Adventures in Euroland, Day 3

Morning adventures:
Today was pretty laid back. Aside from the fact I finally realized how incredibly dehydrated I was and how sick I felt this morning. I was very much awake and feeling pretty terrible about 4:45am. I hung out in bed till it was time for breakfast. Got up, had some breakfast. It was my first Breakfast in Europe. They had cereal and cold cuts at the buffet. I didn't realize this, but I guess it is fairly common to have sandwiches for breakfast over here. Hmm. Who knew? I opted for cereal. It was a really tasty oat and whole grain cereal with lots of berries and fruit in it. DELICIOUS.

Bad Bentheim is somewhere about 52 or 53 degrees above the equator. To give a point of reference; Boulder, CO is about 42 degrees above the equator and Tulsa, OK is somewhere in the upper 30s I think. So the sun doesn't come up here until sometime after 8am this time of year. We're also not TOO far from the ocean so it has been very damp and rainy. The sun came out for a while this afternoon, but is has rained/misted off and on all day every day since I got here. Guess that helps expain how incredibly green everything is.

There is a small cafe near by. Nick usually buys his lunch there in the morning and takes it with him to work. I went with him and got several bottles of water. (Which, the only not carbonated water they had were bottles of apple flavored water. What is with these people? What is wrong with just plain water?! Although, admittedly, the apple flavored water isn't too bad once you get used to it.) The lady looked at me like I was nut, but I'd had very little to drink in the last three days or so and I was feeling pretty awful. So pardon me for hoarding some water, but I am determined not to feel that bad again on this trip. I went back to the room and cat napped a bit till the sun came up.

I headed out about 8:30 or and walked around town for quite a while. It was very chilly, but not unbearably so. It turns out the castle is closed on Fridays this time of year, so I headed out and about in a 5 or 6 block radius from the hotel. Everything just feels OLD here. It's really neat. The walls are covered with moss and ivy, there are narrow little alleys hiding everywhere. It's just cool. This place exudes what I picture the quinessential little European village to be. It's also full of old people.

I walked around the outside of the castle and got some pictures. Here is a really cool Lion statue outside the castle.

ROAR!

Backside of the castle.

Looking up at the castle from the street level.

Another view from the street.

Castle gardens, all the brown areas are full of rose bushes, but they are not in bloom in January. :(

Castle chapel belfry.

Near-by church. You can hear the bells ringing all the time. The ring for half an hour Sunday from 11:30 to 12. It is really neat to hear them throughout the day.

 It is sacrilegious to let your dog poop on church property. >: O

Some sheep hanging out on the castle grounds. They baa-ed at me a lot.









I didn't make it out to the windmill. I think that is going to be a pretty far walk and I am having trouble matching street names to the map as the streets are not well marked here.

I also had a little trouble with feeling car sick on the train, (probably due to lack of sleep, food, and water) But just to be on the safe side I took my handy phrase book that my brother got me for Christmas and set off to communicate with the locals like a pro.

Ok, so this ended up being mostly me pointing to the word "Motion Sickness" in German in my phrase book and asking "Das Bitte?" But either way everyone I 'spoke' to was very nice and I got my medication. :D I figured better safe than sorry since it will be a several hour train ride to Berlin on Tuesday.

Having wandered around for several hours I headed back to the hotel to warm up for a bit, It was probably 10:30 or so. I surfed the web, responded to e-mails, etc and promptly fell asleep about the time I was thinking I should get some lunch. (Maybe 1pm?)

I woke up about 4:00 and hung out till Nick got back from work.

Best Dinner EVER:
This past weekend in Nashville Nick's best friend Dustin told me that dining is really a different experience in Europe. He described it as, you go in and sit down and EVENTUALLY someone comes over to get your drink order. Then you wait and EVENTUALLY they come back with your drinks. And you wait some more. And then after a while they come back and take your order. And then you wait, and you wait, and you wait and then you get your food. Then, after you are done eating and you sit for a long time, eventually they bring your check back to you.

