Eat. Love. Vienna.

EAT. LOVE. VIENNA. FRANCES CHEN LIFE ABROAD

[eatlovevienna]

Day At The Museum

5/4 - Berlin, Germany Started my second morning in Berlin off with an interesting chat with an old man in the hostel lobby who went to Berkley and was into the Argentine tango dance scene in Berlin. So random. But kinda cool, I guess? All I know for sure is that he totally loved to talk.

After an interesting start to my day, I wandered for breakfast and found a little bakery. I also got a chance to check out the graffiti art scene for the first time.

Today was going to be my Museum Island day so I headed over and ran into lots of flea markets on the river on the way. I spoiled myself a little and bought a few cool postcards of Berlin back when it was in destruction. 

Museum Island and its cathedral were beautiful in the morning as usual.

My first museum was the cool Neue museum with bust of Nefertiti! (Travel tip: Skip the long lines in front of the Neue Museum and get the museum pass from a less popular museum like the Alte Museum) 

The Neue Museum had an awesome Egyptian collection with reconstructed pyramid tomb pathways and numerous sarcophaguses.  

They didn't allow photos of the bust of Nefertiti itself, so I just have a photo of the banner. The hype over the bust was a bit overrated (probably because of their extreme pride over the face that the man who discovered it was German..), but it was impressive nevertheless. The bust was incredibly well preserved and beautiful.

After a long morning of museum-ing, I got Berlin staple currywurst enjoyed my lunch on the lawn facing the beautiful cathedral.  

After my not-so-healthy lunch, I headed over to the Pergamon museum that was crazy crowded. Zeus's Altar and the Ishtar Gates were really cool (and awesomely huge), but the huge crowds really made it hard to enjoy. The museum also had plenty of other impressive Roman and Islamic artifacts, all of which would've been so much more enjoyable with less ppl.

Zeus's Altar

Ishtar Gates of Babylon

My last museum of the day was Alte National Gallery with German and French paintings and sculptures. To be totally honest, it was my favorite museum of the day. It wasn't in the least bit crowded and housed some amazing and underrated works. Also a great audio guide and super friendly staff!

View from a museum window. 

Incredible sculptures

After a long day of intense museum-ing, I rewarded myself with refreshingly yummy yogurt and melon gelato. (:

I also ran into this beer biking tour on my tour around the city haha. The center of the cart has a bartender that serves beer to the biking people on the outside of the cart.

I made my first of many visits to the Ritter flagship store (that also featured its own Ritter Berlin Bear!)

Meter long of Ritter chocolate, yummy

I made my own Ritter!! Strawberry bits, yogurts chips and cereal pieces in dark chocolate, yummyy. 

I encountered this nice Bugatti dealer on my tour around the city as well.. not that I know a thing about cars, but the crowd of people around it told me it was a big deal, so here ya go.

I then randomly ran into a random Taiwan Berlin Bear!!!! What a random coincidence. Have I mentioned how random I found this bear to be?

Silly Hilton Berlin Bear!

I ended my long cultural day with an equally cultural dinner at a German pub with a traditional German dish - cracked pork knuckle with a house beer. It was all really good, but also terrible for my health haha. 

Hooray for German pub food!

[eatlovevienna]

Bring It On, Berlin

5/3 - Berlin, Germany

After an expected uncomfortable overnight bus ride, we reached Berlin at 6AM. I was somehow functional at that hour and managed to catch the metro for ~40 minutes to the hostel where I then bummed on couch until 11AM when I headed out for the Munich Sandeman walking tour. On my way to the meeting point in front of the Brandenburg Gate, I explored the neighborhood where my hostel was located.

The local park had some beautiful white tulips and cherry blossoms in full bloom. Definitely did not expect to see flowers from what I had heard about Berlin being really grungy and urban.

The New Synagogue just around the block from the hostel.

The famous equestrian statue of King Frederick II of Prussia on Unter den Linden, the heart of the historic section of Berlin.

Humboldt University

The first of many Berlin bears I would encounter on my trip.

Brandenburg Gate, a former city gate, located in no-man's land between East and West Germany during the Cold War. It has long been the defining symbol of Berlin and both the city's division and unification.

 From here, I joined a Sandeman walking tour. Our tour guide gave us some fun trivia about the Hotel Adlon just across the plaza from the Brandenburg Gate as the infamous hotel from which MJ famously dangled his baby over a railing for the media years ago. 

