North Holland

I am sure that I have mentioned it before, but Sunbear is a Dutchie and and he brought me to his hometown (I think the word "hometown" is just so cute!) which was Steenwijk. It was really weird being introduced to his parents (his dad knew very little English and his mum didn't know any) and to see his childhood bedroom (he lives in Rotterdam for university) and to see that his mum had assembled a little bed for me.


Travelling like pack mules.



I sometimes do wonder how I managed to share a single bed for nearly 3 months as I now sleep sprawled  in the middle of my double bed.







We went for a drive in his dad's old Saab and his dog, Hella. The Netherlands is flat. So incredibly flat. Literally. Also, there was so much planning it was really weird and unnatural. All the trees along the side of the road/ in the "forest" were arranged either in a line or a grid formation. Seriously. It was also really strange to see that even in the middle of no where, there would be a bicycle path next to the road. Yes, I know that bicycles are ingrained in the Dutch culture, but there was nothing in the surrounding area. For example, it was an empty field for at least 15km in each direction and yet, there would be a bicycle path. Okay.









We stopped off at another town (towns are really close together in the Netherlands) for lunch which consisted of pea and ham soup, amazing coffee and pumpernickel bread.

Dinner was at his parents and it was so awkward and adorable. His mum made mashed potatoes for me (I love mash) and also custard for dessert (I love custard) and there was a really awkward story that his mum was telling and then got translated for me. So when his mum and and were dating, once she slept over at his place but in a separate room and during the night, she crept into his room but the door creaked. Next morning, the dad's grandfather announced at breakfast: 'I oiled the door. Tonight it will be alright'. I think they were hinting at the fact that even though there were two beds, it was completely okay to be sharing one (which we did). I felt a little bad though because if they knew that, then it was such a waste of effort to set up the other bed. Ah well.





After dinner, we went to Dutch Venice aka Giethoorn. We walked his dog and it was a nice walk ... in the drizzle. I never knew what drizzle actually was until I visited Europe. I always thought that there were: showers, sprinkles or rain. Drizzle and mist is actually really strange, it feels like it is raining but it also isn't. 

We had a second dessert at this random cafe with amazing hot chocolate. The thing I found interesting (perhaps it is a country thing rather than a Dutch thing) was that the dog could go into every single cafe/ shop and the owner would often bring a bowl of water for the dog. 

Where we went:

Amsterdam

From Munich, we drove to Salzburg to drop off our rental car and fly to Amsterdam since it was cheaper than leaving from Munich directly. It was a short flight (heck, any flight is a short flight within Europe) and we were sitting in the very last row. Upside was that I managed to take shots without the wing of the plane.


I  love this shot. It looks like clouds, but most of the white is actually snow.







When we landed, I discovered that they had damaged my backpack. It also had a footprint on the top so I don't even know what happened. I don't actually know how they even damaged it because the damage was at my front straps which tightened my bag, but I have lifted my bag via those straps before and there was never a problem. Hmm. Also, the tram doors opened and I allowed other people to get on first since I needed to get the correct change for the fare. Sunbear asked the driver if he stopped at a certain location and just as I found my correct change (and it wasn't as though I was standing there for 2 minutes, it was literally 30 seconds) the driver closed the door and drove off. Sorry, what? Rude.






Okay this was the coolest thing! Not the food per se, but the shop we bought it from. It is almost like a vending machine and you insert your money which would allow you to take the hamburger. Of course, who knows how long that burger was sitting there. You could also order it from the counter and they would make it fresh which is what we did. But still, it was pretty cool! Febo













We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and ordered the same thing we ordered on our first date (which actually was back in early December. Whoops) and it was really nice. I need to get around to visiting Hard Rock Cafe in Sydney at some point before it closes down. Well, it went into bankruptcy recently and who knows what will happen as the new owner has a lot of debt to repay.

My Overall Thoughts
Honestly, I didn't have much of an opinion of Amsterdam. It did feel really comfortable and familiar in way, so it didn't really feel very interesting or exciting or anything like that. Actually, the only impression was that it felt so gimicky. As Amsterdam is known for the red light district, it was just sex stores upon sex store selling things that just had a shock factor. Also, it had a lot of those 'coffee shops' (where you could smoke marijuana) and ridiculous signs promoting it.

