For the past 8 days, I have been traveling to Geneva, Amsteardam and Prague with my best friends in the Montpellier program, Darren and Casey. It was the funnest thing I've done this semester, but I'm incredibly tired and happy to be home. Montpellier is currently sunny and 65 degrees! I'll just give a little rundown of every city we went to. :)
Geneva, Switzerland
We only spent about a day and a half in Geneva, but we managed to do everything we wanted to while there! The first day, we walked around downtown, saw the lake, and just took pictures. That night, we went to a grocery store and bought fajita ingredients and wine, and after we just relaxed in the hostel. The next day, we went to the United Nations and went on a tour of various rooms, and learned the various functions of the rooms. The building itself was really beautiful, with artwork and materials donated from several member nations. The biggest conference room was where Hillary Clinton gave an important speech declaring that gay rights are human rights. I posted the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABzMAuI1vj0&feature=related
Geneva was really beautiful, but also the most expensive place we traveled.
Amsterdam, Netherlands
This was by far my favorite city of the trip. The energy in Amsterdam is just amazing, and there are tons of young people, and every single Dutch person with whom we interacted were extremely friendly and helpful. It seemed as if English was a second national language in Amsterdam-- Everyone spoke it, so that was beneficial for us, since none of us speak a word of Dutch. Seemingly everybody bikes in the city-- The bridges along the canals and bike stands along the buildings were literally filled with bikes all the time.
The first day, we got right down to business and went to the red light district and to a sex museum. It was kind of a surreal experience, since I've never seen prostitutes behind glass windows with prices and such listed, nor have I seen "coffee shops" selling marijuana before (though coffee shops were not at all limited to the red light district). The sex museum was in no way classy or tasteful. There were lots of animatronic models, "movies", pictures, posters and advertisements. We managed to have fun there somehow :). That night, the three of us went to "The Bump", a gay-friendly bar close to our hotel. It was a lot of fun, I got a cosmopolitan and danced the night away. :)
The next day was, we went to the Anne Frank house, and it was a really great and sad experience. We got to see where the Frank family lived, read about who helped them, watched various video clips from friends of various family members, as well as one from Otto Frank (the father of the family). Throughtout the museum, there were quotes from Anne's diary, some of which were very insightful and difficult to read, other ones much lighter and funnier. I got the impression that she was very hopeful and intelligent. As much as I read about the conditions the family lived in, I cannot even try to imagine what it must have been like. The curtain always had to be down. The family could not use running water after about 4:30 p.m. (no sink, no flushing, etc). It was really awful and depressing but also very important to read about everything this family (as well as many others) went through during that time in history.
That night, we tried another bar called "the cooldown cafe", where the waitors were all in strange costumes that didn't seem to correspond with a particular theme. I saw a pirate, a superhero and elvis for example. The music was a lot of fun, because a lot of the songs were traditional Dutch drinking songs with dances and everything, while others were top 40 songs that everyone could sing to. Not to mention the waitors were giving out free shots left and right. :).
The next day, we went to the Rijkmuseum, which contains the most important collection of classical Dutch art. Everything there was really beautiful, and the two most well-known artists featured in the museum are Rembrandt and Vermeer. Aside from paintings, there was a lot of decorative art, such as 17th century dollhouses, model ships, and fine china. It was a really beautiful museum, and I'm glad I got a chance to go. After, we went to Vondelpark, which was really beautiful, and just walked around there for a while. The park is filled with foot and bike paths, bridges, ponds and cafes. That night, we went to the cooldown cafe again.
I was sad to see this part of the trip end, but maybe I'll go back one day. Amsterdam is easily one of my favorite cities I've visited in Europe.
Prague, Czech Republic
Hands down, Prague is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. It's extremely colorful and the architecture is unreal. We basically went to see a lot of tourist attractions and took pictures. It was definitely a transition from Amsterdam, since not everyone spoke English. And of course, none of us speak a word of Czech.
The first day, we went to Old Town Square, where we saw the astronomical clock and after went to New Town square. I don't exactly know what to say about either place, except that both were stunning and you should look at my pictures. :). That night, we went to a traditional restaurant and I had goulash (beef with dumplings and gravy), and of course a pint of Czech beer. After, we went to a 5-story club (advertised as the biggest music club in central europe, which was a lot of fun. We got to go into an ice bar which was really cool!
The last day there, we went to Charles Bridge, took a lot of pictures, crossed the river, and went to see the Prague Castle as well as St. Vitus cathedral, both of which were beautiful. After those two things, we headed to the airport to go to Lyon for the night and headed back to Montpellier on the train today.
The trip was a blast, and I couldn't have asked for better weather or better travel partners!
