Berlinstratte Van Housen, Germany-Faderlandenstein

Today we tried a new a lot of new things. Here they are :

Woke up early (okay, so that's not new)
Ate breakfast at our hostel (wait, that's not new either)
Took a walking tour (it was only our third with the same company!)
Saw a monument (monument number 254 of our trip)
Saw another monument (255!)
Got on the metro (we are metro champs)
Ate local cuisine (like brisket and hot dogs. wait, what?)
Went back to our hostel to get wifi (gotta text mom! running out of money...)

Okay, so it was a pretty typical day, but it was a good day. We saw some cool stuff (Tim really liked Paris Platz : a plaza dedicated to making fun of France). Maria liked the hot air balloon and bought a butterfly lanyard (...) And I really liked the holocaust memorial. I'm really pumped to see Auschwitz (only 2 days from now). We also saw what's left of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Dom, Reichstag, the War Memorial, museum island, the opera, gendarmen platz, the site of the nazi book burning, and probably some other things we've already forgotten.

It's time to play cards so I'm wrapping this up. Thanks for reading and be sure to check out our pics from today ;)
Daniel

Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Berlin, Deutschland

Wowwwwwwwww Amsterdam. Hate to love it and love to hate it. Lets just say as soon as I stepped off the train I was ready to get the heck out of there. I feel like I could just not open up my heart even enough to give Amsterdam a chance. Walking through the city on the way to the hostel, all that consumed me was the stench of cannabis and the smell of greasy food joints, there to satisfy the "munchies". I felt like everyone roaming the streets were on a search for something to satisfy a deep hunger within. I was at peace from my panic when we walked into our hostel that was very self declaringly Christian. While I was there I talked to many people about what they thought about Amsterdam, and how it has effected them. I particularly enjoyed talking with two UT students I met that are spending their entire summer working at this Christan hostel as sort of a mission trip. One of them is going to law school and wants to work with social justice issues such as human trafficking. I began to see Gods love through her as she passionately told me about groups in Amsterdam that are working hard to help prostitues by providing counceling and a way to get passports so they can get out of The Netherlands. Nevertheless I learned that out of every bad situation, God is always working for good. With all this said, out of all the cities we've visited so far Amsterdam definitely is the one the tres amis have the most differing views on. This is only Amsterdam through Maria Landry's eyes.
Today was a very special day for us because it was indeed Tim's birthday!!!!! We had yumny Dutch pancakes this morning, did some last minute shopping and hopped on a train to Berlin!! The train was alright. The only problem wasthere were three very obnoxious teenage Brits that felt like the train was all theirs. It wasnt too big of a bother to us though. I was so excited when we arrived in Berlin. Tim and Daniel navigated us sucessfully through the very confusing Berlin metro system to our hostel. By then it was 10pm and I was sooo hungry. We headed off for a FABULOUS birthday dinner at the Hard Rock cafe. It was soo awesome to have a good ol American hamburger and to see a menu in English!! Thank you sooo much mom and dad!!!
Tomorrow we have a busy day of seeing Berlin, with a fabulous walking tour in the morning! Thanks all of you for reading our blog.
Love to the top,
TheTresAmis

Brussels part 2

Lots of chocolate. Win.
Daniel survives being pickpocketed from Tim. Win/fail.
Eat good kebabs and falafel. Win.
Go to science museum designed for 8 year olds. Fail.
Try to rent bikes but our cards don't work. Fail.
Go to peeing kid statue. Really small and unimpressive. Fail.
Go to flee market. Closed. Fail.
Play cards at Cafe. Win.
Daniel takes nap. Maria uploads photos. Tim plays Catan. Win.

Amsterdam tomorrow for my birthday. Hopefully win.

Bruxelles, Belgium

Hey guys! Sorry we haven't been so great about posting lately. We've just been SUPER busy with really important things like Catan, Stress, and Rummi. Cut us some slack.

We took yesterday as a sort of off day. We were all tired, sore, and wounded (blisters) from a long day in Paris and took full advantage of our private, 3 star hotel room. After arriving in Belgium around noon we checked into our hotel, made a few quick stops for lunch and Belgian chocolate, and retired to our room until dinner. Back in the room, we partook in fun activities such as Catan, cards, and personal hygiene upkeep. It was our first time to do these things in s while (except for cards and Catan)!

We went with our hotel's recommendation for dinner and it was fantastic. We've pretty much unanimously decided that Belgian food is our favorite so far. After dinner the fun began. We decided to do our laundry in the bathtub to save money. Big mistake. 3 hours, a room full of wet clothes, and a flooded bathroom later, we had finished our work. We thought.

I will always remember how I woke up today :
Maria : Guys... we have a problem.
Not the most pleasant way to start your day. Turns out none of our clothes were dry. Bruised and beaten, we carried trashbags of wet clothes to the laundromat to dry them the right way.

