Amsterdam Part 2 - Dankavelle! Je Quee.

So, I’ll just start this out by saying that this is one of the best trips I’ve ever been on. Very eventful, very full of adventure, very fun… I’d like to thank Rob for everything. I know the five of us will be friends for life.

We are on our way home (in the middle of a 14 hour flight) and quite exhausted. We are trying to stay awake so we can get a good nights rest tonight and get back on the time schedule for the U.S. As much as we’ve loved traveling for nine days, we have to get back into the groove of the U.S. lifestyle. Work!

The last couple of days in Amsterdam, Holland were brilliant. We went on the bike tour that we had originally scheduled for the first day. We were very happy we did this because the rain went away [I think it’s because of our sun dance ; )] and we were able to enjoy the trip much more than we would have if it were raining the whole time.

Our tour guide’s name was A.J. He was a very down-to-earth guy who obviously enjoyed living in Amsterdam and taking people on bike tours for a living. Even though the bike tour was four hours, it seemed like it went by in five minutes (actually, the whole trip felt like that!). He showed us around the entire city (which was much larger than Prague) and we all wondered why we didn’t get bikes the first day. Our legs were killing us from trying to walk the entire city. He showed us the “I Amsterdam” sign, the various beer breweries, the famous fry shops (people like french fries in Amsterdam… that was new to me), the “coffeeshops”, the art museums, and yes – even the red light district.

It was fun to experience the biking in Amsterdam since everyone does it, but it was a little scary because cars + bikes + walkers + big city intersections required master maneuvering skills. It was an adventure, that is for sure! The majority of people in the city bike, so they carry their kids in bike seats and park there bikes everywhere. I wish people were more like that in the U.S.

We were hoping to go to one of the beer breweries to see how they brewed local beer, but we couldn’t fit that in to our schedule. We will definitely hit that first thing when we go back.

After the tour, we went to a pizza shop and had AMAZING pizza… the best pizza of the trip right near Dam Square. Did I also mention that the coffee is great in Europe as well? We shopped for souvenirs in the hundreds of shops on our walk home to the hotel then decided to go out for dinner with just Scotty and I and do some people watching. We ate dinner at a restaurant where we could look right out into a main square and watch the people walk by/watch the musicians. By this time, we had three layers on with gloves, so eating outside wasn’t half bad.

While we were eating we met a 71 year old man named Roman. We talked with him for about an hour. He told us to be happy, eat lots of garlic and take good care of each other. He was married to his wife for 25 years and missed her very much (he was a leo and she was a libra). I think we were definitely meant to meet him. : )


The next day, we woke up – had amazing croissants for breakfast, then walked to the Van Gogh museum. I have a passion for art history and art was my minor so seeing Van Gogh was a must – especially since they have the largest collection in the world in Amsterdam (because Van Gogh was from there). We didn’t get to see the Starry Night painting because that is housed in New York, but we did get to see the still life of the Sunflowers, some of his Japanese print-like stuff, and his famous “Wheatfield With Crows” picture that was said to be the last piece he painted before his death (though there are a lot of opinions about which piece was his last).







I didn’t realize what a miserable man Van Gogh was… he was very troubled. He cut his ear off because he got in a fight with his friend Gauguin (who loved him dearly I might add). He admitted himself into a mental institution and did a lot of his best pieces there. He used to take art pieces from artists he loved and copy them/bring out the thicker brush strokes/ bring out the complementary colors. He had no scholarly art training, and mocked those that did – he said those who had that training didn’t see art and colors the way people wanted to see them. He was very critical of himself because he didn’t sell any of the paintings he created. He ended up killing himself after struggling with anxiety and mental illness. His artwork wasn’t famous until after his death.

He loved painting pictures of landscapes, working people, nature, anything natural/realistic. He was very close with his brother and painted this picture for his nephew which I thought was beautiful –


After the museum, Scotty and I went to a beautiful bakery and got some sandwiches. I can’t wait to post pictures of this place because it was right out of a storybook.