Boy was he right. Up till tonight we had only eaten in the buffet. Eating out is pretty much exactly as Dustin described it. A whole LOT of wainting. It does kind of smack you in the face with just how face paced and impatient our culture is.

HOWEVER, once we finally got our food, OH MY GOD. We ate at a little Italian cafe a few blocks away. The tortellini I had would easily put Olive Garden, Macarroni Grill, and I'm sure any other Italian place in the states to shame. IT WAS SO GOOD. Words cannot even express the deliciousness of dinner. It wasn't a very big serving by American standards, but I ate it all and I felt very satisfied at the end. Did I mention how freaking delicious it was???

Anyway, that about sums up my day. Pretty un-eventful. I am looking forward to touring the castle tomorrow. It doesn't open till 10, but I a looking forward to spending quite a bit of time there. Night All.

Adventures in Euroland: Day 2

During the day:

Jetlag is a bitch. Plain and simple. Also, having not slept more than between 4 and 6 hours a night for the last week or so, I was desperately in need of sleep apparently. I slept all day. I was awake for a bit in the morning, but I slept from last night to about 6:30am, was awake from 6:30 to 7:30, and then slept from 7:30 to 5:00pm. Good grief. 

It was also very overcast and raining all day, so I think that added to the feeling of sleepiness. Again, the weather seems very fitting for this area though. 

In the evening:

I woke up shorty before Nick came back from his job. We took a short walk around town. There is a castle pretty much right next door to the hotel we are staying at. It was already dark out so we couldn't see much, but I will go look around the castle tomorrow. I think it is only 3 or 4 Euros to get in. If the castle isn't open tomorrow I will explore town a little bit. There is an old fashion windmil on the south side of town I would like to check out. 

I can see why so much mythology came out of this place. It has a feeling to it which is hard to describe and must be experienced to be understood. A feeling of weight, of age, and depth. This place has seen things, it knows a different way of life, and has seen many times come and go.

Most of the streets are all stone, either like cobblestone or flagstone or something similar. All the lights are sodium lights, which give off a gentle more orangeish glow. It doesn't have the harsh, ever bright always awake feeling of a larger city, which is nice. There seem to be very few paved streets in Bad Bentheim. The town seems to be mostly older people as well. I am looking forward to seeing more of the town in the daylight.

Dinner was next, Most of the meat served here is pork. Some of the sauces that the meat is served in are pretty tasty. The staple foods at the hotel seem to be meat and potatoes. They have had a pasta as well, with soup and fruit available. And dessert. Usually cake, which is what I think most Americans would consider to be pretty dry, but it is very tasty. 

After dinner we decided to go check out the pool. Boy was it amazing! Only pictures can do it justice. It was beautiful. The mood lighting was especially cool. The whole pool is just very modern looking and beautiful. I am finding here and there you can see a blend of historic or traditional culture meshed with modern technology. LED lights hung in the dining area across from very old oil paintings. It's a neat blend. 

Tomorrow, Plans and Goals:

Tomorrow I plan to walk around town some, get some pictures, do some sketches, etc. 

I very much want to see the castle, and maybe the windmill if the weather is nice and I feel like walking that far. 

I also plan on purchasing some bottle water that is NON-SPARKLING. I am feeling pretty dehydrated because I am having trouble forcing myself to drink the fizzy water. Bleh. :( Even if I can find juice, that would be great. I have not attempted the tap water yet because Nick has told me that the bacteria content in the water is different then back in the states and that he switched to bottled because the tap water gave him the runs. 

I think that about sums it up. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight since I got so much sleep today and tomorrow will be filled with exploring town and lots of sketching. 

Tiffani's Adventures in Euroland: Day 1

TRAVEL:

January the 17th, 10AM, All packed and ready to go.

