Beautiful Disaster...

I have determined that anywhere in Europe I am going to travel is going to require a very early morning to start the trip! Holland was no different, starting with a drive to base in the dark. Luckily the road construction was complete and I didn’t have to call Tyler for other directions this time! Since this was an organized trip done by the base we did not take the quickest means of travel, but the most economical. Our journey included an hour and a half van ride, a two hour wait at the ferry terminal, a six hour ferry ride and another hour and a half drive to the hotel, once we arrived in Holland. If there is any type of transportation to take for a six hour trip, a ferry isn’t a bad option. I was able to walk around, lie on a bench for a nap and go outside for some fresh air. It was also a good opportunity to get to know the other people we were traveling with. There were twelve people total on the trip and eight of the people are good friends that travel together quite frequently. Once we arrived at Hook of Holland we made the hour and a half drive to our hotel in the city of Leiden. Our hotel was perfectly located across the street from the train station and just minutes walk into town for restaurants. We weren’t really sure what to look for in ‘traditional’ food for this area, but it became quite obvious that if we wanted a traditional meal we would be eating at a pannekoekenhuis (pancake house)! Imagine a crepe pizza and that was the plethora of options on the menu. Anywhere from an apple pancake to a seafood pancake they had it all. It was a good experience, but not one I was so crazy about that we needed to go back on this trip. After dinner we all met back at the hotel for wine and chocolate cake to celebrate one of the travelers birthday. The best part about the wine and cake was that the gentleman that brought them is quite knowledgeable in wine and pairing it with foods. With the cake we had a very nice bottle of port and I quickly realized port was not your typical wine! I haven’t tried a port before and didn’t enjoy it as much until I started eating the cake in between sips. It wasn’t until we were finishing up that Dave (the wine guy) gave everyone the history of the wine that he mentioned that each bottled was $90! I don’t think I have ever had a glass of such expensive wine and this was the least expensive bottle he brought.

My Crepe Like Pizza Dinner

Our first full day started with one of the best European hotel breakfasts I have ever eaten. The hotel makes all of their own breads and has a good selection of hot and cold food. My favorite part was the small packets of chocolate sauce that I put on my croissant.  The sauce was similar in texture to Nutella, but was much tastier. We had a short drive to Holland’s famous Keukenhof gardens where we would spend the next few hours exploring the gardens and admiring all the different types of flowers. One thing I really enjoyed was looking at the names of some of the varieties. Never knew there was a Washington flower! At the end of our time at Keukenhof I found out the Amaryllis bulbs were for sale. Walking through the gardens I could not believe how large those flowers were and was really drawn to their beauty. Now I have two of my own that are slowly growing. They seem to be growing a little differently and I am not sure which one is correct. Hope to find out soon! The bike riding on this trip was much less than I anticipated. I was really looking forward to doing something active and it was much more of a leisurely stop and go ride. There was no biking through tulip fields either. We were across the street from the fields, but never got very close to a large blooming field. Since the biking didn’t last very long most of the group decided to take the train in to Amsterdam for the evening. Nicole (friend that I went to Germany with) and I were planning to spend the next day in Amsterdam and decided to stay behind and enjoy another evening in Leiden. Very glad we did! We had a great dinner at an Argentian steak house, another popular style of restaurant in the area. It was nice to have a relaxing evening away from the big group and finally caught up on sleep!

