Worldly Wednesday: Amsterdam

An old posting series is returning!  Worldly Wednesday will highlight my travels while I was studying abroad last semester.  Our first destination is Amsterdam in the Netherlands.  Amsterdam was not on my list of places I had to visit but I am very glad my friend and I decided to go for a four day weekend there. In connection with my photos, here are my thoughts on the city…

The Brightly Colored Sandwich:  Yes, I could get a sandwich anywhere.  But, my friend found this wonderful breakfast restaurant in her guidebook called Omelegg.  I highly recommend eating at this quaint spot in the Red Light District but you will probably have to wait outside.  We also ate at a cafe called Blushing for two meals that had delicious sandwiches as well.  I did not know what type of food to expect but overall our meals in Amsterdam exceeded my expectations.

The Canals: Amsterdam is known for its canals and it was especially pretty when we visited in the fall with the foliage changing colors.  We took a canal cruise as well which I recommend as we were able to take a break from walking all day and hear about the history of the city with the audio guide. If you have a map, it is a very walkable city and we walked all around each day, sometimes from one end of the city to another.  We would count how many canals to cross to keep our sense of direction.

The Clogs: My friend ended up purchasing some clog slippers during the trip but I just enjoyed browsing at all of the different stores.  It was interesting to see the many clog variations and see how each retailer used the shoe.

The Museums: We visited the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, and of course the Anne Frank Museum during our weekend.  The Rijksmuseum was neat and very large.  The famous I Amsterdam sign is in front of the museum.  The Van Gogh Museum is a must do but make sure to go before it gets too crowded and buy tickets ahead of time.  I couldn’t go to Amsterdam and not visit the Anne Frank Museum, especially since my friend and I had done a project on Anne Frank for our English class the semester before.  We were not able to get tickets in advance, but that morning at breakfast I checked online and a few slots opened up.  So, I used my international data and got us in.  It was such a moving experience to be able to see where Anne Frank hid and now I’m inspired to re-read her diary.

 

Worldly Wednesday: Lake Placid, NY

A couple of years ago, I visited Lake Placid, NY with my family.   Probably around 10 years ago, we each wrote a list of our top destinations to go over the next few years and Lake Placid was on more than one of our list so we went there for a long weekend.

We enjoyed taking the elevator up to the top of the ski jump, which is in the second photo.  I do not understand how Olympic athletes went down this though because it was so steep.  I am glad I never got into winter sports too much.  We went to the museum as well, which is where the third photo of my sister and the mascot was taken.  We saw the goal that the US team scored in to win the Miracle on Ice game against the Soviet Union.

The Cottage was a great restaurant we ate at for two nights where I had a fantastic beef barley soup in a bread bowl.   Whoever invented bread bowls was a genius.  My dad and I went skiing on Whiteface Mountain one day which was very fun.  I (think) I am improving on skiing.  I even got on the ski lift on my own!  (Besides my fear of animatronic dinosaurs, I also have a fear of ski lifts)  We went ice skating and had a fun long weekend.  I definitely recommend visiting Lake Placid for a long weekend, but you do not need to go for more than 5 days.

Worldly Wednesday: Kent, CT

I wish I had a photo of how beautiful Kent is in the Fall, but unfortunately, it is on my other computer.  Kent is a lovely small town in the Western part of Connecticut and is a great place for a weekend New England trip.  I  highly recommend visiting in the fall, as the foliage is amazing and Kent has been voted as one of the top 15 places to see fall foliage.  For a sample day in Kent here’s what I would do:

1. Have an early morning breakfast or lunch
   (depending on your arrival time) at The Villager as their chocolate chip pancakes are delicious.  For lunch, I recommend the quesadillas or the chicken caesar wrap.   The milkshakes are very good as well.
2. Walk around the town and visit the different stores.  On the weekends, the town is bustling with out of town visitors.  I would definitely visit the old bookstore which is tucked back among the other stores and is worth a look.
3. Visit the Art Galleries.
4. See Kent Falls which is a short drive away from the main town center.
5. Have a meal at JP Gifford’s Marketplace or Gifford’s Restaurant.  My personal recommendation would be to have the Pad Thai as it is my absolute favorite.

Worldly Wednesday: The Big Apple

Last year, we went into New York City around this time and saw the musical Once.  We also saw the Christmas Tree and went shopping in a few stores.  I would recommend seeing the tree and the Christmas windows if it isn’t too crowded.  We could not move for a few blocks and were packed in, hobbling like penguins along with the crowd.  It also took us forever to get the subway but it was nice seeing the tree.  We went to see the tree at night, so I believe that might have been our mistake too.  It would probably be less crowded early in the morning.  A few weeks later I went back to New York City for my birthday and got the chance to skate at Rockefeller Center with a few of my friends which was really fun, although freezing!

If you’re heading to New York City for the holidays, I would highly recommend waking up early to get everything done.  My ideal day would be to go see the tree and the windows in the morning.  Then, although not really a holiday tourist activity,  I would go and do the NBC Studio Tour  I have not been since they re-imagined the experience but I really enjoyed it years ago.  We were able to see where SNL is filmed, as well as a few other shows.  For lunch, I would try to go to Carmine’s which is a family style Italian restaurant.  Make sure everyone is hungry before eating here because the family style portions are huge!  After lunch, I would go ice skating at Rockefeller Center and then get warm inside a museum.  I would also visit Eataly  which is an Italian grocery store/restaurant/gelateria and Laduree to have some macarons.  Then I would end the day with seeing a Broadway Show (My favorite show is Wicked) and maybe grabbing a fancy dinner at Il Mulino.  I realize I have all Italian food in my ideal day in the city, but I really like pasta!