We then moved on to the enormous Holocaust memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This memorial was impressively daunting and also very abstract. Walking down the sinking pathways into the sea of concrete blocks really gives you a sense of hopelessness and despair that the victims of the Holocaust experienced on the most basic level.

Gendarmenmarkt, the nicest square in Berlin in my opinion. 

The site of Hitler's bunker underneath what is now a car park where he committed suicide.

Another Berlin Bear!

Checkpoint Charlie - kinda overrated

The site of the book burnings is now an outdoor book lounge (:

Murals on parts of the Berlin wall

The tour was rather long (4 hours) and ended at the beautiful Museum Island. 

After the tour, I took a bus to Potsdamplatz where I checked out the rather unimpressive Sony center... it was so unimpressive that I didn't even take a photo.

For dinenr, I went to the amazing Cafe Da Da and experienced the most amazing falafel I'ver ever had in my life!

After dinner, I walked around and stumbled upon a lomography shop where I spent a good half hour perusing through the city specific books.

On my way back to the hostel, I watched the sunset near Bode Museum.

Exhausting, but interesting first day in Berlin!!

[eatlovevienna]

Hey there. I know it's been over a month since I've written, but I hope my readers are still interested in my exchange. (: I really apologize for not updating in what seems like an eternity, but the last month of my exchange just got insanely hectic (which I hope helps to explain why I am now 1.5 months behind).

Since the last time you've heard from me, I've sadly finished my semester abroad, said goodbye to the beautiful Wien and have returned to the sunny coast of Southern California (as you can see from the beachy Instagram photo).

It seems a little inappropriate to my OCD mind to give my reflections on exchange now considering I haven't blogged the last 1.5 months of my semester, so I  will save my reflections on my exchange experience until I have caught up on blogging (which may take who knows how long), but I will try my best to finish blogging through this SoCal heatwave as soon as possible!

[eatlovevienna]

Too Soon Farewells, Crepes & Long Bus Rides

5/2 - Vienna, Austria

Continuing from yesterday's reunion with my dad in Vienna, I stayed with him and Suzanne in their hotel room after the concert and was going to spend the first half of the day with them while the toured around Vienna.

I woke up to a delicious hotel continental breakfast buffet yummmm. You really don't appreciate hotel continental breakfasts until you've lived a semester as a poor exchange student who has her day made when her cheap hostel actually provides breakfast haha.

After breakfast, the tour went to the Schonbrunn Palace for a quick tour. I was definitely NOT dressed appropriately. I really should have checked the weather the day before because it was raining and I only had the shorts that my dad brought me from home... oh well- at least it wasn't too cold, just wet! Despite the rain, Schonbrunn was still really pretty (then again, the last time I was there was in a blizzard...). This time, the gardens weren't just a field of white snow- there was actually a lawn and flowers! Granted, not all the flowers were planted yet, but it was a definite improvement on the white fields that were there last time. 

 After touring the Schonbrunn, the tour headed to the 1st district to see the sites. I also should have thought about my footwear the day before because my flats were giving me major blisters so we ended up having to make an emergency stop at H&M for some much needed sandals. After that though, I took my dad and Suzanne on a Viennese street food culinary tour! I lead them through Karlsplatz to Naschemarkt, stopping for a bratwurst hotdog on the way, where I introduced them to the magical food that is the donor kebab. We may have also indulged in some market fruit and then gelato. :P

At this point, it was time for me to say bye to my dad. ): For once in my life, I was the one standing on the sidewalk frantically waving while the bus pulled away. (Sorry I'm a little dramatic) (My dad took this pic from the bus haha)

I then went back to my room (giving up on making it to class), napped, packed for my 4-day trip to Berlin and cooked up some stuffed mushrooms for the potluck dinner with my flatmates. Despite being totally last minute, we had a delicious feast of curry, stuffed mushrooms and crepes (of course!). 

Spinach ricotta corn crepes by Natalia

Berry dessert crepes!

After a lovely evening with my flatmates, I headed to the bus station for a 9-hour overnight ride to Berlin. Unfortunately, the bus was stupidly full so I had to sit with stranger who was writing in his journal for hours on end and saying bye to my dad earlier today made me uncomfortably homesick. Homesickness + long bus rides are definitely NOT a good combo.

[eatlovevienna]

Always Gonna Be A Daddy's GIrl

5/1 - Vienna, Austria

Highlight of today: MY DAD COMING TO VIENNA!!

