Amsterdam Pictures

Prinsengracht canal

Cafes in Rembrandtsplein

Shopping for flowers in the Bloemenmarket

The cute wooden shoes!

I found a pair that I liked!



The smallest car I've ever seen!

Leidensplein


The Anne Frank House - office building where she and her family hid during World War 2 until they were found by the Nazis

Amsterdam!

Marfo and I are back from our fun trip to Amsterdam! We arrived in Amsterdam, Holland, on Sunday night after a VERY bumpy plane ride. The turbulance was awful...it nearly made me sick! Luckily, the flight was only an hour long, so that was nice. We checked into our hotel (a Best Western...those things are everywhere!), and went to sleep. The next morning, we headed to an area called Rembrandtsplein to have brunch. The main modes of transportation in Amsterdam are 1) bicycles 2) trams. The trams are really nice, and pretty fast. I couldn't get over how many people ride bicycles...I've never seen anything like it! Many people drive cars, but I saw almost as many bikes as I did cars. It was kind of funny to see a line of cars stopped at a red light, with a long line of bikes stopped right next to them. Marfo and I almost got run over like 14 different times, because the bike paths look like pedestrian sidewalks...oops! We wanted to rent bikes one day to see the town, but the weather was too cold and rainy for that. The entire time, it was about 60-65 degrees, rainy, and windy...not your typical May weather! After brunch, we headed to the Rijksmuseum, which has all kinds of paintings by famous artists like Monet, Rembrandt, and Vermeer. Then, we went to the famous Van Gogh museum. Both museums were really neat! We went to the Bloemenmarket, where they sell beautiful flowers (mostly tulips, of course) and bulbs. We walked around the southern part of the city, and tried to find somewhere to eat supper. We randomly decided to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant, just to try something new. I don't recommend Ethiopian food. The portions were tiny, and we had to eat with our hands, because they don't use utensils! It was quite an experience, but it's nice to say that I've at least tried it. We finally wandered into the Leidensplein area, which is SO cool! Tons of restaurants from all over the world, and fun little shops. Marfo and I ate a nice, big dessert at none other than Haagen Daz! :) We walked around Leidensplein a little longer, and then called it a night. Our hotel room had a TV in it (this is not always the case in Europe), which, sadly, was very exciting for Marfo and me, since we don't have TVs in our room in England (thanks to the 280 pound TV license you have to buy). So we happily fell asleep at night to the sounds of MTV and BBC. :) On Tuesday, we woke up, returned to Rembrandtsplein for brunch, and then went to the Anne Frank House. The building where Anne Frank and her family hid during World War 2 has been preserved and turned into a museum. This was probably my favorite part of Amsterdam. It was a very surreal feeling to actually walk around in the Secret Annex where the Franks and van Pels hid for 2 years. The moveable bookcase which hid the door to the hiding place is still there, too! Anne's movie star pictures are still on the walls where she hung them...only the furniture is no longer there. Wow. Her actual diary is on display, also. The hiding place is bigger than I thought it would be, but not big enough to live comfortably with eight people for two years, without ever setting foot out of doors. After the Anne Frank house, Marfo and I walked along the canals and admired the town. Amsterdam is full of canals, and the Dutch houses look so cute lined up in a row! We took a brief stroll through the infamous Red Light District, which was very...interesting. The Red Light District is in a very pretty part of town, but it's like nothing I've ever seen! Prostitution is legal in Amsterdam, so scantily clad prostitutes stand in windows of buildings along the road, next to sex shops. Needless to say, we didn't stay in the Red Light District too long! Our next stop was the beautiful St. Nicholas cathedral, followed by more canal walks. We ate dinner at a delicious Italian restaurants, and it was probably the best meal I've ever had! Italians sure do know how to cook! Afterwards, we walked through the Leidensplein area again, and then hung out by the Amstel River, and walked back to our hotel. The sun doesn't set until about 10:30 p.m., which is really cool. On Wednesday, Marfo and I stopped by a bakery to grab some pastries, and strolled through town. Marfo wanted to go back to the Van Gogh museum to see another exhibit, so I decided to walk around town a little longer, and then meet her back at the museum. As I was walking along, I happened to pass a friend from Madison who is backpacking through Europe! What a small world! We stopped and chatted for awhile, and then I had to go back and meet Marfo. After the museum, Marfo and I went to Coster Diamonds to take a tour. Amsterdam is one of the diamond capitals of the world, so it was neat to look at the beautiful jewelry. After the tour, we caught a tram to Centraal Station, and then took a train to the Schiphol Airport, which just happens to be the fourth busiest airport in Europe! I'm not sure what the first three are, but I'm willing to bet that London Heathrow and Paris DeGaulle are topping the list! We arrived back in Birmingham to a very rainy England. Michelle was sweet enough to pick us up at the train station in Stratford and drive us home so we wouldn't have to walk in the rain. All in all, a very fun trip! EVERYONE speaks English, so luckily we didn't have to learn any Dutch. Dutch sounds very similar to German, but with fewer "hocks." A few Dutch words we learned: "ja = yes," "nee = no," "Dag = hello/goodbye," and "Dank u = thank you." I'm going to post pictures tomorrow, because I'm going to London on Saturday to meet up with Kate McIntosh, Katie Witthauer, Walt Cain, and Ashley Parker. Fun!!

