Aka. "Destination Anywhere", "The Boy and Girl from County Bavaria"... After a very intense year in Würzburg (Germany), I'm back in Salamanca. I probably won't have that many experiences to write, but there's always an excuse to post a new entry!

Although I'm already done with the exams (and leaving Würzburg in about a week), here's the traditional post about the courses I've been taking in the summer semester.

1. THE SECRETS OF GERMAN GRAMMAR

Real title: Sprachwissenschaftliches Seminar II (Linguistics II)

Type: Seminar

Lecturer: The one with the very long last name (again)

What it consists of: We learn EVERYTHING about German grammar - we analyze phrases using tree-shaped diagrams. It's more interesting and difficult than it sounds, really. Oh, and the best thing about it is that we foreign students seem to know some things much better than Germans (they don't even know their own verbs!)

What to do to get marks: Written assignment (thank god I did it together with the Finnish girls! Otherwise I wouldn't have survived it!) and exam... which was last week and didn't go as well as I'd like to...

2. HOW TO BECOME A TEACHER

Real title: Einführung in die Didaktik der spanischen Sprache und Literatur (Introduction to the didactic of Spanish language and literature)

Type: Übung

Lecturer: The adorable Rayman... erm... Reimann

What it consists of: Let's face it - the course is damn boring. Some terms ring a bell to me because I faintly recall having heard something about them in Linguistics, but most of the time I have no idea what it is about. It's really theoretical and I don't think I've learnt anything useful at all... but the lecturer is just adorable! He printed some documents for me and gave me some practical advice in case I want to teach Spanish in Germany. I just have to love him.

What to do to get marks: Nothing! I just got a paper stating that I visited that course for being there every day.

3.THINGS YOU SHOULD ALREADY KNOW

Real title: Tutorium zum Sprachwissenschaftlichen Seminar II (Linguistics Tutorial)

Type: Tutorium

Lecturer: Fat Kat (god, that was mean :S)

What it consists of: We basically repeat the same things we learnt in Linguistics, but the girl (who by the way is rather cold and boring) doesn't seem to manage to get anyone's attention... and most of the students don't seem to give a damn about it. She asks the same questions everyday and I'm often the only one who answers...

What to do to get marks: You don't get marks.

4.GERMAN FILMS FOR DUMMIES II

Real title: DaF-Filmseminar (Film seminar for international students)

Type: Kurs

Lecturer: Our good old Dominik

What it consists of: Pretty much the same as last semester, but as this time there were like twice as many people, we don't really get a chance to discuss the film in more depth or to answer questions, as we have two or three presentations every day. Some remarkable things are the lecturer, who's just a great guy, the trip to Munich we went on to visit the Bavaria Filmstudios and the film "Das Leben der anderen" (The lives of others)... simply amazing!

What to do to get marks: Written assignment and presentation about one of the films - in my case, it was the Star Trek parody "(T)Raumschiff Surprise", and both went quite well.

5. SLANG FOR BEGINNERS

Real title: Wortschatz (Vocabulary)

Type: Kurs

Lecturer: Bruce Willis

What it consists of: First of all, you get the impression that all German words sound the same, as most of the exercises we've done were about words that are easily mistaken. Apart from that, we learn synonyms for many words and slang. It's a very interesting course and the lecurer is great fun... and hot!

What to do to get marks: Exam, which was last week and wasn't bad at all.

6. MORE SECRETS OF GERMAN GRAMMAR

Real title: Gasttutorium zum Sprachwissenschaftliches Seminar II (Lingustics tutorium for international students)

Type: Tutorium

Lecturer: Ellen

What it consists of: A group of foreign students meets to revise what we learnt in Linguistics. Ellen, the girl in charge, is really nice and managed to get the class involved pretty well. I take my hat off for her.

What to do to get marks: You don't get marks.

7. FUN FOR FOREIGNERS

Real title: GastStudentenBegrüssung (I don't really know how to translate it)

Type: Seminar

Lecturer: Emine and Jakob

What it consists of: It's just great! We meet every Wednesday evening and do something else each week - once we analyzed poems, another time we went to the cinema or the theatre... we even had a farewell barbecue! The main purpose of it is to get to know new people and to get to know Würzburg a little better. Besides, Emine and Jakob are really nice and easy-going. She's a 24-year-old Turk and he's 26 and from Würzburg.

What to do to get marks: I didn't get marks because I didn't go to every session, but if I had, I would have had to give a presentation about my home land.