After another good morning breakfast we started to see more of how unorganized this organized trip was. Nicole and I had already decided we were going to spend the day in Amsterdam while the rest of the group was going to go biking again along the same trails we were on the day before. The woman that was leading the trip brought up the option, just as everyone was finishing breakfast, that we could also do a bike tour in Amsterdam. Once she provided that option she had no other information on time, location or price. Luckily the money we paid up front included all of the biking activities and we did not need to pay any more for her mistake. Biking through Amsterdam was the complete opposite experience than the day before. As you can see from the photos there are a lot of bikes in Amsterdam! Luckily we had a guide that helped us navigate to some of the biggest tourist parts of the city and taught us some of the biking etiquette! The tour was a little over an hour and we saw quite a few things; Anne Frank House, Van Gough Museum, Red Light District, High end Fashion shopping district and the smallest house in Amsterdam. There are quite a few canals in Amsterdam, similar to Venice, which made the biking trip a little difficult for some with the constant stopping and starting on an incline. At least we got baskets with our bikes today, I felt more like a local besides the bright yellow color of the rental bike. Once we were on our own the important thing Nicole and I wanted to see was the Anne Frank house. The house did not have any furniture inside to replicate how it would have been set up when it was occupied. Otto Frank asked that the house remain as it was left and instead helped oversee the making of diagrams to show how the home was furnished. We were so glad to see the site of such a famous part of history. Right outside of the Anne Frank house was a canal and a little shop that rented paddle boats. There were two other girls with us and we thought that between the four of us that we could manage an hour ride down the canals. Little did we know that the steering was incredibly difficult and we would be dodging the motorized boats. This experience definitely made up for the lack of biking the trip offered and left us ready to find something for dinner. One of the girls brought her travel books with her and we decided on a restaurant that Rick Steve’s recommended based on the promise of a good salad bar. A good hearty salad has been hard to find and this salad bar was phenomenal. There wasn’t just lettuce and various chopped veggies, we had grilled peppers and carrots, variety of pasta salads and the best crotons I have ever eaten!

A Monday evening in Amsterdam is not as lively as one of the weekend days, but I didn’t think a trip to Amsterdam would be complete without seeing what the Red Light District was all about. The little parts of the area we saw were quite interesting to say the least. When Tyler and I go back to Amsterdam together I don’t think that is a stop that we will need to make! Once was good for me. At 10 o’clock the group was meeting back at the hotel for one last night of wine and snacks. Tonight’s pairings were Pinot Noir and chocolate and an Australian Shiraz and cheese. Yum! These wines were more expensive than the port ranging from $90-$100 per bottle and much more the type that I enjoy to drink. Not sure that I will be spending that kind of money on a bottle of wine any time soon!

On our last day we had just enough time for some quick sightseeing before we had to be at the ferry. We stopped at Kinderdijk to view one of the most famous spots of working windmills. Not much to do other than get a few photos and then we were off to Delft pottery. That was a great stop! We were able to see the artists mold the pottery, draw the outline of the design on a couple pieces and see other pieces painted in the traditional Delft Blue. There were quite a few impressive pieces that I wanted to take home and decided on this tulip vase. This is a small version of this vase that was used as a status symbol years ago. I was excited to bring this vase home for a couple a reasons; one – it is really cute J and two – it is the first piece of our collection of items we have collected from our travels around Europe.

Sorry it has taken so long to get this posted. I was quite lazy on getting it finished! Now that this is up there should be quite a few more coming pretty soon as Tyler is much better at writing these quickly. We have our first long term visitor here this week. She and I went to Scotland last weekend and are off to Paris in the morning. Looking forward to the crepes!

Nicole and I at the Keukenhof Gardens

A Bike Parking Lot Downtown Amsterdam

More Ireland Please!

The Town of Portrush

From the crowded seas of green to an ocean front view we headed to Portrush, Northern Ireland on Thursday the 18th. What a change of pace! We arrived and checked in to our B&B perfectly located across from the ocean and headed out for a late lunch. After coming from Dublin we didn’t realize how difficult it would be to find lunch just after 2:00. Most restaurants stop serving from 2:00 – 5:00. We finally found a little café that serves food all day and got a quick bite to eat before heading out to explore. Since it was late in the afternoon we decided to walk around a see what the town had to offer and leave the tourist activities for tomorrow.

On the Cliffs Overlooking Portrush

We stumbled upon this row of houses that I was fascinated with. It was hard to get a picture to do these houses justice. If you imagine the cookie cutter housing developments that are popping up all over in the states except these houses are all connected. The only difference is the color of the house or the color of the door. Something about this just really struck me as a typical style of the area.

