Holland

We went to Amsterdam on Thursday. It was a beautiful city, but definitely has a different culture.

Standing in front of the Van Gogh museum.

All these buildings are slowly tilting towards the river.

Yes... this is just sold on the street.

The Dutch people are known for cheese and marijuana. Thought this might have been a little over priced wheel of cheese.

You can imagine what this store smelled like.

Coffee shop virgins.

A tour boat we never made it on.

Tim, a guy from DC Marina met on a ride share, who was also our host, "tour guide" and new friend.

The Dutch clogs.

The famous sign. "I AMsterdam"

Marina.

Raquel

We even stopped by the Red Light District during the day, didn't see too much since it was quite early in the day, but we got the jist of it.

My future dream profession sits behind that door.

Marina is impressed that I can fall asleep anywhere, anytime. This is on the train.

We stayed in Leiden, Holland, where Tim lives and goes to college. It literally has these bike parking lots all over the city with thousands and thousands of bikes. People are riding bikes everrryywhere, even in the rain. It doesn't phase them. I loved that part of the city soooo much. Wish we would ride bikes more like this in the U.S.

The famous Holland windmills.

Standing next to a sculpture of Rembrant, painting a picture of Rembrant.

Just a little bio.

Wiscooooo. Look, there are even Badgers in Holland.

Bike ride to the beach.

This was the rode we drove on. Bikes on the outside going both ways. Cars drive in the middle... both ways. Even semis.

At the North Sea.

Leiden has cars and people that hand out drinks like the Red Bull people in Madison. We got tea and Mountain Dew. Yummyy.

Our afternoon.

I know... super unique, but it was fun!

The steepest stairs I've ever walked up.

Love the trains and public transportation in Europe.

Surviving Schutzenfest

 I must apologize in advance for the drunk pictures. However, one cannot post pictures of their time at Schutzenfest without posting drunk pictures... superb fun!

Marina, Lena and I.

On the dance floor with my favorite dance partner.

One of the last songs they play at the end of the night talks about rowing, so everyone sits on the floor like this while pretending like they're rowing and singing super loud.

Just thought this was interesting... A drunk lady sitting behind us was doing a handstand on the table. I thought for sure she would break her neck.

Another dance/song they have at the end of the night talks about a picture frame, and it has been a tradition to pick up a chair and put it over your head and dance like that while singing the song. Apparently the back of the chair kind of looks like a picture frame??

Chatting with the singer from the band. She fluently spoke German, English, Spanish and French.

Just some new friends.

Schutzenfest has a king and queen each year. The king is selected by having a shooting competition. On the last day, the new king gets a bunch of presents and flowers from the other "Riflemen." This pictures is just showing some of the men returning from giving their gifts to the king and queen.

Yes... each time a group of people goes up to the bar for drinks, they literally order multiple shots/drinks. Welcome to Germany.

So all the men are called "Riflemen" or "Schutzen" and they are the ones to dress up and march in the parade and such. They also get a free "Ladies ticket" to give to a lady, and this was my date for the weekend. His nickname was "Doctor Arnold." He's a friend's dad whose wife was on vacation for the week. He has some BA dance moves too. (Friends, remind me to show you next time I'm home and out with you.)

Marina's and my dance partners. Marina is a pro dancing with the guys... Her dance partner was "Lord Peace" or the guy on the right.

Water gun fight on the dance floor. I wonder if the bars in Madison would be okay with this? (Sorry about the drunkenness.)

Another tradition is to have the guys twirling the flags during the parade. On the last night of Schutzenfest, they have a routine they do for everyone. I just caught the end so they aren't doing very crazy routines, but it was still interesting to see.

Another tradition... at the end of the night on the last night of Schutzenfest everyone makes a circle and sings a song. Marina's friend Rina hurt her hip and can't walk without crutches, so the guys took away her crutches and put her on a stool in the center. Not sure about the creep singing to her?

Laura and Ben's end of the night dancing. Again... obsessed with slow mo. 

Schutzenfest was definitely fun to say the least. I don't think I've drank four nights in a row since I moved to Madison 2 years ago, but I had a blast!
PS. The way that German's help their stomachs feel better when they are full from eating so much is to drink a shot of tequila or jagermeister. Needless to say, Marina's dad gave me a shot of tequila to feel better. Personally, I think it's just because it makes you drunk so you forget the feeling, but they claim it helps your stomach digest the food. Who knows!

Schutzenfest

 

 Some of the floats in the parade of the first day.

 One of the boys' hat, drinking German bier.

 On the dance floor. This is where Marina and I were for probably 90% of the night.

 Roses? We don't know why?

 Some pictures of the parade from the second day.

 Holding super heavy flowers.

 Maxi.

 All the guys had the same outfits on.

I'm obsessed with slow-mo videos now. The guys had to march like this during the parade. Quite entertaining.

Made it to Neuss today. We are headed to Schutzenfest, peace out!

Heidelberg Tour

Marina and Marie showed me around Heidelberg today on bicycles. Heidelberg is the town that Marina goes to college, and it definitely had a German feel with a hint of Madison.

Halfway up the hill we walked up.

We found this awesome teeter-totter/swing thing. It was seriously so fun... video next.

At the top of the hill looking over Heidelberg.

 I'm obsessed with the streets and buildings in Germany. I think they're absolutely beautiful.

 Monkey butt.

 New friends: Fabian, Marie, Marina and I (in Marina's kitchen).

Tomorrow we are headed to Neuss, Marina's hometown. Our bus will take us about 5 hours, which usually takes 3 hours by car, and it only costs 11 euros. Super stoked about the price. Also, tomorrow night starts the biggest festival in Marina's town, Schuetzenfest.Yayy for bier! Adios!

Finally Here!

Finally here in Heidelberg, Germany with Marina. I'll definitely be sore tomorrow after carrying about 75+ lbs worth of luggage around. Besides my luggage being a pain in my buttox, everything went awesomely well between my planes, buses and trains. Bis bald! (German for see you later.)

First flight... success!

I just made it to Dublin, everything went smooth sailing. Next stop... Frankfurt! Tried making a call, but it was going to charge me $14 for the first minute. Free wifi it is. Later duuudes.