FIRST BIG TRIP WEEK :D

So much has happened in the last week And I LOVED all of it. (minus me getting sick at the end)

Tuesday (4.1)  started off with Danette and I loading up our rental car (a pretty tiguan life) and heading out to Frankfurt around 1115 to snag Molli from the airport. The drive there wasn't bad, about an hour and a half. We got to the airport, rode the super fun parking garage swirly thing down to level 4 and parked.

Next was to navigate the airport and find Molli. We looked on the first level, went upstairs, decided upstairs was wrong and headed back down. On the way down, my dumb self in my pretty new black maxi skirt, got eaten by the damn escalator. On the way up my skirt was fine, on the way down - I didn't pay it much mind - and BOOM. The security guard had to cut me loose to freedom. A lot of it didn't get lost but the bottom in the back looked like Kaela ate it and I still wore it. Funny story tho. I was literally like pulling it with all my might and he came over and stopped the escalator like "should i cut?" "um. yes" like my other option was...? lol  

Next we all got barricaded from the arrival area , by the polizei (German police), at the airport for who knows what reason. Luckily whatever the reason was for the caution tape we were fine and found Molli easily after that. Next we snagged some euro, got the car and headed to Amsterdam.

The drive to Amsterdam was about 4.5 hours ish. Which then got totally extended (arrival moving from 6:20 to 7:47) and screwed up our plans. Here in Germany, and with us living on post, we get ration cards for gas. You prepay amounts on them for gas and then use them at only esso stations to pay the American gas prices. Keep in mind this esso-ration card thing only works in Germany at esso stations. Only problem was that we couldn't find an esso.  First, we googled one and headed there and it was not an esso. We then preceded to get stuck in 50 minutes of traffic. That really screwed us up. After, we were able to find one like right off the boarder before we hit the Netherlands. But still, that 50 minute detour sucked. A lot.

BUT since we were really late now (we were scheduled to go to the Anne Frank House at 740pm) we decided we'd try to bust our buts and get to the Anne Frank House first and check in at the hotel after. Since none of our phones worked (data-wise) we used the car navigation to find the Anne Frank House and headed that way. We arrived at like eh 745ish, paid to park, and headed there. We're all walking down the sidewalk, see the building (which we thought was the museum), take a picture (like tourists), walk up close and finally realize it's the flippin Anne Frank School. 

We thought we were so cool. This was totally not the museum.
LAME.

We felt so dumb. And so lost.

That meant back to the car and to try try again. This time, we had a little bit better results. We found the right place, and even a parking spot (by now its 820pm and they close at 9). Too bad the parking meter wouldn't take our cards. First we couldn't get the machine to operate in English and then, once we fixed that, it still wouldn't print the damn ticket. So 830 rolls around and we're like F-this let's just go. So we walked over to the museum, full of workers who are ready to leave, and we pleaded to be let in. Luckily this was our first run in with the AMAZING Amsterdam people and they, instead, signed our tickets to let us come back anytime the next day (aka Wednesday). = such a relief! 

With that good news we went to check in at our hotel - Tulip Inn Amsterdam Center. The hotel was so nice- even did a 24hour service of Valet for the rental car so that was out of the way. (too bad I have no pictures because my camera was lost on Wednesday- to be continued..) 

This is the street view of our hotel (from Google since I had no picture)

This was the street view from our hotel room. The window was probably 12ft high
but the bottom part (head height for a passerby) was frosted for privacy.

We checked in. Got cleaned up. And headed OUT! The night life here was great! Everything was so close and definitely within walking distance from our hotel. We went to a few bars/coffee-shops and walked around most of the evening. Each bar we went to we each bought a round, but we stayed longer at the Irish Pub.

So bad for you but so tasty. Personally, I loved the chocolate covered Belgium waffles.

We even ended up walking through the red light district. Women prostitutes, trannies, men prostitutes- Amsterdam has it all lol. Pictures aren't allowed but literally if you go here all of these are pretty accurate. Molli snagged a few though. Also sex shops were everywhere (not only in the red light district).

Courtesy of the Photographer Molli :D

The only photo Molli snagged of an actual girl working her window
with her bright neon boobs. ow ow.

And when I say sex shops, I mean sex shops.

After much walking around we ended up at that Irish Pub I mentioned earlier. We relaxed there for a while and enjoyed a local dutch beer that was brewed a 10 minute walk from the Pub. The bartenders were super nice! 

Local Dutch Beer.

Us ladies chill-laxing :D

Since the bars close at 1 (pretty late for a Tuesday I thought) we started to walk back to the hotel and call it a night.

The next morning (Wednesday 4.2) we were up bright and early (well early-ish) at 9am. We wanted to get to the Van Gogh Museum at 10am and it was a 30 minute walk from our hotel. I'm so bummed I lost my camera because the walk there was super pretty and I was the one taking most of the pictures. At least I know next time I go with Rob I'll get them all again but still = bummer. We ended up exploring a lot more than expected and didn't get to the museum till 11- which ended up being fine anyway. 

Here a couple pictures from our walk there:

The beautiful canals :D Such a clean city.

love the flower boxes!