I'm back! Well, in the end the writing marathon hasn't worked the way I expected... but before the weekend is over, I'd like to leave something else from me here.

The inhabitants of every country tend to complain that tourists merely visit the biggest and most popular cities. No-one cares about small villages, which can often be much more interesting than cities... Well, I decided to follow this piece of advice and, apart from beautiful Bamberg I've been to two more German villages in the past weeks.

Probably there's not much to say about them. Both of them are engaged in wine production and they are respectively located close to two of Germany's most important rivers: the Main and the Rhine. The nicest things to do there are roaming their cute, romantic streets, while looking at their old buildings or sitting in one of their numerous inns or wine taverns. That's why there might not be much to say about them... but there are certainly things to show.

Wineyards in the Rhine area

Hana (Czec Republic) and Pirjo (Finland) by the Main

Main street of Sommerhausen (Main)

More of the main street of Sommerhausen

Anniina (Finland) and Kristiina (Estonia) in a cute wine tavern

One of the specialties from Sommerhausen - vanilla ice-cream with biscuits, whipped cream and rose jam... delicious!

Julia (Russia) in front of a traditional German house

And last but not least, a street of a village in the Rhine area. Apparently, the plans for the church were stolen from some Middle East country.

First of all, SORRY SORRY SORRY and SORRY once again! :( In order to compensate for having disappeared for one month, I'm gonna try to have a blog marathon this weekend (for once there are no interesting plans in sight...)

Yesterday our university celebrated what they called the Nacht der Lichter (Night of the Lights). As none of my German friends outside Würzburg had heard about it, I had assumed that it might be some ritual related to Würzburg. However, to be sure I looked it up on Wikipedia and (to my dismay) I found out that it's related to some religious meeting for young people in the French town of Taizé (!!!), which has little to do with what we did last night. In the end, the only thing I found on the wikipedia article which can be remotely similar to our Nacht der Lichter is a way to celebrate the change of season, so... I take it that's probably what it was about.

In the photos you'll see pretty much what it was like. It began in the campus fields around 20.30 (it was not yet dark) and I don't know how long it went on - we went home around midnight and they were still there. In a few words: chips and bratwurst, drinks, live music, fire jugglers and a certain Woodstock feeling. Here's some illustration.

From left to right: Rachel, me and Anthea. Both of them are from England. In fact, we had quite a British evening last night ;) And I have to say that they all surprised me positively, as they were quite a fun group. Besides, I had a chance to speak English.

More people in our group: Julia (Russia), Charlotte, half of Andrew, Chris, Laura and half of Anthea (all from England).

The Finnish girls also joined us, and here am I with them: Tiia, Annuska and Pilvi.

And this one so that you can have an idea of the atmosphere on the fields. Notice the nice lights all around. There were different colours and even some huge scented candles. But for me, the best was getting 'infected' with the party spirit and having a chance to mingle with people I hadn't seen for quite some time. Yes, that was definitely a nice night!

One thing you need to know about me is that I'm terrible at anything resembling household tasks. I'm lazy, chaotic by nature and my cooking repertoire is quite limited. Another thing you should know about me is that when I like something or someone, even if it can sometimes be slightly obsessive, I try to learn something from it. Now thanks to my fascination for a certain character of a certain TV show (and boredom), I've decided to improve my cooking skills and try some new things. And I'm pretty proud of the results. Here's a picture of what I had yesterday for dinner... and yes, I made it myself :)

Exactly! Croquetas... with ham and cheese inside. I know the shape is not perfect, but as Robbie Williams says 'please be gentle, I'm still learning'. Besides, I have to say that they were DELICIOUS! I enjoyed eating them as much as I enjoyed cooking them. Isn't learning fun?

Although not many people know them outside Germany, they are one of the most popular and successful bands in this country nowadays. I have to admit that I didn't know them too well either and the few things I had listened to in You Tube were not particularly my cup of tea - too depressing, too pop... Even so, when my friends told me that there was going to be a concert by Silbermond in Würzburg, I thought I shouldn't miss it, as there's usually not much going on here. And that's why we did yesterday.

Probably the fact that I didn't have too many expectations was the reason why I was positively surprised by this band. The concert took place in the S. Oliver Arena, which is not particularly big (what can you expect from Würzburg, anyways???) We had to stand for the whole concert, which was around three hour long, as our tickets were not for the tribune. But of course, that didn't prevent us from having great fun and even dancing and cheering with the rest of the fans. The only pity, though, is that small as I am, I couldn't see much of the stage.