Haha, but before I talk about that, I'll back up and summarize what I did the first half of this great day.

Kristi, Nicole and I met up with Nikolett and her friends to spend a day at Prater, Vienna's awesome intercity amusement park. Today (May 1st) was also May Day, meaning all the shops were closed and the entire city was out of school and work. Hence, the crowds were insane at Prater because all the rides were discounted for the holiday and there was a music stage set up for performances. Later in the evening, they would also be setting off fireworks in celebration of May Day. (Sadly I missed those since I was with my dad, but it was a great day at Prater regardless!)

Having never been to Prater before, I was really surprised by how huge it was. There were so many more rides than I had expected. To be completely honest, I though the famous Prater ferris wheel was biggest ride and that everything else would just be dinky little rides. I was incredibly wrong. The park is really extensive with some really scary looking rides (and this is coming from a SoCal native who LOVES roller coasters and Six Flags-grade coasters!). It was like a mixture of a country fair with tons of food stands and restauarants and Knotts Berry Farm haha.

We decided to ride the Prater Turn, the highest swings ride in the world. 

Seriously. it's the tallest swing ride in the world! It was definitely a little sketchy being up so high on a swing, but it was great. The views were incredible. We could see the entire city below us and the green countryside surrounding us. 

After experiencing the world record swing, we headed to the outdoor music festival where we surprisingly enjoyed some country music (who would've guessed that an Austrian band would play American country music?!) while eating our lunch. The weather was really nice (borderline hot) and it was great lounging on the grass with the locals.

After a great day at Prater, I came home to pack for my upcoming solo trip to Berlin and to wait for my dad to call and tell me when to meet him and Suzanne. Unfortunately, there were some major transportation issues that day with their tour bus breaking down and many other scheduling mishaps, but after much waiting around in Stadtpark, we were finally reunited!!!!

Best part of the day was seeing my dad standing in the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel smiling at me. (: (Sorry, I'm sappy!)

I then joined their tour group for dinner and "opera" that was actually a Mozart concert (my dad thought they were the same thing haha). I loved hearing about their Central/Eastern European tour and all their funny experiences (like how my dad prefers Costco sausages to German sausages haha). I was so glad to hear that my dad actually enjoyed this European tour since his last experience in Europe in Western Europe with my mom more than a decade ago did not leave a very good impression on him. The fact that he claims he would gladly retire in Salzburg made me so happy knowing that he now knows how beautiful Austria, the country he kept mixing up with Australia before I left, is.

The Mozart Concert was in a beautiful hall with loads of other tourists. The concert itself was pretty fun with musicians in wigs and even some opera singers. The conductor was sassy guy who made the audience cooperate and clap in with the music.

Words can't even express how happy I was to see my dad again after 5 long months. I am so incredibly grateful to have him in my life. He's always there supporting my every move, even when it terrifies me, and I know he's always the one I can turn to when I feel stuck. I admit that I wasn't very homesick in the months before my dad's visit, but after seeing him, it definitely hit me.... basically what I mean to say through all this emotional rambling is that I love my dad and am the luckiest daughter in the world to have him as my father. <3 

[eatlovevienna]

Frozen Smiles

4/30 - Vienna, Austria

Today I went to WU for my one morning class and was bombarded with student government parties handing out pamphlets and goodies like apples, coffee and pastries to urge students to vote for their parties in the upcoming elections.

As a member of the student population uninvolved with any of the parties, I have to admit that it's pretty awesome receiving all these free goodies with no committment involved. Every time we have our break from Global Consumer Behavior, we head to the first floor for free coffee and pastries offered by the parties. Gotta love the student-level bribing going on here. (;

Free apple and party pamphlet that I can't read because it's in German anyways...

After class, I had to wait for Kristi to get to school so that we could go to the "Smile For Togo" fundraising photobooth together, so I just sat with Simon and Thomas while they ate lunch. We had a very intense conversation about stand-up comedy then haha. 

When Kristi finally got to school, we grabbed Dani and did the photobooth! We're really confused in half of them because we had no idea when the booth was going to take the photo... cool experience for a good cause though! All the fund go to building and funding schools for children in Togo. (:

On my way home from school, I found some new additions to the traffic sign outside my building... cute, haha.