And this picture is getting framed for sure-
to me it just captures Amsterdam with the flowers and the Vespa.

Close to the museum we found this clog- had to stop for a photo op.
oh and Molli is a G.

And I have lots of hair. I need a hair cut lol

Once we got to the museum we checked our bags and got to walking around. There were LOTS of people there but it was a great experience to see Van Gogh's work and read about his life. Felix Vallotton as well. No pictures were allowed but, when I post the photo of my Amsterdam goodies you'll see the prints I bought.

After the museum we headed towards the Anne Frank House Museum. (This is the part of the day when my camera went missing). During our walk we detoured to look at several different shops. I think I lost it when I went into a bakery. I might have sat it down and left it? That's the only thing I could think of. 

This was during our walk from Van Gogh to Anne Frank
when we stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe.
Gotta love old guys playing street chess :D

Love this one of Molli.

Since we hadn't really eaten yet and it was around noon we decided to stop at a small bistro for lunch. 

The restaurant was super cute.

And my lunch was rather tasty :D

Next stop: Anne Frank House.

The building sign Molli snagged a picture of.

Here we couldn't take pictures either but the experience was amazing and so sad. To read the quotes from her diary that they used, see where they actually lived, and climb those stairs- it was all so surreal. Their rooms were so small. Everything was so dark. I was nearly brought to tears just walking through the house. The annex was off limits for safety reasons but they had a mirror set up so you could see up there and how small it was. Being able to go there was a great experience I am blessed to have had. I still can't believe people deny the holocaust to this day.

After the Anne Frank house my phone was super dead and it was about 3pm. We headed back towards our hotel and stopped in at De Bijenkorf. It was a huge department store/mall full of designer brands. Bijenkorf was right down the street from our hotel so Molli stayed here to hunt around and Danette and I walked back to charge up at the hotel. A little bit later Molli came back and we decided to go walk around for a bit more, do an early dinner, and call for our car to come. 

We decided to do a breakfast dinner since we hadn't tried "crepes & waffles" which was right outside our hotel room window. We figured since we were stealing their WiFi in our hotel room the least we could do was try their food. WHICH WAS SPECTACULAR!

(don't mind the fork dent, I was impatient)
this was my Tiramisu Crepe

This was the most bestest crepe ever in the whole flippin world! I will DEFINITELY be going here again. So happy we stopped here for our early dinner.

We also squeezed in a local cheese shop, since who doesn't love cheese. I ended up getting a Klaverkaas Contadino (with garlic, black pepper, and roasted red tomatoes). Can't wait to cook with it!!

They were all so delicious it was hard to choose!

But sadly, our car came a little before 7 and we were on the road again. Time to trek our 5 hours back to Baumholder.

Here are all of my Amstedam souviners:

Thursday (4.3) we were supposed to do Dachau but MAN did we sleep in. The drive to Dachau is about 4.5 hours so, with it being almost 11 and them closing at 5pm we wouldn't have been able to make it and explore the camp. That and - this was the first day I felt sick. I couldn't swallow and I was coughing up a storm! Just no fun! BUT- instead Molli and I decided to go to Trier.

Trier is a closer city, about a 50 minute drive from where I live. Lots of shopping, churches, and the ruins of the Porta Nigra. We walked around here for a few hours. In and out of lots of shops. They also had some tents set up for an Easter market which had lots of cute little goodies and sculptures. 

This is the Porta Nigra.
There is more information about it here.

There were lots of people out too!

The tent is from the Easter Market.
Love the buildings in the background though- Super German.

Cute froggies. I love the wooden bowl.

And adorable duckies.

Then for lunch we stopped at a small corner restaurant. We didn't order anything crazy since the lady working knew zero English. But we all know you can't go wrong with a Brat and a beer.

Then Thursday night, since the guys were off on Friday (well not rob really, he had staff duty) we went out for a bit. First we did dinner at Hotel Westrich. We all got some variation of schnitzel and loved them. Afterwards we went to the knot for some beers and some Jenga. We didn't stay out super late since Rob had work at 9am and we were going to try to get up earlier and maybe do Dachau. 

Friday morning (4.4) I was more sick which totally ruined the plans. We instead slept a bit more (hoping my medicine would kick in and I'd feel a bit better) and did local activities. We explored in Idar Oberstein for a bit and went to globus. Then I drove to Ramstein to show her the PX / wanna-be mall there. We snagged a quick lunch at Johnny Rockets (which was super American and not photo worthy lol). I'd say we stayed out till about 430 and then came home to get ready and go out to dinner around 8. We did another restaurant here in town called Hotel Berghof. We got so full from dinner that our attempt to drink at the Knot afterwards lasted for 1 beer and we both decided we were old and wanted to call it a night.

Today, super sadly, Molli had to leave. But, I know she's coming back. We had such a great time and there is so much more to experience here that I know she won't be able to stay away, especially for the next whole 3 years we're living here.

But, on a sad note, I feel terrible and want to go lay on the couch. I'm dreading the homework I have due tomorrow. *sigh* back to the real world. If only I could move to Amsterdam forever..