Mary Brook and Jennings, taking over Europe :)

Hello everyone! I'm back from London, and Mary Brook and Jennings are here in Stratford with me. I met them at the train station early Tuesday morning, and from there we were off! We checked into the hostel, and then hit the town. I showed them Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, 4 Downing Street (home of Tony Blair), Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the River Thames, Monmouth Cafe and Southwark, London Bridge, Covent Garden, SoHo, and Chinatown. We walked around Harrod's, and then rode a double-decker bus across town. That night, we ate at Wagamama's, and then walked across the Waterloo Bridge, which is absolutely gorgeous at night. On Wednesday, the girls slept in a little to recover from their jet lag, and then I took the girls to see the Tower of London. Afterwards, we went to Kensington Park and Kensington Palace, and had tea and scones at The Orangery. We walked around St. James Park and saw Buckingham Palace and St. James Palace, and then went to see...Mary Poppins the musical! It was SOOO good! The set was really neat, and at the end, Mary Poppins flew over the audience. :) We rode back to the hostel in a rickshaw, which is a little basket seat attached to the back of a bike. On Thursday, we went to Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral, then headed to Camden Town. Afterwards, we went to Notting Hill and Portobello Road (SO CUTE!), and then caught the train to Stratford. Today, I showed them the sights of the town, and we rented a row boat and went rowing on the River Avon. Tonight, we saw The Da Vinci Code with Michelle and Marfo. The movie was pretty good, but the book was much better. Tomorrow, we're going to do a little more touring, and hang out. It's been so great having two of my best friends here with me! :)

Outside Buckingham Palace

Riding in the rickshaw after Mary Poppins

Tea at The Orangery

Me, Mary Brook, and our new friend outside of St. James Palace

Fun Times in London

I'm leaving EARLY tomorrow morning to meet Jennings and Mary Brook in London. I can't wait! We're spending two nights in London, and leaving late Thursday night to come to Stratford. We have tickets to see the musical Mary Poppins, which I've been wanting to see for a very long time. I'll post again on Friday with updates from our adventures! :)