Later that day Natalia and I walked down Mariahliferstrasse to Billa where they were having a frozen food sale! I picked up a tub of raspberry frozen yogurt that I've been eyeing for a while (it's delicious btw) and some frozen veggies.

Lunch and dinner were leftovers from our taco salad dinner!

[eatlovevienna]

Spontaneous Taco Night In Austria!

4/29 - Vienna, Austria

Today was the day of my ISM (International Strategic Management) final, but that wasn't until the evening at 6PM. My morning was spent studying at home and then going to my afternoon class, Global Branding.

There was barely anyone in class because (I'm assuming) of the ISM final. That's a shame because it was actually a great session. The topic was the meaning and purpose of companies and how to extend them to branding. In the discussion, Viktor Frankl's incredibly inspiration account, "Man's Search For Meaning" was discussed.

If you haven't read Frankl's book before, I highly, highly recommend it. It is an autobiography about his experiences in the Holocaust and how he was able to survive while countless others didn't because of the meaning he created for himself in the concentration camps where hope and meaning were seemingly non-existant. 

After a great session of GB, I found a seat outside the exam room and attempted to review, although honestly I was so sick of the material by then that I was just anxious to get it over with. The exam was almost 30 minutes late because the prof didn't have enough copies for everyone, which meant 30 minutes of anxiety and restlessness. The exam itself was relatively challenging compared to the laid back style of the professor and classes. Wasn't really expecting that, but I did study a lot for it, so hopefully it turned out ok! 

Completely brain dead with a terrible hand cramp by the time I left the room, I walked back to Gasgasse with Natalia where she had the brilliant idea of making tacos! So, we stopped by the Westbahnhof 24 hour store to pick up some tortilla chips (literally the most addicting things in the world) and we conjured up a delicious taco salad feast! We had minced beef, salad, corn, red peppers, tzatziki, salsa, pineapple (random leftover from my fried rice a couple nights ago), and freshly made guacamole. I also contributed some Thin Mints and Samoas for dessert (mMm Girl Scout cookie goodness). Best post-exam reward ever! Also, 2 courses done- only 3 to go!

[eatlovevienna]

Sunday Brunchin'

4/28 - Vienna, Austria

I kicked off this beautiful Sunday morning with some studying in the morning and then brunch with Natalia and Joanne.

Natalia made her delicious crepes as usual. I'm really gonna miss that Norwegian brown cheese with jam when I go home! ): If you have never had Norwegian sweet brown cheese, do yourself a favor and find some! It's absolute heaven with jam in a crepe... I was pretty lame and just had a lot of fruit from my market trip, but Joanne made the best omelette I've had all semester. Pretty sure it's because it was the first time I've had bacon in a while... ahaha. Really though. It was SO good.

After fueling up with a great brunch, the rest of all our days were spent studying for our ISM final that was the next day. Dulldulldull...

[eatlovevienna]

Lazy Saturday

4/27 - Vienna, Austria

I'm ashamed to say that today was just another day in despite the nice weather. Somehow I managed to wake up at 9 AM despite sleeping at 4 AM after chatting with Joanne til 2 AM.

It was just one of those days where I didn't do much of anything that productive (caught up on blogging and researched my upcoming trips) expect procrastinate studying for my International Strategic Management final. 

[eatlovevienna]

Golden Days

4/26 - Vienna, Austria

Another day out to enjoy the gorgeous springtime weather! Today, I went to Stadtpark for the very first time. Stadtpark is so lovely. It features this golden statue of Johann Strauss, which is visited by hordes of tourists and local Viennese alike. 

There's also this beautiful flower clock that is actually spot on time-wise!

I spent a good part of my day at the park strolling around the lake and laying out with my notebook, trying really hard to study on such a pretty day.

When I finally left the park, I came home and had mango, papaya and yogurt for lunch. Staying strong on that diet so far!

I also booked a completely last minute solo trip to Berlin, Germany leaving in 5 days. Exchange life is crazy. At home, I book trips months in advance... feels pretty exciting to be booking trips (and it's solo!) on a whim. Anyways, it looks like Berlin is going to be my very first solo trip ever!

In the evening, I had an "Asian" potluck with Natalia and Joanne. This basically means that I made fried rice, Joanne made eggs and tomatoes and Natalia just cooked up whatever she had that was delicious, haha. It was a great evening catching up with them since I haven't seen them in over a month due to spring break. 