Taxi arrives to take me to the airport. This is pretty cool considering I have never ridden in a Taxi solo before. The driver was very nice. Got to the airport and checking in at the kiosik. I had to scan my passport to do so. It was pretty sweet. Then I went through security and to my gate. Flew to Atlanta. Changed over to the inernational terminal, which is terminal E.

This is riding the escalator down to terminal E. Since I was bored and had nothing better to do than snap a picture...

Terminal E is much fancier than the rest of the airport. I didn't have to wait long. I got on headed to the gate and borded. There was a huge youth group on a mission trip to Africa flying through Amsterdam. A group of four of them sat directly behind me on the plane so I got to hear all about Jesus on the way to Europe.

The plane was very large, two aisles. I sat in the middle of the middle. (insert picture)

We got a snack, dinner, and breakfast on the flight. (insert picture)

Most people slept. I tried to, but I didn't have much luck. I got maybe two hours. I sat near a girl from Africa and her mother. The flight was about 7 hours and 40 minutes long. We went pretty close to the artic circle and I could hear bits of ice or something hitting the outside of the plane as we few through weather. It was kind of annerving. There was a lot of turbulance this flight, but it wasn't bad. Just steady.

ARRIVAL:
Finally, after THE LONGEST FLIGHT OF MY LIFE, I arrived in Amsterdam. Upon exiting the plane I discovered that I didn't active international on my phone. After a brief moment of panic, I remained calm and went to get my bags, went through customs and imigration and all that. Got a stamp in my passport book, which was really cool since I didn't get one last time I left the country. I went to the ATM and got some Euros, got my train ticket, placed a call to Nick via payphone, and headed to the train station.

 This is my train ticket to Bad Bentheim and below is the train schedule. It was about 9:00am by the time I had gotten off the plane and gotten everything figured out and out to the train station. I missed the 8:50 train so I had to wait for the 10:50 train.

I waited outside at the station. The station was cold, but it was interesting to watch the people. I noticed that it seems very common for people in Amsterdam to touch each other on the shoulder when they are talking to each other. I heard a lot of languages. Everything was announced in Dutch, German, and English on my train. I LOVE hearing the accents and the different languages. Here are some pictures I took at the train station: (Click for larger view)

This country is really pretty, its VERY green. There were still pockets of snow and frost on the ground and snow in places, but the grass was VIBRANT green. I saw sheep and horses and lots of farms. Its a very beautiful country, even for it being winter. I can only imagine what it looks like in the spring and summer. It was very overcast and chilly, but it seemed fitting.

I was able to take a few pictures of some of the architecture along the way as well as take a snap shot of a very tired, and slightly overwhelmed me:

SETTLING IN:
Nick picked me up at the train station and we headed back to the hotel. It was 1:20 local time, which is about 6:20am Oklahoma time. Needless to say I was pretty tired. I got settled in and took a nap while Nick went back to work. The hotel is cute if not quaint and there is a castle across the street from us I want to go explore tomorrow. The toilet is in a different room from the tub, which is a little weird. I will post pictures when I have a better internet connection.

I slept for a couple hours and then Nick came back and we went to dinner at the hotel. It was buffet style with pretty standard food. I had some Tortellini pasta and a dish with pork in a really yummy sauce, a cold side salad type dish with chickpeas and something Nick and I have deemed 'Potato Puffs'. There was pineapple and a slice of chocolate cake for dessert.

Everyone told me I should try the beer, but for dinner I just went with water. Apparently water in Germany is comon served sparkling. :( Nick offered to trade me, but I told him "NO! I am in Germany, I will drink the fucking German Sparkling water and enjoy it! It's part of the experience." Which I did. Mostly. Ok not really, I hate fizz.

We looked around the hotel a bit after that. The pool looks AMAZING! It has really cool ambient lighting which I will get pictures of soon. Then, back to our rooms for the night. I am pretty tired and plan on sleeping like a mad woman tonight. I will rage quit conciousness in about 10 more minutes.

That about sums up my day. Bad Bentheim is a cute little town and I am excited to do some exploring tomorrow. Stay tuned for more updates.