This past weekend I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Amsterdam and Brugge with the other girls in the Daniel House. We decided that on our first trip out of the country we might want to play it safe. So, we signed up to go with Anderson Tours (www.andersontours.co.uk). They handled our transportation and housing the entire weekend.
We first took a bus from London to Dover (Yes, I did see the white hills of Dover), a ferry from Dover to Calais and then a bus from Calais to Amsterdam. We would again take the bus back down through Brugge on our return.
Amsterdam is a most interesting city. Take the canals from Venice, beautiful 17th century architecture, and an almost New Orleans type culture and you've got the city. We were able to take a canal cruise and see the Anne Frank house where Anne and her family hid. On the tram one evening we were there I saw someone in (no joke) a Clemson hat. Clemson, for those who don't know, is a university about 90 minutes from my hometown. I got to speak with them and found out they were studying in Belgium. Small world.
Anderson Tours also set up for us to tour a cheese and clog factory. My favorite line that our tour guide said was the following (keep in mind that she is in full Holland dress...), "You see dis one. It look like sausage, and it smell like fish. But really- it is cheese!" I volunteered to attempt to cut out a pair of the famous wooden clogs and ended up with a free engraved clog! We had a fabulous time seeing the countryside of Holland as well as we drove.
On the way home we stopped in Brugge for 5 hours. There I had both Belgium chocolates and a Belgium waffle! Brugge is potentially the most charming, romantic, lovely little town I've seen. There are lace and chocolate shops everywhere along with darling canals and century old cobblestone. Many churches, city squares, and people walking their dogs dot the landscape of Brugge.
The trip was wonderfully successful (we can back with everyone!) and I would recommend both cities to anyone!
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