Natalia introduced us both to Magnum Gold! This ice cream bar is crazy-- the chocolate on the outside literally looks like it's painted gold... (it was also delicious haha)

I spent the rest of my night talking to Joanne about our potential trip to Krakow and just about life in general (yeah, it's one of those talks) until 2AM! It's been a great day in my book!

[eatlovevienna]

Good Weather, Good Day!

4/25 - Vienna, Austria

Just another mellow day of class with amazing weather! It's finally spring time in Vienna and I'm totally loving it. 

The weather app said it was 76 degrees, but it was definitely closer to 80. (:

Since the weather is so nice, everyone seems to be more motivated to dress nicely (myself included- partly due to peer pressure haha). 

Class was rather interesting today, especially because half the class was gone on the EBN Krakow trip. It made things more intimate and discussions far more lively than usual. 

Not willing to pass up this great weather, I headed straight to the Danube after class where I kicked off my boots and chilled with my late lunch sandwich and Harry Potter (on my Kindle!).

There were plenty of people lounging on the bank, tanning and some even swimming! Definitely a sight for sore eyes that are sick and tired of snow.

After a lovely afternoon out on the bank, I headed home and had a veggie dinner. Yup, literally just a ton of vegetables!

Great relaxing day. Definitely one of those days that makes me love Vienna a little more. (:

[eatlovevienna]

Spring Cleansing

4/24 - Vienna, Austria

Finally, a day off from two brutal days of endless class and projects!

Feeling terrible guilty for my awful eating habits lately, I put on my workout clothes and jogged to Brunnenmarkt, a local outdoor market about three subway stops away, for fruits and veggies to jumpstart my much needed diet.

It was my first time at Brunnenmarkt and I have to admit that I really liked it. Similar to the more well-known Naschmarkt in terms of outdoor set-up, the Brunnenmarkt is much more frequented by locals rather than tourists. There are plenty of Turkish stands (kebabs are only 2 EUR here compared to the 3 EUR ones at Naschmarkt!), meat stands (10 eggs for 1.20 EUR)  and even shoe stands. As a result, the vendors are much cheaper, produce fresher and more varied. TSadly for me, this also means that there is less English spoken, so I just had to get away with the usual caveman-like pointing and hand gestures that has becoming so common in my semester abroad haha. 

Anyways, I was able to pick up a mango (only 1 EUR!), apples, carrots, a giant cucumber, mushrooms and grapes from the market. I also stopped by Hofer and Merkur while I was out to grab some other necessities. My favorite buy of the day was probably tzaziki from Hofer for less than 2 EUR! Yummyy.

Diet kick-off with salad and salmon!

The rest of my day was fueled by my newly discovered spring energy that motivated me to exercise, do my budget and even book a last minute solo trip to Edinburgh, Scotland! Yes, the trip booking is completely random, but after taking to my friend who gave me raving reviews about it, I knew I just had to go and experience it for myself. So, Edinburgh-- here I come!

[eatlovevienna]

Same Old, Same Old

4/22-23 - Vienna, Austria

Back home in Vienna to knock out a couple days of school. Not much going on except for group projects, fire alarm mishaps and stressed out salmon noodle box food binging... days like these definitely aren't helping out my deteriorating figure, haha. 

[eatlovevienna]

A Sugar Coated Farewell To The Capital Of Waffles

4/21 - Brussels, Belgium

For once on our trip, we slept in without any set alarms(!) I think all the hardcore travelers realize the blasphemy of that ahaha. Anyways, when we finally did get up and set out into the city like true European backpackers with our dorky heavy backpacks, we started our day in the most appropriately Belgian way- with waffles of course!

Yes, you read that sign correctly. This delicious piece of heaven only cost 1 EUR. Best part of this city <3

While savoring our heavenly breakfast, we wandered to the famous Mannekin Pis boy, mascot of Brussels! He turned out to be much smaller than I had imagined.

Our next stop was the Royal Palace of Brussels. On the way, we trekked through a nice (although definitely one of the shabbier ones I've encountered) garden. You'd think as the capital of the EU, Brussels would be a lot nicer, but I guess not... ):

Awesome European backpackers group pic at the gardens. (B

I have to admit that despite visiting it, I don't know much about Brussel's landmarks. Consequently, I don't remember exactly what this building is, but it looks impressive. If I had to guess, I'd say it was a church of some sort. Forgive my ignorance, please! ):

Just a couple of building with some rad architecture.

