The Hunt for Stroopwaffles

Friday morning I woke up before the sun and headed to Charles de Gaulle to catch my flight to Amsterdam!

Flight was pretty uneventful except for the Canadian man sitting at the table next to me while I was eating breakfast in the airport. He turned to me and asked "Est-ce que on change l'heure en France?" And I'm thinking to myself, do they change the hour in France? Do they change time? What is going on. He kept repeating it until he finally said in broken English "Do they change the time back an hour." To which I FREAKED out thinking that it was daylight savings that day and that I had the time wrong the whole day and had missed my flight. Then I realized that it wasn't daylight savings until Sunday and I was fine. But it was a minor freak out.

I landed in Amsterdam around noon and met Louisa and Ellie at the hotel which was a perfect location, not more than a 20 minute walk from anywhere! The city is very manageable on foot (or on bike!) We unfortunately didn't have time to rent bikes (//were also a little scared to rent them cause the streets are so small and windy) but there are bikes EVERYWHERE. Bikes have the right of way over everything and anything.

Bakers and Roasters: We had brunch here the first day and it was DELICIOUS. We all got poached eggs with avocado/mushrooms/potatoes and toast. It was a very cool trendy brunch place. Reminded me of something from New York City. We finished up our meal with an amazing peanut butter banana cake which was like banana bread on steroids.

I Amsterdam Sign: After brunch we wandered over to the area of the Rijk Museum/Picasso Museum thinking we would go inside. We then found out each museum was 17 euros with no student discount so we politely declined and instead took some subpar photos in front of the much too crowded iconic I Amsterdam sign. We also got interviewed by some random guy asking us what we thought of amsterdam and how much we would pay for certain things. I'm guessing he worked for some travel agency...

The Rijk museum that we didn't go in to oops

Bikes everywhere! Don't get hit!

I have a million photos of canals I won't bore you with them all.

Anne Frank House: We wandered around the canals for a bit after brunch, not thinking we would be able to get in to the Anne Frank House because we heard that the line is always absurd. And it is. But we hopped in line and it ended up moving very quickly. We waited for about an hour and it was definitely worth it. It was very powerful to see the space where Anne lived. The house was empty of any furnishings (that's how Otto Frank wanted it), but there were beautiful quotes picked out from her diary that fit with the different rooms and explanations of what went on in each room. They also had her actual diary on display which was amazing. It made me want to come back and read the book.

Amsterdam Museum of Cheese: This "museum" actually turned out just to be a glorified cheese shop. But not in a bad way at all. There were samples of cheese EVERYWHERE and a funny photo booth where you could take your picture wearing funny dutch clothes holding cheese wheels. We ate lots of yummy cheese before heading back to our hotel to get ready for dinner.

We grabbed a quick dinner at a subpar burger place cause we were in a bit of a rush to get to our pub crawl.

Ultimate Party Pub Crawl Leidsplein: Liv and Maddie both insisted that we did a pub crawl in Amsterdam so we googled "pub crawl amsterdam" and this was the first one that came up. It had great trip advisor reviews so we thought why not. It actually ended up being so fun. Leidsplein was 5 minutes from our hotel and was a small but very happening area. The pub crawl takes you to 6 different pubs with a free drink at each and free shots between each pub. We also got a free tshirt that I will probably never wear in public but is fun regardless. We made friends with one of the promoters (Patrick) so he made sure we had a good time and we had a fun silly night dancing around the Amsterdam pubs! Met lots of international people from Germany, Australia, South Africa... you name it. Finished up with some late night Wok to Walk. I hadn't had chinese food in so long so it was quite good...

Saturday

Pancake Bakery: We started Saturday morning off right at the Pancake Bakery which also had rave reviews. I was a little disappointed however to find out that dutch pancakes are basically crepes. I was looking forward to a nice fluffy stack of american pancakes. But I was very happy again when we actually got the pancakes. Louisa and I split the french pancake (goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts, and honey) and the dutch pancake which was heaven in a pancake. They had stroopwaffles IN the pancake! And it was topped with hazelnut ice cream whipped cream and chocolate shavings yum yum. Stroopwaffles are a dutch specialty and they have them everywhere. They're basically two thing waffles with caramel between them. You can buy the pre packaged kind anywhere but they also sell warm fresh ones at street markets. It was my goal of the trip to find a warm stroop waffle but alas I never did :(

Saturday day we wandered around the old town, then walked through the red light district (eep), and went to this cool carnival right next to the red light district. They had the tallest swings ride I had ever been on. It went above all the buildings in Amsterdam and had an amazing view. Then we got dutch fries with some sauce on them that I cannot recall but it was delicious.