 

Worldly Wednesday: The London Eye

I would definitely recommend going on the London Eye if you go to London.  The London Eye is a huge Ferris Wheel which takes about 30 minutes to go entirely around.  I have been on the Eye twice (once during my family’s first trip to London and once this last time).  This trip, we went just as the sun was setting (actually the last pod before the Eye closed for the night).  The previous time we went during the middle of the day.  If you are staying in London for a while I would try both because you can see London in different lights!       

Worldly Wednesday: Victoria and Albert Museum

Well I thought the Victoria and Albert Museum would be really fancy due to the restaurant in Walt Disney World copying the name, however it was not super fancy.  I even think I enjoyed this museum more than the British Museum.  The exterior and interior of the building are beautiful.  I will definitely head back next time I am in London because there is so much to see in this museum.  I thought the “All of This Belongs To You” sign was very neat.  The museum is also free!  Unless you want to go into one of the special exhibits, which we did.

We saw the exhibit “Shoes: Pleasure & Pain.”  My mom and my sister spent a good amount of time looking at this exhibit.   I thought it was neat but I also thought it was crazy how many shoes some people have collected.   I collect packs of cards and those are much cheaper than some of the exclusive shoes on display. I did not even know shoe collecting was a thing!  I would never wear even half of the shoes that were on display due to their high heels or uncomfortable style.  I was super excited because we got to see the Glass Slipper from the Cinderella movie which came out last year.  Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside of the exhibit so I do not have any of the Glass Slipper.   I would definitely recommend the Victoria and Albert Museum as a sight to see on your next trip to London!

Worldly Wednesday: Udderbelly in London

The Udderbelly venue is located on the South Bank of the Thames River in London.  It is a short walk away from the Waterloo and Embankment tube stops.  This is the 7th year of the festival which runs from April through July and brings in a lot of interesting acts ranging from comedians to musical performers to jugglers.  The Udderbelly is basically a huge upside down cow, which is a very interesting idea for a small, summer performance venue.  
I can say that I would have NEVER thought of that idea.  But there is an outdoor bar area with lots of drinks as well as bites to eat for purchase.  The crowd outside ranged from a few families to many young adults and then an older crowd as well.  More people were outside the theater enjoying the nice day.  The act that we saw one night was called Circus Geeks-Beta Testing.  They were fantastic!  The show kept us entertained the whole time and the variety of the different acts was great.  I never knew whether the next act would be more playful or more scientific.  Going had been a last minute decision and my dad had found out information online about it.  I am really glad we went as it was a fun thing to do and something different from all of the usual touristy stuff.  The Udderbelly is a small venue but just the right size for performer audience interaction.  For more information, check out the festival website here. And I took a photo of the Utterbelly as we went up in the London Eye which is a short walk away as well so here is a different perspective of the performance venue!

Worldly Wednesday: Loch Ness

We spent a good amount of time driving while we were in Scotland since each place we stayed was a few hours drive away from the last place, but we always made tourist stops along the road trips.  One of these stops was at Loch Ness, where the famous Loch Ness monster, Nessie, lives (if you believe the legend and if you don’t you will for the duration of this post).
Anyways, we stopped at Loch Ness and we put our feet in the water so I can now say that I have put my foot in Loch Ness.  And the monster did not eat any of my toes.  There were quite a few stores and even restaurants capitalizing on the Loch Ness tale.  The area was beautiful though and while there were a handful of people near the water, it was not as crowded as I would have expected it to be.

The weather was perfect the day we were here as well with a light breeze and lots of sun. Our guide also showed us a lovely store earlier in the trip called Ness (named after the monster) but located in Edinburgh and a few other places in Scotland as well as online.  Don’t click on the link if you like shopping…we found the store was almost as dangerous as the monster.

Worldly Wednesday: Natural History Museum in London

In the Kensington area of London is the Natural History Museum.  This building is beautiful outside and inside.  The museum is free, as are many museums in London which is different from many museums in the United States.  We waited in a fairly long line outside the building before the museum opened on the Saturday morning before our flight home because we had a few hours to spare.  However, as soon as the museum opened, the line moved fairly quickly and one of the museum employees shouted at the line telling us to open our bags ahead of time for bag check.  The museum has many different wings and exhibits.  The Dinosaur exhibit was definitely the most crowded so I would suggest heading there as soon as you enter the museum.  A lot of fossils and even a moving animatronic Dinosaur make up the large dinosaur exhibit.  The museum did not have great air conditioning, although maybe this was also because I was packed between many people moving through the dinosaur exhibit, but I would recommend not going on a hot day in the summer.  I especially liked the limited time ocean exhibit they had, but I don’t believe it is still there.  Here is a photo of me next to a lovely stingray.  All in all, the Natural History Museum is a hidden gem and I would highly recommend visiting.  I hope to go back the next time I am in London to look at more of the exhibits.

Worldly Wednesday: Glennfinnan

In the Highlands of Scotland is an area called Glennfinnan.  We drove through on our way back to Edinburgh from a few days spent in the Isle of Skye.  It was a beautiful spot to stop and admire the beautiful Scottish landscape.  This is also where Warner Brothers filmed the classic Harry Potter scene of the Hogwarts train riding across the bridge on its way to the school.  You can see the bridge in the distance in the second picture.  We had to hike for about five minutes to get to the spot where I took these photos but it was well worth it.  A gift shop and restrooms are located at the bottom of the small hill since many tourists stop here.  The gift shop even sells Harry Potter memorabilia.  But, I chose to buy Dog Shaped Shortbread Cookies instead.