And finally, here we are at the Royal Palace of Brussels! Impressive, but doesn't exactly measure up to the Schonbrunn Palace we have back home in Vienna. (;

Next up, the Belgium Parliament on the other side of this lovely park.

There it is- the Belgium Parliament!

Statue of Leopold II outside the park

Our next goal was to find the EU Parliament... but that drastically and epically failed. We were following Nicole's Trip Advisor navigation, but after 2 hours of walking through some sketchy neighborhoods, we realized that the app was wrong. Since we were pressed for time to catch the airport shuttle, we simply had to give up on the EU Parliament and head to the bus station.

To make things even better, my water bottle cap unscrewed itself during the long trek and completely soaked my jeans, making it look like I wet myself. -_- Good thing I was wearing dark jeans or else it could've been way worse...

Anyways, it seemed we still had some luck on our side because we were able to make it to the airport extra early and grab some delicious Belgian French Fries w/ mayo before our flight! (French fries were invented by the Belgians, by the way.)

So, despite the severe lack of planning of preparation for our trip to Amsterdam and Brussels, we managed to survive and experience two great cities without any major mishaps! Yay us!! Now, back home to Vienna we go! (:

[eatlovevienna]

The City of Waffles, Beer & Chocolate

4/20 - Brussels, Belgium

We regretably left the awesome city of Amsterdam this morning for a day in Brussels before heading home. Our bus back to Brussels was at 10 AM so we didn't have much time to get breakfast- but thankfully a bit of breakfast brownie helped tide us over. (:

When we finally got to Brussels 4 hours later, we had some major trouble looking for our hostel. Luckily, the wandering allowed us to pick up our very first amazing incredible Belgian waffle! I had a chocolate stuffed waffle and it was the most amazing thing ever. Beyond delicious. Take the best non-Belgian waffle you've ever had and multiply that by infinity delicious. Omg.

We did finally find our hostel that was situated just steps away from the Grand Place Plaza. 

Ran into this parade while touring around.

Visiting some famous Belgian chocolate shops...

Floris beer line-up at the Temple of Beer shop.

We ended up having a super early lack luster 3-course dinner of white wine with fish soup, grilled salmon and sea bass and surprise dessert waffle. The waffle was definitely the best part of the meal!

Next stop was our favorite place, Delirium Cafe, where Nicole and I finally had a glass of Delirium Tremens beer!

After our beer run, we called it an early night and went back to our hostel (mostly because it didn't seem like there was much to do in Brussels! ):) It's all good though, as long as I have my beer and waffle, I'm a happy camper in the capital of the EU. (:

[eatlovevienna]

Pre-Indulgences & Student Discounts

4/19 - Amsterdam, Netherlands

Started off our second day in this amazing city with a yummy breakfast at Bagel n Beans - Tuscany pesto walnut honey spread! Can't remember the last time I had a bagel, but it was delicious. 

First stop of the day was the Van Gogh museum! Sadly, we showed up at the Van Gogh museum to find out that the museum itself is under renovation with the collection temporarily being shown at the Hermitage museum. So, we had to go on a mile long trek, aptly named the "Van Gogh Mile," to the Hermitage. Perfectly fine with us though, because the gorgeous canal views on the way made it worth the walk!

Tulips on the Van Gogh Mile

Tourist shot on the way to the museum

Gorgeous cherry blossoms on the walk

Luckily, we made it to the museum right when it started to rain (although the fact that it was raining at all wasn't very lucky, but oh well.) The Hermitage Museum was soooo crowded, which definitely detracted from the Van Gosh exhibit. ):< Regardless, it was still a worthwhile visit to see all of his lesser known pieces like his Japanese art inspired work where he actually used Japanese characters. (I'm honestly not sure how I feel about his use of Japanese characters. I thought it was a bit tacky and unauthentic, but that's just my opinion.) There was a good film about Van Gogh's life screening in the exhibit that spoke a lot about his letters to his brother who supported him and his work financially.

After the Van Gogh exhibit, we were also able to go through the Hermitage's featured Peter the Great exhibit. It was a pretty interesting exhibit about all the intellectual work Peter the Great brought to Russia in terms of geography, navigation, medicine and etc. There was also a pretty bizarre medical exhibit featuring an infant's preserved head, foot and arm in jars of solution...