Wales

On Thursday morning, I took a day trip to Wales. Stratford-upon-Avon is in western England, so I'm actually pretty close to Wales. I thought about going to Cardiff, the capital, but I've heard it's really not a pretty city, even though it's big and there is a lot to do there. So I decided to visit the town of Denbigh (pronounced Den-bee), which is famous for it's beautiful scenery and castle. Denbigh is in the Valley of Clwyd, on the border of the Snowdonia mountains. To get there, I had to take a train to Birmingham, then get on a train to Crewe, then get on a train to Chester, then take a train to Rhyl, and then take a thirty minute bus ride. On the bus ride, I passed FIVE castles...pretty awesome! :) Wales, just like Ireland and Scotland, is trying to revive it's native language, Welsh. Many schools in Wales are being taught only in Welsh, and the same goes for Scotland (Galic) and Ireland (Gaelic), because these languages were nearly becoming extinct. So as soon as I got off the train in Wales, I heard people speaking Welsh, and all of the signs were in both English and Welsh. Welsh is a pretty language, and sounds a lot like Gaelic and Galic. The Welsh word for "Wales" is Cymru, but I think Wales sounds much prettier. The weather was absolutely gorgeous during my journey, but as soon as I got to Denbigh, it started raining...sad! It cleared up after an hour or so, and stayed beautiful for the rest of the day. I explored the town, which is actually pretty small. The ruins of Denbigh Castle, which was built in the 12th century, are on a hill on the edge of the town. You can climb onto the ruins and see a gorgeous view of the surrounding valley. The lush green grass in Great Britain just never ceases to amaze me...it's beautiful! After exploring the castle, I walked around the town a little more, then decided to head back to Stratford. In Birmingham, I stopped and got take-out at my favorite restaurant, Wagamama's. Yum! I also stopped in Selfridge's, a big department store in the Bullring (the huge mall in Birmingham). Selfridge's has an "American imports" section, where they sell American products that you can't normally find in England, such as Aunt Jemima products, Lucky Charms, Oreos (isn't it a shame they don't sell Oreos in England?), Jiff peanut butter, Hershey's products, and canned pumpkin. Nice, right? Except the prices are RIDICULOUS. A pack of Oreos costs $10. A box of Lucky Charms cereal costs $12. It's almost funny. Tonight, Marfo and I went to The Golden Bee for dinner, and in a little bit, Cat and I are going to watch American Idol. Mary Brook and Jennings will be here on Tuesday, and we'll be back in Stratford on Thursday night. Hooray! They are going to have a blog for their European journey - www.jenningsandmarybrook.blogspot.com. They're going on a Contiki tour across Europe, and will be visiting about 12 different countries!

A sign in both Welsh and English

The ruins of Denbigh Castle



Gorgeous scenery!

Future Trips

Well, I just got back from seeing "Mission Impossible: 3" with Cat. The movie was amazing! I highly recommend seeing it. I have to admit that Tom Cruise is such a good actor, you almost forget how eccentric he is in real life! I do miss good ole American theaters. The cinema in Stratford does NOT have stadium seating, and they show about twenty minutes of commercials and previews. The commercials are so funny because EVERYTHING in Europe is smaller than it is in the States...the houses, the cars, the yards. So when you see a car commercial, they're usually advertising some tiny little French car, like Citroen, Renault, and Peugeot. And when you see a shot of a neighborhood, all of the houses are small and very close together. Europeans don't like to waste space, that's for sure! On Saturday night, Michelle and I went to the Dirty Pretty Things concert. It was pretty neat! Kate Moss's ex boyfriend, Pete Doherty, used to be the lead singer of a group called The Libertines, and they were really popular in England. Well, they kicked Pete out of the band because he has a major drug problem (like Kate Moss!), and now the group is called Dirty Pretty Things. They're kind of punk, kind of rock'n roll. The concert was in Coventry, and luckily Michelle and I stood on the balcony and had a great view, because the crowd on the floor was WILD...mosh pit, crowd surfing, throwing beer and cups...I think I watched the crowd more than I watched the band! Yesterday, Marfo and I booked our trip to Holland! We're going to spend three nights in Amsterdam...I'm so excited! And it'll be so much fun going with Marfo! We're leaving on May 21 and coming back on the 24th. Two of my very best friends, Jennings and Mary Brook, will be here in a week, and I'm so excited! The weather has been very nice lately...it got up to 70 today, which was perfect. Tomorrow night, I'm going to a Rotary meeting, which should be fun, because Gustav is speaking. On Thursday, I'm going to take a day trip to Wales, but I'm not sure which part. Stratford is actually pretty close to Wales, so hopefully it won't be a long train ride! One of my friends who is also a Rotary scholar is studying at the University of Wales in Aberystwyth, but Aberystwyth is about a four hour journey...too long for a day trip! The town with the longest name in the world is also in Wales, and I might try to go there! The name of the town is...get ready for it...Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch. I'm not even kidding. They call it Llanfair PG for short. The name is Welsh, and translated into English, it means "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave." I'm going to do some research tonight and tomorrow and try to figure out somewhere nice to go. Unfortunately, my computer is acting up, and it won't let me load pictures from the Peak District. I'll try again tomorrow! Have a great night!

