To reiterate, Paris = beautiful, Barcelona = lively, Berlin = cool, and Leiden = cute. Cute like a golden retriever puppy. Cute like an Anne Geddes calendar minus the pedophilia. Cute like a diva on a good day.
If I was doing an eurotrip, I would never think to go to Leiden. I'm really glad that I have friends on exchange at smaller towns that would otherwise be off my travel radar. Leiden is so cute and pleasant. There are canals, windmills, walk ups, the best climbing trees, and bikes everywhere. I estimate the bike-to-person ratio in Leiden is 25 to 1. There is a market every Wednesday and Sunday with the most delicious food: sweet-tasting deep fried fish, gouda, pannekoekens, and stroop waffels which have replaced les petits ecoliers and croissant amandes as the bane of my existence.
Amsterdam is amazing too. Basically a bigger Leiden with more bikes, canals, and prostitutes. I wish I could have spent more time exploring the city but such is life and at least I got to experience both Leiden and Amsterdam.
Wednesday: Wake up to a sugar high leftover from the road trip and discover that Michela has arrived sometime during the night. We walk to the train station to meet Novack and Alyssa then go get tasty pannekoekens, some tastier than others (Novack ordered banana, whipped cream, and bacon...questionable). We walk around the market and meet up with more McGilligans. Then we head to Amsterdam for Dave Matthews Band (see post below).
They may seem small but their power over you, ohhh it's dreadful.
Thursday: Nous faisons la grasse matinee then grab some cute brunch at a patio alongside the canal. We then explore the town and find the alley where Rembrandt was born with accompanying memorial as well as the cemetary where Van Gogh's mom is buried. I find a sweet climbing tree which would be my place of all life's reflection if I lived in Leiden. We have a chill afternoon and grab some coffee then we get food for dins and make supper in Heather's res. That night, after getting Jag'd, we head to a Leiden band showcase where we see a couple bands. One band's singer looks like a dwarf version of David Bowie/Jon Bon Jovi/Steven Tyler but he plays the harmonica so he was sick. I hate on the next band, the Apollo Project, and find their bottle of Jaeger more interesting than their music. Novack becomes their chief groupie and gets a tattoo of the Apollo Project stamp. The last band is pretty cool and then there is a dj set with your average mix of slam dancing and fist pumping.
Friday: We head into Amsterdam for the day (fyi Leiden is about a 30 minute train from A-dam). We hit up the Anne Frank House which was very...I can't think of the word right now as brain cells are low...but essentially very affecting? Basically I was standing in the annex thinking not even 70 years ago there were people hiding for their lives in here. It moved me I guess you could say. After we go to the Electric Ladyland Museum which is the weirdest/coolest thing I've ever seen. It's a fluorescent light museum run by a hippie from Brooklyn who took 6 years to build this cave neon sculpture thing. He travels around the world looking for fluorescent rocks in places like the Himalayas; I have no idea how he finds the rocks, whether he walks around with a portable UV light or what. He also shows you objects like money, passports, and paintings that have fluorescent qualities. Bottom line: you have to go if you're ever in Amsterdam. After that we go to Barney's burger place for burgers that rival White Trash Food and then go to the Red Light District which was insane. Then we go to Heather friend's res to party with some dutch people. I won't go into too many details of the night but basically it amounted to me running through the red light district by myself at 3:30 am searching for an atm and a mentaal breakdown at Amsterdam centraal. It's alright, parents, I made it through and I'm here now writing this thing.
Saturday: Somehow we find it in ourselves to return to Amsterdam after the mess which was the previous night. Not only are do we go back to Amsterdam but we hit up the Heineken Experience aka the greatest marketing ploy/propaganda machine. HEINEKEN IS THE BEST BEER IN THE WORLD. Apparently. We go on the brew you ride where we are treated like Heineken beers and then cheat the system by using our beer tokens multiple times to get many delicious brews. Afterwards, we go out for dinner to celebrate Michela's birthday at a delicious Italian place then head back to Leiden to party at the Aside of Leiden. Much speaker dancing and beer drinking ensue.
Sunday: Successful and smooth trip home to Paris. Excited face to sleep in my own bed that a. does not inflate and b. is not in a room with person who when snoring sounds like pigs mating but devastated to learn that I actually have to do school work in March. Oh well I'm heading to Dublin in a week to finally reunite with my heritage. This one's for you, Granpa!
Peace, love, and cheese.
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