So it's still raining...

That's right. It has rained everyday we have been in Europe except three. We didn't pack for that kind of weather! But we haven't let the weather ruin our trip. After London, we took a flight to Amsterdam and, due to late booking, had to stay in a hotel for the night (darn). The next morning, we got up bright and early to a beautiful sunny day. We missed London but were glad to get some Vitamin D. We hopped on the tram to find our hostel and wound up in the Red Light District. It was daytime, so don't worry parents.

After going down several wrong streets, we found our hostel, The White Tulip. Well, the name didn't exactly fit the place. It was an old building with stairs that may have well been a ladder, but the reception was nice. Dragging our suitcases up the stairs was a quite a funny sight.

We dropped off our bags and set off to sightsee. Since it was such a beautiful day, we decided to walk around to orient ourselves with the city. We found Vondel Park, one of Amsterdams many beautiful sights, with ponds surrounded by willow trees.

People were playing music, reading, tanning and relaxing. After all our touring in London, it was nice to sit back and take in the scenery. From there, we headed to the Van Gough museum, only to find a line with a two hour wait - oops. We decided to skip it and moved on to the Anne Frank House, which I visited on my last trip to Amsterdam. I learned even more the second time around. It was a very strange feeling to stand in the same room that Anne Frank once slept in and walk through the door the Nazis stormed through when the Franks were arrested. They were caught because someone betrayed them. To this day, they still don't know who it was.

The next day, we woke up to pouring rain. It was time to travel south in search of some sun. We read in our travel book that Utrecht was a charming town full of local university students, so we said why not? It was pouring when we arrived (of course) but luckily it let up by the time we had to get off the bus and find our hostel. The bus let us off at a stop called Rhijnauwen and it seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere. We walked down a long, straight road and all you could see was green. I don't think I have ever seen so much green.

The air was so clean and fresh, espeically after all the rain. It was nice to be out of the city. The hostel was gorgeous and we couldn't believe how spoiled we were. One of the best parts of staying in hostels is the people you meet. You instantly form a bond with them because you are all traveling. We were excited to bond with someone over the fact that there are cows and donkeys wandering around. We decided to have dinner at the hostel in hopes to meet some fellow travellers. Well, that didn't happen. Apparently, we didn't get the memo that mostly families with small children stay there. On top of that, there was some sort of camp there full of Dutch teenagers singing/shouting songs over dinner. We were literally the only people our age in the place. We couldn't stop laughing at the situation. At least I'm traveling with people who know how to make the best of things. We eventually made it into town and it was a very cute little place with cobble stone roads and canals running through it.

There wasn't much to see, though, so we only stayed one night. Our next stop was Brussels, the land of endless types of beers. We arrived in the evening (and it was warm and sunny, yay!) so we dropped our things at the hostel and asked the reception for a restaurant suggestion of cheap but yummy authentic Belgian food. I'm glad we asked because this place was amazing. It was called Fin de Spiecel, which means the "end of the century." When we saw the size of the meals, we thought it would be better for our wallets and our waistlines to order two and share. There was no English menu at this place (the sign of true authenticity), so we asked the waitress to make some suggestions. We ended up with a plate with a heaping pile of mashed potatoes (I'm talking the size of a cantelope) topped with two sausages and a plate with rice and salad and lemony shrimp. We were in food heaven. It was by far the best food we'd had so far in any country. My mouth is watering just talking about it. We also made a rule at dinner to never try the same beer twice while in Brussels. After dinner, we went to a bar called Delerium that claims to have over 4,500 different kinds of beer. Of course, we tried all of them .

The next day, we woke up for some sightseeing. The city center of Brussels is quite small, so we walked everywhere. We visited a cathedral, the flea market, a statue of a little boy peeing into a fountain (and it's supposed to supply the citizens with water...who would drink out of that?) and a gorgeous square called the Grand-Place. Victor Hugo once said it was the most beautiful square in the world. We got ourselves a Belgian waffle with chocolate sauce and strawberries (talk about rich!) and sat down to take in the view. We decided it would be a good place to have a picnic dinner, so we went to the supermarket and bought some wine, cheese, crackers and salami.

Naturally, it started to rain. We spotted a good covered place to sit and, talk about a small world, sat right in front of some of our roommates from the hostel in Amsterdam! We spent the evening exchanging scary traveling stories (not my idea), drinking wine, eating cheap food and enjoying each other's company. We felt very European.

We were sad to leave Brussels, but our stay was up and we headed five hours south to Strasbourg, France. When we arrived, it was hot and sunny (do you see a pattern here?). We checked into our hostel, had some dinner, and went to bed early to rest up. When we woke up, we were thrilled to see it was still warm and sunny. For the first time, we could take the umbrellas out of our bags and wear one of the many dresses we had packed for the hot European summer. We rented bikes for the day to tour around. We went to the Notre Dame Strasbourg cathedral and climbed the 332 steps to the top. It was such an amazing view of the city.

After we worked up our appetite on that tower, we thought it would be fun to have lunch in Germany since Strasbourg is only a few miles from the France-Germany border. We thought it would be as simple as following the canal until it reaches the Rhine. It was relatively simple, but we got lost about three times before finding the bridge that crosses the Rhine. It was mind boggling, not only to be in two countries at once, but to be on a border that has been fought over so many times.

Since we were in Germany (Kehl, to be specific), all we wanted for lunch was a bratwurst. This task was harder than it seems. The town is very small and not very busy. We walked around for about thirty minutes looking for bratwurst and all we could find were kebabs. We saw five stands! We never found our brats, but Courtney and Ashley got some amazing paninis and I got a delicious and hearty goulash. Maybe it was so good because we were starving at that point, but we were happy campers.

By the end of lunch, a few clouds had moved in and we started to feel a light sprinkle. When we got on our bikes, it immediately started to rain torrentially. We were soaked within five minutes and had another twenty five or thirty to go to get back to the bike store. Keep in mind we're wearing summer clothing - we must have just screamed tourist. "Those silly Americans in their dresses...can't they see it is raining?" It wasn't very cold, maybe because we were biking so fast, but we were really dripping. We couldn't stop laughing! We made it back to the bike store in record time and then quickly headed to the bathroom to put ourselves under the hand dryers. That didn't do much for us. When we walked back outside, the rain had stopped. God is funny sometimes.

That night, we walked through town and stumbled upon a beautiful light show on the cathedral. It lasted about fifteen minutes and it was so beautiful, we stayed to watch it again. The day we left Strasbourg, it was sunny again.

Off to Bern, Switzerland! We have family friends in Bern that were so kind to let us stay with them. On the train ride, we couldn't contain how excited we were to do laundry, sleep in, eat home-cooked meals and relax a bit. We walked around Bern and finally got our brats! I know it's immature, but Courtney and I can't stop laughing at how funny the German language is. We laughed at this sign for a good fifteen minutes. Ashley knows a bit of German and tries to stand up for the language but once the giggles start, there's no stopping it.

Tomorrow, we head our seperate ways. Courtney and I are heading south to Interlaken, Switzerland, and Ashley is heading back to the states to prepare for graduate school at George Washington. The three of us have so much fun together and I have never laughed more in my life. We'll miss Ashley, but I guess it's her time to get back to real life.