The heineken experience

If you've never been to the Heineken experience, you should, even if you don't drink. Heineken is such an integral part of Amsterdam, you can't walk through the streets of Amsterdam without seeing a Heineken sign on every corner. Not to mention, just driving into the town you have to pass the large brewery and one of the largest tourist attractions. The first thing you do when you walk into the brewery is learn about the history, the way Heineken has been a part of the town as it has grown and expanded. Then, you live the experience of being brewed, bottled and shipped out in a live 4d. Not to mention you get some free great tastes of Heineken and learn some fun facts from some of their crew. As one example, it's not the beer that makes you fat but it's all the food you consume as you drink the beer!


If that isn't enough, you get to see the Heineken horses and feel almost like you're in Willy Wonka as you walk through the brewery and view the different tools used to make it.

Just as Paris was about enjoying your meal with a great tasting wine to compliment the taste of the cuisine, Amsterdam is about the rugged beer you choose to go with the meal. It was probably one my my most favorite adventures in Amsterdam, and I'm not even a Heineken girl, but it's safe to say that I walked away one.

This is Brussels, and that is Amsterdam.

Brussels is one of the most beautiful towns I’ve ever stepped into and each building is uniquely different. My favorite thing about the town is the way the windows open up into the street that comes alive early in the morning. The people who own the stores below some of the buildings come out and kindly greet others who have stepped out of their store to open their doors. Then swiftly through the conversation a street train comes down the middle of the street and all you do from your window is take a deep breath of that morning air and smile into a town where all the buildings are quaint and filled with such beauty.




Then there is Amsterdam, and it’s gorgeous. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen in your life, or the way you picture it when everyone talks about it. Walking down some of the streets, in the next lane to you, you have to dodge a little to avoid the millions of bikes coming down the designated bike lane. Then the lane next to that is where the cars come, but you see far less cars then you do bikes. In the early morning, if you were to drive down the streets you get to see all the little kids with their parents biking them to school or the children hiking a ride with their friends by sitting on the back of the bike like they used to in America in the 1950s. Amsterdam is beautiful, the buildings and places in town goes through decades. You see historic buildings in one part then you view buildings from the 1970s in the next. Each part of the town is filled with character and runs neatly through a river that flows throughout the town. It’s really an accomplishment just to step on the sidewalk that perhaps Anne Frank stepped onto decades before into a building she hid for her life and to just see all of these buildings and history, it’s definitely gorgeous.

Aretha Franklin said it best: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

This post doesn’t need any pictures, because I don’t need to be reminded of “it.” And by “it”, I mean the Red Light District. What a depressing, tragic night. I can’t believe Amsterdam would disappoint me like that. The red lights and other florescent colors beaming out of the windows made me think I was at a Teletubby party, until I saw the girls with their bras and thongs anxiously awaiting a cuddle buddy I knew that this was no PG 13 party.

The moral of the story is that girls should respect their bodies because at the end of the day you can’t buy dignity for 75 euro an hour.

see ya later, Augustine

The click of my high-heeled shoes against the wet cobble stone cut through the still, afternoon air and announced our presence before our arrival as we walked down a narrow Brussels sidewalk. We made our way through the residential streets in a zigzag pattern, my comrades refused to admit we were lost, how could we be? We had a map.

We entered onto a more populated street lined with lower middle class businesses and empty store fronts and quickened our pace as a chill in the air gave way to scattered raindrops which increased in number and intensity as we neared our destination.

The graying sky matched the atmosphere of the city and my mood perfectly as the pinch in my arch painfully made itself known. I silently cursed myself for not opting to catch a cab back to the hotel.

Miserable, I trudged along; head down, shoulders slumped until I caught sight of a window that stopped me in my tracks.

Behind dusty glass was a deconstructed scene not far from photos I have seen of villages turned to rubble post WWII. Overturned and broken furniture sat on a platform of cracked concrete, half buried in dust and other debris. Less than a foot from the window rested an old chandelier half hidden in a pile of trash and dust.

