Amsterdam

If Amsterdam had surf, I'd move there... That's how much we loved the charming city. Again avoiding the touristy part of town, Stu and I got a studio in the heart of a residential neighborhood far from the camera-wielding geeks we sought to avoid. Perhaps most famous for its red light district and "coffee houses", we found the best parts of the city to be the laid-back atmosphere, tree-lined canals, small cafes and friendly people. Though Amsterdam is a canal city like Venice, it has an entirely different feel as the waterways are much wider and seem to follow a city plan as opposed to haphazardly winding through the city. Besides traveling the city by water, which seems to be mostly for tourists and locals on sunset booze cruises, there are cars but the most common mode of transport is by far the bicycle. Working people, students, kids and entire families dart in and out, going about their days.

Wandering the streets, one of our favorite activities was just enjoying a home-made sandwich, dangling our feet over the water as we watched boats chug along the canals.

Around the city, there are many second-hand fashion stores and flea markets scattered about. One the coolest ones we visited was this floating flower market, set up on some old boats.

Below, Stu checks out some healthy snacks at a farmer's market.

Above, the street our studio was on and below, crossing over a canal.

Around sunset, locals like to get in their boats and cruise the canals with beer and music, people watching and enjoying the remaining summer months. Because the bridges have very low clearance, boats can't be too tall so you don't see yachts like you might back home. Rather people have really round, stubby boats that look more like floating bathtubs. We learned that these boats can cost upwards of $80,000 much to our surprise and the rounder the boat, the cooler it is.

This boat below passed us blasting loud techno while its reveled swilled on Amstel Beer, which is brewed a few canals over...

Besides booze cruising, boats also play serve as floating homes for many people in Amsterdam. In a few places, rows of boats looked permanently moored creating entire floating communities. Below, are a few of these house boats.

Amsterdam is also home to Heineken, undoubtedly one of the most overrated beers in the world but we felt in light of the beer tour we had just completed in Belgium, we needed to check out the Heineken experience. While the beer was terrible as ever, the lesson in branding and marketing was pretty cool.

Had to wash down that awful Heineken taste with a burger from our new favorite restaurant...

We had an overnight train to catch but before we bailed, we grabbed one more canal-side beer and paused to soak in the last of the city.

Brussels is for Beer

We really only went to Belgium because the flight from Venice was $26 and for some of the best beer on earth! Though I had been to Belgium about a month prior, I purposely avoided Brussels so it was totally new to me when we stepped off the plane, boarded a train into city and checked into our hostel just after dark. We were lucky enough to spend our first night only one hundred yards from Grand Place, the largest square in the city.

Grand Place was surrounded by these all white, lit-up buildings. As usual photos don't do it justice.

Unfortunately, the only good thing about our hostel was the location. Otherwise it was eight of us crammed into a small, windowless, stuffy room. The next morning we moved to an odd "hotel" that seemed to cater to low end travelers from the Middle East - we were quite out of place stumbling in drunk at 3 am the next night but oh well...

As we only spent one day and two nights in Brussels, I don't have a lot of photos except of the variety of world-class beers we tried as we wandered around the city. The above beer is considered a "Trappist" beer as it is brewed by monks. There are many rules that must be followed to be considered a real "Trappist" beer and depending on who you ask, there are anywhere between 6-10 in Belgium.

One of the breweries we visited in town makes beer that is still served in the traditional jug they have used for hundreds of years. Delicious! In Belgium, each beer has its own special glass that it is served in to better present the color, aroma and flavor. Unlike the States where every beer is served in the same one size fits all pint glass, this would be an insult to both the brewer and customer in Belgium.

Belgian beers are typically stronger in alcohol content than American beers so after just a few, things start to get fuzzy. Above, a photo with a new friend in the Delirium Brewery, one of Belgiums best known beers.

Above, a strong, dark Belgian beer called a "quadrupel" for its high ABV and intense flavor. In just our short time in Brussels, we managed to visit two breweries and countless beer bars which seem to be everywhere, probably because Belgium has over 400 varieties of beer! As neither Stu or I is much or a museum goer, we decided our time in Belgium was up and headed further north for Amsterdam.