On the Beach Front

The owner of our B&B recommended a group of restaurants by the marina for dinner. We tried to eat at one of them for lunch and since the food came so highly recommended we decided would give it another try. So glad we did! The food was fantastic and the prices were very reasonable. We shared a bottle of wine for 9 GBP (about $14)! Craziest thing was that I ordered a hamburger. The crispy onion straws made my decision! This restaurant had one of the most amazing desert selections I have ever seen. I think there were 18 different options. We decided on this delicious cake. Even more surprising than me ordering a hamburger, Tyler loved the desert! Think he even liked it more than I did. After a quick walk along the coast we decided to make it an early night to catch up on sleep and be rested for a full day of sightseeing tomorrow.

Our Fantastic Desert

When we first started looking into Portrush, all the websites said it was close to many attractions, the Castle Dunluce, the Bushmills Distillery, and an area called Giants Causeway. Apparently their idea of close was within 20 miles! We didn’t have a car and really didn’t feel like walking that far so we were looking for transportation options. Luckily the owner of the B&B was kind enough offer us his and his wife’s bikes for the afternoon. It was a beautiful day so we decided to take him up on it. Our first destination was the Castle Dunluce, about four miles away. What a great way to experience the coast line! We a great view of the beach, golf courses, and the scenery. We pulled into Castle and realized that it wasn’t like any of the other castles we have visited up to this point. It was basically a few walls and other remnants of what was once a castle. The setting was amazing. It stood on the edge of a cliff looking out over the North Atlantic. We found out that a large portion of the kitchen area had actually fallen into the ocean, taking a bunch of people with it when the castle was inhabited. It was a really interesting castle to visit. Nothing was off limits so you could really explore around the property and really feel what the spaces were like when it had completed walls, ceilings, and floors.

Castle Dunluce

Our original plan was to bike down to the Bushmills distillery and have lunch in the local town. We haven’t ridden bikes for a long time and we were a little out of biking shape. We both decided that it would be better to head back into Portrush, get lunch and then catch a bus. Tyler especially liked this idea because by the time we arrived back at the hotel, he could not sit on his bike seat! We had lunch at a local café and made our way to the bus stop. After a short 30 minute ride we were standing in front of the distillery. What a different setting than the Jameson distillery. This was an actual, working distillery and you could see the actually working going on. We signed up for the grand tour. Unfortunately we weren’t able to take pictures on the tour. They claimed that it was because of the alcohol vapors in the air and that the cameras could be a hazard. The tour was really cool and informative. We saw the whole process involved with making whiskey. One of Tyler’s favorite parts of the tour was the cask room. They had a warehouse full of oak casks where they were aging the whiskey. The smell in that was amazing, rich and sweet. After a few more rooms we were invited to taste their whiskey. I am not much of a whiskey fan so lucky Tyler got two tasters. They had a hot drink with cloves and spices that we wanted to try and they gave us an extra taster, I didn’t care for that much either, but Tyler did!

The Distillery

After poking around the gift shop for a while we decided that it was time to catch our bus back to the hotel. We originally wanted to make it to the Giants Causeway after the distillery, but we just ran out of time. The Giants Causeway is a natural rock formation that is supposed to be beautiful. I would guess it is a lot like Deception Pass in northwest Washington State. There is a rope bridge that we wanted to cross, but I guess it will have to wait until next time we are in Ireland. On the bus ride home we couldn’t stop talking about our dinner the night before. We decided that the food was too good to not go back to the same place. The desserts were enough to draw us in, but the promise of decently priced, good food and wine tipped the scales. It was still a little early for dinner when we got back to the hotel so we decided to take the long way to dinner. We found a cool rock formation that went out into the water. We were a little disappointed that we were able to find any sea life among the rocks so we continued on. The town was really quiet. I guess it isn’t tourist season, and it isn’t warm enough to get people to the beach, so everything felt a little sleepy. That is except our restaurant. The place was hopping! I guess we weren’t the only people that thought it was a fabulous choice for drinks and dinner.

