Happy Halloween

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Halloween weekend! And now, please enjoy a portion of an excellent rendition of Bach's very spooky" Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" performed by these talented buskers in Cologne.

Be safe, have fun, and eat a lot of candy for us!

Hamburg Day Trip

We had seen and heard good things about Hamburg, so Jacob and I decided to make a day of it.

On a Wednesday morning, we hopped on an ICE train and an hour and forty minutes later, voila! We were in Hamburg.

Berlin's Festival of Lights

We finally got back outside around 21:30, stepping into the clear, crisp night. The smell of something apple-cinnamon was in the air, and then the earthy smell of fallen leaves. Scarves and mittens were secured and snug as we made our way to the S-Bahn station. Down to Franzosische Strasse first.

Autumn in Berlin

"We're going to miss fall," we'd lament to each other before we left. How a season is perceived is all relative, but if you'd ask me right now what the best season is in Minnesota, I'd say fall. (Ask me in January, and I'd say spring without hesitation.) So while we're definitely lucky that we were able to take this trip, it was with some regret that we'd miss out on autumn. We didn't realize, however, that Berlin's autumn would just be getting underway when we arrived at the beginning of this month. When we arrived, we were somewhat surprised to see so much green. Now twenty days later, that green has quickly turned to reds, yellows, oranges, and in some places even gray.

As a Minnesotan, I know how moody the weather can be. Being in Berlin for this month begs me to ask the question, is it just MN? This has been the most consistent and steady October weather I can remember. We arrived to green grass and comfy long-sleeve tee weather; a week later, we were in hoodies and thought about purchasing scarves; now we are layered, bemittened, and some of these nights strongly suggest headwear. The change was so appropriately metered, it was as if a thermostat was being gently adjusted to make sure everyone was acclimated. This is opposed to Minnesota, which seems to cruelly and almost jokingly swing the dial back and forth, and then a little more forth, then all the way back again, before just dumping six inches of snow on our heads after a week in the 60s. Not to say that anyone can judge the climate of a place by just observing a month, but, like I said, I can't remember a time when the weather's been so kind.

More autumn pictures after the jump...

Berlin Picnic #2

We couldn't resist. We had such an awesome picnic in Mauer Park on our first Sunday in Berlin, that we had to return the next Sunday for another one. It was a beautiful day. Can you blame us?

More pictures and a couple videos after the jump. And details on - *gasp* - a picnic without bread!

Berlin Museums and Memorials

Like any big city, Berlin has a lot of museums - art museums, history museums, even a “Museum Island.” However, since there is so much recent history here - from the rise and fall of Nazi Germany, to the German Democratic Republic, to the fall of the Berlin Wall - the museums and monuments have a certain immediacy and relevance to them than any other city we can think of.

Read about a few of them after the jump!

German Unity Day, and a few flea markets

Karina wanted to make sure we were actually in Berlin, so one of the first sights we went to see was the Brandenburg Gate.

Yep! We're here!

Berlin Picnic #1

Last time I was in Berlin, while walking through Prenzlauer berg one night with some friends, I ended up in an incredible place. Though it was dark and not much could be seen, there were a few pieces there that added up to one of my most memorable nights in Berlin. A park+ a long stretch of the former Berlin wall freshly painted by many of Berlin's artists + swings= incredible. Coming back to Berlin, I was eager to find this spot again--- this time in the light. So on the first Sunday of our stay here, after checking out several other markets throughout the city, we headed to Mauer Park, to check out their market, enjoy a tasty picnic, and see what the park was like in the day time.

It's amazing what daylight can do for a place--that and several thousand people. As we approached the park I was blown away to see SOOOOOO many people. People everywhere! People bargain hunting in the market. People chilling on the grass with their friends. People performing music for crowds. People gathered in droves watching. People spray-painting new works of art on the wall. A.Maze.Ing.

Jacob and I headed toward the large hill where there were so many people hanging out/drinking beer/picnicking/making out/all of the above, it was difficult to find a spot. Eventually we found one and set up.

This picnic wasn't too different from those past-- wine, cheese, bread, veggies. This time we assembled them into a sandwich. At our last picnic I had over-extended my collapsible wine cup, but lucky for me, Jacob was able to fix it!

As we dined we enjoyed a melange of music coming from every different corner of the park, while many adorable dogs played around us.

