East Via Northwest: Europe Adventure: Hallo (Part 1 of 3)

Since January, Ryan and I spent many evenings planning, researching and booking adventures for our trip to Europe! We decided to stick to three countries - The Netherlands, Belgium and France. From there, we chose what towns to visit based on our interests, TripAdvisor reviews and our desire to experience the culture in each city. On May 1, we checked into our flights, had a few drinks and took off (with the help of Icelandic Air). Vacation had officially started!

Here is a semi-quick breakdown of our adventures in The Netherlands and some photos to add a little color to the text. Let me just add that this was by far the best vacation I have ever had ... 1.) Since I was with my husband, and 2.) Since I left all of life's worries and responsibilities in Boston. YES!

Day 1 - Day 3: Amsterdam

Beautiful canals of Amsterdam.

Amsterdam filled all of my senses with sweet goodness. I loved the row houses, the architecture, the people, the beer, the food, the styles, our tourist guide, the cheese ...ahh, just everything. Plus, how can you not fall in love with a city full of canals, each marking a different time in history.

We visited the Anne Frank House - emotional. We toured Amsterdam's City Centre with Michael from Oh My Amsterdam tours - educational (side note, other American tourists on tour = very annoying). We shared beers at a local hangout, SoundGarden, with our tour guide - pretty cool. We had dinner at a local spot blocks away from any tourists and managed to order our meal even though Dutch doesn't roll off our tongues (at all) - delicious. We decided to try out a coffeeshop and test the local flavor - when in Rome. We successful avoided being hit by any bikers - quite a feat. We toured the Rijksmuseum - inspiring and impressive. We rented our car, Hubert, and bid fare well to our FAVORITE city - exhilarating and sad. Buh-Bye Amsterdam.

Flower market

"Coffeeshop" as seen in Ocean's Twelve. Truly a place to legally get high.

All stairs in Amsterdam are crazy steep.

Rijksmuseum

Biking is the way to get around in Amsterdam.

Day 3 - Day 4: Rotterdam

Delfshaven, the best part of Rotterdam.

En route to Rotterdam, the second biggest city in The Netherlands, I had my trusty directions and Ryan was in charge of making sure we survived the roadways -- we were good to go, that is, until we got to the actual city. After driving around lost for 45 minutes, we miraculously came across a road we recognized in my directions and found our boutique hotel! If you ever want to test your marriage, get lost in a foreign city. ;) I can't say we were very impressed with Rotterdam. It has cool, modern architecture and lots of diversity (especially compared to Amsterdam), but it just felt kind of blah. With that said, we made the most of our day there. In Rotterdam we -- checked out the shopping district; visited Delfshaven, a port town dating back to the 1600s; got up close and personal with our first windmill; found the coolest punk bar and proceeded to enjoy copious amounts of beer (preparing ourselves for Belgium beer); and then crashed in our two twin beds. Yep, I accidentally booked a room with two small beds instead of one. Classic. I can't say being romantic in that room didn't come without its challenges and laughter.

After trying to find somewhere to eat breakfast in the morning and failing, we grabbed protein bars and headed to our next stop -- Brussels. Although, we had one minor stop at a monastery to tend to first, which you will read more about in my "Europe Adventure: Goeiendag (Part 2 of 3)". Come back for more next week!