Peak District and Cinco de Mayo

On Tuesday night, Cat and I went to see an independent film called "The White Countess," starring Natasha Richardson, Ralph Fiennes, and Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave. It was pretty good! It took place in Shanghai in the 1920s. I think that was my first "independent" film to ever see. On Thursday, I went to the Peak District National Park. It was quite an adventure getting out there! I found some information about the National Park on a few website, and I really wanted to see it because the scenery is really pretty, and it's where they filmed "Pride and Prejudice." However, as hard as I tried, I couldn't find any information telling me how to get to the park. The only clues I had were that it's near the city of Sheffield, and not much public transportation goes out there. So I took the train to Sheffield, which is about an hour from Birmingham. Sheffield is actually a very big city, and home to two universities. I went to the Travel Information building, and the man working there told me a certain bus to take. He told me to get off in a town called Oughtibridge, and the place I wanted to go (Fairholmes) was only a twenty minute walk. So I took the bus to Oughtibridge. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and about eight five degrees...steaming hot for England! Well, when I got off the bus, I walked to a convenience store and asked the people who worked there if they knew which way I should go to get to Fairholmes. The lady just looked at me, and said, "It's a five hour walk from here." I told her that the people in Sheffield told me it was a twenty minute walk, and she said, "They don't know what they're talking about." I asked her what she would recommend for me to do, and she 1) tried to give me directions on how to walk the five hours to Fairholmes - not a chance I was going to do that! 2) told me about the scenery in Oughtibridge and tried to convince me to stay there instead 3) asked me about four times I drove here. I realized that she wasn't going to be any help, so I caught the bus back to Sheffield. I went back to the Travel Information building, grabbed some bus maps, and figured out the route myself. I had about two hours before my bus left, so I roamed around Sheffield. When it was time for me to catch my bus, I hopped on, and the driver dropped me off at the corner of the National Park, and told me that I would have to walk about two and a half miles to get to Fairholmes, which was also the only other bus stop in a ten mile radius that would get me back to Sheffield. So I trudged up the trail to Fairholmes. The scenery was really amazing! The Peak District National Park is in Derbyshire (pronounced Darby-shire), and the part I was in is called the Derwent Valley. The Derwent and Ladybower Reservoirs make up the center of the valley, and it's surrounded by hills and moors. I took some pictures, but they're not loaded onto my computer yet. I'll post them soon! I hiked around one peak for about forty five minutes, and then roamed around the valley. There was LOTS of tourists out walking and riding bikes. A few hours later, I caught the bus back to Sheffield and took the train back to Stratford-upon-Avon. I enjoyed the Peak District, but I'm not sure it was worth all of the trouble it took to get out there! On Friday, my housemates, Michelle, and I had a little Cinco de Mayo dinner. I cooked tacos and banana pudding, Cat made nachos, and Michelle brought a chocolate tart for dessert. Marfo had never eaten a taco before, so she was really excited! We enjoyed a nice meal, and stuffed ourselves full of delicious Mexican food. Afterwards, we watched American Idol in Cat's room (it comes on TV on Friday in England). We also watched a new show called "Test Drive My Girlfriend," which looks like it should be on MTV. Tonight, I'm going to see a concert with Michelle in Coventry. The group is called Dirty Pretty Things, and I've never heard of them! She had an extra ticket and asked me to go, so I figured it would be neat to see a concert in England. I'll let you know how it goes! I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Pictures of Stratford-upon-Avon in the Spring

