Amsterdamn.

Maybe we spoiled it for ourselves by going to Scotland first, but wow, what a disappointment.  We arrived yesterday morning, stayed last night and tonight and we're looking forward to leaving tomorrow.

It's dirty, the streets smell like urine and cheap shake, the water tastes like saline, the people generally don't smile here and couldn't be bothered by the hoards of tourists needing information about the city.  The only highlights are the nicer trains, nice weather, and the museums we visited today. 

We bought an all day pass today on the hop-on-hop-off canal cruise thing and did a museum tour. We didn't get a chance to go into Anne Frank House (the lineup was horrendous), but we did get to see the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum.  WOW, it was so amazing to see all that art in person.  The pictures and what you see on TV doesn't do it justice at all.  This was our first experience of having to go through a security check and metal detectors in order to get admittance into a museum--can understand why though.  The art is priceless.

The last tourist-y thing we did was take a stroll through the Red Light District tonight before heading home.  Interesting.  That's all we've got to say.

Perhaps if we were younger or like to party we might have liked it here better but that's just not our thing anymore.  We've been told other parts of the Netherlands are much nicer, but we'll have to take their word on it because we're off to Berlin in the morning! 

Amsterdam version of Chinatown--super expensive, cost us 10 euro for a small bowl of pho!  For those who don't know how much that is in dollars, it's about 14 bucks.

Had to take a picture of this... translation:  rob a bank?

Our cheese and bacon pannekoek breakfast



Bikes, bikes, and more bikes!  As far as the eye can see...  How would you find your bike in this??



Apparently the most photographed part of Amsterdam

Had the most amazing oil on canvas paintings from the 17th century

 

The only part of the museum you're allowed to photograph



The Land of the Scots

Did we mention how much we love it here?  We're so sorry to leave.  If we didn't have so many places to see, we'd probably stay here the rest of our trip.  There's so much to see!

The 2-day tour we just got back from with Timberbush was AWESOME.  Our tour bus driver, Steve, was the best story teller.  It was like we were 2 toddlers sitting at circle time, listening and watching intently as the teacher told us great and colourful stories of the history of this great land--Scottish accent, hand gestures, and all.

We found out why the MacDonald Clan hates the Campbell Clan; who the real Braveheart is and the true meaning behind the story--so not how Mel Gibson did it; and how the Loch Ness monster came about--likely due to drunken Scotsmen (apparently the whisky is strong here).  To order a small beer is to order a "wee" beer.  Great is pronounced "grrrrrreat."  Don't forget to roll the r's.  Oh, and they have hairy cows...pronounced herrry coos...again, ya gotta roll the r.  Colin and I try, but no matter how hard, we always seem to end up with a butchered English accent.  *sigh* 

Kelvingrove Museum

Downtown Glasgow

On the tour bus like a couple of tourists...

Stirling Castle...statue of King Robert De Brus in the background--the REAL Braveheart.

We hiked to the top of the mountain where the Wallace Monument sits...this is the view from there.

The Wallace Monument...yes, as in William Wallace

 That's me feeding Heather the Highland Hairy Cow

 And Colin feeding Hamish, Heather's boyfriend. 

This used to be a house from possibly the 1500s?

Me touching Atlantic waters for the first time in my life.

In Fort William

The Ruins of Inverlochy Castle

A coal fueled steam train!

This amount of coal should fuel it for one day.

Eilean Donan Castle

Eilean Donan Castle again

Loch Ness

Our tour bus driver, Steve.  Awesome storyteller!

Rosslyn Chapel, the one from the Da Vinci Code...OMG, beautiful. 

Better get some shut-eye now.  We have to get up @ 3:30am to go catch a 7:10 flight to Amsterdam in the morning.  :)

Made it to Glasgow

We LOVE it here.  Feels just like home:  sunny and warm during the day, then got windy and rainy at night.  The people are super friendly and hospitable, and again, the accent is awesome.  :)

It's an 8-hour difference from Vancouver so it's 9:30 pm now as I write.  It took us a little bit to get our bearings with all the jet lag.  We had it bad in London, but by the time we got to Glasgow this morning, we were doing pretty good.  We're staying at the SYHA Hostel in Glasgow--quite nice here considering it's a hostel.  Pretty much has everything we need, plus a super commercial kitchen to pretty much cook anything we want.