The concert started at 8 with a supporting band whose name I didn't manage to understand, even though they said it three times. The only thing I got was that they were from Augsburg. Although mainstream, they sounded pretty good and full of energy, very rocky. They sang in English and, of course, the lead singer didn't forget to mention that we were 'the best audience they had ever played for'... a classic...

Silbermond started performing around one hour later. And I must say that they sound much better live than anything else I had heard by them before. At the beginning I was slightly afraid that Stefanie Kloss, the lead singer, would lose her voice in the middle of the concert, since she seemed to like adding a certain 'heavy metal' voice to their songs, if you know what I mean... But hey, she proved to have a great voice, which got even better throughout the concert. Apart from that, something I really liked about her was that she was very friendly and fun to the audience. She asked us a couple of times to clap our hands, do the wave and even sing along. She also talked a lot, unfortunately a bit too fast for us foreigners, and I could see her running and jumping around the stage, with a lot of passion and energy. Together with Thomas, the guitarist, she also sang two songs only with accoustic guitar from the tribune, surrounded by fans trying to take pics of her with their mobile phones.

Probably their most popular song is Symphonie, which was also covered by Sarah Brightman in English. Other hits they sang were Durch die Nacht, Keine Angst, Unendlich and Nicht mein Problem, a duet with another singer, who also performed with them. Apart from that, they also took a very brief break in which some comedian recited two 'poems', one of them consisting entirely of numbers (543212345...) and the other one being simply the alphabet from Z to A. Later, when we all thought it was over, the members of the band went back to the stage and played a very good and inspiring medley of different rock songs (We Will Rock You, Smoke on the Water...) and the singer joined them singing (very well, by the way) a fragment of Joan Jett's I love Rock n Roll. We got some bonus tracks (to my taste, they postponed the ending a bit too long, but I enjoyed it anyways) and she closed with Das Beste, to all couples' delight, which she repeated so that we could sing along.

All in all, it was a great experience and I'm glad I went. I knew very few songs, but that also gave me the chance to discover some really nice ones. Here are two of the most popular ones:

User-made video with different images related to the lyrics to Symphonie.

Keine Angst (photo of the band)

After not having updated for ages, for which I'd like to apologize, I've come with some fresh news. The holidays are finally over and we started lessons last week. I have to say, though, that the holidays were pretty productive and I got the chance to visit a couple of new places. Here's one of the most interesting ones I've seen.

We mostly associate countries with their food - pizza makes us think of Italy, tacos make us think of Mexico... Now think of a place where shrimps are as small as they are delicious and the main specialties are chips, waffles with sugar and whipped cream and (most of all) CHOCOLATE. Is that heaven? Not quite, but close... it's Belgium!

My friend Anneleen (20, in the picture between me and the Japanese girl) invited me to visit her in her hometown, Antwerp, and even offered me her place to spend the nights. So I stayed there with her and her family (really nice and fun people).

It was a seven-hour trip by train, but it was worth it, not only because Antwerp has one of the most beautiful stations I've ever seen, but also because we drove along the Rhine and I got the chance to see really wonderful landscapes on a sunny day.

On our first evening there we took a walk around the city centre, where I could see one of the main features of Belgium - diversity. You hear lots of different langauges and see people from every possible corner of the world. But it was only on the next day when I actually got to experience the city.

The first place we visited was Rubens' House, the house where the famous painter spent his last years. Apart from learning about his life thanks to the audio tour, you can also see the paintings and sculptures from other artists he used to collect. He was very interested in both mythological and religious art (which could sound like a contradiction!) The mythological influence can especially be seen in his beautiful garden. Don't know whether you'll recognize him, but on top of the wall there's Hermes, the messenger amongst Greek gods (and the god of translators! :)) At the back of the garden you can also see a small building resembling a Greek / Roman temple. Apparently, Rubens wanted to bring 'a small piece of Italy to Belgium'.

We spent the rest of the day in the city centre, where we had a delicious waffle with sugar and gream (yummy!) and visited other interesting places, such as the university where Anneleen studies, the little botanic garden, the cathedral and the Church of Carolus Boromeus, who has his own statue on the Old Main Bridge (Alte Mainbrücke) in Würzburg. Unfortunately, as it was in the middle of Easter, we could only visit both churches very briefly and the pictures are not too good (that's why I'm not even going to post them). One of the things that caught my eye most was that Belgian churches use a lot of dark wood, which contrasts in a nice way with the white walls and columns. Oh, and let's not forget THE castle!

