My ancestral vacation was a success! The roadtrip there was 10 hours and the DVD players broke in hour 1. We were in a bit of a panic but the girls were so excited to see Oma that they actually did really well! My host mom wanted to try the drive by herself to see if it would be possible to do solo in the summertime. So I didn't even have to drive! The view is gorgeous though. Bavaria is massive and entirely hills. I could stare at it for hours. The Netherlands though is completely flat and has little fluffy clouds that remind me of home. As soon as we left Bavaria I felt like I was back driving on the 401.
I spent a few days in Winsum, a quiet town in the Northern Netherlands, where my host mom's mom has a BnB. My first big adventure was an afternoon in Groningen. It's a gorgeous old city known for it's university and students. It was bombed during WW2, but oddly enough all the important buildings were missed and so all of the beautiful architecture is original.
People warn you about the bikes in Holland but I never really got it until I was there. They are everywhere. You cannot breathe for bikes. Driving a car is dangerous and crossing the street is out of the question. Please make 3 left turns instead of a right. I looked both ways and still ran into a bike who's rider gave a little "woops" and kept on going. Because I had been told to speak English rather than German, I got out half of an "Entschuldigung" before realizing he wasn't even there anymore. It's crazy! But I so wanted to be one of them! It isn't a very large city (you can walk from one side of old town to the other in less than 10 minutes) but it has a university and a college, so it's almost entirely students and I so wanted to just lock up my own bike and walk into class with them all!
I spent a few days in Winsum, a quiet town in the Northern Netherlands, where my host mom's mom has a BnB. My first big adventure was an afternoon in Groningen. It's a gorgeous old city known for it's university and students. It was bombed during WW2, but oddly enough all the important buildings were missed and so all of the beautiful architecture is original.
People warn you about the bikes in Holland but I never really got it until I was there. They are everywhere. You cannot breathe for bikes. Driving a car is dangerous and crossing the street is out of the question. Please make 3 left turns instead of a right. I looked both ways and still ran into a bike who's rider gave a little "woops" and kept on going. Because I had been told to speak English rather than German, I got out half of an "Entschuldigung" before realizing he wasn't even there anymore. It's crazy! But I so wanted to be one of them! It isn't a very large city (you can walk from one side of old town to the other in less than 10 minutes) but it has a university and a college, so it's almost entirely students and I so wanted to just lock up my own bike and walk into class with them all!