Visiting the Motherland

This week is Semana Santa in Sevilla so Emily and I got the whole week off of classes (1st of 2 spring breaks!). We jumped on this opportunity to travel around a bit of Europe (we're two adventurers, how could we not?!). Last Saturday Emily and I visited our motherland, Holland.

We were able to see some smaller, quaint towns in Holland and the capital, Amsterdam! On Saturday, my relatives who live in Siddeburen (northern Holland) picked Emily and I up at the airport. On our way to their house we stopped in Groningen, a cute town which was really neat to see. This is when we realized that everyone in Holland bikes. I mean everyone.

Here's just a few bikes at the bus station in Groningen.

Groningen was busy with people selling flowers, fresh bread, fish, Dutch pastries (which we really enjoyed!), etc. It was really neat to walk around and see all the excitement in that city.

On Sunday we went to church with my family. It was all in Dutch, so we didn't understand anything really, but it was still interesting to hear the language and try to sing some of the worship songs! Sunday we also walked to see where my Grandpa used to live. It was really neat learning a bit about the history of my Dad's side of the family. 

Blaauwslaan! The land in the back of the picture is where my Grandpa used to live.

Emily and I met more of my family Sunday afternoon. It was so great to be able to see and meet my family living in the Netherlands! We're quite thankful that everyone in Holland speaks a bit of English. I'm not sure what we would have done if this wasn't the case. 

Monday morning we continued our journey onto Amsterdam! Once we arrived became the real adventure. We had to find our way to my Dad's cousins house. This was pretty funny, because we really had no idea how to get there, however the two adventurers eventually found their destination, por supuesto. We headed back into Amsterdam to do some exploring of the city. Amsterdam is a really neat city. And yes, Dutch people are very very tall! It is quite easy to distinguish the Dutch from the others living there. Amsterdam has every ethnicity living there known to man! And apparently it's not necessary to know Dutch, because not everyone does!

We did lots of cool things in Amsterdam! We went to the Van Gogh museum. This was really cool! We're amazed at how many paintings he painted in such a short time. Also, we went to the Anne Frank house. This is the coolest museum/house that both of us have ever been to. If you're ever in Amsterdam, make sure you go there! We took a boat canal tour through Amsterdam, which gave us a really cool view of the city and some neat history!

One day we went to Keukonhof, which is a huge park filled with gorgeous tulips! We were there for 2 1/2 hours and didn't see everything! We were both amazed at how many different types of tulips and flowers there are. And how they were all organized and set up perfectly! 

pretty :)

We were quite happy to eat food other than tapas. Don't get us wrong, spanish food is delicious, however eating food in Holland was a nice change of pace. We definitely enjoyed some of the food that Holland is famous for which is....

Dutch pastries - yum!

Cheese please!

On our way back to Sevilla, which was quite a journey, Emily and I compiled a list of things we noticed about Holland: 

1. The people in Holland eat more bread than in Spain. For those of you who don't know how much people eat bread in Spain, it's a lot.

2. Bikes - everywhere. When you walk in the streets you have to be aware of the cars, busses, trains, bikes and people.

3. The smell of weed in Amsterdam. 

4. Everywhere there are steep and windy staircases. The kind that you can fall down easily. No, this did not happen, haha.

5. Everyone speaks a little English! :)

6. People live on house boats on canals - how sweet!

7. It's very green! We can't believe what it's like when it's warmer.

8. Flat - Holland is very flat. 

9. There are tons of sheep and cows in the countryside.

10. Holland has wild tulips growing in ditches!!!

11. All the houses in Amsterdam are either tipping to the back, front, left or right! None of the houses are straight. This is probably because Holland is slowly sinking.

12. Amsterdam is very diverse. 

We had such a great time in Amsterdam and are so thankful that we were able to travel to this awesome country! Also, it was such a blessing to be able to stay with my family in Holland. They were so hospital and helpful and I hope to see them again sometime, maybe in Chicago! It's back to the books next week!