Cheers!

Bromantic Venice

I'm naturally skeptical of places and things that get over-hyped so heading to Venice, I was weary that the city wouldn't live up to expectations. I had also heard that it was overwhelmingly packed with tourists and terribly expensive - two expectations I hoped were wrong. To those that say Venice may be one of the most beautiful cities on earth, I agree! Stu and I also found the food to be equally priced to other parts of Italy we'd visited and the hordes of tourists mostly stuck to a small area and cleared out after 8:30 at night... 

The view stepping out the front of the Venice train station...

Avoiding hostels and touristy hotels, we opted for a 3 bedroom B & B. Getting there looked like just a short walk from the train station but we quickly learned the streets in Venice don't meet at right angles, curve unexpectedly, can vary in width from 10 to 3 narrow feet or even go through a "tunnel" under someone's second story home! That short walk took almost an hour and we arrived to find our hostess spoke no more than a handful words of English. After an awkwardly hilarious check-in we hit the streets!

The view hanging out our bedroom window!

If you've ever been to the Venetian in Vegas and walked their Grand Canal shops, it's eerie how real it feels compared to Venice. The charming canals, many bridges, boats and gondolas cruising amongst the old houses were so beautiful, the city almost feels to be a caricature of itself. Situated in a lagoon, the city is made of 117 small islands with most of the population living on the mainland and one larger island. There are no cars on any of the islands and people and goods are transported by boat down canals of varying sizes. Some residential canals are just wide enough for two small boats to squeeze past each other while the major canals seem like a highway of water taxis, delivery boats, lunch cruises and boat "busses".

Above, a mid-size canal with a delivery boat dropping supplies to the grocery store around the corner from us. And below, the main canal.

Widely considered one of the most romantic cities in the world, Venice does charm. I'm not sure Stu and I hit the romantic restaurants, opting instead for street food, like this fried fish place we were recommended. That said, just looking out the window in such an incredible setting was pretty darn romantic.

Not really being map users, we spent countless hours wandering around. Below, a narrow "street" you could easily walk right past without noticing...

On our last morning, we each separately went on a jog for some exercise before the city really woke up... Quite confusing - we were both pretty lucky to find our way home!

Above, a narrow canal and below, the waterway at night...

"The City of Bridges" for good reason...

Chilling after a big lunch at the market. Stu is a big eater, so I did my best to keep up with him as we snacked at every good looking food stand we saw. Despite our combined Italian totaling about 5 words, we managed to eat well...

At night the streets really cleared out making for some nice photos without too many tourists...

Ciao Venice! Off to Belgium for some beer, waffles and chocolate!

Livin' in Lucca

With no real itinerary for Italy except knowing we had a flight out of Venice five days after Stu's arrival, we decided to head to the coast of Tuscany for some good wine, azure ocean waters and copious amounts of pasta, pizza and gelato. We decided to head to Lucca, a small city founded as a Roman colony in the second century BC. Just north of Pisa, we were so fortunate to stumble upon this hidden gem of a stop. We arrived by a five hour train ride from Rome, checked into a small B & B overlooking the station and headed right into the town for a festival going on that night.

Tuscan sunset from our B & B...

I should say that compared to Scandanavia where city streets are ultra clean, public transportation runs on time to the second and prices unbelievably expensive, Italy feels a world away. When we arrived to the festival we saw what we thought were Christmas lights hung from all the towns buildings and laughed to see city employees still getting them ready as the crowds began to fill the plaza. Oh, typical Mediterranean slowness - turns out the joke was on us as each light was an individually lit candle! Incredible!

The candles illuminated most every window in town as a procession of bands, churches and youth groups made there way down the street for a couple hours.

Below, one of many churches in town all lit up...

The next day we took a series of trains an hour and a half over to the coast to visit Cinque Terre, a series of five small towns dotting a beautiful stretch of coast. Connected by a rocky hiking trail and a commuter train, you've undoubtedly seen this area in a commercial on TV.