After our picnic, we checked out the swings!

And after we checked out the swings, we checked out the karaoke performances that were going on just down the hill in an outdoor amphitheater. Brave souls performed for what must have been nearly a thousand people. Minneapolis needs something like this!



The singer in the video above was actually improvising the song based on audience suggestions--- If I remember correctly they were: Angela Merkel, Rumpelstiltskin, and recycling. If you speak German, maybe you'll find it funny too!

Our picnic in Mauer Park was every bit as incredible as our picnic in the alps. The creative spirit of Berliners was overwhelming and it made us very excited for the rest of our time here.

We've been in Berlin

Hey folks - Sorry for the lack of updates recently. We've been gently nudged by a few of you. We're glad you're reading!! Our schedule has been full of Berlin sights, nightlife, and concerts, all of which we'll blog about very soon. Also, in news of the stinky, we lost a bunch of pictures thanks to a memory card malfunction, so there's a gap in our pictures and not many in this blog post (but plenty available on our Flickr site, to the right). We're still hopeful we can possibly recover them...Also, in the news of the friends and family, we miss everyone a lot. Anyway, let me pick up where Karina left off, from Cologne...

It was our longest train ride to date. Or maybe it just felt like it. We were anxious to get to our next destination, the place we were staying the longest: Berlin. We've been trying to take advantage of our time on the train, finding something productive to do while sitting still. Drafting blog posts, emails, perhaps sorting pictures. If we were working on a Mac, we'd probably spend some time with Photo Booth. It's amazing how useless a computer feels without the internet. Some trains have wifi, but of course they charge.

This was our first ride in the first class of a train, thanks to the folks at Rail Europe. It's not that it was all that uncomfortable in second class, but boy, leg room sure is nice, as is not wrestling for the arm rest with the guy in the seat next to me. I also enjoyed the absence of any smells reminiscent of body odor, or any just-as-offensive fragrance used to cover up said body odor. So yeah, I guess I'd say first class was nice.

After about four hours, we finally started seeing signs of the sprawling metropolis that is Berlin. And then, in the distance, we spotted the Berlin TV Tower, a massive structure erected by East Germany in the 60s. It remains today the tallest structure in all of Germany. Last time we were here, I don't think I ever made it to the base of it, but it can be seen from virtually anywhere in the city. It looms over Mauerpark, a former Berlin wall "death strip" turned urban green space. From elevated S-Bahn lines, it can be seen shining in the gaps between apartment buildings. Visitors to the dome atop the Reichstag can either look down onto the German Parliament, or Eastward to the tower's impressive geodesic sphere. I would liken it to seeing the lake at the cabin up north, or the skyline of your home city after being gone for awhile. After three-plus weeks of being on the go, no home base, in places that were - for me anyway - completely foreign, it felt good to see a familiar sight.

When we arrived at Berlin's Central Station (Hauptbahnhof), we transfered to an S-Bahn train, then to a U-Bahn train which should have taken us within just a couple blocks of our destination. Little did we know that the track was under construction a few stops before ours, so we were forced to exit well before we wanted to. We had the option of transferring to a replacement bus service, but when the first one filled completely up before we were able to board, we decided to make the final haul on foot. With, once again, the heavy duffels on our backs, and the day packs on our fronts, we set off on the very doable 2km stretch.

Of course there was a catch: we told our accommodator we would arrive at the doorstep at a certain time, which had passed about 45 minutes ago. Hoping he'd still be there when we arrived, we speed-walked to the apartment, as running with the weight on our backs would have certainly killed us. (All the while, I should mention, more replacement U-Bahn buses, the ones we could have been on, passed us on the street. So that's fun.)

We finally arrived, ragged and sweating, and the caretaker, who was very nice given we had left him waiting for at least an hour, led us to our home away from home for the next month. After sharing small, scantily-designed bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, and general living spaces with perfect strangers for the better part of a month, the new place seemed unbelievably large, even though it's essentially a studio. Our own place!

After our travels we yearned for a home-cooked meal, which we could finally cook with our newfound kitchen. After a quick trip to the grocery store, we made a quick batch of spaghetti and salad, and, since it was a Friday night, watched an episode of TPT's Almanac before going to bed, ready to explore Berlin in the morning...

Cologne

We wanted to check out another town between Amsterdam and Berlin, so Cologne seemed like a good idea. Famous church, and famous beer-- works for us!