On Our Sunset Walk

After another fantastic dinner, and an equally good dessert we decided to have one final walk along the beach before we turned in. This time was walked along the peninsula that gave an amazing sunset view of the town, beach, and ocean. We were pretty tired after our full day and decided to make it an early night; we had another day of travel ahead of us.

View From our Room

We woke up early to have breakfast, pack, checkout, and catch the train back to Dublin. It was another beautiful day and we were a little sad to be leaving the quiet little town of Portrush. We caught our train and started settling in for a couple hour journey back to Dublin. Imagine our surprise when our train stopped and we were told we had to get on a bus. Apparently there was construction planned on the rail line and we had to take a bus. The bus added an extra two hours to our trip. We weren’t too happy because we were planning on being able to enjoy Dublin for one more day. We finally arrive in Dublin and the city was still packed. This time it was for the Ireland versus Scotland rugby match. The streets were flowing with people dressed in green or blue and in a festive mood. We checked into our hotel, grabbed a quick bite to eat and decided to try to see some of the sights we missed. The first stop was the Dublin castle. What a disappointment. There was only a few parts that even looked old enough to classified as a castle and many parts had been repaired so many times that it almost looked new. At this point we were ready for to get off our feet. We found a great bar that had a pre Easter special, all cocktails 5 Euros. I fell in love with this place because they had martinis on the menu. They also had a lot of the flavored vodkas I love. I had a black cherry cosmo and couldn’t have been happier.

Story of the Kitchen Falling in the Sea

It seems that any new town we go to we find Mexican food. Edinburgh had by far the best Mexican food in the UK and we were hoping the place we found in Dublin we match it. The food was pretty good, but the portion size and prices were ridiculous. Tyler ordered chips and salsa, and it consisted of a small bowl filled with chips and a spoonful of salsa on top. It was almost 5 Euros and very disappointing. I guess our quest for good Mexican food continues. We ended back at the Morgan hotel for another chocolate martini to finish out the night. The atmosphere was very festive and people were having a lot of fun but we were pretty tired from our week worth of celebrating and having fun. We wondered back to our hotel hoping for a good night sleep. We entered through the hotel bar and Tyler couldn’t resist one final Dublin Guinness. The hotel we were staying had a really neat bar and restaurant. A band was setting up in a separate room for a concert as Tyler finished his beer. We kind of wish we could have watched the band, but it was time for bed.

Scenic Stop on the Bike Ride

We woke up early again for another full day of traveling. This time over 13 hours of travel! The only rail line from the ferry terminal to Ely had construction on a segment of it and we had to take another bus. When we went to get on the bus, there were two busses waiting. We jumped on the second bus and were we glad we did. The first bus was going to have to stop at all the train stations along the route to Chester, where we would get back on the train. Our bus went direct to Chester, saving us at least an hour. We were able to jump on an earlier and more direct train to Ely. All together it saved us almost three hours of travel! We had an amazing time in Ireland and really want to visit it again. So if any of you want to visit during St Patrick’s day please let us know because we would love to go again.

Castle Dunluce

Sea of Green

It is amazing how easy it is to travel from Ely. Andrea found a great deal to leave from our local train station and 8 hrs of train and ferry travel we arrive in Dublin, Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day. This is something that we both really wanted to do, and figured that we needed to take advantage of the opportunity. Our travels were going very smoothly until about halfway through, our train did not arrive at its scheduled time. Apparently there was an obstruction on the tracks and it was going to be 40 minutes late. This got us a little worried since we only had about 50 minutes of layover at the ferry terminal and after talking with the ferry company, they made it sound like we had to make it on that ferry or we would be out of luck. We arrived 4 minutes too late! Needless to say we were stressed. Fortunately there was another ferry leaving four hours later on another carrier. The train company switched our tickets for us and we had to wait. The ferry terminal is in a small town called Holyhead. It is situated on the seaside and really doesn’t have much to offer. Regardless, we decided to load up our bags, and venture out looking for something to fill our time. All they offered was a small market, some pubs and cafes. We sat on a bench outside of a cool church for a while and enjoyed the views. Our butts quickly got cold from the stone bench, so we decided to go back to the terminal and wait out the rest of our time.

