Last Trip...

Erin and I went off for our last mini-trip around Europe the other day. We ventured out for about 3 days to Belgium and Holland...by, train, of course! We just adore the train. That is one thing I am going to really miss...

Antwerp, Belgium

Anyways...We first spent some lovely time in Antwerp, Belgium. What a formidable city! We saw Rubenshuis and some of Ruben's artwork, and we went to an awesome Diamond Museum. Wow...I had no idea how great diamonds were!

But, the most interesting part of our vacances in Antwerp...was the housing situation.

EIKS!!

So...I booked a hostel online for us and printed out directions and everything. Well...sketchness began. I never got a confirmation email...and when I called them there was definitely no answer. Oh well...I thought naively...
So...Erin and I decided we would just go to the hostel when we got to Antwerp and check in...no big deal...WRONG!!!
Well...we found the hostel...but it is no longer in business!! It was a total broken down, abandoned building.

Bummer...

So...here we are in Belgium, at night, with no place to sleep!!! So...we went back to the train station and decided to search for a hotel around there. Well...the cheapest hotel we found was about 40 euros per person. Ahhh! I do not have these funds!!! And...the hotel, in Belgium, in Europe, in the cold weather...was called...Hotel Florida....Haha. Well...that's kinda funny.

So...Erin and I stayed in a hotel in Antwerp, Belgium.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Amsterdam was a gorgeous city. We took the train from Antwerp to Amsterdam and spent a few days there. The city is basically just a city full of canals! I had no idea. When people talk about Amsterdam, all they talk about is smoking weed and the Red Light District! I was so pleasantly surprised at how much I loved the city!

We went to the Van Gogh Museum, which is the largest collection of his works in the world with over 200 paintings! I loved this museum so much. I just find myself lost in Vincent's paintings! I feel like how he paints is how my mind functions. But, the museum was even more than Van Gogh Masterpieces! There were tons of paintings by some of Van Gogh's friends, artists Van Gogh admired, and artists of his time: Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Manet, Picasso, Gauguin, Seurat and many more! What a brilliant company to be in the prescence of!

Then, we went to the Rijks Museum and saw Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Frans Hals, Vermeer, and lots of other great Dutch artists.

And, we finally saw Anne Frank's house where Anne and 7 other Jews hid for 2 years during Nazi occupation of Holland. It was incredible to think of all of the fear that was felt in that house.

All in all, I would say our last trip was a definite success! We had such a jolly time and enjoyed some lovely cities!