I didnt finish writing last night because i had a raging fever that had me in bed early. But here is yesterday’s finished entry.

This morning we were up early and ate breakfast down in the restaurant. We decided to go to the Louvre first, a famous museum that houses artifacts from before Christ. We took the metro and came up right close to it. It is absolutely huge. An old majestic marble building that has large marble halls and wide staircases and so many different rooms going everywhere. We got tickets and started at the first floor. The first part we went through was the Mesopotamia and Egyptian era with some of the artifacts from 1200 b.c. We went to rooms full of art and paintings from the 1300s, and saw halls full of carved marble and bronze statues. Big glass cases held little vases from the Assyrians and huge stones full of hieroglyphics. We also saw the famous Leonardo da Vinci painting “Mona Lisa”. There were so many people waiting their turn to get close to see and take pictures of it. We spent several hours walking around the Louvre but to truly see it you would need several days. My head was overloaded when we were done.

From there we took the Metro to a little street that has one of the top 10 cafes in Paris. It was cool out but we sat outside and had quiche, smocked salmon, and penne pasta. There were little round tables we ate at with a big white paper doily covering it. After you ordered they brought out a little container of flavored nuts for you to eat. Then your food came out and let me expound here how expensive it is to eat or buy here. Most cafes will charge around 4,50 euros or 5.60 US for an espresso. Sodas will be up to 6,50 euros which is almost 8 USD. An average entree at this place would cost 24 euros. We got food off the starter and brunch menu so it was cheaper but it is pricey. Bus or metro tickets are pretty cheap.

So after we ate we walked the streets with all their little stores and shops. I bought a black beret that I will also wear in Cali because its too cool not to. After a lot of indecision, Jalen bought an olive green hat that is really cool too. We walked over to the Cathedral of Notre Dame and it is another amazing church. The crown of thorns, a nail from the cross, and a piece of the cross are inlaid and kept there. It has amazing architecture and gets millions of visitors every year.

Spent some time there and walked down to an artsy neighborhood where we found La Fronde and sat to have espresso and crepes on the sidewalk. We were relaxing and suddenly the owner comes out and tells us to put our phones and backpacks away and we hear tons of noise and drums beating farther down the street. The lady tells us this is when lots of robberies happen. Then down the street comes this flood of people. At the front are people dressed in weird suits with terrible masks on. After them comes a banner saying something about “Karibbean” held by girls and then just a mob of people following chanting, blowing whistles, and men with big black whips cracking them in the street. It was a weird feeling because we didn’t know what was going on but obviously a protest of some kind. We headed over to the Metro again a couple streets away and on the way there we encountered another rally but this one was middle eastern and had banners that were pleading to let this man go. Some of the posters likened as different man to Hitler. There were maybe a thousand people chanting and walking and a very heavy police force in front and behind the group. They were protest police with shields, smoke launchers, etc. I told Morgan this was probably not a safe place to be with hundreds of people yelling about Allah. So we finally got to the metro. phew.

Took it back to the hostel and relaxed and ate supper. I was feeling pretty gross so I went to bed early.

We didnt get around in very good time this morning so we hurried through showers and breakfast. We did manage to meet a guy from the Bay area this morning over breakfast tho! So we had a lot to talk about and he gave us some ideas because he was just in France where we are going.

We took a bus to Bruges Station and got the train back to Brussels. Got lunch at the statio there and ran to our next train. Jalen thinks we are stressing him out by cutting it too close. We maybe are. I didnt realize there was security so I just hauled on through and they didnt bother stopping me but Morgan got nabbed. Trying to communicate with people here is funny and frustrating. They call bathrooms “the toilet” and it costs half a euro to use them anywhere basically. And its discouraged to pee publicly because you can get a fine. So we caught our train to Paris finally and it had plush red seats and tables and it went 180 mph mostly but up to 190. It was so smooth and things just whip by outside. The countryside on the way into Paris was green fields with trees bordering them and it was pretty flat but getting closer to Paris there were way more trees and it was a little hilly.

We arrived in Paris. Oh my. I wish my mom and fam were here with me. We checked into our hostel and dropped off our bags before getting lunch at the restaurant on the bottom floor of our hostel. Then we got on the metro and headed to le Eiffel Tower! The metro is always so crowded that you just squeeze on if you want a ride. We got to the Eiffel Tower at maybe 3 or so. My first thought was that the base was way bigger than I thought it would be and the tower itself was shorter. We stood in line a bit and got tickets to the top! Its cheaper if you take the stairs instead of the lift so we climbed the 714 stairs.(yes I with my lean and athletic physique also made it the 714 steps) to the second floor but any higher and you take a lift so we rode that to the top and view was ·amazing·. You can see for miles on all sides. We stuck our heads through the fencing which I suppose is discouraged but wow looking down was cool. I video called Mom, Madi and Dillon from the top so they could be there with me❤ and the guys called the siblings and folks too. We were up there for awhile and it got later so the city lights started coming on all over and that was a whole different kind of beauty. We came down and walked up to view it from farther away which was neat because it was lit up against the sky. Every hour they have a light show on the tower which basically makes it all sparkly.