We then decided to go to Dam Square and ride “the swings” in this carnival like square that looked like a mini Disneyland in the middle of the city. There was a huge Ferris Wheel, a haunted house, swings that went higher than any of the buildings in the city, rides, etc. Scott is afraid of heights, but I got him to go on the swings with me and he was really happy he did it. We got some great pictures of the city at the top : ) It was cold though!

We decided to walk through the Red Light District because everyone says you must do it. Right when we got in the area, we saw thirty beautiful swans in the canal. I had never seen so many swans in one area! The red lights were cool and it was very surreal to think that people were actually window shopping for people there.

We had our final dinner with “the crew” at a cute little spot called the Palladium. The food in Amsterdam was definitely better than Prague. I had a delicious vegetarian lasagna and Scotty had the authentic fries with a hamburger.

It was an amazing trip and we feel truly blessed to have experienced it. Thank you universe!

Best quotes from the trip:
“De Quee, Yo Queue, Ye Quey…” – Rob/all of us trying to say “Thank You” in Prague.
“Let’s Keep It Poppin’.” – Eddie
“My body is shutting down. I need bed.” – Jeff
“Dankavelle.” – Jess trying to say “Thank You” in Amsterdam and perfecting it ; )
“Watch out for the bikes!” - Scott

Amsterdam Part 1

We were supposed to go on a bike tour around the city on the first day in Amsterdam, but it was raining pretty hard so we asked if we could postpone the ride to the next day. It was a great decision, because it literally rained cold miserable rain all day. We had coffee/drinks at a nice little Irish Pub ( I know, again… not sure what our obsession with the Irish is) and watched soccer for an hour or so.

Our friend Eddie introduced us to a native named Jesse, and he invited us to go up to his loft to checkout his art. His loft was very nice and I really loved the concept of his art. He took recyclable boxes and painted Rembrandt-like pieces on them. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a loft in Amsterdam that you dedicated solely to art making?? Jesse then proceeded to tell us that he is an actor and showed us some of the commercials he’s been in world-wide. He was in a McDonalds commercial, BMW commercial, banking commercial, etc. and had won an award from Warner Brothers for a project he helped them with. We were hanging out with a true celebrity here and he was extremely down to earth and hospitable.

After leaving the loft, we decided to go to the Anne Frank house. Most of you have probably read “The Diary of Anne Frank” when you were in grade school/middle school, but this house/exhibit was exquisite and I highly recommend you visit if you come to Amsterdam. Scott’s mom had recommended we go (thanks Becky!), and I am happy we did because it was one of my favorite adventures in the city.

Besides the fact that Anne Frank and I share the same birthday and that we are both writers, I felt a weird connection with her. I ended up being the same height as her as well (her measurements were on the wall). I can’t imagine what it would be like to be stuck in an attic for years while being hunted by Germans and not being able to breathe the fresh air/run around/be free. How claustrophobic! I also can’t believe that after all that, they were actually caught by the Germans and only her father survived. It was nice to have the story brought back to us to remember a) how recent WWII is to us in our history and b) to remember that we never want something that hellacious to happen again. We must love one another.

The one part of the museum that I thought was truly sobering was watching a video of her Father’s thoughts after the whole ordeal was over and after he read Anne’s journals about the incident. He said that after he read Anne’s journals he was surprised and how little he actually knew his daughter and what was going on in her mind. He had no idea that she was so critical of herself and wished he could have known that so he could have been there for her more. It’s amazing how little we actually know about our closest friends and family members.

That’s something only our journals know…

That night, we went to dinner at a very “posh” place for a five course meal and entrance into an exclusive night club. The food was delicious… goat cheese salad, miso soup, vegetarian ravioli, chocolate strawberry ice cream dessert. The dinner that night was one of my favorite dinners of the trip. The night club was okay… it had a great D.J. (ACE) and Eddie kept saying “Let’s keep it poppin!” so that is what we did : )

Prague Day 3/4, Holland Day 1– “I Don’t Speak Freaky Deeky Dutch.”

We started out the evening going to a really nice restaurant in downtown Prague. I had the vegetarian risotto and Scott had the lamb. We had great conversation and laughs with the people we were traveling with then went out to hit the town for a couple hours.