The train ride from Glasgow Prestwick Airport to Glasgow City Centre.  Still look a little tired.

 Our bags take up 2 seats!  This is traveling light?

Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow...on our way out to have lunch. 

Think this is the Kelvingrove Museum in the background...off to visit that tomorrow. 

 At The Goat & Grill... What's on the menu? 

Yum.  This was my grilled duck breast on a bed of sweet chili and cashew noodles. 

 Fancy fountain in Kelvingrove Park...in commemoration of Queen Victoria (I think).

Gutsy squirrel.  Didn't even flinch when I walked right up to it.

Our twin room at the Glasgow SYHA Hostel.  We were happy we have a bathroom with the shower!

The days are going by so quick it seems.  We're sitting in the lounge at the hostel trying to figure out the next few days.  Heading out on a 2-day tour of the Highlands on Wed/Thurs, then 1 day in Edinburgh and off to Amsterdam on Saturday.  Had no idea it would take so much time to get settled!  Hoping we won't have to cut out any countries...but if the rest of the trip is like this, we just might have to.  :(

Here are a couple pictures from the previous couple of days...

 Nice view of Squamish and the Chief from our ride to London.

 We just arrived at the B&B after 21 hours of traveling.  Really?  You want to take a picture of me NOW?



We're Alive!!

But barely...just kidding...sort of.  Haha. 

Well, we finally made it to the Remarc Guest House B&B in a little village called Takeley just outside of Stansted Airport.  It only took us 3 trains, a coach, and a taxi to get here from Gatwick Airport--an adventure that took us 5 hours to complete, which included figuring out London's train system, and a good 2 hours wandering about Bishops Stortford (tired and hungry) trying to find a damn payphone (why are they so hard to come by?!). 

So, how many hours of traveling does that make it?  We arrived at YVR at 10:30am on Saturday................that's 21 hours on the road.  Ugghhh...we are so tired!  First thing we did when we got here was take a long shower!  Then I passed out in the bed for 1.5 hours while poor Colin attempted to nap.  He's still trying to get some shut-eye in as I update you all on our condition.

We've got to say, it was SO WEIRD flying away from the sun in Vancouver, just to meet it on the other side in London 9 hours later.  It has wreaked havoc on our circadian rhythms!  Plus all the traveling we had to do to get to Takeley from Gatwick didn't help either. 

It has been an interesting trip so far for us.  I'll get into more details after I've had more sleep and more food.  For now, we just wanted to let everyone know we're alive. 

Tomorrow, we're off to Glasgow at 8:30am via Ryanair.

By the way, we're loving the English!  They have been so gracious...and so entertaining!  LOVE the accent.

YVR has free Wi-Fi!

Yay!  So, we arrived super early and we're still trying to waste time.  Got another hour and half to wait until our flight.  Thought we would post a couple of pictures...get some practice in before we really have a lot to share :)

 Holy crap!  They have this giant fish tank here at YVR...

 What?

 Our plane

We've decided to change our itinerary a bit too...think we'll check out Germany first after Scotland.  This way we don't have to feel rushed to get to Germany in the end (they have a Bodyworlds exhibit there that I HAVE to see, which ends October 31st).  Then over to Czech Republic to see Prague, and then we can take the train through the Swiss Alps into Italy. We've been told that's a heck of a sight to see (thanks, Dave). 

We're going to Europe!!!

Well...I'm going to try my hand at this blogging thing...here we go.  This is pretty much just a place for family and friends to come check out pictures and see what Colin and I are up to while we embark on our 5.5-week-honeymoon-graduation-end-of-board-exams extravaganza!  I have no idea how often I will be able to update, but keep checking :) 

We leave for London on October 2nd, going to Scotland October 3rd, then the rest is going to be riding by the seat of our pants.  We got ourselves a Eurail Global Pass with the general idea of traveling through France, Italy, Greece, Czech Republic, Germany, and Netherlands, before returning to London and flying home on November 11th.  Wish us luck!

Oh, and if you have any places in mind that are must-see, please post them in the comments!