After the museum visit, we walked to the city flea market. The thrifting conditions here were way better than thrifting in Melrose because there were way less ppl to fight with over secondhand clothing. There were a ton of cute scarves and clock necklaces for 5 EUR!

After a short time thrifting, we wandering around a bit looking for a lunch spot.

We finally settled on a little cozy cafe where I had hot chocolate and a yummy sandwich for lunch.

After lunch, we went to the Amsterdam Flower Market to check out the scene.

Of course they would sell a marijuana seed starter kit at the flower market in Amsterdam... haha

Stereotypical Amsterdam souvenirs 

Cannabis Tea... that's something that I haven't seen before.

There were so many Holland themed stores with cheese tastings!! Pesto cheese was definitely the favorite. They also had smoked cheese, that tasted like cheese sausage, and delicious stroopwafels!

We then encountered a heaven sent hammock store that gave us a good break off our feet.

Hilariously, we also found an "American store" that sold all American and some Canadian brands! It'd be heaven if the dang wheat thins didn't cost a ridiculous 7 EUR...

We then went back to hostel and took a break before going to Nicole's Christian hostel where she was staying for a night since our hostel was booked up. We were "indirectly" invited to the hostel night free dinner and dessert, which we gladly took advantage of!

We may have felt a little guilty, but since Nicole was paying an insane 30 EUR/night for the hostel, our guilt disappeared as quickly as our hunger. Dinner was Turkish pilaf (basically chicken and peaches) with rice and green beans. The hostel had us play a game similar to those lame get-to-know-you orientation games and of course the Dutch girl running the program tried to convert me to Christianity when she found out I wasn't Christian. Hm, never would've expected that in Amsterdam of all European cities...

Gotta say that the yummy dessert, pistachio ice cream with dutch biscuit and chocolate sprinkles, made up for the attempted conversion though! The dessert was all Dutch- and yes, chocolate sprinkles are a Dutch invention! They are traditionally sprinkled over butter toast for breakfast though, not on desserts like they are widely used for now.

Ironically enough, after our Christian dinner experience, we went out to check out the infamous Red Light District at night. (We consider the Christian experience to be a pre-indulgence (; haha)

The district was totally packed with people. Although there were a couple groups of guys "window shopping," the majority of the people there were disturbingly elderly tourist groups. We walked through a couple of alleys, being careful not to take any photos of the girls marketing themselves out of sheer fear of getting covered in pee. A tourist in front of my came really close to getting pee thrown on him because he was taking photos, but thankfully the offended prostitute just decided to angrily cuss him out.

Heading into the district...

Accomplishment of the day: I managed to get a photo from across the canal without getting pee thrown on me!

Lovely (hilarious) signs in the back alleys of the district.

We also ventured onto "Big Mama" street, but it was sadly deserted compared to the main part of the district... poor big mamas. On our way out of the district, a man asked us if we wanted to see the peep show he was working for. When we declined and started walking away, he desperately yelled "STUDENT DISCOUNT" after us in hopes we would change our mind, ahaha. There's Amsterdam for ya.

 After our RLD adventure, we walked 2 miles back to our hostel, catching a couple more pretty nighttime canal shots on the way. (:

[eatlovevienna]

Looking *Through The Fingers* At Amsterdam

4/18 - Amsterdam, Netherlands

Our first full day in Amsterdam! We set out to the meeting point for the Sandeman Walking Tour (picking up breakfast muffins from a cute local grocer on the way), passing some gorgeous Holland tulips looking over a canal on our walk.

We also ran into the famous "I (am)sterdam" sign structure on our walk. Pretty sure it's impossible to get a pic with this sign without have any other people in it, haha.

Nice fountain with tulip planters strewn about. I wonder if gardeners just have to waddle through the fountain in rain boots to prune the flowers...

We had some time left to spare when we got to the meeting point, so we wandered around the local alleys and discovered this magical place. It's a fast-food place called Febo that distributes its wares, namely delicious veal croquettes, through vending machines. 

Don't let looks fool you. These croquettes are delicious (and probably deadly unhealthy haha).

We met at the National Monument for the walking tour and got assigned to a cute Irish guide who apparently came to Amsterdam for a Dutch girl who broke his heart... aww ):

I took some notes throughout the tour, so the next couple of pics will be accompanied with trivia about Amsterdam that I found interesting.

