Amsterdam

November 22nd, 2014

This weekend we went to Amsterdaaaam. It was absolutely beautiful, fairly expensive but none the less beautiful. We got go see a nice bit of the city through the airport shuttle because we were the last stop. The driver was absolutely mad, I bet my handprint is still in the handle of the door. I did manage to take some really nice pictures along the way.

Once we got to the hotel and dropped off our bags, we were off on a canal cruise. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures because they were kind of blurry, but it was so cool to see Amsterdam by boat and there was also some interesting facts told along the way.  After the canal cruise, we decided to do some shopping along the street our hotel was on (it was in the perfect location). I bought some Christmas gifts and had a Big Mac (in 8 different countries now).

While we were shopping, we discovered that Madame Tussauds Amsterdam was right next to our hotel. Even though we had went to the one in London, we decided to go see if there were any different figures there, and there were. There was a wax figure of Anne Frank, which was amazing, though I think it ought to be at the Anne Frank house. There were a lot of the same figures that we had already seen, but there was also Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez, E.T., Oprah, Madonna, Beyoncé, and Adele (looks like I'm going to have to go to NY to see Swift). The coolest figure had to be Mona Lisa, you were able to take a picture that looked like you were photobombing the famous masterpiece (as you can see).

When we left Madame Tussauds, it was dark. We soon discovered that the later in the day it gets, the more likely you are to get high off of secondhand smoke. There were people smoking, everywhere. People were pushing children around in their strollers while sipping their cannabis energy drink and smoking their joints, all while walking past a police officer. It really is a strange thing to see. We did a little more shopping, then went back to the hotel and pretty much passed out because we had been awake and on the go for almost 19 hours.

November 23rd, 2014

This morning we decided to go to the Anne Frank House, the one thing that both of us had really wanted to do. We didn't have tickets pre-bought and everyone was telling us we'd have to wait in a really long queue, but honestly we were only waiting forty minutes. It was the most humbling experience that I've ever had. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but honestly I don't think I would have anyway. All of the rooms are for the most part empty (with the exception of a few displays) because Anne's father Otto wanted it that way. He said "The empty house symbolizes the void left behind by the millions of people who were deported and never returned.".  There were excerpts of Anne's diary as well as short films throughout the house. The stairs they had to climb were absolutely mad, they were so steep it felt like you were climbing a ladder. Words cannot describe how I felt while I was walking through that house. I think the hardest part of the whole experience for me was the end, when they had a picture of Otto stood in the Attic after the war. I honestly hope that every single one of you one day get the opportunity to visit this place and experience the feelings I felt today.

After the Anne Frank House, we went to the Red Light District; talk about a 180 lol. The Red Light District is actually kind of pretty, until you really get into it. Then there's literally sex and clouds of smoke everywhere. There are women in windows, in their underwear, just like you see on TV. There are little signs on the windows that say "safe sex only", which is hilarious and responsible all at the same time. It felt so weird walking past the windows, not because I think I'm better than them, just because it's definitely not what I'm used to seeing. It was just as weird walking past stores that had nothing but sex toys and drug paraphernalia in their windows. If this wasn't wild enough as were were walking by, some guy asked us if we were ready for a sex show. I still don't know if he was inviting us to watch or participate because I never gave him the opportunity to elaborate before I kicked into high speed and got out of dodge.

That pretty much sums up Amsterdam. The weather was beautiful, the people were friendly, the WiFi sucked, and I didn't get an STI or high 😎.

Ireland

Ireland. Ireland. Ireland. What can I say about Ireland? Ireland reminded me a lot of home, however it was probably my least favourite place that we visited. I think it was just a case of bad weather, not feeling well and bad timing. I was walking around with a pulled muscle in my back and Meighan had a kidney stone, so we were in misery but still trying to enjoy Ireland as much as we could. I don't have a whole lot of pictures, as it rained (and I mean rained) the entire time we were there. We were literally soaked to the bone, and as we were only going for one night, we hadn't packed a whole lot.

Anyway, lets get into the good things about Ireland, well actually Dublin. Dublin is very pretty and the people are for the most part very friendly. I say for the most part because I was crossing the road on a green man (which turned red when I was 3/4 of the way across) and the bus driver blew his horn and literally put the petal to the metal. I literally saw my life flash before my eyes and I am not exaggerating when I say I felt the wind from the bus on my back, that's how close it was. We went on a tour bus and saw Dublin three times (because it was legit pouring and it was the only way to not get pneumonia). I took some pictures but they either have a horrible reflection from the window, or are really great pictures of water droplets.

We did go into a pub in Dublin, and I did have a pint of beer. We decided to have Guinness, seeing how we were in the country. It is so disgusting, I have never tasted anything so vile in my life. But after paying almost $8 Canadian for it, I drank it all.

When I got back to the hotel, I was able to see cute little Jesse for the first time. I honestly spent 45 minutes crying and Meighan probably thought that I was crazy. He is so perfect and cute and ugh, I cannot wait to get home so I can meet him and Rylee! I am so homesick for babies, I'm losing my mind.

I'm getting really off track. The next day, we went on the bus tour again because there was this really cool museum that used to be a jail, that we wanted to visit. When we got to the museum, we found out that it was closed because it had flooded the day before from all of the rain *insert side-eye emoticon here*. It was rainy and cold, and we felt like we had seen everything that there was to see, so we went to McDonalds (big mac in 7 countries now) and mooched their wifi for an hour before we had to go to the airport.

I am really late posting this because I've been busy with school, I've been severely homesick, and I've been FaceTiming babies for a couple of hours a day. I'm not going to post anything about this weekend because we're just staying in Harlow.

Scotland

I'm going to do this entry as a combined thing as opposed to the different dates.

Not gonna lie, I only wanted to go to Scotland because that's where we were seeing Ed Sheeran. After
spending some time there, it is the BEST place that I've been. The people are so polite, and cute and their accents are theee best. I would one hundred percent consider going back there and visiting longer, maybe even living there (who knows?). Also, almost everywhere in the UK has somewhere/something named St.John's and it makes me really homesick.

I'm going to start by talking about the reason I went. ED SHEERAN. I would like to say that that man
is absolutely amazing. He has the voice of an angel, like it's actually beautiful. If you ever get the chance to see him live, do it (I've seen him twice now); the things he can do with his guitar are absolutely amazing.

So we saw Ed in Glasgow, and ventured about Glasgow a bit but we also spent a day in Edinburgh. In Edinburgh we went on a bus tour so that we could see as much of it as possible in a day. We went up to the castle, saw a man playing the bagpipes and did some shopping. There's not a whole lot to say about it, but overall it was a lovely day.

On the way back to Glasgow, the train ride was an hour and a half long; and my phone died. So I was very, very bored. I dozed off a couple of times because when it's dark outside you can't see anything but your reflection when you look out the train window. When there was about 45 minutes left, these four girls dressed up for Halloween, started singing Taylor Swift's new songs and started talking about them (all in their wonderful Scottish accent). So I was entertained for the last bit of the journey, at least. When we got back to our hotel, we had some pizza and beers and then went to sleep because it was a pretty exhausting day, and we were going back to Harlow the next day.