From Amsterdam to Paris

Hello all!

I'm writing to you from a ship sailing across the English Channel! Yes, we have internet @ sea! But I have limited battery power and the internet has a little lag so pictures are loading veeeeery slowly. I will probably put them up tonight (if we have internet @ our hotel) and send the links out right away - they're definitely worth the wait and some amazing pictures of Paris, I promise - but, where did we leave off?

So we escaped Amsterdam with just enough time on the road to Paris for a quick stop in Brussels. We parked near the halls of justice where they hold international tribunals and walked through some amazingly adorable streets, down past the HQs of Benelux and I believe the European Commission (a branch of the EU). We had lunch at a great cafe on a cobblestone street near a square - I bought some buscuits (cookies really) across the street and then I navigated us through to see the Belgian Boy fountain, or as they call him, the Manneken Pis. (Why, yes, he is that little boy peeing, and yes, they dress him up sometimes, and yes, there were a TON of people there viewing the spectacle that is the Belgian Boy). We bought some postcards and some Belgian chocolate and hiked back to our car. Within 2 hours we were within France and on our way to Paris.

After a little trouble in the hotel area near Charles de Gaulle airport we took a tour with some other American girls from the hotel in the car of this nice French guy who gives tours of the city. He drove us everywhere and knew exactly where to park so that we could get pictures of everything : the Eiffel tower, Arc de Triomphe (my favorite), Royal Operahouse, Napoleon's palace, the Lourve, Notre Dame, etc. The traffic in Paris is RIDICULOUS! There are at least 10 lanes in the circle around the Arc de Triomphe and people are literally cutting straight across perpendicular to others with motorcycles everywhere! So after our fun tour we were ready the next day to conquer Paris on our own by subway. We took the train from the airport into town and the metro all around. We started out in the morning at the Lourve - saw the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo along with most of the egyptian antiquities and French paintings. We also saw where the two pyramids meet, of course! (DaVinci code reference, if you're a fan) Then we stopped at this amazing cemetery - you'll have to see the pictures to believe it - where Jim Morrison's grave is. Next, we stopped by the Moulin Rouge just for the photo op, and then off to the Arc De Triomphe. This time we walked all the way under the circle to stand under the Arch AND we climbed the winding staircase all the way to the top - some of the best pictures of Paris! After that tough climb we found our way to the Eiffel Tower and this time stood right under THAT. And it IS beautful! Mom and Tom were really tired so they sat under it while I climbed as much of the staircase as they would allow for about 4 Euro. That gets you to the second platform, about halfway up, I would say - any farther and you have to pay for the elevator and I wasn't about to stand in line back on the ground for that. So I can say I walked it and I have some amazing photos of the whole city! We had dinner along a street near the Eiffel Tower and then scooted on a train back to Charles DeGaulle airport and our hotel.

This morning we drove across France to Le Harve and caught our ferry across the Channel back home to England. We're nearly there now and I can't wait to be back with the English. Paris was nice, but it most certainly is NOT the cleanest, friendliest, most manageable city in Europe. But hopefully I will send you the pictures later - I know that's what you're really waiting for. But if you'd like, I added captions to the first bunch of pictures and you can get them here at ofoto! Hope you are all well! I will try to get back to your emails as fast as possible when I am able. Keep in touch

much <3
amanda l. berg

Scandanavia to Amsterdam

Hi everybody! I'm emailing you late tonight from Amsterdam! Now, some of you may not know that I am spending the summer in Europe (mostly studying at Cambridge), but I am! So, while here I want to keep everybody updated and this is really step 1 to organizing that. Therefore, please try to help me out with my limited internet access and time and do the following:

1 - tell me which email address you prefer I use or tell me if I got the wrong one, old one, etc.
2 - tell me that you WANT europe email updates - if you really don't want them then you can just ignore them in your inbox or tell me you want me to stop sending them to you - but they generally come with nice pictures.
3 - send me your home address if you want a postcard (I'm not sure quite how many I will get a chance to send but I left my address book at home)