Before we got to Cologne, our visit was nearly thwarted by a "really mean, really stupid lady." Let me explain. We got up early our last morning in Amsterdam to get to the train station so we could catch the 10:34 train to Cologne. Since we were only going to be there one day, we thought it'd be smart to get there as early as reasonably possible. A 10:34 train put us into Cologne around 1. Great! We arrived to the Amsterdam train station around 9:40, which in any other place would have been PLENTY of time to purchase tickets and catch a train. Not in Amsterdam though!

Problem #1:

I waited in a line to purchase tickets that did not accept American credit cards. That would have been nice to know before I waited through the entire line. We were told we needed to go to the international travel area where they'd kindly accept my credit card. No problem. We still had plenty of time. 40 minutes!

Problem #2:

We arrived in the international ticketing area and got in line. Wait, no we didn't. We needed to get a number, so that we could get in line to purchase a ticket. Sheesh. I wandered back to the entrance of the international ticketing area to get a number. Near the entrance I saw a uniformed lady standing casually next to a number dispensing machine. I wasn't entirely sure that this was where I could get the number, because she looked more like she just happened to be standing there and did not necessarily look like she was involved in dispensing the numbers. I approached the woman.

"Um, hi-- is this where I get a number to buy a ticket?" I said.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" the lady screeched back at me.

"I'd like a number to.."

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" she repeated. I decided to elaborate.

"I want to purchase an international train ticket."

"YES BUT WHAT DO YOU WANT? WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

"Um, I'd like to go to Cologne..."

"WHAT DAY WHAT TIME WHEN???"

"Today at 10:30," I told her. She looked down at her watch and punched some buttons in the kiosk. Maybe she's just giving the me a ticket here? No such luck. She handed me a number "c075." Great. I headed back to the ticketing area.

Not great. They were only on C051. I could tell that it was moving slowly. The electronic board that listed the numbers and the corresponding desks people should go to was also calling another section of numbers in the A430's. Soon enough they were mostly calling A's and were rarely calling C's. I overheard an American nearby saying that they were also taking the 10:34 train to Cologne and that it SEEMED like those who were in a hurry were getting A's, and those with "plenty of time" were getting C's. While, in any NORMAL train station, I did have "plenty of time," I could tell that at the pace they were calling C's, I really should be in the "in a hurry" category. Jacob went to the number dispensing agent to try to get an A (it was a different woman than the one with whom I dealt and she was much nicer), and received one by providing the exact information that I provided to the grouchy woman. However, by this time our chances for making the 10:34 train to Cologne looked bleak. But there was still a chance. Wouldn't you know, they called my number at 10:31. We ended up missing the train by about 2 minutes. All because of this incredibly rude woman who was either 1) Purposefully mean or 2) Incompetent or 3) both. (I think it was #3). Because of this woman, we missed several hours of daylight sightseeing in Cologne and we ended up spending 2 hours in a train station "New York Slice" fast food restaurant.

I'm happy to say that good triumphed over evil, and we eventually made it Cologne. The first thing you see when you step out of the train station is the Cologne Cathedral. Holy moly, that thing is imposing!

We decided we would check it out after depositing our bags at our hostel. We jumped on the underground and arrived at our hostel, the Weltempfanger.

We were quite pleased with our room-- one of the nicest places we've stayed so far.

Jacob checks out the view

It's a nice view!

The staff there were very helpful, giving us a few recommendations for where to try some good Kolsch beer. We had read that the Cathedral was open quite late, so we decided to grab a beer, some dinner, and check out the neighborhood first.

Cologne was heavily bombed during WWII, so the resulting city is a mix of old and new. The area where we walked had tons of pizza, falafel, and doner places in addition to lots of clothing shops. In general, it doesn't seem to be much of a tourist town (though we weren't hanging out in the touristy areas), and very few people that we encountered spoke English. This made for at least one awkward experience at our first stop, "the smallest brewery in Cologne."

We walked in and ordered "zwei bier" and the bartender replied back in German with a reply that seemed much longer than the "coming right up" response we were expecting. We stared at him blankly. "Sprechen Sie English?" "Nein" he replied. Thankfully a couple who had been previously chatting with him when we first arrived did. "The bar is closed. It opens at 6." It was only 5:15. Oops! We thanked them and quickly exited the building. 6? Whatever happened to "it's 5 o'clock somewhere?!" ;)

We decided to grab some food in the meantime so we found a very cheap and tasty pizza place and enjoyed some personal pans along with a Kolsch. Afterwards we headed back to the first bar and enjoyed a delicious microbrew as the place quickly filled with locals.

