Weekend Review {05/20}

FRIDAY

I actually shared what I did on Friday on Friday's blog.
An upside of being in Germany is that my evening is US daytime, which means if I post a blog "late", it's not really late.  Downside is that when I write Friday posts at the end of the day, I usually include the day's activities in the post.  Yolo, bitches.

If you don't remember:

• I went to school.
• I got my conch earring switched out since the new earring (from last month) was infected.

• Teh Deutsch Asien came home with me for Reibekuchen, it was greasy and delicious.
• We went to the hookah bar down the street.
• We had Spaghetti Eis

After that, I came home and got ready for bed.  I videoed with Teh German and kinda Teh Running Bestie and then it was bedtime since adventures were coming!

SATURDAY

Up at normal time on Saturday to get started on Amsterdam adventures.  No issues getting ready and catching the train to the main station to catch my bus.  I picked up McDonald's for breakfast, and then searched for my bus.  After having to ask, I found it.  When I had walked by the first time, it wasn't there.. sooo I give myself a pass on this.

The bus took me half way, then we hiked to the train station and caught a train into Amsterdam.  Along the train ride, I saw two cows having sex.. so I mean, seems like a pretty Amsterdam thing to see.  I arrived in Amsterdam shortly after noon and spent a few hours wandering around.

I visited several markets, grabbed lunch, and eventually navigated myself to my AirBnB.

Welcome to Amsterdam.

There was some sort of Asian festival going on.

My hot dog was nearly as burnt as this photo would suggest.
In fact, it was quite perfect.

DAT ASSSSSSS.

#BookHunter

Left: Mini pancakes
Right: Stroopwaffle (w/ caramel)
Made fresh right in front of my face.
THEY WERE BOTH DELICIOUS.

I was very confused about what that thing was in the middle, then I realized it was for bikes!
#AmsterdamLife

These stairs up to the AirBnB had me paranoid I was going to break my leg.

At the AirBnB, I relished in a bed that was extremely comfortable.

I even took a nap with the door open!
Despite a nearby neighbor who was LOUD AF.

My AirBnB wasn't far from the Anne Frank House, but I had searched for tickets earlier in the week and they were already sold out.  Nonetheless, I wanted to go by and at least say I'd been by.  As I was assessing the situation at the house, a man approached me and asked if I wanted to buy a ticket from him, that he had an extra because his friend wasn't able to make it.  I asked how much and he said 10€ and I said, YES PLEASE.

I'm gonna be honest.  Visiting the Anne Frank house was never on my bucket list.  In fact, it wasn't until last week that I even connected Anne Frank to Amsterdam.  But I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity if it fell in my lap like that.

Many years ago, I read that parts of the published book had been edited (a merging of her 2 different versions by her father) and it made me suspicious of what else had been changed.  I'm pretty sure I read the book in middle school, but remember nothing other than the fact that her family lived in a "closet" for 2 years. 

Fun fact, it was not a closet.  It was actually a pretty large space, in my opinion.  They could move around freely and had furniture and kinda lived like normal except for the part where they had to be super quiet and never leave the house.  There was more than just the Frank family (4 persons) in the attic, so I'd imagine it was cramped, but they had a bathroom and a kitchen and a fully functional living space, just on a super small scale. 

But, for sure, the worst part is that they survived in hiding for almost the entire war and then almost everyone died shortly before the war actually ended.

After Anne's house, I headed to dinner.  Everywhere was slammed, so I ended up eating a burger from a place where I could find a seat at the bar, and then went somewhere else for dessert, also sitting at the bar.  I wasn't impressed with my dessert at first, but when I put it in my mouth, the hassle of not getting a menu for half my life and then waiting the other half of my life to order was forgotten.  I wanted to lick the plate... I did not.  But I wanted to. 

After foods, I headed back to the AirBnB.  I watched a few episodes of Friends From College on Netflix, which I don't think I'll continue on with.  I struggle with the over-dramaticness of Keegan-Michael Key.  Maybe 2 episodes isn't enough, but I just learned they cancelled the show, so apparently it wasn't so great anyways?

Since it was GEGR Picnic day, Teh German was occupied, so I went to bed fairly early since I had an early wake up the next morning.

SUNDAY

For all of my photography loving life, I've wanted to visit the tulip fields of Holland.
Quick education:
Holland is the name of the province where most of the tulips are grown.
Holland is located in the country: The Netherlands.

I dreamed of their spectacular glory and ALL THE PHOTOS I could take.

More education:
Tulip farmers DGAF about the flowers.  In fact, they remove the flower right after it blooms, which makes the bulb (in the ground) healthier or bigger or something beneficial for selling them.  Soooo all the fast fields of tulips aren't really a thing for very long.  When the bulbs are harvested, the plants are used a fertilizer (kinda) for the fields.  It's like a whole process.  Anyways.

I went to Keukenhof (a popular flower garden) on the last day of the season.  I didn't know what this meant.  The tour guide said, "Despite being the last day, there will be still be plenty of flowers to see!"  I imagined my fields of glory.