Outside the Terminal in Holyhead

We had a very entertaining time in the ferry terminal. There were these two college aged girls, who were travel around Europe separately that decided to sit together and have a conversation. They must have become close friends quick because their conversation involved things casual acquaintances usually do not talk about. It was conversation usually reserved for the pages of Cosmopolitan magazine. I will spare you the details, but we had a pretty good idea about what they did and didn’t like about their past boyfriends, especially in the anatomy department. We weren’t eavesdropping; they were in the middle of the lobby, talking loud enough for everybody to hear. How American! On that note, they weren’t the only American’s traveling with us. The train and ferry were packed with them. I guess I got a little annoyed because we wanted to go to Dublin to enjoy an Irish St. Patrick’s day, and all we were seeing were Americans. Oh well, I guess we were being a little selfish.

Downtown Dublin

The only nice thing about being delayed for our ferry trip was that we were rebooked on the catamaran ferry. Our three and a half hour trip was only two hours! We quickly went through customs and boarded a bus into downtown Dublin. After a short walk, I expertly navigated us to our hotel. Upon walking into the lobby we were impressed. It was a very whimsical theme. I felt like I was walking into the pages of Alice in Wonderland. The first thing we saw were three, huge, tall back over sized chairs. All the furniture was oversized and ornate. After a quick check-in, we hurriedly made it to our room to drop off our bags and head out for dinner. Since we arrived two hours later than planned, we were very hungry and ready for some Irish cheer.

The "Alice in Wonderland" Chairs

The hotel was located across the street from Trinity College and about 2 blocks from the major restaurant and pub district called Temple Bar. We had heard from some friends that there was a restaurant in Temple Bar called Boxty’s that had amazing food. They weren’t lying. They serve an interesting Irish dish called a boxty. It is essentially a large potato pancake used to make an Irish burrito. Andrea had one filled with lamb, potato, carrots, and onion, and I had corned beef and cabbage. Very interesting dish but delicious. After we finished our dinner and a few pints, it was after 10 pm and we were exhausted. We decided to take a short walking tour around the area then to retire for the evening. We had a few long days ahead of us.

Beer Tasting at Guinness

The next day we woke up, rested and ready for a full day. The big plans were to take the Guinness tour, meet up with a friend that was in town, and then go to a show of Irish folk music and dancing. We walked about two miles to get to the Guinness Storehouse for the factory tour. Andrea had been there before and said the tour was a lot of fun. We arrived at the Storehouse and joined the crowd for the tour. The building is incredible. The central part of the building is designed as a seven story pint glass and is an impressive sight. We did the tour, taking photos along the way. The unfortunate thing is that, you don’t get to see any of the real brewing process. It is all audio visual representations of what actually goes on in the factory. Half way through the tour, I was able to partake in a lesson on how to pour a perfect pint of Guinness. The tour ended on the seventh floor, in a room that is all glass with a 360 degree view of Dublin. It was a beautiful day and we had an amazing unobstructed view of the city. We also got another pint to enjoy with the view. We left the brewery after having two full pints, small tasters along the tour, finding Guinness St. Patrick’s day shirts, and other various souvenirs. Overall, we had a lot of fun and would recommend it to anyone. Even though Andrea had done the tour before, there had been a few changes and she enjoyed herself.

Guinness Stache

It was just past noon when we finished the tour. We were a little buzzed from the Guinness and ready for lunch. We walked the streets and stumbled upon a cool little Italian place for lunch. I had pizza and Andrea had a chicken dish. We were starting to get impressed with the food in Dublin. We were seeing variety everywhere we went, and everything looked and smelled amazing. We had a couple of hours before we met our friend Lincoln at the train station so we decided to head back to Temple Bar area to check out what was going there. The area was packed. Everybody was already in the St. Patrick’s Day mood. People were dressed in green and wearing funny hats. We stumbled upon a boutique hotel called the Morgan, that served martinis in their bar. Andrea had to check it out. She started with a lemon drop, that for some reason they made creamy, and followed it by a chocolate raspberry martini. This one was her favorite. We enjoyed our drinks; I had Guinness and another local beer, and had fun doing some people watching.