Next stop? The Cathedral! We hopped on the underground and arrived at the Cathedral around 8. Although the website said it would be open, it was clearly not open. We'd have to check it out in the morning.

A bit creepy in the night, wouldn't you say?

No worries though-- we ended up walking around the downtown area where tons of shops lined the streets.

Including shops with names that might raise a few eyebrows with the English speaking world.

We were also treated to a few tunes by some very talented street performers. What an awesome looking bass!

Our next stop was a very cosy brewpub that made Jacob and I regret that we had already eaten. The food smelled soooo good! If we had been in Cologne another night we would have HAD to come back to eat the delicious smelling German comfort food. mmmm. The server came around with a fancy beer tray that carried about 10 small glasses of beer, and asked us "Kosch?" Yes please.

The restaurant had such a warm, friendly atmosphere-- it was hard to leave! But we had to catch an early train to Berlin AND see the Cathedral in the morning. If only we had two more hours to spend in Cologne (thanks a lot, really mean stupid lady from Amsterdam!).

Next morning, we needed to find a quick breakfast, so Jacob enjoyed Germany's version of the Egg McMuffin, and I picked up some pretzel rolls for the train ride. We then headed over to the church. As I mentioned before, it is quite imposing, and it is so large that you get a bit of vertigo looking up at its towers.

The floor space inside was HUGE. I was surprised that it was considerably less ornate on the inside then many of the churches we've been in. However, it did contain my favorite stain-glass window thus far.

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to climb the tower to get the Cologne panorama. We had to make a train.

We enjoyed our short time in Cologne, and wish we would have had more time. Yes, I'm still talking about that really mean, really stupid lady.

Vondelpicnic

On the edge of the city proper of Amsterdam lies the Vondelpark, a 120-acre green space with mature trees, ponds, gardens, bike paths, and open field areas. Throughout the meandering paths people young and old can be observed walking their dogs, playing football, jogging, or just chilling out.

Sunbathing is allowed everywhere! Just not in your birthday suit. Paradoxically, a few years ago it was proposed in a municipal memo, in the true liberal spirit of Amsterdam, to allow the act which I'll refer to here - since this is a family-friendly blog - as makin' whoopee. This proposal was eventually struck down by law enforcement, since it would largely be, you know, against the law.

As oppose to the weather we were used to during our time in Amsterdam, this particular day was very sunny with a 90% chance of weather-related happiness. The previous days were either cloudy, rainy, or some kind of schizophrenic mix of sun, dark clouds, and downpours all in a span of thirty minutes. It was so beautiful outside that we had decided to consider it an extension of Karina's birthday, even though it was days before.

We chose a picnic spot next to a large pond where ducks, birds, and egrets seemed to be having a mixer of sorts. On the menu today was, you guessed it, bread, cheese, and wine. To round it out, we also had bell peppers, tomato, salami, and stroopwafels - mini-waffles filled with caramel which can be purchased in stacks at any grocery store for about a Euro and a half.

A fitting picnic towards the end of our time in Amsterdam. We reflected about all the different spots we've picnicked thus far - in the Alps, within sight of the Eiffel Tower, with a friend in Belgium - and how each picnic has been great in its own way. It goes to show you, even on a budget, you can still enjoy the luxuries of any destination.

Amsterdam

It’s been 4 years since I was last in Amsterdam. I absolutely loved it, so I had set the expectation bar pretty high for Jacob. I was going to show Jacob the ropes— but since it’s been 4 years since I last visited, I didn’t really remember that much about how to get to and fro’. Mostly I had a loose mental map of some of the major tourist attractions, parks, and pleins. Thankfully, we had a map.

Amsterdam is a beautiful city. Gorgeous old buildings with intricate detail, tree-lined canals, and cobblestone streets. It’s the beauty of Bruges, with the hustle and bustle of a big city, and the sights are within walking distance of each other and plentiful, which makes it easy to see a lot of stuff in Amsterdam.