Would I re-visit?
No.  

München Pt 2

26th January 2013
As I mentioned previously, I did not plan anything for the remainder of my trip in Europe so locations, attractions and everything of that nature is basically unknown to me.

On our second day in Munich, the skies were blue which was incredible although it was still quite chilly. We strolled through the main square and past the city hall. We stumbled upon an outdoor market and Sunbear ordered some sort of assorted nuts for us. It honestly tasted like these weird walnuts that my highschool friend used to bring to school; I am sure that they tasted incredible as they were probably coated in MSG.








When I was in the States, I gained weight near the halfway mark. I blamed, and still do, on Sunbear. He ate a lot and all the time which resulted in me to overeat too. So it wasn't too surprising when he found a square filled with tiny establishments and tables outside. Everyone was drinking a beer stein and it was only 10am in the morning! Sunbear ordered (so glad that he knew German) and he got us mulled wine (glühwein), mulled cider (glühmost), horse meat sausage and hot chips with mayo. Fun fact, he believed that thick cut chips were European and it was something that I needed to try. Hmm. Mayo with hot chips is apparently quite a big deal in the Netherlands. I am actually not quite a big fan of thick cut chips; unless the potato and crisy-ness ratio is just right, I would rather not eat them.














For dinner we found some random restaurant (actually, he was interested in visiting a sushi place originally. I don't quite understand people's obsession with sushi, especially Europeans. I guess you like the things that aren't as readily available?).


First time trying blood sausage. It was alright, just a little too salty for my liking.



27th January 2013
Today we headed to Dachau Concentration Camp. Sunbear was the driver and I was meant to be the navigator. I am not terrible at reading maps and I did have plenty of experience in the States, but is something else when I couldn't even read the names of the roads. Turn left onto Thierschstraße and then turn onto Widenmayerstraße before turning right to Ifflandstraße. Nope. It just wasn't happening. I would just look at the word and I didn't even know where to start.






Gas chamber, although it was never used.




Arbeit macht frei - work will set you free
We wandered around the grounds. All of the barracks except one (though not the original, it was re built to house the memorial/ museum part) were demolished however concrete foundations were laid down to illustrate the location of the barracks. The special barracks (the one with the aqua walls) was where they housed the special prisoners such as clergy. It's just chilling as to be expected. Just a really weird feeling and we didn't finish going through the museum since Sunbear found it a little too overwhelming. It was also very weird walking through the gas chambers (which apparently were never used as there was a lack of evidence; the gas is meant to leave a residue on all the walls) and past the crematorium. Reading that they had to build a larger and second one because the first couldn't cope with the workload. Ugh. I don't know if I want to visit any other concentration camps in the future. I just don't know. Part of me find it incredibly eerie (the same feeling that I get at cemeteries but multiplied by 1000 times) and I just end up feeling quite detached (on purpose).

We hopped back into the car and Sunbear wanted to drive around the area. We stumbled upon a barn full of cows and I never knew that cows were so affectionate! Once I started petting one, 4 others joined and they all wanted me to pet them! It was really weird and funny since there was this one cow who wanted all the attention and at one point actually shoved the other cows aside.




Lunch at this "town" or "village", wait apparently there is this thing called a "hamlet".








For dinner, we stumbled upon another quaint village and we just got stared at by the owner. Not sure if it was because we were tourists or if it was me.


French onion soup. Also note the owner staring in the background.

My Overall Thoughts
Munich was a much larger city than Hamburg although it is a little odd because when I associate "big city" I think of a city similar to Sydney or London whereas Munich is a big city but in a different way. I guess it is just that I am too used to one type. Munich was a lovely city and it did illustrate the difference between the northern and southern parts of Germany. Aside from the terribly rude people at Neuschwanstein Castle, everyone was incredibly friendly even to me when I was always just standing next to Sunbear and smiling awkwardly as he spoke in German. I guess it is somewhat similar to the US where it is perceived that Southerners are warmer.

Would I re-visit?
Not in the near future. No ill feelings towards the city, but sort of "too much to see and not enough time".

Next stop: the Netherlands!