Then we brought the metro back to the hostel and relaxed. Ate snacks. Drank water.

The fashion here is funny. Lots of girls wear tights with black combat boots with buckles and little berets on their heads. They wear quite heavy makeup especially lipstick. A lot of men wear brown shoes with skinny jeans with the hem rolled up on the pant legs. This is usually worn with tweed coats and scarfs.

The city from the Eiffel Tower we noticed is painted mostly white it looked like. It has way more cars and people than the other cities we’ve been so far and the streets are dirtier. It could just be the areas we’ve been in though. I can’t wait to see more tomorrow. Bonne nuit mon amours✌

We got up pretty early this morning to a 50* sunny day. At least most of it was but it did start light rain later this evening. Had a typical breaky here at the hostel and rented bikes to see as much of the town as possible.

I am so in love with this town. The old old houses line the canals and churches stand watch over big cobblestone squares. All the houses are very old and line the streets with only steps into the street to break up the line of housesm no porches or big window boxes. The architecture everywhere is amazing.

We went to so many churches and cathedrals that I have no clue in what order we did them but ill tell you about some of the more impressive ones. We went to a place called the Belfry of Bruges that is a medieval bell tower. For a fee of course you can climb the 366 stairs to the top. We voted to buy waffles rather. Haha. We walked around several of the big squares and into shops of chocolate and lace and little bakeries.

We also stopped at a place called the Secret Garden where a very old house had the roof fall in etc. and instead of tearing it down they cleared out the rubble and began planting flowers and bringing in pots so the whole whimsical brick house is full of plants and flowers. Also an orange cat that came whipping out of a window box.

We stopped for lunch for paninis which here are about a foot long and sort of like a soft skinny baguette. The next stop was was the Church of Our Lady where one of Michelangelos marble statues is. It is one of only a couple of his works that is outside of Italy and is titled “Madonna and Child.” The church itself is incredible with the brickwork tower being the second highest in the world. They have recently found original artwork on the ceilings and some walls by scraping away layers of paint. Most of the churches we go into here have paintings dating back to the 1500s or some other far away time.

We spent some time there before going to the Basilica of the Holy Blood, a place famous for having a supposed vial of Jesus blood. See more about it here. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_the_Holy_Blood It is very reverent in the small church and many people come away weeping. I know there are probably many skeptics among you but when I stood in front of it and thought just what if this really was the blood of Jesus, I felt so incredibly small and it seemed to become so real to me that Jesus had lived on earth just like me. And to think that his blood would have been spilled for me and my sins. What a feeling.

We stopped for coffee at this little vegan cafe where hot chocolate is actual belgium milk chocolate cubes that they pour hot milk over and drinking it tastes like heaven.

Came back to the hostel and relaxed a bit. We met two of our roomies. One is a guy from Australia and the other guy is from India. Both of them are divers and the guy from Australia told us to definitely scuba dive by tulum and playa del Carmen in mexico and we told him we had this Christmas and he was stoked! The guy from India is a rescue diver and had performed over 150 rescues. His dads friend owns an island and for this guys 21st bday they had the island to themselves. I don’t know anyone else who owns an island just to be clear.

We had shawarma for supper..I fell asleep and now woke up to finish this. Cheers to everyone🎉 and a happy anniversary to my amazing mom and my dear dad who I miss so so much.

We packed up this morning and left our packs at the hostel to go pick up later. Then we had coffee and bagels for breaky at Starbucks and returned our rental bikes. It was cool again this morning and it had rained in the night so everything was soaked.

After we returned our bikes we caught a tram to Amsterdam Centraal so we could catch a different train out to Zaanse Schans which is where the old dutch windmills are. There is a little village with about 7 old windmills there. We walked the loop and toured inside the windmill that still makes peanut oil. So much manual labour went into making simple things! Two huge concrete wheels going in a circle crush the peanuts. Eventually a man takes the crushed peanuts and puts them between cheesecloth and then a thick rubber sack over it. Then with a pulley he lifts and drops a thick stone block on the rubber sack and each time it compresses peanut oil out of it into a tray underneath. The peanut oil is ready to go and they remove the compressed peanuts which are in a cake type form by the end of the process and use them for cow feed. They also had a sawmill and a cacao mill that are still in use there. The windmills are green with four big blades covered with brown “sails” that go around. If it gets too windy or starts going too fast the man takes a sail off one of the blades to slow it down.

