This past weekend consisted of traveling all around The Netherlands.. literally :) On Friday we went on a class trip to Rotterdam. The city had a completely different feel than the other cities I have visited. Because of the bombings that took place during WWII, the city basically had to start from scratch and rebuild. To me it seemed like I was back in America because of the modern buildings. One highlight of the trip was going into a modern apartment in Rotterdam. The building was made up of blocks. Of course the steps were narrow inside, but it was a really neat apartment.
After Rotterdam a group of us decided to go and explore Maastricht, which is a city located at the southern tip of the country. We took a two hour train ride and arrived right as the sun was going down. We found our hostel which was located right on the river. It was a major upgrade from the hostel we stayed at in Florence :)! After settling in, we went out to eat some dinner. Dinner could have been one of the highlights of the trip because it was the best meal I have had since I have been here. Chelsea and I got the Surf and Turf; salmon and chicken with a salad and fries. Hil was excited to finally get some ribs, she is from Texas and has been missing her meat. Cassie and Will tried rabbit, which they loved. We were all satisfied by the end!
The next morning we were greeted with beautiful weather, which was such a treat because it was suppose to be raining all day.. PTL (Praise the Lord). We first went and explored the center of the city. I was able to get in a few pictures before my camera decided to die on me and not turn back on. I took it to a local camera store where I was told the comforting words that they had never seen a camera act like mine and that it would be an expensive fix. That was a bummer of the day since we had so many exciting things to see. We then headed to get tickets for the Maastricht Underground, a cave with 6,000 passageways all created by human hands. It took 800 years for the cave to finally be finished, and the limestone inside was used for house and church construction. It was also used as a refuge for the people when the city was attacked during the French Revolution. Wells were dug and a bakery, chapel, and hospital were built in. This was also the place were The Night Watch painting by Rembrandt was held. Unfortunately the tour was in Dutch, but this precious old man came over and started translating it for us. I absolutely loved Maastricht. It had the European feel but also included forests. I could see myself living there.
On Sunday I went to Kasteel de Haar, located outside of the province of Utrecht. It is the largest castle in The Netherlands. Sarah, Melissa, Sarah, and I had such a wonderful time going through the castle and then exploring the gardens. A funny fact about the castle was that when it was restored in the 1800's the baroness had 7,000 full grown trees put in because she didn't want to wait for them to grow in the garden. Crazy!
It was a wonderful weekend. The Netherlands is a small country but offers so much to see. Every city is so different. I was able to get a new camera and will be traveling to London this weekend :)
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