Nederland...Where I Wanna BE!!

Well as you know, I spent this last weekend up in Holland with Jaimie!  As always, we had the time of our lives!  We were able to see 3 cities in a span of 3 days and truly take in all that each city has to offer.  It started at 2pm Friday when we boarded the 2.5 hour train to Rotterdam.  Easy, relaxing ride, full of good music (Adele) and a good book (written by my high school youth pastor)!  After arriving in Rotterdam, we transferred trains and after a quick 15 minute ride, arrived in the beautiful, quaint town of Delft.  Our friend, and Jaimie's boyfriend, Chris, lives in Delft, so we were staying with him.  We immediately set out to meet up with some friends of his visiting from Turkmenistan (they are all in the oil industry) for a drink.  We walked around and explored a bit of the city, and then settled on one of Jaimie's favorite restaurants in the city for some dinner.  Before dinner we had shared a bottle of wine between the 3 of us at home, then a beer at the bar, and by the time we finished our first glass of wine at the restaurant, we were feeling quite happy.  Unfortunately when the food came out, we had snacked too much already and were not hungry, at all.  I say unfortunately because I ordered a delicious looking, and tasting, mushroom crusted catfish served on herb mashed potatoes, and I couldn't even finish half of it!  After dinner, we met up again with Chris's friend and his girlfriend, who convinced us that a trip to Amsterdam that night was quite essential.  We knew we had to be up early for the music festival the next day, but we couldn't really pass up an excuse to go to Amsterdam!  Plus, this friend was only in town for a while, so to be fair, we agreed to go so Chris could spend time with his man crush.  So at 1am, we hopped on an hour long train to Amsterdam--the city of (expensive) free love and (excessive) drugs.  The purpose of the trip? we weren't really sure.  But we had a great time roaming the streets of the city center, the red light district (EEEK at nighttime!), and Rembrandt Square.  Finally around 5am, we were tired enough to decide it was time to head back home, so the race was on to make it to the train station in time to catch the last train for the next 2 hours!  We made it, and around 6:15am we crawled through the door and went straight to bed, only to be up again at 10am to prepare for the exciting festivities ahead!

First view of Delft...amazing, I know!

Notice anything a little...off...about this clock tower?

Jaim and I, just chillin...

Saturday had in store for us a huge outdoor techno festival called Soenda.  This was the main purpose of our trip to Holland this weekend, and we were so excited because it is festivals like this that the Dutch pride themselves in.  We decided to take the train instead of driving, but quickly regretted that decision (thanks, Jaimie)!  After a total of 2.5 hours, 4 trains, and 2 buses, we arrived!  We walked through the middle of nowhere into a wide open field, where we suddenly happened upon a staged civilization.  There were tents, jump houses, wooden structures, stages, restaurants, bars, lockers, toilets, you name it, they had it!  The first impression had us quite impressed, but the party really started when we made our way to the main stage to hear the first DJ.  I can honestly say that before my first trip to Amsterdam earlier this year, I hated techno, but now there is something about it that just sparks a fire in me and makes me want to DANCE!  And dance we did, all day.  Running on nothing but bottled water and enthusiasm, we danced the day away.  The weather was crap, and it even rained for most of it, but they gave out free ponchos that people rocked and we made the most of it.  There came a point when everyone was so drenched and tired and looking shitty, that we just embraced the ugliness and stopped caring (the proof is in the pics).  The festival ended around 11pm, so we made our way back to one of Chris's friends houses where we planned on crashing for the night.  We sank into the couch and instantly nodded off to sleep for a bit, but his friend woke us up to tell us about an after party nearby and insisted we go.  None of us were very excited to go, as we were already running on just 3.5 hours of sleep, looked like crap, were wet, tired, and sore from dancing already.  Let's just say this guy can win an award for persuasion because he had us convinced soon enough (with the promise that we could leave whenever we wanted, just say the word)!  A brisk 20 minute walk away and we found ourselves in the middle of a secluded, deserted parking lot, surrounded by maybe 30 people, and another DJ.  This was a really cool atmosphere because it was small, we got to meet a lot of new people, and we got to listen to good music and dance some more.  We were having so much fun that we didn't realize how quickly time flew, so when we looked at our watch for the first time to find it was 5am, we were shocked.  Needless to say, it was definitely time to call it a night, so off we went on the cold and windy walk home.  We managed to make it back to the house and into bed around 6am...night #2 of seeing the gorgeous Holland sunrise!  After just a few hours sleep, we were up and out to catch our train back to Delft.  Little did we know, the city tram/buses weren't operating (or something, we were a bit delusional after no sleep, so they very well could have been and we just couldn't figure it out), but we ended up walking allllll the wayyyyy to the train station.  Let's just say I slept quite well on that ride home!

Our greeting at the music festival...little did we know, this was the least of the excitement!

It poured most of the day, but our sexy ponchos made it all better...

Gerben, being his weird self...

Christian Johannes Maria Van Maaren...hehe

Awesome little outdoor stage

They used pallets to make insane sculptures, adding to the awesomeness of the whole thing...

These lights were the most fascinating thing I have ever seen!! haha

The main stage void of people due to the rain

Jaim and I clearly exhausted at the afterparty

The happy couple

Taken somewhere around the 13th hour of dancing...

Upon arriving back in Delft, we magically developed a second wind, so we decided to take advantage of the daylight and stroll the city once more.  A quick shower later and we were taking to the streets again to absorb what an absolutely wonderful city Delft is on a Sunday afternoon.  Honestly, so wonderful that I am highly (HIGHLY) considering moving here, or at least to Holland, for my next little venture...watch out!  There were people dining on outdoor terraces, children playing in the narrow streets as their parents sat by and watched while chatting with neighbors.  There was a live band set up playing great music to observers in a little market square.  Everywhere we looked there were bike riders coming from all directions.  I can truly say this is my favorite city in Europe, as far as charm, class, and overall atmosphere.  Sticking with the old world charm of the city, we settled into a large chain Mexican restaurant for dinner, of course!  It sounds completely random, and it definitely is random, but I have been craving Mexican food since I moved to Paris and this was my first taste of it in 9 months!!!  So, thanks to Jaimie and Chris for succumbing to my craving :)  After our (delicious for Europe Mexican, but nowhere near California Mexican) dinner, and a little listen to the live band across the way, we were on our way back to call it an extremely early night and attempt to make up for our lost sleep. 

Streets of Delft

Best Friends...we missed you, Al!

So Dutch.

The main plaza in Delft

The old gate to the city, built over the water, is now a private residence... I want to live here!

Beautiful canal with lily pads!!

Monday morning we were back on the train to Paris to get back to the daily grind.  Unfortunately I came home only to be greeted by Valerie out of town again and Alice with a major case of head lice.  Luckily for me, Val was only gone one night, and even better, I didn't catch the lice...although, there were a few times when Jaimie and I had to sit in the sunlight from my window while she examined my head for nits...oh to know what my neighbors think of me!  As it is currently Monday evening that I am writing this, I am a whole week behind in posting, but clearly all for good reason!  Mommy duty round 2, doctor's appointments for the kids, lice treatments, and then unpacking just to repack for Portugal, before I knew it I was off on another vacation after only 3 days at home!  As I sit here writing this, I am completely relaxed, tanned, and excited to tell you all about Portugal, but that will have to wait a few days!!

Just a preview of the next blog: PORTO!

 HAPPY WEEK TO YOU ALL!! :)