Coffee Shop where they shot a scene from Ocean's 11

Ivy & Bros: Cute trendy café in the red light district that we had lunch at. Also appeared to be something out of Durham. Got a yummy avocado BLT and a cappuccino #basic

That afternoon we went to the "Heineken Experience" which is very appropriately named. It's not a Heineken museum. It starts out as a museum with the history of the company, then they go through the brewing process and show you all the machines and the ingredients. You even go through a 4D movie/simulation ride where you are the beer being brewed and your seat moves and they splash water on you etc. The latter part of the "experience" was the real experience part. It was basically an advertisement for Heineken. They had photo booths, beer tasting, karaoke, soccer simulation games, etc. with the Heineken logo everywhere. Then at the very end there is a huge room with a bar where you can get 2 free beers! So it's basically a party at the end of the "experience".

Saturday night we did a canal boat cruise which was so pretty! The canals are beautiful at night all lit up. The cruise also gave us unlimited drinks, pizza, and ben and jerry's. The cruise was only an hour and a half though haha so the unlimited drinks didn't get us that far, and they only had two flavors of ben and jerry's :/ but the cruise was still a really cool experience.

I also happened upon this little restaurant: Leeuwarden Road anyone?

Sunday morning my flight was a little later than Louisa and Elle's so I walked around the canals a bit by myself. It was sunny and pretty warm so it was so nice to walk around. The canals really are beautiful! Amsterdam is a very cute city, I must go back for a stroopwaffle soon.

More canal pictures sorry not sorry

More Paris Adventures: Louisa and Elle visit!

I had my first quiz at a Parisian university this week eep!

Monday was kind of a wash, wasted the day away in Arobase studying for macro which I guess was worth it cause the test was pretty easy... but the test was pretty easy so it was pretty unnecessary. I got the white chocolate berry crumble though! And my salad came with a warm mini bagel which was cute and toasty. Oh I also chatted with my new french friends after class (the ones who asked when Bill Clinton was president). I would use the term friends loosely since we've talked twice, but apparently that qualifies for a double air kiss on the cheek goodbye. Yes french people do actually do that. I was caught off guard...

Some cool street art I spotted next to arobase

Tuesday we had our test then celebrated with a good old bateaux mouche lunch after. They had some weird french version of hushpuppies which were actually very good. Then Natalie and I dragged Ben to Galleries Lafayette (big french department store) to do some shoe shopping with us. Then I had class and ran and watched orange is the new black which is a weird show but good I suppose. Then Liv and I met up with Louisa and Elle and their friend Gary for dinner!

Bateaux Mouche food

Le Refuge des Fondues: This is the super touristy restaurant in Montmartre that serves wine in baby bottles. It's a funky little place. There are two long tables and writing all over the walls. If you're sitting up against the wall the waiter helps you literally climb over the table to get in to the booth. It's a set menu with cheese or meet fondue. They start you out with a little aperitif and some olives/cheese/charcuterie I guess you would call it. Then the fondue and wine, followed by some weird foamy dessert that looks like ice cream but isn't. Everyone talks about this place so I had been wanting to go but to be honest I don't feel the need to go back. It's fun for a silly dinner with friends but it's a little grody and you definitely don't go for the food. But still glad we went.

After dinner we walked up to Sacre-Coeur which was BEAUTIFUL. We got to see Paris all lit up at night it was amazing. Highly recommend a trip up there at night.