Amsterdam is (in)famous for its liberal drug and prostitution laws. Our guide explains that it has been part of Amsterdam's culture to be tolerant of differences as long as they are profitable. (Seeing as the Dutch East India Trading Company was established here, that doesn't come as a big surprise.) Long before its liberal drug and prostitution policies, the Dutch in the city had tolerated Catholicism, that was technically banned when the city converted to protestantism. This is done by simply "looking away" or "seeing through the fingers" when Catholics practiced since Catholics brought good business. 

For this reason, "coffee shops," establishments that sell weed, are tolerated for the business.

Fun fact from our guide: New Zealand has the biggest population of weed smokers in the world. Italy, Spain, Czech Republic and France are the next top smoking countries.

Despite the liberal drug policies, our guide says that Amsterdam has done for weed what no other city or country has done. They've succeeded in making weed boring since it is so easily accessible. 

While walking to the famous Red Light District, he also gave us a deadly serious warning to not take photos of the prostitutes in the window. Why? Because they will throw cups of pee at you. The girls aren't allowed to leave their windows during their typical 8 hour shifts, which is why they have to pee in cups. They also don't want their photos taken when they're on duty. Solution? Throw cups of pee at nosy tourists.

There is an old church in middle of Red Light District.

Why? Becuase back in the day when Amsterdam was a Catholic city, sailors would came to church to confess their sins after spending some time int he Red Light District. The business savvy Dutch priests eventually took advantage of this and would charge sailors for "cleansing contracts," also known as indulgences. The invention of priced pre-indulgences, forgiveness before the man even committed the act, gradually developed. The Dutch really know how to make money in any way possible!

Another fun fact about the church is that back in the day, prostitutes used church bell tower that rang every 15 minutes to time their sessions. Now, they use music playlists that time 15 minutes.

Some more fun facts about the RLD:

-All prostitutes pay taxes. -Renting windows cost ~75-100 EUR/hour. (You can see why they don't want to waste precious and costly time to use the restroom.) -Avg session is 15 min for 50-75 EUR. -The "Elite Street" can charge whatever they want.

There used to be a tax on building width, which explains this next photo of the most narrow house in Amsterdam. The man who lives there is taller than the building is wide!

There used to be electrified pee reflectors to discourage drunk men from peeing in alley corners. However, after some electrically dangerous mishaps, they no longer electrified them for the well being of dumb drunks.

One of the most famous squats for artists.

The city filters its canals every 3 days. The canals are typically 3 meters deep. However, the bottom first meter is supposedly comprised of bikes and mud. University students enjoy throwing unlocked bikes into the canal; so much so that there are special bike removing boats!

Also, when the canals freeze over in the winter they have Ice skating festivals and races between bridges!

After our tour, we followed our guide to a Dutch restaurant for traditional dutch food: Meatballs on top of mashed potatoes with carrots and onions.

After our Dutch meal, we waited a very long time in the chilling wind for the Anne Frank House. It least it was a nice view from the queue. 

It was completely unreal to be able to go through the Secret Annex, the rooms where the family hid for 2 years, and to see Anne's red checked diary on display.

Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures so I can't show how dark and depressing the rooms were. I can't even imagine what it was like to live in the dark with curtains drawn day after day for 2 years... completely unbelievable and inspiring.

In lieu of recent pop culture events, we attempted to find Justin Beiber's entry in the guest book but failed... we tried really hard, too. )':

On a completely unrelated note, we visited a typical Amsterdam sex museum afterwards. For 4 EUR, it was a surprisingly extensive collection. As you can see from the photo below, there were hilariously awkward artifacts, moving exhibits, photos and so much more...

This butt face would shoot out air and "fart" on you whenever you passed.

Walking wizard is actually a walking penis... who would've known?

Classic cakes.

Starving after an afternoon of museum going, we headed down the street and got "Holland's #1 Fries" with mayonnaise! It was delicious of course, but soso heavy after a long day of eating crappy food.

We then wandered about munching on our fries and headed to Kantjin, a famous local Indonesian place, for dinner. It was a 40 min wait, but we really didn't care because it was at least away from the vicious wind! It had slow slow service, but I finally got my chicken rice soup! Totally reminded me of the rice soups my grandma makes at home. Perfect for a chilly day! (: 

The sun weirdly didn't set until 9pm... Thankfully, it had set by the time we were done with dinner because we were able to see the gorgeous lit up canals on our walk back to our hostel.

Grand first day in the wonderfully weird and beautiful city of Amsterdam!