Hey everyone! I went around town and took some pictures this past Saturday so you could see how gorgeous England is in the spring. Everyone come visit! :)






People relaxing in front of the Royal Shakespeare Theater

We don't ALWAYS have cloggers in town...this was just a one time thing on a Saturday afternoon. :)

Frog Racing and the Weekend

On Friday night, Mike and Judy picked me and drove me to the Baginton Town Hall for our Rotary club's charity Frog Racing Contest. I've heard about frog racing, but all I knew about it was that it did not involve real frogs, thank goodness! Baginton is about twenty minutes from Stratford-upon-Avon, and it's a very small village. On the way, we passed an "allotment," which I had never seen or heard of before. An allotment is a big field of land that is divided into small sections that people can buy and use to grow vegetables, flowers, etc. Since land and property in England is very expensive (because it's an island, there's only a set amount of land), most people have small yards, if they have any yard at all. They can buy part of an allotment if they want to have land to grow food or flowers. Don't forget, though..."yard" is very lower class...what we in the States call yards, people in England call gardens. The allotment that we drove by was about the size of a football field, and there were about twenty or thirty sections of land split up...some growing vegetables, some growing flowers, some bare. I thought it was pretty interesting, and this was the first time I've ever heard of anything like it. At the town hall, my entire Rotary club was there, plus many of their family members and two other scholars, Gustav and Rinko - I really like both of them a lot! We had a big dinner of lasagna, chilli, and bread, and then the frog racing began. I really wish I had remembered to bring my camera, because it would be much easier if I could show a picture instead of describing it, but I'll try! Two people stand across from each other, about twenty yards apart. There's a rope inbetween them, and they each hold one end. A wooden cut-out in the shape of a frog is strung through the rope. Both people are sitting down, and you have to get the frog from one end of the rope to the other by jiggling the string...no standing, and you have to keep the frog on the ground. It's pretty difficult! There were six rows, so six teams (two people per team) competed at once. The people watching placed bets on the teams. We had six races, and I competed in two of them. The youngest lady in our club, Lorna, (she's in her late thirties) was my partner during one of the last races, and we won! :) It was great! After the contests, we had a raffle, and I got to be the person who called out the ticket numbers. It was a fun night! It almost reminded me of Sunday school parties or get-togethers back home...everyone talking and eating and laughing. It's so neat to think that while we're in Mississippi having friends over for supper, or having a party, there are people in towns all over the world doing the exact same thing...it makes the world seem so big! This weekend, Marfo, Cat, and I had a housemate dinner and went to a restaurant called Ask on Saturday night. It was really fun! We stayed there for almost two and a half hours, just talking and eating. Marfo's brother is a lawyer in Athens, and I'm trying to convince him to let me come work for him one summer! Whenever he calls Marfo, I always tell her to tell my future boss hello! He just laughs, but we'll see what happens! :) Monday was a bank holiday, which basically means no one has to work, and all the stores closed around four p.m. It was a beautiful day, though. I ran some errands, and just sat by the river and read for awhile. I took some pictures of Stratford, and I'm going to post them soon! Last night, some of my friends had a party, which was really fun. Tonight, Cat and I are going to get pizza and then see a movie. She's working part time at the cinema because she's going to be here until September, and she gets a free guest pass, so I'm her guest! Hooray! Tomorrow or Thursday, I really want to take a day trip. I think I'm going to go to the Peak District, which is a little north of here. It's the area where the filmed "Pride and Prejudice" starring Keira Knightley. And two weeks from today, Jennings and Mary Brook will be here! I'm so excited! :)