But man oh man, there are a lot of tourist. I had either conveniently forgotten this OR perhaps there really were more tourists—in ’06 I was there at the end of October, rather than the end of September. Or perhaps it’s because we arrived on a Friday night?

But no matter—rarely did those pesky tourists interfere with the likes of seasoned travelers like Jacob and me (going on three weeks now!). Not sure about you all, but I was a fan of the format of my last Bruges post—Other Bruges topics. It was easy to write. And I like that becuz I don’t’ right so good.

Dutch Resistance Museum

We woke up early(ish) our first day in Amsterdam to go to the Dutch Resistance Museum. It was sunny when we woke up, but by the time we got out it was rainy. Oh well, we were going to a museum. And it was a really fascinating museum dedicated to telling the story of all the various ways people in the Netherlands resisted Nazi occupation and the war in general. From an imprisoned women sewing her captors socks shut, to publishing underground newspapers, to creating false papers for Jewish children and “adopting” them into families to protect them, to massive protests, the Dutch seemed to find many ways to resist. I’d highly recommend the museum to anyone—Jacob and I learned a lot and it gave us a broader understanding of WWII in general.

Anne Frank House

We went to the Anne Frank House the same day as the Dutch Resistance Museum. It seemed to make sense that way. As we waited in the massively long line to tour the secret annex behind the book case that Anne Frank and her 6 roommates occupied for two years, we thought about the impact that Anne Frank has had across the world. People from all walks of life, speaking all kinds of different languages joined us in line. It was truly astounding and incredibly powerful to see how her story has touched so many.

Touring the annex and the adjoining museum was a very moving experience and the museum does an excellent job getting people to think about the issue of hate and what we can do to stop it. Again, if you are ever in Amsterdam, this is a must see.

House Boat Museum

For 3 Euro each, Jacob and I got to step inside a houseboat --you can’t help but wonder what it would be like to live in one when you see all those houseboats lining the canals. It was a quick tour but fun to see what it was like inside. Living in a housebot could be fun, but I think I’d need to step inside a larger houseboat to know for sure.

Electric Ladyland

We read about this place in our guide book. It’s a museum dedicated to fluorescent art and fluorescence found in nature as well as everyday objects. It sounded pretty sweet, so on another cloudy, rainy day, we headed to the other side of the city to check it out. The main floor is store which sells lots of fun prints and art. A friendly woman greeted us, told us a little bit about what we’d see in the museum which was downstairs, collected our entrance fee, and enthusiastically held up a black light to our 10 Euro bill and showed us the various parts that gave off the fluorescent neon glow. Who knew?

I must admit I was a little creeped out about going into the basement museum area. We climbed down a very steep stair case (really more of a ladder) into a dark room with a low ceiling. Once we were down there we were greeted by a kind, bearded fellow who told us bit more about what were seeing. And what were we seeing exactly? Well the main feature was this huge fluorescent sculpture, which were encouraged to crawl around in, touch, and explore.

Within the sculpture there were little caverns that you could look into and see glowing rocks, crystals, and some bizarre little scenes with glowing statuettes.

It was a very interesting experience, but eventually it got a little too stuffy down there and my claustrophobia started to kick in, so it was time to leave. It was a cool sight to see and the staff was very enthusiastic, well-informed, and eager to tell you about fluorescence. I’d recommend it if you have more than a couple of days in Amsterdam.

Canal Boat Tour

What trip to Amsterdam is complete without a canal boat tour? No trip. That’s the answer. On one of the few sunny days we had there, we hopped on the first (and cheapest!) canal boat tour we could find. From the pictures it looks like no one was on the tour boat, but that wasn’t the case. Much like a school bus, everybody sat in the back (that's where all the cool kids sit). ANYWAY, the narrated tour left something to be desired, but for the price, we were just pleased to be driven around the canals so we could snap photos. So that’s what we did, while a nice fall breeze drifted through the open windows of our boat.

Pedestrians, Shmedestrians

Everybody knows that Amsterdam is big biking city. And it is. And that’s really cool. But you know how in America, people in cars get all angry and annoyed when they have to pass a biker? Well I feel like it’s like that in Amsterdam, only it’s the bikers getting all upset at the walkers. It’s hard to be a pedestrian in Amsterdam. You have to watch out for cars, trams, AND a constant stream of bikes. That wouldn’t be such a huge issue if Amsterdam had ample sidewalk space for walkers. It would seem, however, that the city has chosen to dedicate most of that space to bike lanes. In many spots, Jacob and I had to weave around planters, trash cans, trees, and barricade posts that were in the “walking area.” Sometimes the street was safer than the sidewalk.

