Weekend in Amsterdam

This past weekend, Benjamin and I had a day off on Friday and decided to go to Amsterday for the weekend. We left on Thursday night and came back home on Sunday. The first thing we did on Saturday was go to the Keukenhof Gardens. This is what the website had to say about the gardens, "An unprecedented wealth of spectacular floral displays planted in endless varieties, alternated with beautiful works of art. Keukenhof is unique, world famous and has been one of the most popular destinations in the Netherlands for many years now. And it has been photographed millions of times, more than any other location. The same also applies to the surrounding bulb fields as well, of course."

Afterwards we went to the Van Gogh Museum, which was amazing!

After the tour, we went to Anne Frank's House. It was a very moving experience.

 

Later that night, we saw an improv comedy show called Boom Chicago. It was freaking hilarious!! If we ever go back to Amsterdam, we will go see another show here.

Me "reading" Dutch:

Here a "coffeshop" that sells "coffee" and by coffee I mean marijuana. This is apparently the most famous coffeeshop in Amsterdam., also seen in the movie Ocean's 12.

Happy 100th post!

Valentine's Day 2003

Valentine's Day 2010

For Valentine's Day, we decided to go to London to see the National History Museum and the Winston Churchill Museum and War Cabinet Rooms. For breakfast, I made some yummy pumpkin scones my mom bought and shipped us! They were delicious!

We went to start Ben's car and of course it wouldn't start, so we had to jump start the car. This is just not our week with cars! Now, take a good look at this picture and what do you notice about the car on the left. The battery to my car is located in the trunk. Luckily, we knew this from a previous experience. One day my car wouldn't start and it look us a while of searching and checking the internet until we finally figured it out. Crazy BMW!

We got the car started and were finally on our way to London. We checked into the hotel and went to the National History Museum. Here it is from the outside. 

This museum was PACKED!! We really weren't too sure why this museum was so swamped but we pushed ahead anyway. We saw dinosaur fossils, pretty much the highlight of the museum. 

This was an amazing animatronic T-Rex dinosaur!

Here is Ben with a giant sloth, this thing is massive:

Look closely and you can see something very scary in the background :)

The next day we got some breakfast at our favorite pasty shop. A pigeon flew in and wanted some crumbs. The place is THAT good...even the animals want some.

We went to the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. This museum was very interesting!

Here I am as we were waiting for the Underground. We also saw a tiny mouse!!

Happy 100th post!!!

London weekend

We went to London again! We are really starting to enjoy the city. We decided we would go to the British Museum, London Aquarium, and try to see a West End show. On Saturday, we got up early and headed to the The Cornish Bakehouse, Benjamin's favorite place to eat in London. They have delicious pasties (not pastries).

We then headed off to the British Museum, which was free by the way. This is the oldest public museum in the world, established in 1753!

Some of the highlights of the museum were:
Rosetta Stone

Easter Island statue:

Sutton Hoo Treasure, preserved 7th century ship burial:

We also got to see the Parthenon Sculptures, Egyptain mummies (of both humans, Cleopatra included, and animals!), Lindow man, whose skin is 2,000 years old! This was the best museum I've seen in a while.

The West End show that we decided on was Blood Brothers. It was about a mother who had two twins, but couldn't afford to keep both of them. Her boss wants a baby and convinces the mother to give one of her twins to her. One boy is raised in poverty and the other in the upper class. The boys become friends and eventually fall in love with the same girl.

On Sunday, we went to the London Aquarium! We saw everything from sea horses to upside down jelly fish to sharks! It was fun but quite pricey, for two hours of entertainment!

Here I am at the entrance to the "Shark Walk"

You have to walk over a glass insert, with sharks beneath you. Here's Ben checking it out:

Disclaimer for anyone who wants to visit England: October, you would think, is considered to be off season for tourists, right? NO! Here is a picture of just how crowded it was:

This is right beside the Thames, to the right, and Westminster Bridge, straight ahead. It's packed!!!!! We aren't quite sure when the tourist season dies down, but it's NOT in October!