I survived Amsterdam New Years!

This is Eli in Europe! Whew! I can't begin to explain how treacherous new years in Amsterdam is.  There are many celebrations across the city, but the only official party is at Oosterdok, which luckily is only 10 minutes away from our hotel. In Dam Square and many other places, citizens light off fireworks in the middle of the street. Fireworks are illegal in the Netherlands except for one week before new years. At that time, thousands of Dutch people buy fireworks, which they light off anywhere at midnight. The police presence, even at the official celebration, was minimal. The tradition is to open champagne at midnight and spray it around (or drink it.) The unwritten tradition is to then drop the glass champagne bottle and let people crush it into sharp pieces that are later cleaned up by some poor employee. 

Leading up to midnight, there was a "sing-along," or as I like to call it, "a bunch of drunk Dutch people singing out of tune to American songs." We were unaware a countdown had begun, and by the time we noticed, it was 2014! A fantastic fireworks display followed for the next 10 minutes, but the unofficial fireworks are still being shot off now, an hour and a half later!

Overall, I'm glad I experienced how the Dutch celebrate new years. However,  next year, I won't mind watching new years from the comfort of my living room! 

Happy new year wherever you are!

This is Eli in Europe, signing off! 

Exploring Amsterdam

Hello (bam!) this is (bam!) Eli (bam!) in Europe (bam!)
Sorry for all the noise, I'm writing this post a few hours before new years in Amsterdam, and the fireworks began long ago and are getting louder as midnight approaches. But that's something for my next post, which will be in 2014! (Amsterdam time)

I AMsterdam

Yesterday was our first full day in Amsterdam, so we decided to visit some of its most famous museums. We took a tram to museumplein, Amsterdam's main museum district. When we were there, I took a photo with the famous I AMsterdam sign. Upon arriving, we saw a massive line that snaked around the Van Gogh museum. That was the line for ticket holders, which we were not. We decided to check out another famous museum, the recently reopened Rijksmuseum. We had the same issue there, and realized that we would have to buy advance tickets in order to be admitted into any museum. Except for one.

Me and E

My dad. my brother, and I walked to the Heineken Beer Museum, arguably the least educational "museum" in Amsterdam.  (There is at least one museum for every naughty thing you could do in Amsterdam.) While waiting on line, some people across the street from us lit off fireworks. It was 2 PM. This foreshadowed New Year's eve. When we were finally admitted, my dad and brother were given green wristbands that allowed them two beers. I was given a red wristband that allowed me water, Fanta, or Pepsi.

The Heineken Museum turned out to not be the least informative museum in Amsterdam. I learned about Heineken's yeast,  the beer-making process, and an interesting substance Heineken puts into beer called "wort." The museum had the famous Heineken horses, as well as a corny simulation ride in which one gets turned into beer.

Stroopwaffel, a Dutch specialty

After the Heineken Museum, my dad, my brother, and I met my mom and my sister, who had visited the fashion district of Amsterdam. We met at the famous Albert Cuyp market, we had everything from clothes, to unidentifiable meats, to souvenirs, and more. There are hundreds of stalls and there is something for everyone. We bought some cheese, a stroopwaffel (dutch specialty- two thin pancakes with syrup inside) and some vietnamese food.

At the library. "I geek reizend"

After this, my mom and I visited the Openbare Bibliotheek, which is the number public library in the Netherlands. Spanning six floors, it has books in English, Dutch, French, and many other languages. While in the library, I saw a poster that asked "wat geek jij?" Next to there was another poster that answered "I geek sushi." Next to that was a chalkboard with the words "wat geek jij." From these clues, I deciphered that 'geek' means something like 'enjoy.' I decided to look up how to say "travelling" in Dutch. The result was me writing "I geek reizend" on a chalkboard in a public library in Amsterdam.

Light structures!

Following this, we went on the Water Colors Canal Cruise of Amsterdam. This canal cruise explored all the light structures built for the holidays by international artists. We also explored the canals of Amsterdam, which gave us another perspective of the city.

For dinner we went to a homey Italian restaurant recommended by our hotel. After a filling dinner of lasagne, pizza, and risotto, the family returned to our hotel ready for the new years festivites of the following day. Well, we thought we were ready.

GIVEAWAY!!!

The prize (Hand not included)

The first person to comment on this post with the name of the only painting Vincent van Gogh sold in his life wins a free Vincent van Gogh postcard. Good luck!

Brussels to Amsterdam

Hello! It's Eli in Europe. Again, I'm sorry for the late post. I have been very busy lately as yesterday we moved onto the second half of our trip in the Netherlands!

Yesterday in Brussels, after a brief fire, we headed out to our car, ready to leave for Amsterdam. There was only one problem: we didn't have the keys to our car. The car would start as long as the keys were somewhere in it, and it started when the entire family was in. However, we wouldn't leave Brussels without knowing where the car keys were. To solve this problem, we used the process of elimination. Each member of the family got in the car and my father attempted to start it. If it wouldn't start, that person did not have the keys. First my brother went and the car wouldn't start. Then my sister; same result. Next me, and the car still wasn't starting. Finally it was my mother, who first put her purse in the car to see if it the keys were there. No luck. After that, she got in the car, and my father attempted to turn the car on with little hope. Surprisingly, the engine started and the car turned on. After a minute of searching, my mom found the key in her coat pocket. As my brother put it, my parents were simply having "an old person day."