We took the train back into Amsterdam and picked up our packs and got lunch at a little Italian place. After lunch we went to a cheese museum. There were over 60 kinds of cheese to try and we tried a lot. Goat cheese, cheese aged for 4 years, Italian herb, goat cheese garlic and truffle, and beer cheese were some we tried.

After the cheese museum we walkeyt?d to the Anne Frank Haus which was something super high on my list. We had bought tickets online for 2:45 so we headed in. We each got a deal for the audio tour. It gave us an audio tour through the warehouse and it stops while you go through The Secret Annexe and resumes again when you’re through. It was such an incredible and moving experience. The rooms the Frank and van Daan families had to live in were small. Then the thought of living in them with 8 people for two years without ever leaving was unreal. We saw the actual wallpaper with the postcards and pictures Anne had pasted on the wall when she first arrived at the Annexe. Most of their things were taken by the Nazis when they arrested the people of the Annexe but several things are on display that survived. Annes actual diary is on display there, a grocery list for rations from Mrs. van Daan, and a tin of marbles Anne had given her friend the day they left. It was so sad to think this has all happened in my grandma juls lifetime!ßf Hugo%f

We left the Anne Frank Haus and took the train to Centraal again and after some running around we grabbed some sandwiches and found our greyhound bus on Eurostar that would bring us to Brussels, Belgium. Loaded up there and saw a bit of the city but it was soon dark and we dozed for 3 hours until we arrived and walked 10 minutes to our hotel. Meininger Hotel its called and has a ton of people staying here including some church youth groups it looks like. Super modern rooms with bunks and all floors are concrete with wide halls and computers, pool table, board games, coffee bar, foosball, etc. We overlook a canal and they’re much bigger canals here than in Amsterdam. Morgan and I went and grabbed “hamburgers” which aren’t beef here I’m not really sure what they are except sort of sausagey and pastey. No more of those for me! We’re sharing our room with some kids from Paris. Really great people here and so neat to be able to meet and become friends with such different humans from such different cultures. Also everyone here speaks French which I wasn’t expecting. So au revoir.💃

So we didn’t sleep great last night. Also the man snoring above jalens bunk didnt help. He’s from Sweden we found out and is very nice. But the day was sort of cloudy and chilly and exciting so we went for a croissant breakfast and then went to rent bikes. Renting bikes was the best thing we ever did. Cost a bit and they give you the smoothest roadie bikes with little bells and a lock and chain because 80,000 bikes a year get stolen here the man said.

So we first rode out to Amsterdam Centraal and took our bikes on the free ferry across to Amsterdam-noord which is the wharf and industrial area where they have lots of art on old warehouses and shipping containers. There was so much graffiti and paintings! The one to the entrance is of a colorful Anne Frank with a caption that reads “let me be myself”. We rode our bikes through and looked at the paintings and then took the ferry back across.

Then we rode across town to the Albert Cuyp Market which is a whole cobblestone street filled with vendors and tents and lots of smells. You can buy raw fish, shoes, food, clothes, toys, fabric (not the good kind ladies) and basically anything. We ate lunch at a place called Bozz where the guys had burgers and I had Dutch beef croquettes that essentially are a beef and mashed potatoes paste with fried crumbs around it. You butter bread and eat it like a hot dog. Whatever you’re imagining it tastes like is probably wrong. It was very unique. Back on the street we tried mini pancakes which are a huge delight here apparently. I find them a delight as well and think they taste way better than our regular pancakes but the guys didn’t seem as enthused. They are about the size of a half dollar and have butter and powdered sugar on them and they are so darling.

After the market we went to this amazing place called the Rijksmuseum. Its in a very classy old huugee building where you drop your coats to ladies in the cloakroom before starting through the museum. There are 3 floors with different eras featured on each floor. I can’t explain everything we saw. Van Gogh paintings, Rembrandts famous “Night Watch”, dragons head canons acquired from the Java War with Asia in 1825, old china dishes, guns, and a priceless pure diamond stolen from the sultan of baghdad in a war. There was so much history there and we spent a couple hours wandering around there.

Then we came back to the hostel for sleep cuz we are still on Cali time. I talked to 2 girls who are in our dorm with us for awhile. They are from Croatia and gave us some good travel tips on berlin. We went to another little pizza place (its cheap & easy people!) for supper and biked through different areas of town. Got coffees and came back to the hostel and repacked cuz tomorrow afternoon is on to the next city. Also now we aren’t tired cuz w slept earlier so it’s 1:20 am and we are all awake. But goede nacht for now. 🌙