Hamkas

One of my favorite things about being in other countries is going to the grocery store. It’s fun to look at the different kinds of products they offer, as well the flavors of familiar brands that aren’t available in the U.S. While we were shopping in the Albert Heijn grocery store, we came across a brand of chips called Hamkas. The package showed a chip that looked very similar to Cheetos Checkers. No-longer in production, these cheetos had a grid-like shape, and were a little more substantial than a standard cheeto. I was a huge fan of them in my youth, so I was very excited to see a similar product. I showed Jacob—we both agreed, “Yes to Hamkas.”

Boy were we wrong. The first bite was absolutely disgusting. It was so gross that I couldn’t take another bite. That’s saying a lot for a self-professed “Chip-lover” whose normal pickiness is never an issue in the chip world. It tasted more like the way ham-flavored dogfood smells. Jacob tried one. He agreed. I think we had been thrown off by the farmer who was wielding a pitchfork full of cheese on the front of the bag. Hamkas, meet the trash can. Of course this is all completely subjective.

Beth Nielsen Chapman at the Paradiso

It just so happened that an incredible songwriter, performer, and friend was in town playing at the Paradiso, so we headed down to her concert on a Sunday night. I’d liken the venue to First Avenue--- it had a large main room, with a smaller venue in the same building. The building used to be an old church, so the rooms were far more ornate and classy then a standard club. We had a great time seeing Beth perform--- she is amazingly talented and we had a blast at her show. It was fun to mingle with some of the locals who were there enjoying the show too. Check out Beth’s website!

Vondel Park

The Vondel Park is a large park just outside the city center. I wanted to make sure Jacob got to see it, because I always felt it reminded me a little bit of Lake of the Isles—lots of trees, weeping willows, water, and large homes. We went there on a beautiful day to have a picnic. More on that later though. It’s a very nice park, and clearly well-loved. The place was packed with locals out for strolls with their dogs running freely beside them, people tossing around a Frisbee, children playing on playgrounds, and other picnickers. Just like Minnesotans, Amsterdam citizens know a good day when they see one and they take full advantage of it.

Specialty Shops

One of my other favorite things about being in a foreign country is checking out all the neat specialty shops that they have there. One shop that we went in to was dedicted to action figures, mostly from the 80s and 90s. The store had a real real pop-culture sensibility. It was there that Jacob found a Joker action figure—one that he had when he was younger and cherished, but mysteriously disappeared (stolen by the real Joker?). He’d been looking for another one for about the past 20 years and he finally found it in Amsterdam. Very cool. My favorite shop was “Kitsch Kitchen,” a shop which sold large variety of goods (Cookware, furniture, purses, accessories, gadgets), mostly in bright colored plastics. They also had lots of junky toys that you might purchase with tickets at a Chuck E. Cheese. I love these kinds of things. They had a really neat chair there that I wanted but, alas, it wouldn’t fit in my backpack.

MY BIRTHDAY

While in Amsterdam, I also celebrated my golden birthday! How exciting, right? I thought so! Ever since I was little I dreamed about my golden birthday, jealous of my friends who got to celebrate when they were 10, 12, 15 etc. I woke up on my birthday to a rainy day—something that I’m not really used to in Minnesota where 9 times out of 10, it’s a beautiful fall day. Europe didn’t get the memo on that one. Before we could start celebrating, we had to run an errand to pick up a train ticket at the fed ex store by the airport. That involved taking a train to Schipol, and a bus to the fed ex location.

By the time we got back it was almost 2, so we celebrated by having a late breakfast of pancakes and beer!

It was still raining, but that didn’t stop us from wandering around the city and shopping for several hours. I had wanted to go to some museums, but none of any interest were open—so we headed back to the hotel for a nice birthday nap. After the nap, Jacob surprised me with some fun gifts he had picked up in Bruges.

After that we headed out for dinner (cheap Italian food. Yum!), and then sang some karaoke and called it a night. It wasn’t as glamorous as I had thought it would be, but it was a very memorable experience, and feel glad that I could experience my golden birthday at an age where I can fully appreciate it-- And in Europe, no less!