The next day, we decided to take the advice of my friend Teri and go see the Lennon Wall. While on our way we passed over the Charles Bridge and looked at all of the souvenirs on the bridge. The first day when we saw the Charles Bridge, it was raining so not very many vendors were out. When we saw it for the second time – the bands, musicians, vendors were out and it was a truly beautiful experience. There was a musician who was playing us Mozart on crystal glasses. It was pretty brilliant.

We then made our way to try to find the Lennon Wall and found a beautiful, quiet little area by a river. The fall leaves were falling over the river with perfection. We found a wall of “locks” near the river and found out later that if you have found true love, you are supposed to add a lock to the fence (to bad we didn’t have a lock with us!). You are also supposed to carve your names near the locks and throw a key in the river/canal behind it. Apparently there is something similar to this in Paris.

Right after we saw the locks, we made our way to see the Lennon Wall. It was a truly great experience and one of my favorites in Prague (got some great pictures! – thanks Teri!). It is a tribute to love after John died. It has lyrics from The Beatles all over it and represents peace and love in Prague. When Prague was run by a communist dictatorship, the leaders did not like the wall because they saw it was their citizens being hypnotized by western capitalism/mental derangement. Isn’t that ironic? All these people wanted was the word of love to be spread. Does that make you mentally deranged? If so, I am proud to be mentally deranged! : ) I loved that no matter who you met at the wall, you were instant friends because you could sing Beatles songs with them and you instantly had that in common. Even if you spoke different languages, you could still connect through the lyrics.

After the wall, we decided to climb a bell tower near the castle (with about a thousand steep steps). Apparently Prague was one of the main places where bells were made before WWI and WWII. They melted down all of the bells to use for the wars, but before that time – they had 256 bells that sounded off all over the town to alert citizens of what was going on around the city. All of the bells around the city sound different and mean different things.

We got pizza in a realllly weird little place that had “Neverending Story” like fantasy paintings. The place was supposed to be a cave… it was weird, but had great service which is rare in the restaurants in Prague. By the time we got out of the restaurant, it was sunset and a beautiful time to cross the Charles Bridge again to take pictures.

We tried to find the Communist Museum for a couple hours while shopping, but couldn’t find it and couldn’t find anyone who spoke English to tell us how to get there. We decided to climb the clock tower that has the Astrological Clock in it and when we go to the top, both of us found that we were afraid of heights with how high it was off the ground! The view was beautiful at night though and we are happy we did it. We then decided to go get a massage near our hotel. The massage was just what we needed to rejuvenate ourselves for a couple more days in Europe (especially since you walk everywhere – our legs were killing us!). We decided to go out for a night on the town (it was our last night in Prague), so we met up with the people we were traveling with and went to a couple night clubs.

We met an Irish couple there who we totally clicked with – Joe (Josephine) and Liam. Liam and Scott had an instant “bromance”, and Scott said that if Liam lived in the states that they’d be best friends. We found out that they are both Leos (of course I asked) and then it all made sense as to why they were getting along so great ; ) We danced, walked the streets, and had generally just had a great time with them. We were very sad we hadn’t met them earlier. Anyway, Liam and Joe said we can come visit them in Ireland anytime (and vice versa) so we may just take them up on that offer!

We traveled about four hours on flights through Warsaw, Polland yesterday and arrived in Amsterdam, Holland late last night. We went out to a place called WagaMama for some Japanese noodles (weird pick eh?) and checked out the city late last night, but for the most part – we were exhausted and decided to get our first eight hours of non-jet-lag sleep. We are now plotting what we will do today, but we are for sure going to go on a “bike tour” which I am VERY excited about. Everyone rides bikes here and I absolutely love it.

I keep watching out for Gold Member (you all know what a big Austin Powers fan I am) and “the very toit” Austin Powers “Fasha”. I think I may run into Dr. Evil at any moment and here him say “I don’t speak freaky deaky dutch.”

“I vant everyone to have an Amsterdam good time.” - Goldmember

Prague, Day 1 and 2 - Manifesting Happiness

I cannot even tell you what an amazing year it's been so far. I am a true believer in manifesting your own happiness through the power of positive thought and sending positive energy to the universe.