The rusted, ugly fixture bore little resemblance to its cousins I had visited days prior in their grand Parisian settings as it glinted pitifully in the waning evening light. Despite its unsightliness, the old chandelier in the shop window held more honesty than the beauty and glory of those at Versailles and the Notre Dame Cathedral.

The juxtaposition of youth and beauty to old-age and wear on inanimate objects is easily relatable to the human condition. The faint glimmer of the rusted chandelier told me to keep on keeping on, to enjoy my youth, because I will grow old and my body will break.

The scene through the window spoke clearly: relish the moment, even if it takes place in a cold rain punctuated by foot pain.

Second Life Music

Almost Famous
"I always tell the girls, never take it seriously, if ya never take it seriously, ya never get hurt, ya never get hurt, ya always have fun, and if you ever get lonely, just go to the record store and visit your friends." -- Kate Hudson as Penny Lane in "Almost Famous"

Goal
One of the few goals I had for my Europe excursion was to find a record store and adopt a few vinyls. I planned to welcome them into my home with open arms and provide a loving environment. I could only hope they grew up to be pageant queens or lawyers.

Success
Luckily, on the last day of the trip, the Internet allowed me to discover Second Life Music. I made some of the best vinyl purchases of my career as a collector, and the salesman was nice enough to save me 11 euro by charging me 50 euro for 61 euros worth of records.

I'm glad I was able to find something familiar in this foreign land. I'm glad I was able to go to the record store and visit my friends. It's the first time I've felt "at home" in weeks.

The Secret ANNEx

“To build up the future you have to know the past.” Otto Frank

Today was moving. Why? Because, I had been counting down the days, hours, seconds to go to Anne Franks house. Before I left for Europe, I told EVERYONE including the mailman that I was going to be in the same exact place Anne wrote her diary. Of course no one will admit it, but I could feel the jealousy.

My excitement about Anne Frank came after reading The Diary of Anne Frank (the book) in high school. To me she wasn’t just the “girl with the diary”; she was brave, smart, strong, and hopeful- all the qualities you rarely find in an eight year old. Don’t get me wrong, I felt just as sad and mad walking through the house as I did when I watched the movie Selena- because in the end they both pass away. However, there should be some happiness to this story, because in a strange way her dream of being a famous writer came true. Millions of people died during the persecution, but it was Anne who wrote all her feelings and thoughts down. This led her father to tell Anne’s story, promote human rights and bring people together.

“I think it’s important that people shouldn’t go to the Anne Frank house to see the secret annex. They’ve also got to be encouraged to realize that even today, people are being prosecuted for their race.” Otto Frank Regardless what anyone says, to me she’s a hero. I’m amazed with her story, because she had the courage to write while in hiding. The walls in the museum had quotes from her diary and one impacted me the most: “I know what I want, I have a goal, I have opinions, a religion and love.”

Anne and her family moved in the building on the Prinsengracht in 1942. Shortly after Anne and the eight people in hiding were arrested and sent to Auschwitz extermination camp. From there, Anne became ill with typhus and died in Bergen-Belsen in 1945. Anne’s diary was published in the Netherlands in 1947, and has been translated into more than 65 languages. On May 3^rd 1960 the Anne Frank house opened to the public and is still one of the most popular places for tourists to visit in Amsterdam.

We weren’t able to take photos inside, but I did anyway mainly because I have to prove to my mailman that I was there. The Anne Frank house made me reflect on my own life and all the people that I couldn’t imagine living without. Just like Selena’s music, Anne’s story will live on forever.

I will conclude this with a magical moment I had after walking through the house: my bonding session with Wyatt Danz. The Anne Frank museum showed a kind, respectful side to this boy while I spoke to him about Anne and her secret annex. I think Mr. Frank would be proud to know that walking through his house helped bring me closer to one of my classmates.

P.S. My picture won't rotate!

Covering Europe