One of the towns in Cinque Terre. We went for an afternoon swim in the deep azure waters inside the little bay pictured here.

Above and below, a few photos along the way.

On some part of the trail, you are scrambling down a steep embankment and it seems as though you could tumble right into town if you fell.

Below, Stu leads the way along Cinque Terre's vineyard lined trail.

Hard to believe that before tourism arrived here, these were just a series of extremely impoverished towns, isolated from commerce due to difficult access. Nowadays, the streets are flooded with tourists, though the trails are relatively empty as the steep climbs and falls make most opt for the train.

   

We didn't realize the five miles or so between two towns wouldn't be our only hike of the day as we decided to take a train down the coast to hang out in a little town known for plush resorts, luxury shopping and sandy beaches. We got off the train and walked for at least an hour before arriving to the beach for a sunset swim (Google Earth made it all look so close!) and dinner at an overpriced cafe. We felt pretty out of place towel-changing roadside as rich Italians strolled by in preppy pastel sweaters en route to a Rolex store or Gucci retailer...

We had saved the final morning in Tuscany to explore Lucca. The town was an old Roman fort and is completely encircled by a 20 foot tall by 30 foot thick brick wall, which has now been repurposed as a bike path that rings the city. On our rented bikes, we cruised around checking out the many piazzas, disproportionately high number of beautiful churches and eating street food. Lucca is really off the beaten path but we both agreed we'd recommend it to anybody looking to escape it's more famous and crowded neighbor to the south, Pisa.

View from the wall and bike path surrounding Lucca...

Above, looking into Lucca. And below, one of the cafe lined piazzas we passed by.

Stu taking a break from our ride to order some donuts.

A church in Lucca.

Fresh cheese, bread and meat for our train ride outta town!

Old Friends, New Places

After leaving Stockholm, I was excited to meet one of my best friends from back home in Rome to begin a whirlwind two weeks hopping cheap Ryanair flights and bullet trains to several countries. After hanging with my aunt the last few days, it was awesome to see another familiar face when Stu showed up at our hostel in a quaint, working-class neighborhood outside Rome's more touristy area.

Wasting no time, we headed out to wander the city. It seems in Rome, everywhere you look there's history, you can't avoid it. Ruins, statues, churches, castles, and monuments everywhere you look. We must have walked the same 5 mile route around the city at least 5 times while we there, each time noticing new things and making new stops. It was fortunate that Stu enjoys aimlessly wandering a city without a guide or map as much as I do.

Above, the Coliseum. An amazing sight that such a magnificent stadium could've been built so long ago and still stands impressive to this day. Finished in 80 AD, the Coliseum could hold between 50-80 thousand spectators! The amount of lives ended here, glories won and lost, Christians martyred and historical figures that once graced this stadium is pretty mind-boggling and humbling.

Not far from the Coliseum is a sprawling set of ruins and the Roman Forum. For centuries, the Forum was the heart of the city where the Republican government - the world's first democracy - was housed. Over hundreds of years, the area served as a venue for public speeches, judicial proceedings, religious ceremonies and a marketplace. Today it's crowded with tourists, though luckily the street vendors selling "selfie sticks" are kept out... 

More recent history, this building was actually completed in the 20th century, though it could've fooled me as a ancient, well-built Roman temple.

No visit to Rome would be complete without a trip to Vatican City and St Peter's Basilica. To get into the basilica you must be properly dressed and upon clearing the metal detectors at the churches entrance, we were told Stu's shorts were too short and couldn't get inside! We had to come back the next morning, making sure the big fella had jeans on in the sweltering heat so we wouldn't be kicked out again.

These funny looking dudes are part of the Swiss Guard, which protects the Pope and Vatican City. Not sure with those uniforms they had any right to pass judgment on the length of Stu's shorts...

Returning to St Peter's Basilica was certainly worth the extra effort as the inside is magnificently decorated with ornate detail. Very awe-inspiring. Here you can get a sense for how huge the place is as the people are dwarfed by the art and domed ceilings. After blasting the sights of Rome in a few days, we were ready to move north to Tuscany, heart of wine country and a slower pace.