It's been one of the luckiest years of my life, and let me tell you how that started.... My mom and step-father brought me up going to all different types of churches (which I am very grateful for because I feel blessed to have a background in all different types of religious faith and truly have a respect for all). One year, they took me and my little brother to the Unitarian church on New Years Eve to a ceremony called "The Burning Bowl". I know that may sound a little "shady" to you all, but it was something that has changed my life for the better.

What you do (and what I've continued to try to repeat with either friends or family each year on New Years)- You write down all of the things you want to get rid of about yourself and your life from the past year on a piece of tissue paper. You then burn it in a bowl of fire with all of your friends, releasing that energy and putting that energy behind you. Then, you write a letter to God (or whoever you believe in - heck, it could even be one of your mentors if you don't believe in a higher power), it's all about getting out what you want to manifest for yourself in the next year... To be clear - you write a letter with what you want to accomplish in the next year and try to be as descriptive as possible.

I invited some friends over to my house for this ritual last New Year's and let me tell you the things that have come true for me...

1. I have a new job with great co-workers and leaders that mentor me, believe in me, and want me to grow professionally and personally.
2. I got a new car (I've been avoiding this for years... what a cluster experience!).
3. I am happy, genuinely and fully. I feel full of life, love, energy and health.
4. I've been doing more service for our community. Be it volunteering for races raising money for different charities, donating for causes, helping friends and loved one's move, and have a plan to make blankets for Primary Children's in Nov.
5. I'm traveling to a country I've never been to with Scotty (something I thought wouldn't come true, but I've recently been blessed to have this come into my life).

So...this brings me to where I am at now - Prague.

I won a free trip to Europe through work. I know, how does that happen right?! Well, it has been a true blessing and one of the funnest experiences of my life so far.

Day one was filled with a lot of travel. 13 hours on a plane and about an hour car ride to our hotel. We are staying in a hotel near Old Town Square right by the Astrological Clock. If you haven't researched the clock, you must. It's one of the coolest things in this world (in my opinion). It's nice that we are in they city, because last time I went to Prague (which was also an amazing experience), we were out of the town about 20 minutes and had to take a train in.

I REALLY tried to sleep well on the plane so I wouldn't be jet-lagged, but that didn't work very well and I made the mistake of taking a nap in my hotel room when I got to the hotel so I didn't sleep at all last night. Oh well, hopefully I will sleep better tonight? ; )

Even thought I didn't sleep well last night, the first night before I tried to sleep was a success. We are here with a great group of people (five of us).

We all made a bad tourist mistake right when we got in (because we were all delirious from the time change and long flights). We dropped a lot of money on bottled waters at an Irish, yes, I said IRISH pub (why we decided to go to such a place in Prague for breakfast versus an authentic Prague pub or restaurant, I do not know). Oh well, we learned from it and the food wasn't that bad.

We took a tour of the city today and saw the beautiful Gothic castle/cathedral. Our tour guide was a doll. She said that people on average only make $18,000 a year here. Us American's are blessed whether we'd like to believe it or not. As mentioned, the astrological clock is one of my favorite landmarks that I've ever seen (you know what a geek I am about astrology) ; ] Our tour guide was a Libra by the way and she got a kick out of the fact that I knew all about the clock. She kept saying "you are so smart with this stuff and looking at me funny". Well, that's what most people do when I talk to them about astrology, so I am used to it : )

It is a bit cold, but we are making the best of it. The fall colors are beautiful and I feel very blessed that I've been able to see Prague in the spring AND in the fall.

I am also very lucky to have Scotty here. I came to Prague without him last time (when I went for school), and it was very hard to be in one of the most romantic places on earth without him.

We are off to Amsterdam soon, I've never been there, but I am looking forward to see where Ann Frank lived (she's one of the only historical figures I know of that has the same birthday as me and her story is truly inspirational). I am also looking forward to seeing Van Gogh's art gallery and more Gothic/Baroque architecture. Pictures soon.

Much love - J*