Bratwurst sausage

After that fiasco, we entered Amsterdam into our handy GPS and left Brussels. About 45 minutes later, we were hungry and decided to stop in Antwerp, Belgium. We visited the beautiful Antwerp train station, where I had a good Bratwurst sausage.

Antwerp Train Station (Bratwurst stand bottom right)

After this, we continued our drive to the Netherlands. We passed many wind farms and farmhouses. Later. we turned on the local radio and were rather disappointed that they were still playing music from the 80's.

Wind farm and Belgian countryside

Finally, we arrived in Amsterdam. We could tell by the ubiquitous bike lanes that we had arrived. We then entered our hotel: The Doubletree Amsterdam. The hotel did not feel like a Doubletree; it had modern architecture and we received a free cookie upon check-in!

We headed upstairs to the rooftop bar just in time to witness a picturesque sunset over Amsterdam.

Sunset

Later, we headed out into the city for dinner. There are some unique characteristics of Amsterdam which I'll talk about later, but we could certainly notice them. We made our way to an Indonesian restaurant. I had never tried Indonesian food before, and it was quite good. Indonesian food is to Amsterdam as Chinese food is to America (or New York.) Because Amsterdam is not known for it's fantastic local cuisine, it has a wide variety of different flavors, including Thai, Indian, Indonesian, and more. The meal was filling and enjoyable.

We made our way back to our hotel, and  fell asleep ready for some adventures in Amsterdam, which certainly came the next day. But that's a story for another post...

Final Day in Brussels

Hello, this is Eli in Europe. Sorry for the late post - there was a fire in our apartment. There's more info on the that in the previous post, but here's what we did yesterday.

Yesterday was our final day in Brussels before leaving for Amsterdam, so we wanted to make the most of it. We took the tram to Rue de Neuve, Brussels' main shopping district. Surprisingly, there were many American stores, such as Urban Outfitters, Subway, and Tiffany's. We decided not to visit these, but visited stores dedicated to the local specialties of beer and chocolate.

 First, we went to The Temple of Beer, whose name is self-explanatory. My father bought one beer in particular that was famous for its rarity. It had no label and was quite expensive. Later, my brother, (who is of age to drink in Belgium) spilled some of this treasured beer onto my bed, upsetting me, because my bed would smell like beer, and my father, because my brother had just spilled 9 Euro Beer. ($12.36)

Temple of Beer

After that. we visited Mary's Chocolatier, which many rate the number one chocolate shop in Brussels. We picked up a few chocolates for ourselves, but somehow forgot about everybody we were gifting! This led to another adventure, which I'll talk about later in this post.

Mary's

Next, we returned to our apartment to rest. My mother and I remembered that it was our last night in Brussels and we had not bought chocolates for our friends and family. We checked the map and found the nearest Leonidas chocolate shop. It was on Rue de Waterloo, which we walked to. Than we made our way down the street, seeing less and less shops, and counting the numbers of the buildings we passed. We were getting closer... 131... 133... 135... and... 128? We had reached the end of the street. There was no Leonidas to be found. just a bar and a church of Scientology. We checked our map and the address- 153 Rue de Waterloo. We checked a street sign- Boulevard de Waterloo! We made the silliest error, and it cost us, or you, chocolates. Don't worry, we are still planning to get some!

After a short rest, we head out for dinner, which was right next to our apartment. It was a small restaurant with no tourists. The menu was handwritten in French, and only French. The dinner was fantastic, and words cannot describe exactly how good it was, and I don't want to make you jealous, so I'll just say it is probably going to be the best meal we'll have on this trip. 

We settled into bed on our last night in Brussels, and we were satisfied in our hunger for food and culture. 

This is Eli in Europe, signing off.

Update

We just had a minor fire in our apartment building. My father accidentally put the electric kettle on the stove, causing the bottom of it to melt.  As a result, the wax on the stove caught fire for a brief period of time. No one was injured except for the kettle, which is damaged beyond repair.

We are now leaving for Amsterdam, and I'm happy we don't have a kitchen there.

This is Eli in Europe, signing off.

Ghent and Bruges

Hello! This is Eli in Europe reporting on my interesting day-trip to Bruges and Ghent. You may be asking yourself, "why is Eli posting a day late?" Well, it is rude to interrupt someone when they speak. However, I have a legitimate reason for not posting yesterday: Yesterday I climbed 732 winding steps up the Belfry Tower in Bruges, Belgium.

