Recap, Reflection and Comparison

I am ashamed.  When was my last post?  Like, a month ago?  Crap.  That was NOT supposed to happen!  I've been busy with, as I like to say in German, "Zeug, Kram und Sachen."  Those are pretty much three different words for "stuff."  I may have also gotten a tad bit lazy.  Just a bit.  It's summer, after all!  And I do have to admit, I was getting a little burned-out from writing almost every day.  But yes, a month is definitely long enough of a break to take!  Since this is my last post probably EVER (gasp!) I know I should have posted sooner and gotten it done with, but instead I've left you hanging for a loooong time.

Let me begin with a recap.  I'll try to sum everything up as best I can, but I'm not promising that I'll remember everything.

Holland: A Story in Pictures

Let me just give you a brief summary of yesterday, and then I'll show you all the pictures of the past couple of days!

Yesterday we drove home, making a two-hour trip a four-hour one by stopping to look at castles and things.  We also looked at some castle where Germany's ruler lived in when he was banished from Germany.  There were a lot of bikers out, which makes me just want to tell you something that has applied to our entire stay in Holland: there are bikes here outfitted for whole families!  I've seen bikes with a tiny kid seat screwed to the bike in front of the rider (it's not a tandem), windshields for bikes, tandems with an added kid seat, and special bikes that have a big compartment in front of the wheel where you can store goods or kids. There will be some pictures of just a few varieties in the picture section of my blog. :)

And now...  what you've all been waiting for....  Picture time! :D Warning: there are a LOT of pictures.  As in 55.  They're also, unfortunately, not in order because I downloaded from my mom's camera and mine. :/ Mine are in order, and my mom's are in order (I think), but together it's kind of humble-jumble, so read the descriptions. ;)

Market and Marken

We were all very excited today when the sun showed its face.  Woohoo!  We got to wear capris!  I know, it's sad.  I've probably had a total of a week of summer so far this year because it's been rainy and cold in Germany so often, and apparently it's even colder here!  I'll only have about four or five weeks of summer this year, unfortunately. :( But, as my mom pointed out, that's four more weeks than the people here! :)

Boat Tour, Flowers and Art (Oh My!)

Today was a very long day in Amsterdam.  We left at about 10:30 by car and parked near a train station, then took a train into Amsterdam.  That took about a half hour, and we arrived in Amsterdam shortly after eleven.  We spent about five and a half hours in Amsterdam before taking the train and car back home.  As you can imagine, my feet hurt really badly by the time we made it home.

Say Cheese!

Today was awesome!  I told you yesterday we were going to Amsterdam today, but we're actually going there tomorrow.  Today we went to Gouda, home of the famous cheese market.

We drove about an hour, and then parked near a canal.  That is one thing we haven't seen in a Dutch town so far: Gouda, like Amsterdam, has a lot of canals, which I think is really cool.  A lot of the railings along the canals had flower boxes of red flowers, which really added to the quaint atmosphere created by the old buildings, cobblestone roads, the canals, and the bikes.  Unlike Nijmegen, where we were yesterday, ALL the buildings were old and adorable instead of just some.

The Dutch Adventure Begins

I am currently writing to you from the laptop in our rental in the Netherlands.  The laptop has the same keyboard as in the US, and I am having a little trouble typing. ;)

We left at about 9 this morning to drive to Naarden, the Netherlands.  We made a few stops along the way, the first being a city called Nijmegen.  We walked around and took lots of pictures.  As far as I could see so far, buildings were made up of adorable old buildings, ugly middle-old buildings, and interesting-looking new buildings.  The shopping street, however, still had old buildings and an old church.

Three Days, One Post

So sorry I haven't posted the past two days!  Stuff has happened, but I haven't had time to post or I just wasn't in the mood.  Mostly I just wasn't in the mood.  I also have stuff to do today, so I'll just give you a shortened version of events.

Liege!

After our nine hour long class trip to Liege, I am exhausted.  The trip, all in all, was okay.

Since I finally had my camera with me at school for once, I was able to take pictures of how many people ride their bikes to school!

Flight Time

It has been a long day (days?), but now I'm here in Germany, writing to you on a very frustrating keyboard.  The keyboard here is different; the z and y are switched, the return button's in a different spot, the apostrophe button is in a different spot, and so many things are switched up that I type quickly and then go back, frustrated.  But don't worry, I'll get the hang of it by the time I leave. :)

I woke up at about 5:30 yesterday and said goodbye to my dad and my sister.  We didn't eat breakfast because, in my opinion, 5:30 is just too early to eat.