There were no fields of tulips.  There were a lot of beds with tulips (and some other related varieties of flowers), but a LOT of the beds were just green, with no flowers, because the blooming season is over, despite how cold it has been there.  That's not to say I didn't take 500 photos, I did, but I expected something different.

I had scheduled an Uber the night before, because I didn't want to deal with the train and getting a ticket and blah blah blah that early.  Annoyingly, you have no idea if the Uber you've scheduled will actually show up or not, it depends on if a driver accepts it, which you don't know of until a driver accepts it, which is generally when they are on the way.... Soooooo, that was stressful.  But the Uber driver did come, dropped me off at the meeting point for the tour, I found the tour office, checked in, got my ticket, and we were loaded and on the bus in due time.

100% glad that no one was with me for my flower garden session.  At first I was like, "Meh, 4 hours is going to be way too much time."  We had to be back at the bus by 1.  At 12:30 I had to tell myself that I was not allowed to stop for ANY.MORE.DETOURS.MEGAN.LYNN.  It was difficult.  I kept finding flowers and I'd ask myself if I'd already shot that variety or not.. but maybe not, so maybe I should get another, just in case?  Yes, I know I'm ridiculous.  If someone had been with me, I would have felt guilty for all the time I was spending with different angles and focusing on different flowers and taking both landscape and portrait oriented photos.  I know that flower/macro photography is not as interesting for others as it is for me, which makes me feel like I need to just skip some stuff so I don't torture the person I'm with.

Shitty breakfast to start the day:
Cold dutch apple pie (it would have been INFINITELY better if it was warm) and hot chocolate.

I won't lie.  I didn't really enjoy the smells.
Also, there was a LOT of lilies in one of the buildings I was in and I could feel my head start to hurt.

Top: Expectation
Bottom: Reality

x250ish on my camera.

I did make sure to take a few selfies, because.. why the fuck not?

A nice couple offered to take a photo of me in my new kicks.

I made it back in time. 

We made it back to the city before 2, which meant I had time to go into the Central area and grab something for lunch... and by something, I mean fries.. and then head back to the train station to catch my train and get back to Düsseldorf.

Fries w/ "garlic sauce" are officially my new favorite thing.
And "garlic sauce" seems like the European version of ranch dressing.

I was at the correct platform waiting on the train about 25 minutes prior to it's arrival.  And then.. a train came early and left before the time that my train was supposed to arrive (per the board)... and I missed my train because I thought it wasn't the right train.

Which meant I also missed my bus back to Düsseldorf, since there was only an 11 minute "layover" between.  I almost called Teh German in tears.  But I knew he couldn't do anything and I knew the longer I waited to solve this problem, the longer it would be before I was back in Düsseldorf.  So I used Google Maps to find the way home... and only proceeded to get more frustrated after I went to a different station to look for the Flixbus and couldn't find it after walking around the station 2 times.

Finally, I went into the station and asked for help.  I explained what had happen and a super cool dude hooked me up with new train tickets to get back to Düsseldorf and he even printed out the route and reviewed the platforms the trains would be at for me.  Like, I wanted to hug him, but I'm not a hugger and he was a stranger, but I was just relieved that someone helped me and that I would get back Sunday night.

As I'm walking around trying to find a particular bus stand, I spotted this #TooSoon sign.

When I boarded the train, as directed, I looked over and saw the fucking bus stand that I had been looking for.  Soooo, overall, I paid for 2 trips to/from Amsterdam.  You're welcome DE Bahn system for my monies.  It didn't take much longer to get back via train and while I was relieved to be at the Düsseldorf Hbf, finally getting off the train at my stop was like a weight had been lifted.

My host lady had already left for her vacation week, which meant I had the flat all to myself.  That meant setting up Alexa and jamming and putting my shit away and getting settled in.. and writing this post.  Then it was chat with Teh German time, and sleepy time.

______________________________________________

My trip was SUPER great... until I missed my train.  Teh German tried talking me down (I did start texting him after I got on the train to the 2nd station to look for the bus stop) and telling me not to be so hard on myself, but I'm my own worst enemy.  I finally broke and there were tears.  But it was also a relief.  I've been frustrated so many times over public transportation and I've not let it get to me.  I've quickly moved on from being frustrated and got shit done.. But this time, it cost me 50€ (if you don't include the 30€ that I paid for the original ticket back).  Obviously, I'm ok, but sooo much build-up finally cracked me and I had some leaky eyes on the train back.  I even posted my crying pic on FB, because it is part of the journey.  I was really appreciative of all the encouragement/cheerleading from my friends. 

There are now 500+ more photos to edit.. sooo that's a fun "one day" adventure.

So far this week is kinda quiet:
-School, duh.
-Meet with Auntie P on Tuesday for hanging out and dinners.
-Sunday: Run with Teh German Runner ANNNNDDDD TEH GERMAN ARRIVES!!!!