour, also we saw the church where the Canons of Dordt were held in Dordrecht... we rented bikes in that town so it was fun to see but a quick trip :) Then we headed back Rotterdam by water taxi hoping to see Kinderdijk - 12 small windmills along the water - they must have been really small because we missed them :( Sad day.

We left for Paris that evening on a fast train and arrived there around 10 pm. Found the hotel and also found it was really small but it worked for us. I wanted to go see the Eiffel at night right away but I was talked into just going to bed and waking up early for a fresh day.

We woke up and headed over to the Eiffel first thing. I wanted to go up to the top and so did my mom and sister. My dad bought a ticket for the bus and rode it around while he waited for us to return - 4 hours later - that was nuts but we did it! I went all the way up :) No I didn't climb up stairs... I missed that line ... we got in the line for the elevator but I did the stairs all the way down! What an amazing view! We went on the same bus tour as my dad after we found him back again and enjoyed seeing the hit highlight buildings - then we did some window shopping that evening at places like Louis Vuitton etc.

There are some pretty nice shops in Paris - then we saw the Eiffel at night. Oh how wonderful. I enjoyed it so much - I never wanted to stop looking at it!

The next day was Easter and we went to an American church. It was a delight! There was so much good music from the Messiah and it was so well done. I was very impressed.

Then we went for Brunch at a cafe in a cute part of town and headed over to the Louvre. Huge museum - crazy busy - saw the Mona Lisa - checked it off my list and I do not need to do that again. Ha. Then we went to Notre Dame. We wanted to go inside but the line looked long so we bought some crepes instead since we had a time schedule - leaving for Amsterdam that night.
When we got back to Amsterdam it was a great feeling- Holland is so much nicer than France. Paris has great things to see but I did not "enjoy" being there.

I got to talk to Nathan in the hotel on the phone that night so that was nice and wish him a happy easter :) We watched some of the golf PGA and went to sleep.

We took a canal cruise in the morning and while my family went to the Rijksmuseum I did a tour of Heinekein - alone ... haha. It was more fun than seeing the Rujks twice. Then we went to lunch and I had to drop them off at the airport :( It was a sad good-bye - a weird feeling to see them leave and I was not going with them.

Now I am sitting here thinking of everything I have to do this week - it will be busy.

From now until our trip to Rome is crunch time - 60 hours clinical and multiple papers/projects to send in.

I won't be writing much until Rome -I think my time needs to be dedicated to my studies and internship hours.
Thanks for reading!! Having my parents and sister here was so memorable - I loved every min.

I am looking forward to being back home but I will be enjoying the last three weeks here - so much.

My Family Came to Visit: Staying Local

Not my entire family but close... we were missing my amazing brother, Nathan, on this trip. So sad he has to be an adult and work :(

My family arrived in Amsterdam Monday around 11 - their flight was on-time :) and it was great to reunite. I was nervous waiting for them. It was so surreal to see them. I couldn't believe it for a couple of days. I wanted things to go so well because I was supposed to be the one who "knew what I was doing."

We rented a car. No idea what I am doing when it comes to driving in the Netherlands so I couldn't impress them there. All I know is that they have to yield to bikers and go around a lot of round-a-bouts. So we got a GPS. Named her Tina. Let her dominate our car conversations and made it safely to Zwolle. It was beautiful to see Holland from a car! I am not used to that. My Dad really liked the scenic views and although he was tired he couldn't help but be SO excited to be there.

Mom and Lindsey slept most of the ride and we all soon realized there would be no where to "stop and eat" on the way to Zwolle so Dad just made some egg/ham/cheese sandwiches when we got to "my" house in Zwolle. Lekker!
Then we met my host-dad in Kampen, a town about 20 min. away by car. There is an old Reformed church and theological university that my Dad was curious in. Its also a cute town to see with a beautiful park. So we decided to meet him at the bridge. Little did I know there are two bridges in Kampen - one HUGE bridge and one nice sized -walkable one. We were supposed to meet at the "walkable" one but I led us to the HUGE one and thought... wow, are we really supposed to walk over that bridge and meet him?! Ok... but the other question is... where do we park the car. I have no idea. We found a place - and started to head towards the bridge. I called my host-dad because I didn't see him. He said - wrong bridge, I'll come pick you all up. Great. I failed my family :( Then we found out we parked in a place that we would have been towed at. Whoops! Good thing we got the car and headed into Kampen following a guy who drives through it every day :) I left that tour with my host-dad. Thankfully. It was nice to see the town and it started to rain so we headed to my house for dinner with my host-family. It was too much food but so delicious. I think my family liked it ... I don't REALLY know their true feelings ;) Then my host-sister and I performed a piano concert for them. Ending the concert with my parents "love song" which they didn't recognize until half-way through. My dad, "What song is this...sounds familiar..." Hm...your <3 song!

That night we visited and my family went early to the bed and breakfast.
We had a big day awaiting us on Tuesday. The plan was to bike in Zwolle - hilarious.

Visit Isala (the hospital where I work) and the GH (my school here) and then drive to Geithoorn. Its a little village of all canals - my dad drove a boat through them and we ate some good Dutch food in the afternoon (frikandel) heading back to Zwolle to eat again with my host family at the Pancake ship. So fun! Then headed out for the night to a birthday party of one of the SPICE girls and to the Jofer- with my sister - woop woop!

Fun day.

The next day I had to pack up my bag for a little excursion to Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Paris!

Read in the next blog about that little adventure!

Swiss Fanks.

I just returned from a weekend away in Switzerland with some wonderful girls.

We had a really nice, relaxing time and now my parents are here in the Netherlands! :)

Let me tell you what we did in Switzerland in a very short format:

After having train difficulties in Amsterdam we taxied to the airport and made our flight.

We found out we were staying the night in Germany (only about a 15 min. walk away) so we walked to a completely different country to sleep. The hotel was much cheaper in Germany so that was sweet :)

We went to Lake Lucerne - where beautiful people from the Bachelor go and now we know why... because it is SO expensive. It was beautiful. There was a market and some neat things to see. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. We were spoiled.

We spent the night in Zug - and found that there is a also a lake with a gorgeous view there.
We ate McDonald's that night and stayed in the hotel with a bottle of wine. It was fun to take it easy. Then we went to go explore some caves in the morning. After hiking, climbing, and lots of walking we took a train to Zurich. 1/2 way to Basel where we were flying out from. We walked around there and then took a plane back to Holland.

We travel so fast and sometimes it is overwhelming - however, we have no other choice because I need a million dollars to stay in Switzerland much longer. The prices there were unbelievable. I survived off peanut butter and bread from Holland - :(

Now my parents are here so I won't be "roughin' it" all week when we travel around. Yay!

Time to spend some time with them!
Enjoy the beautiful pictures of Switzerland!