Enjoying a Cosmo

We met Lincoln at the train station and ventured off for some more Irish cheer! Our reservations for dinner were at 7:30 pm and it was only 5 pm so we had to find something to fill our time. Since Lincoln was leaving on Wednesday and wouldn’t be able to enjoy St. Paddy’s day in Dublin, we decided to do a little pub crawl through Temple Bar prior to dinner. We had a lot of fun! Every pub had Irish music playing, most with live bands. The atmosphere, even though crowded, was fun and everybody was in a good mood. After visiting three different pubs, we ventured over to the Knightsbridge bar for our dinner and show. The dinner was pretty good but the entertainment was fantastic. A band of three guys played traditional Irish music while we ate. After they played, five dancers took the stage for traditional Irish dancing. If you’ve seen Riverdance, imagine that, but smaller. We had a decent dinner, great entertainment, and a ton of fun. We finally called it a night around midnight and made it back to our hotel.

Irish Dancing

Prior to going to bed, we stopped by the front desk to find out about the parade. It started at noon, and they recommended that we get there two hours early. We ventured out around nine am the next morning to find a good breakfast and then stake out spots. To our surprise people were already starting to line up and take the prime spots along the route. After breakfast we walked along the parade route and finally found a place where we could be right along the rail and have a good view of the parade. We were excited about having a good spot, just not excited about having to stand in place for two hours waiting for it to start. The two hours were well spent doing people watching. It was really humorous to see all the interesting outfits/costumes. Andrea especially liked the huge group of women wearing pink shirts and stiletto heels there for a charity run.

Waiting for the Parade to Start

The parade was like nothing else we have ever seen. There were a few marching bands, but the rest was made mostly of dance troupes, in really weird, colorful costumes. The floats were all self propelled, and most of them were blasting weird music. We really felt like we were watching something from Alice in Wonderland. It was just weird! Make sure to check out the pictures on our web album because words cannot do it justice.

Some of the Weird Costumes at the Parade

After wading our way through the crowds, we found our way to the Jamison whiskey factory. We thought about doing the tour, but we found out that they didn’t distill any of their whiskey onsite so we just hit the gift shop and poked around a little. To our surprise, the factory was packed with people. Apparently, there is a yearly promotion help by Jamison to bring in radio stations from around the word to broadcast in Dublin on St. Patrick’s day. We saw 102.5 from Seattle, stations from almost every major city in US, as well as some from Brazil, Argentina, and some other countries. It was pretty cool to see.

Post Parade Crowd

After a short break to drop stuff off at our hotel room, we were ready to hit Temple Bar for some St. Paddy’s day celebration. It was absolutely packed! It was hard to walk along the street let alone get into a pub. It was a sea of green everywhere we went. Andrea and I both felt a little out of place because we weren’t decked out in green. All I had was an Irish scarf I bought to fit in better. One of the essential items we had to find while in Dublin was Bailey’s ice cream. We found it in Temple bar, which made Andrea very happy! We made it into a few pubs and had a Guinness or two, but it was time for dinner. We decided to find a Tapas restaurant we saw the day prior. The meal was fantastic! Full and ready for some more fun, we worked our way back towards Temple Bar. The rest of the evening was moving from pub to pub, just enjoying the crowds and having fun. We must be getting old, because we were back at the hotel by midnight, exhausted. I’m glad we did because we had another full day of traveling ahead of us. Stay tuned for the rest of our trip and our visit to Northern Ireland.

Perfect Pour Graduate

Pub Crawling with our Friend Lincoln

Hotel Lobby

This Guy Was My Favorite

Temple Bar Craziness

More Madness

The Sea of Green

Pub Crawling on St. Paddy's Day

The End of the Pub Crawl

***NOTE***

If you would like to view our web album click on the slideshow on the top right of the page and it will take you to our Picasa web album. 

You can also find it here http://picasaweb.google.com/TylerAndreaBerge