After our battle with our laundry (a battle we will hopefully never fight again), our day really began. We had a lunch of Belgian waffles and free ice cream. Super healthy. Then we headed over to the EU headquarters. The EU headquarters was awesome! But there's no entry on weekends so we looked at the building for about 3 seconds and went to the park across the street. The park was beautiful and Maria found some nice flowers to look at. We also found a Belgian war museum in the park that we poked around for about an hour (Maria and I really enjoyed the interactive exhibits).

Because we love museums so much and have no money, we went to the free bank museum next (again, interactive exhibits, highly entertaining). We did not stay long, however, as we wanted to go to the vigil mass next door in St. Michael's cathedral. The cathedral was sick. The building itself was very old (gothic architecture : picture a taller, but smaller and brighter Notre Dame de Paris), but the inside (stained glass, organ, etc.) was all very modern. Mass was awesome, and we talked to the priest (nice man) for a minute afterwards. We ended our day with another fabulous (and cheap) dinner by the Grande Place and a long game of rummy.

Sorry if this post seemed rushed--I'm ready for bed :p Look on my FB wall for a video of our laundry adventure (if the stupid thing will ever post...)
TresAmi Love,
Daniel

Paris, France

I can't believe that I've FINALLY been to the top of the Eiffel Tower!! I'm sorry we delayed blogging about this epic day, but our last night HAD to be spent admiring the Eiffel Tower from the big grassy area in front of it called the Champ de Mars. Yesterday was soo packed with sightseeing Paris, our feet literaly never got a rest. We started off at the Musee d'Orsay which houses the most fabulous impressionst art in the world. I totally loved seeing Degas' obsession with ballerinas, Monet's lilly pads, and Van Gogh's vibrant masterpieces. I took an amazing Art History class last year and it made me so excited to see works that I studied right before my eyes. After, we ate lunch at a yummy sandwich stand in the Latin Quarter. We took our lunch with us to stand in line at Sainte Chapelle. Sainte Chapelle was Saint Louis' royal chapel, and what makes it so special is that it is practically made out of pure stained glass. Standing in the middle if the huge glass room, we admired glass dipuctions of the Old and New Testaments and of cironations of French kings, since they believed that their kings recieved their power to rule from God. Leaving Sainte Chapelle, we ran over to Notre Dame de Paris, admired the classic gothic architecture, and tapped our feet on Pointe Zero of France, which means we are destined to come back to Paris;-) After we stopped by some beautiful Parisan parks, shops, and ofcourse we had to get some Parisan icecream! I got pear, and the boys got salted caramel, yummmm. After, I was dying to to go see where the epic beginning of the French Revolution took place, the BASTILLE!! Even though there is only a monument there today, I was still inspired with the feelings of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity:-). Despite the amazingness of all that, the most epic part was still to come...the top of the Eiffel Tower.

So everyones feet were hurting, everyone was exausted, and we knew we had to climb hundreds of steps but we pulled it together and started our venture to the top. I was obnoxiously excited. I still am thinking about it:-) So lots of lines and stairs later, the momebt arrived. The elevator doors swung open and I RAN out. So I didnt end up shedding any tears of joy but I still cant explain how happy I was. After staring at the view for a LONG time, we headed down to eat one last French dinner. It was lovely, but the Champ de Mars was even lovlier.

We said aurevoir to France and now we are in Belgium «eating choclate that is made by God» as Daniel would say. This trip is so exciting so many great memories already.

Happy Birthday Kelley!!

Love, The Tres Amis

Normandy, France

Paris and Normandy in the rain, France

This morning we woke up extra early (sometime in the five o'clock hour) and hopped on a train to the American cemetery and the D-Day beaches in Normandy. All of us, but especially Tim were looking forward to this historic and reverent experience. After a two hour train ride of doozing off, we arrived and ofcourse it had to be raining. We started in the museum at the entrance of the cemetery, and then decided to make or way down to Omaha beach. It was tranquil, eery, and very thought provoking. I stood there imagining the events on June 6, 1944. Americans, Canadians, and British storming up the coast and charging the enemy. This beautiful beach is the symbol for Europe's liberation, but really France's existence truly shows the meaning of this day.
After the beach we walked through the cemetery and saw its monuments dedicated to liberty. The rows of white crosses and Star of David were absolutely awe inspiring. What an incredible experience!
We headed back for an evening in Paris to explore Montmatre and Sacre Coeur. Sacre Coeur competes with Notre Dame as the most gorgeous cathedral in Paris. Her domes and her status as the highest point of Paris are striking. After we headed to eat in the artsy Montmatre and we did indeed have a fabulous Parisan meal. After our lovelt meal we ventured out into the eain once more. We wanted to get to the Effiel Tower before it closed but we were a bit to late. We will be heading up tomorrow evening as the perfect ending to our adventure in France. I cant waittttt!!

Love, Maria