The castle is located near a large river, which people from Antwerp are very proud of. Anneleen also took advantage of that moment to explain to me the legend about the origin of the city's name. Antwerp's name in Dutch is Antwerpen, which means something like 'hand throwing'. A long long time ago, a giant arrived in the coast of Antwerp and decided to bully all the sailors who dared to come close to him. If they didn't give him treasures, he'd make them sink. Many of them made the mistake of not taking him serioulsy... One day, a man named Bravo decided to get rid of the creature that was terrifying the population. Together with his seven men, he fought the giant. The battle ended with Bravo cutting off the giant's hand and throwing it down to the river. In the old town there's a statue that commemorates this fight, and here's a picture.

While standing on this place, something else caught my attention... it was the beautiful, old buildings on that street. Here you can see some of them, with rooftops resembling staircases, which is a typical feature of Belgian architecture.

And slowly but steadily the evening came and it was time to go back home and have a rest. We enjoyed a delicious home-cooked meal (from here I'd like to compliment Anneleen's mum once again, that fish with shrimps and sauce was A-MA-ZING!) and then a funny film.

The next day, which was a Sunday, we visited Bruges. However, most of the shops were open, which also surprised me. The main thing you should know about Bruges is that it's a truly beautiful, fairytale-like city. Wherever you look, you see cute buildings, not to mention that we also had lovely weather. It's quite small and you can walk everywhere, but this is also part of its charm.

The first thing we did was going up a tower from which you can see the whole city (another déjà vu of the Cathedral in Cologne...)

Maybe there's not much you can do there, but only walking around the city is a pleasure. In contrast to what I had heard, it's Bruges and not Amsterdam the place that's popularly known as the Venice of the North, owing to all its briges above the river, which reinforce the fairtyale atmosphere. There are, though, two other things I have to mention. First of all, the city was full of tourists, especially Spanish people, so we heard more Spanish than any other language. On the other hand, another attraction of Belgium is the Chapel of the Holy Blood, where there's allegedly a bottle with Jesus Christ's blood (another déjà vu, but this time of the 'heart' of Alba de Tormes). And yes, we were there, but we didn't see or touch the blood (if you enter the church during a celebration, you're forced to touch the bottle).

We had fries, which is another typically Belgian meal. You can have them with ketchup or mayo nearly everywhere on the street. They are not too crispy, but the important thing is that they are made of real potatos and taste very good. Oh, and of course, let's not forget the most important thing... CHOCOLATE. Every two steps there was a small chocolate shop, where you could see all sorts of creative products. And yes, they are all delicious, I've tasted them myself ;) Yeah, that was definitely the best souvenir I could have brought from that country...

Nowadays, most western countries look pretty much the same, at least when it comes to the way people behave. But we all still have our peculiarities, and it's always fun to know how they see us from outside. Here are some interesting things I've noticed here in Germany, which I hope can help you to get to know this people, which is as funny as it is misunderstood... through the eyes of a foreigner.

1. ABER BITTE MIT SAHNE (WITH WHIPPED CREAM, PLEASE)

Sweets are one of the best things about Germany. You can find bakeries every two steps, and they all sell many different kinds of very appetizing things, from croissants with various fillings to Simpson-like doughnuts. The only problem is that they tend to have thousands of names for the same thing, which do not only depend on the town or region, but also on the bakery itself (some have the theory that the names change within a 100 m radius). But hey, whatever they're called, they're equally delicious! 
It is also very common to find cakes in most cafés. The most popular ones are the Sachertorte (which is in truth Austrian, but it doesn't matter), Apfelstrudel (apple pie) and Black Forest Cherry Cake. Usually, you're supposed to eat them with a little bit of whipped cream, which I personally recommend. Sometimes even with a ball of vanilla ice-cream or with some hot vanilla sauce, but whipped cream is always the main thing. Germans love it, especially in coffee or hot chocolate. So, whatever you order, don't forget to add 'Aber bitte mit Sahne!'

2. UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL

The stereotype says that when two Irish meet, they form an orchestra, and when two Finns meet, they form a metal band (ok, that's not a stereotype, that's from my own repertoire :P) What do two Germans form when they meet? The answer is a Verein. Vereine are groups of people who have something in common, like a club or association. There are Vereine for everything, be it for those who share the same religion or those who are interested in a particular sport. This Verein-Culture is very extended. Apparently, in small villages you have to be part of a Verein to be someone. One of the best explanations for that I've heard (from an actual German) is that 'Germans like to be with people with whom they can be happy or angry about the same things'

3. NO FLAG

Everyone knows that Germany has quite a dark history (of course, there's much more to it, but let's be honest, most people tend to associate Germans with that particular period), and its inhabitants are obviously aware of that. That's probably the reason why they have a strange attitude towards their own flag. It's not very usual to see German flags hanging from balconies or in any other public places. In fact, people who like to show off their flag are considered to be nazis (which by the way doesn't make much sense, taking into account that the current flag has nothing to do with the one they had back then). However, this has changed a little since the Football World Cup in 2006, which was held in Germany. Oh, and there doesn't seem to be any problem with the Bavarian flag...

4. A GREAT AUDIENCE

Germans are a great audience. After every presentation or class (be it a lecture at university or an aerobic lesson) it is important to applaud. Besides, the speaker / instructor usually thanks their audience for their attention, or for having been there at all when they finish. The funniest thing I've seen is that the way they applaud at university is completely different from everywhere else. Instead of clapping their hands, students knock on the tables with their fists at the end of the lectures.

5. SOME UNHOLY WAR WITH THE NEIGHBOURS

Relationships between neighbours are never easy. Germany is divided in 16 federal states (17 if you count Mallorca in), which means that there are always some little... 'inner conflicts'. In other words, people from the north hate people from the south and people from the south hate people from the north. This can also be applied to the east and west, although this also has some historical reasons, as you probably know. Don't get me wrong, it's not like they're constantly fighting and attacking each other violently, but they enjoy calling people from other states by 'friendly' names or making fun of them. Besides, there are like more than 30 different dialects, and these are one of their favourite reasons to tease each other. I've done some surveys and the two most 'popular' ones are Sächsisch (from Saxony) and Bayrisch (from Bavaria). The story with Bavaria is also a tricky topic, which brings me to my next point...

6. HELLO & GOODBYE

As I've already explained, there's a certain needle between one federal state and the neighbours. For this matter, Würzburg is... how could I describe it? Between the devil and the deep blue sea. It's quite in the middle of Germany and it politically belongs to the federal state of Bavaria, but geographically (and spiritually) it's part of the Franken region. That causes certain conflicts in people's minds - are we north or south? Are we Bavarians or not? Funny enough, one of the things in which you can see what people consider themselves to be is how they greet you. 'Grüss Gott!' is the traditional greeting from the south (it means literally 'greetings from god', or something like that), while 'Guten Tag!' is standard German (and the northern version). If you reply to a 'Grüss Gott!' with 'Guten Tag!', they regard this as too cold and distant, while if you reply to a 'Guten Tag!' with 'Grüss Gott!' it's a provocation... I personally recommend waiting until they greet you and reply exactly the same ;P

Oh, talking about greetings. Something I also like a lot is that when you're leaving a shop or any other public place it is common to say goodbye with the phrase 'Schönen Tag / Abend noch!' ('Have a nice day / evening!') I felt so proud of myself the first time I remembered to say that!

If there's a place where you can get run over by a bicycle, sail its channels without being in Venice, check out some prostitutes from the church door and hear more English than in England... this has to be Amsterdam.

Before starting with my narration, I have an important warning for you all. I'm NOT going to talk about drugs, coffee shops or prostitutes, so if that's what you're expecting... you'd better stop reading ;) We ARE decent people!

Amsterdam is popularly known as the Northern Venice because of its canals. As most people know, it's also famous for being one of the most liberal cities in the world. In my opinion, even though most of the buildings look very similar (as you'll see in the videos), it is a very versatile city in which you can never get bored. The perfect place to go on holiday. You have a little bit of everything - an exciting nightlife, people from every corner of the world (we especially heard a lot of Spanish) and quite a broad cultural offer. Apart from that, I must emphasize the variety of people and places. In just one street you could come across five restaurants of different nationalities (Chinese, Italian, Greek, Argentinian...) and nearly all the possible places to hang out you can imagine (Irish pubs, cafés, discos, Latin clubs...) To sum up, there are only two flaws I've found in this city. The first one is that all this variety, together with the fact that you hear more English than Dutch makes you feel that the city only exists for and because of the turists. Another important disadvantage is that it's insane expensive.