If you don't send me a quick email (I understand, you're busy too - and I still like you) you'll just keep getting my updates - yay for you! :) But I do enjoy seeing email when I sign in from so faraway. ANYHOW, if you didn't get the first email it will be posted somwhere later.. but basically we spent a day in london, a ferry to denmark, a day in Sweden, and then:

We awoke in Malmo Sweden to find that the shops would be closed, basically the whole city was closed, for the whole weekend. But we walked through the park and saw an old Dutch windmill (our first) AND the oldest castle in all of Scandinavia! and behind the castle within the moat in the middle of a park in Malmo Sweden, do you know what I saw? Four rams! yes, the sheep with the big horns. So cool!!!! Then we left Sweden : ( and went to Copenhagen, Denmark! It was AMAZING! Despite no shops being open the city was alive! We saw the Hans Christian Anderson Little Mermaid statue in the harbor and another windmill inside the nearby fort (which still functions today). VERY cool. Then we walked around downtown where there were these trucks full of drunk people driving around shouting and frolicking.. still not sure why. We were yelled at by a Royal Guard for sitting on the steps in the royal square and then we had lunch, an amazing, wonderful lunch along a canal where a ton of cafes were set up side by side.

We spent the night outside of Hamburg, Germany and the next day we walked around a beautiful park in downtown Hamburg (saw a rose garden and had cokes in the German beer garden) and then we were off to Amsterdam. There was our first bit of rain and a lot of traffic and then we made the mistake of driving THROUGH Amsterdam. We finally got a hotel outside the city and today we took the train in and toured the city. We walked through the Anne Frank House / Museum. It was incredible! You are allowed to walk through the whole house and right through the secret bookcase door behind which they hid. Very sobering but insightful - and right in the middle of the beautiful canal town. We semi-walked through the red light distict and most of the canal area. We had Heinekins at the Hard Rock along a canal down from the brewery and then hiked and rode back to our hotel.

*whew!* So... pictures will be up LATER because it's very late here and I have to wake up VERY early, but tomorrow is Belgium and maybe a taste of Paris by night. ( *wink* )

PS - did you catch that Portugal - Netherlands game? SO GOOD! but really, GO ENGLAND!

<3 amanda l. berg

Hello from Sweden

Hi there my dear friends and family! I am emailing you from Sweden tonight (when I should really be sleeping) on this, the shortest night of the year. Actually, yesterday Sweden was on holidaye because of the longest day of the year! When we arrived in Malmo, everything was closed. But we took a wonderful walk around and just happened to pass 1 block from and miss a dutch windmill and the oldest castle in scandanavia, BUT, have no fear, we are going back tomorrow. Malmo is just across the water from Copenhagen and we had to take a HUGE bridge to get here. It is home to the 'Turning torso' the tallest building in Sweden, and everybody here rides a bike! There are MASSIVE stores of bikes just sitting at the train station waiting to be picked up by their owners, and most aren't even locked up! WE arrived in Denmark this afternoon via overnight ferry from Harwick in England. The driving in Denmark is much easier and they seem to love McDonalds because there is one on every conrner. The ferry ride was ok, I'm not a huge fan of boats, but before that I spent a day and a half in London and we got to see a lot! We took a boat tour down the river, toured the Tower of London and Westmister Abbey (which is absolutely gorgeous) and had dinner in Piccadilly Circus after passing by Buckingham palace. We were using the metro for two days and staying in Swiss Cottage near Hyde Park - super fun! But now we are in a place where they use kronor and not the pound or the euro. Tomorrow we are going to tour Malmo again and then Denmark, probably staying somewhere between Copenhagen and Hamburg Germany (a good distance, I know, but that's as far as we know).

Well, let me know if you can't stand to get anymore updates like this, and check out some photo highlights so far at :
ofoto.com!
I will add descriptions as soon as I have a chance.


Otherwise, I hope you are all well. Talk to you again soon, I hope!

PS - send me your addresses, really! I forgot my address book. : (

<3 amanda l. berg