Crêperie de Josselin: On Wednesday I met Louisa, Elle, and Ben for lunch after class at this awesome crepe restaurant in Montparnasse. Ellie had raved about it and Pauline had recommended it so I suggested it to give them a classic french crepe. We got the lunch formula which consisted of a drink (rosé for me), a savory crepe (ham, egg, and cheese), followed by a sweet crepe of your choosing (honey and lemon for me). The crepes were SO good! We were very full after but it was worth it haha. Also a cute homey environment but it gets really busy so go right when they open. I want to go back to try their smoked salmon crepe.

After lunch we walked around a bunch and went to La Durée where I got a mini almond croissant. Not the best I've had but it was good, not very almondy.. maybe that's cause it was mini. Then we walked past notre dame and shopped around the Marais!

I had an art history tour at centre pompidou instead of class which was awesome but kind of sucked cause the tour was of the exact rooms we went to visit by ourselves earlier in the semester. And the tour guide was kind of boring/repetitive of all the things we talked about already in class.

This is what I have to do my art history presentation on tomorrow........

Le Perchoir: This is a trendy dinner restaurant/bar in Bastille. You go down this sketchy side street and there's no sign for the restaurant. It looks like an open door to some old warehouse or apartment building but there's a bouncer sitting there on a stool so you know it's the place (~hipster~!!). Then you go up an elevator to the 7th floor where there's a rooftop bar with an amazing view of Paris! Unfortunately though it was cold, rainy, and a weeknight so no one was really there. But we had dinner in the restaurant which was right under the bar and it was SO good. We got fun cocktails (mine was called Le Shakespear, shakespeare but it had pear juice in it lol play on words) It's tapas style with a bunch of really interesting dishes, we couldn't pick our favorite! There was some beef carpaccio, and a poached egg with mushrooms, cod, roasted potatoes, yummy pasta, burrata, you name it. The waiters were also so nice. And it definitely wasn't touristy since it's hidden. Very french and the waiters gave us a digestif to finish our meal for free to thank us because we ended up being the last people in the restaurant just hanging out and talking. Would be a really cool place in the summer.

Thursday I slept in and ran and went to Cojean again. Sometimes ya just need the health food. And everything I've gotten there I've loved and makes me feel good so I keep going back. I also figured out the wifi which is tight. There's a cool photography exhibit/some weird tent sculpture things along the quai again so here are some photos of that.

After class I did some shopping on rue de rennes :) I have window shopped there for a long time so I was very happy to get some things that had been on my list haha. I got black booties at this store called Texto which were so cute! And they were actually very well priced. The sales woman was SO nice she made the experience so much better. She spoke to me in french the whole time and was teaching me new words and phrases about shoes like "le sommeil" for insoles, or "trop haut" for too tall.. things like that. Then I used that snazzy coupon I got from Yves Rocher to buy some red lipstick (so french!) and new mascara that I'd been needing. I asked the saleswoman to pick a shade for me and she picked bright red. I was like "something a little darker maybe..?" and she was all "oh no no no with your eyes you need something bright". So I rolled with it. And got a free tote bag which was cool.

Secco Bakery: Stopped here for an almond croissant during my shopping! Heard it's a really good bakery and the croissant did not disappoint. But I do think all pastries are probably better in the morning when they're fresh.

Had dinner with the host fam and we shared my cheese finally! Background story on the cheese is that I bought it from le marché du raspail the other week for a picnic with courtney but never used it and I was getting self conscious cause it was STINKING UP my host family's fridge. But apparently my host mom didn't notice and I asked her if the cheese was still good and she looked at it and was like "oh yes yes of course!!" and was pointing out these indicators on the cheese to me that it was good and such but I don't remember exactly. But I do remember she said to leave it out for 30 minutes at least before eating to maximize the flavor. Dinner was prosciutto and some polenta green bean purée thing (I have no idea and I didn't ask but it tasted good). We also had soup to start. Margot kills the soup game.

Get ready for red-lipstick Kelly!

Jk I've worn it like twice.

Giverny

To finish up my solo weekend of adventures I took a little day trip out to Monet's house in Giverny. Monet has been my favorite artist for a long time, and was a big inspiration to me throughout my painting years (which I still try to keep up with here and there). Les Nymphéas (his water lilies) are stunning and I've always wanted to see his gardens. Monet is quoted as saying "I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers". And after seeing his gardens I am not surprised at all. They are absolutely gorgeous and vibrant.