All this being said, let's talk about the suspects

From left to right: Pilvi (Finnland, 22), me (you already know me) and Annuska (you also know her)

From left to right: Cristian (Chile, 24) and Tiia (Finnland, 22)

We all got there in the evening of the 26th of February (last Thursday). As it was already pretty late, all we did on that evening was leaving our stuff in the hostel, in which the five of us were sharing a room, have something for dinner (in an Italian restaurant) and explore around to get to know the famous nightlife in Amsterdam. I have to mention that our hostel, called Inner Amsterdam, was located in one of the most cultural areas of the city, in walking distance of the Van Gogh Museum. Besides, the Leidseplein area (full of restaurants and places to go out) was also pretty nearby. As I mentioned before, Leidseplein was one of the best examples of diversity and liveliness in the city.

The night before leaving, I had been reading some reviews of our hostel. The opinions on the cleanness differred depending on the writer's nationality (a Brazilian girl complimented the hostel for its tidiness while a German protested that it was very dirty), but all agreed that breakfast was very good. Well, I didn't find it too dirty, but it was not exactly welcoming and just after arriving we had problems with the window, which we couldn't close and had to get it repaired. Fortunately, the handyman didn't turn up too late. And as for breakfast... well, it was nice, but nothing special.

Taking into account where the hostel was located, it's no wonder that the first thing we visited the following day was the Van Gogh Museum, for which we had to pay 15 € and queue for a while. They don't do any discounts for groups or students. But the exhibition was very beautiful and the audio-tour helped me a lot. It was called "Van Gogh and the colours of the night". Obviously, it wasn't allowed to take pictures in there, but it's enough for you to know that some of his most famous paintings were there: "Starry night", "Sunflowers", "The Potato Eaters"... Here are two of my favourites:

I know, it's quite a stereotypical one, but it does have something very special, which I can't really describe. It's somehow depressing, but still full of fantasy and I really love the shapes. However, I don't agree with most of the interpretations I've heard of it.

In spite of the similarities with "The Scream" (one of my least favourite paintings ever), what I like about this painting is that, as the audio tour explained, you can see some Japanese touches in it. Aparently, Van Gogh was very fond of Japanese artists.

After the museum, we went on a small cruise through the canals of Amsterdam. It was raining a bit, so we were thankful that the boat had a ceiling. I took advantage of that moment to take a couple of videos so that you can all see what the city looks like.

Apart from giving me the chance to show you the amount of bicycles you can find all around the city (sometimes you have to be careful, since some people drive like crazy), I take advantage of the second video to talk about another one of the main attractions: Anne Frank's House. The house where Anne Frank and her family spent their last days before being taken to Auschwitz is nowadays a museum. The queue was just as long as the one you've seen in the video, but it was definitely worth it. Once again, photos were forbidden. The rooms have remained unfurnished because Otto Frank, Anne's father, decided to keep them like that. He only made an exception so that they could shoot the short films you could watch in the museum and create a scale model, which you can also have a look at. Eitherway, the place is small and claustrophobic. You wonder how two families could survive there for that long. There was also the original diary, which has been translated to 57 different languages (by the way, the Spanish version was already sold out when we visited the gift shop). One thing I have to say is that although the story this museum tells is truly sad (especially when you find out that Anne died just one month before the war ended), it does have kind of a happy ending. Anne's dream was to publish a novel, and that's what her father did. In some way, the fact that Otto worked so hard to make his daughter's dream come true even though she was already dead is amazingly tender.

After that we walked to the city centre and had something to eat. As we were all fed up with Italian food (we hadn't had anything else on the two previous days), we went to a Japanese restaurant... and yes, we ate it with chopsticks!!!

One of the most important things about Amsterdam is that it's full of museums. They have museums for absolutely everything, from the Rijksmuseum (paintings by Dutch masters such as Rembrandt) to the Vodka Museum (!!!) Of course, knowing that they all close quite early and that we only spent there a bit more than three days, we didn't have time for all of them, so we had to choose one for each day. And our third choice for the last day (we came back on Monday, but on that day we didn't have time to do anything, as we spent most of the day travelling) was the Madame Tussaud's Museum. Again, it was damn expensive (21 €), but we had a great time there. It was amazing! Not to mention that we also had a few laughs in the souvenir shop. Here are some nice photos:

Bono from U2 and me :)

Cristian and Jennifer Lopez

Annuska with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie

It was a very nice holiday. In fact, I wouldn't mind going back to Amsterdam somewhen, though I can't imagine living there. There are still many things we didn't get the chance to do, but even so I think we managed to combine the cultural side of the city with relaxing stuff and a little bit of party in the evenings. But of course, I would be lying if I didn't say that, curious as I am, being in such a place that's full of new experiences, I have tried something I never thought I'd try in my life...

I'VE HAD THAI FOOD FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!