The massive bell tower, built around 1240, has 8-inch-high steps and few safety features. Due to the winding of the steps, they are extremely narrow on the inside, making it even more difficult to climb when passing someone coming down the staircase. Furthermore, this difficulty was exacerbated by the many different languages spoken in the area, making it difficult to communicate with other climbers.  After an extremely treacherous 366 step climb, we finally arrived at the top. Although the tower had a magnificent view, it was also very windy, and frankly I wanted to get out of the tower as soon as possible. Climbing down was less difficult, however, it was not easy. Overall I had climbed 732 steps in the tower, including ascending and descending it. When I returned to the apartment, on did some research on the Belfry Tower. The tower leans one meter to the east and seven people have perished in it. I am not planning on climbing the Belfry Tower again.

After we visited the tower we explored Bruges, a quaint, historical city with cobblestone streets. Most of the people there were tourists from many nations, and most shops catered to all nationalities. For example, the menu at our dinner restaurant was in seven different languages. In addition, I tried frites, waffles, and mussels, Belgium's most famous foods, while in Bruges.

Before we visited Bruges, my family and I visited Ghent, a medieval city that also had cobblestone streets. While there, we visited the famous Saint Bavo Cathedral, home of the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, a 500 year old series of panels painted by the Van Eyck brothers. This painting has been stolen many times, however, the security is not tight. The painting depicts many aspects of Christianity. A helpful audio guide informed is of the meaning of each panel. It would take a great deal of time to describe the painting in detail, but I'm sure there is information about it on the internet. I have no pictures of the panels, as photography was not allowed. I did manage to snap one picture of the cathedral, even though photography was forbidden.

We enjoyed day trip to Bruges and Ghent. Today, we are planning to further explore Brussels, as it is our last day before leaving for Amsterdam.

This is Eli in Europe, signing off. 

P.S. - Sorry for the lack of photos. Our internet connection here is very unreliable. When we arrive in Amsterdam, we will post all the photos from Brussels. Thanks!

Lost in translation in Brussels

Hello! This is Eli in Europe with my first post from Brussels. Now, you're probably asking yourself, "why hasn't Eli posted in so long?" Well, to answer that question, I have only had three hours of sleep in the last thirty-six hours. A lot of that time was a blur of lines, in-flight movies, and cafés.

As soon as I arrived in Brussels I could see the stark contrast between hectic, aggressive attitude at JFK international airport to the calm attitude at Brussels National Airport. My family and I were greeted with a nice "hallo!" and a friendly customs officer, even if he did mock the American intonations of my name ("How you say? Elie? Or Eeeeee-lie?")

Next we continued on to retrieve our rental car. The lady at the desk informed us that she did not have the car we had reserved. For a moment, I was worried we were going to have a stick-shift, which would've probably led to thousands of dollars in damages. Luckily, we were upgraded to a larger car with a navigation system.

We quickly realized how lucky we were to receive a GPS. Even with the GPS, we made multiple wrong turns due to poor signage and impatient drivers. Eventually we arrived at our apartment and fell asleep.

3 hours later I awoke to an obnoxious alarm. After a few sips of expresso from our nifty Nespresso machine (pick one up at Sears for only $149!) I finally managed to get out of bed.

After everyone was awake, we went out in search of food, however, due to the circumstances (3 PM in the day after Christmas) it took quite an effort to find a café. At the café, we a light meal of soup, cold cuts, and bread.

After this, we went next-door to the café and had out first experience with authentic Belgian chocolate. The language barrier between us and the cashier was pretty large, but we managed to buy some chocolate.

Following this, we headed out in search of "Grand Plaza." Whenever we asked someone for directions, they would give us a confused look. We later learned that this was because "Grand Plaza" did not exist. When we arrived in Grand Place, which is what we thought was Grand Plaza, we were greeted with live music and a light show. The pictures and videos to not do their justice as to the beauty of Grand Place.

After a taxi ride back to our apartment,
we settled in and reflected on our first day in Brussels. It was hectic, but it was rewarding and we are looking forward to the rest of the trip! Tomorrow we will most likely go to Bruges (more info to come!)

This is Eli in Europe, signing off.

1 Hour

Full disclosure: This is going to be a pretty boring post.

Well, after all this preparation, there is only one hour until we begin our journey to Brussels. We will not arrive for another 12 hours, but the excitement is building nevertheless. Our bags are almost packed, the passports are ready, and our tickets are in-hand.

Before we leave, I just want to give a little information on the nature of this blog. As I will be constantly moving around during my trip, most of these posts will be brief and may have some errors. Keep in mind that all these photos, videos, and essays are written on a phone :) 

In about 12 hours, I'll write my first post from Brussels. Until then, enjoy a photo of our suitcases!

(Almost) One Week Until We Leave!

Hello, this is Eli in Europe (not yet) with my first post  on my brand new blog!  From December 25th, when I leave for Brussels, Belgium, to January 2nd, when I return to New York, I will write daily posts as I explore Europe. Specifically, I will be visiting Brussels and Amsterdam in addition to a few other cities on the way, such as Antwerp, Bruges, and Ghent. If you have never heard of these places or know very little about them, it's your lucky day! Don't get too excited. I'll post pictures, videos, and relatively brief descriptions of each stop along my journey. Until I leave, however, there will be one or two posts about preparing for the trip, but nothing too interesting. Enjoy the blog and feel free to comment, ask questions, or make incredibly rude and nonsensical comments.