The trip was a lot easier than I imagined, considering when my friend wheeler went he ended up in Rouen. I bought my tickets online beforehand and showed up with plenty of time to find the track and validate my ticket. It was a quick 45 minute train out to Giverny and when I got off the train there was a cute kitschy little bus/train looking thing that was advertising rides straight to Monet's house. (The train station is actually in Vernon, a 15 minute drive across the river from Giverny). The bus looked like something out of Disney world, and probably would have been nicer in the summer considering all the open windows now covered with tarps. But I read online that there was a shuttle from the train station to Monet's house so I figured this must be it. (It wasn't. They just got to us before the shuttle and charged us 2 extra euros for the "experience"). Though we did get a nice audio tour of the history of Vernon and giverny while bumping along the streets with the freezing wind whipping in our faces. The countryside was also beautiful - all the leaves were changing colors and we could see little clusters of houses climbing the mountains. So I suppose that was worth the extra 2 euros. I also met two nice girls from Mexico on the bus/train who I chatted with for a while. They're studying in Paris too and had lived in a lot of cities all over. 

The bus dropped us off at a parking lot a 5 minute walk from Monet's house. Giverny is an adorable little town filled with little streets, brown thatched roofs, and ivy climbing every wall. It reminded me a little of ambroise. I say that like giverny is a big town but there were maybe 15 buildings which are probably all now dedicated to the Monet foundation and serve as cafe's/souvenir shops.

It was pretty chilly so I grabbed a café allongé from one of said cafés and headed to the house. In typical French fashion, to go cups of coffee don't truly exist, so instead I was given a plastic cup with a shot of espresso and maybe a tablespoon of water. Naturally It kept sloshing over my gloves so I had to bite the bullet and chug it. 

You enter the gardens from one corner and it seems like there are flowers for as far as the eye can see. There are all different types with every color and shape you could imagine. There are small little dirt paths leading through all the flowers with some little benches were you can sit and soak it all in. I was really glad to see that the flowers were all still alive and perky even though it was fall. I'm sure they spend a lot of money keeping them looking like that... The gardens close October 31st so I caught them just in time.

Monet's house is situated on a hill looking over his garden. To be honest there's not too much to say about the house. It's modest, with colorful walls, and a lot of Japanese drawings on the walls. There's one room that is filled with his paintings. It took my breath away at first until I saw the sign that said "replicas of Monet's most famous works". I guess there are more important places for Monet's work to be kept...

View from Monet's bedroom window

Walking off of his front porch there is a beautiful archway of flowers. So naturally I asked a lovely Asian tourist to take my photo. So here's that:

I spent some more time in the gardens after that and made my way to the Lilly pond. Seeing the pond was surreal. I felt like I was in one of Monet's paintings. It felt so familiar even though I had never been there before. Sadly there weren't very many water lillies since it was fall but there were lots of Lilly pads, and tons of grand sweeping willows. They also had the iconic Japanese bridge that Monet painted so many times until his vision gave way. The trees were changing colors and the flowers were so beautiful.

I also noticed that there were lots of women here accompanied by who I assume were their significant others that were basically taking photo shoots with the water lilies. I guess there's no better place right? Anyways, I assumed they must be professional photo takers and since I knew no one there I had no shame in asking for another solo shot. This woman was very nice and insisted on taking 10+ photos of my because the lighting wasn't right but it just wasn't gonna work from the beginning..

To finish up my visit I sat and sketched on a few benches in the gardens. I wished I had had colors cause that is really the only way to do Giverny justice - but the pencil and paper just had to do the job. I haven't drawn in a long time, so it was really nice and peaceful to sit and enjoy in such a beautiful place. It was also funny because lots of people would walk by me and be whispering and pointing probably like "omg look an artist in Monet's gardens how picturesque!" And I'm just like "lol this thing is scribbles". 

I was very content on my train ride home and definitely won't forget the magic that was Monet's gardens. For now I'll just have to settle for a visit to the Orangerie here and again. I wish I could have gardens like those someday :)