lilmissliss666

[lilmissliss666]

Iceland -Day 6

We all woke up hungover! Surprise surprise! It was around noon when I woke up and all the 30 year olds couldn't possibly wake up. So i left on my own solo adventure throughout the city. I walked to kolaportið flea market which is only open on weekends. I stopped off to get some tea and a danish on my walk and sat on a bench. People watching isn't the best in this country because it has a population of 320, 000.

I made it to the flea market with a great feeling of accomplishment and independence. I don't like solo trips in foreign countries but I feel very safe in Iceland. The flea market was amazing! I bought some handmade earrings and lava salt.   I tried some smoked salmon and chocolate samples and walked around for half an hour or so then made my way back to the air bnb apartment. As I was opening the door to Tania, Kelly and Pat were opening it to leave. Perfect timing! We were all hungry so we walked down the main strip to find a place. We found a nice looking restaurant called Brass (they had a fish and chip deal on for the next 20 min). We went in and ordered 3 fish n chips and a burger (I got the burger). Also amazing food, all the food in Iceland has been amazing!

We walked the streets, stopped off at the coffee shop and a few stores. Then to Harper concert hall to get the free shuttle bus to Perlan Museum. We got there 2 hours before the museum closed and we spent the entire time reading everything we could about the country, including the very small amount of wildlife (birds and foxes), its volcanoes, geysirs, glaciers, ice caves and history. After educating ourselves we went to the washroom; here comes my other walk-in-on-someone bathroom story. All the stalls were locked with clear red markings except one so I go to open the door and there is this tiny little Scandinavian boy (about 3 years old) he had his poo face on and didn't seem fazed. I was so embarrassed that I walked in on someone again. We took a cab back home and ate the lamb stew that Kelly prepared in the morning. Yum!

The 30 year old were really tired so everyone basically went to bed and I took a bath. I read my book for awhile then video chatted with my sister for a little and hit they hey.

[lilmissliss666]

Iceland - Day 5

We had to leave of little cottage in Fluđir by noon. Since it was a guesthouse and the owner was about 20 meters away from us our entire stay. His wife made us crepes so it was all good. It was a morning of packing and tidying, we also made  breakfast before we left and we were about 30mins late leaving.

We all agreed we would stop of at that brewery that the owner suggested to us in the grocery store that day.

It took us a little to find it, as it was on the farm that said private property. We drove up and walked in, creepy at first until we saw the bartender and explained we ran into the owner and we wanted to try her craft beer. The bartender was expecting us; which made us feel very welcome. It was probably one of the greatest experiences I've had at a brewery. We were the only people there and she gave us 4 free bottles of beer and a pint each for free. We did spend a lot of krona there (about 80 canadian). She was a wonderful bartender and will always think highly of Ölvisholt beer company in Iceland.

Back on the road again to Reykjavik. We had to stop at a gas station to use the washroom, i accidentally walked in on a lady peeing (note this is the first time..there will be more so keep reading my blog). It seems that people here don't really use the locks provided on bathroom doors. Tania grabbed a coffee and off we were. We did take one more stop off at a little farm shop selling a plethora of items. Tania wanted to buy a hand knit sweater with Icelandic sheep wool but it ended up being $400 Canadian. Next door was a lady that made glass items so I bought some nice earrings with glass bead work.

Finally we arrive in Reykjavik and check into our air bnb. Its a neat artistic apartment much larger than our little cottage in Fluđir. We loved it. We walked down the road to the Bonus (grocery store that floods this country). Grabbed some groceries and headed back to the apartment to cook our lamb leg and potatoes and carrots (lamb is very cheap here).

I'm going to jot down the rest of the night because we clearly did not check ourselves before we Reykjavik ourselves. We ate the amazing lamb dinner, put on our party dresses and began playing drinking euchre with shots of Canadian Club. Now that a game that will get you dickered. We left the apartment at 1:30am to hit the bars. We met a german dude and followed him to met his friends (most were american). We danced, we laughed and some cried. 5am. The end.

[lilmissliss666]

Iceland- Day 4

We awoke to a bit up pluvial weather but that didn't stop us from our day plan. We decided to drive to the highlands in Landmannalaugar. We started with a hardy breakfast of scrambled eggs and leftover potatoes n pork hash. We packed pork sandwiches for lunch and left for the 2.5 hour drive. Such a beautiful landscape made our drive seem much shorter. Once into Fjallabak National Reserve the road became a lot more rugged (F-series roads) which can only be driven on with a 4x4 vehicles (which we had).

We came to our first obstacle which was a 10 meters wide river. We got out of the car... 3 out of 4 of us said no we shouldn't cross the river. Then we saw several vehicles cross the river.. after an hour it was clear 3 out of 4 of us wanted to cross the river. I was the one that didn't want to ($10,000 kept popping up in my head when/if our engine flooded). Skipping ahead, we crossed the river in the jeep and arrived at Landmannalaugar. (Note: before we crossed the river Tania was taking cool pics and I star jumped for a cool shot and my cellphone popped out of my pocket. That was the end of my cell. R.i.p cellphone; Pat let me write my travel blog on his phone).

We began our ascend. First through the lava fields then through the geothermal active steam vents coming right out of the mountains. The scenery was exquisite! There was colours of dark moss green, to lime sulfur green, beige, deep reds, navy blues, yellows, black, purples, grey, and white. All these colours forming because of the different minerals coming from the earth. We climbed to the top of Barmur which is 900 meters above sea level. I was dying! From the x smoker lungs to the rotten egg smell and the lack of oxygen i was struggling up the last part. But nonetheless the struggle up the mountain was worth the beautiful view. You could see 100km out. I'm sure I said this before but it took my breath away. The descend was much quicker. In total is was only about a 15-20km hike.

We drove back and popped our sore muscles in the hot tub and ate chicken leftovers and penne pasta. I took my last outdoor shower, its great seeing the landscape from the warm outdoor shower! We all slept well that night!

[lilmissliss666]

Iceland-Day 3

We woke up pretty hungover at a respectable time of 1pm in the afternoon (thank goodness time is never an issue here because we can do all the sightseeing at 2am or 2pm, doesn't matter. Its almost better late at night because there are no tourists). We lazily made breakfast and when i say we i mean Kelly. Hashbrowns and toast, cheese, tomatoe and fried egg. It was glorious! It was a rainy and windy out; sad sad day.

After a few hours we got a little cabin fever. We left our cottage and stop for gas and groceries. We met a nice lady that owned  brewery as we were complaining that there was no beer over 2% alc. She gave us the name of the brewery and we said we would visit in a few days.

After shopping we decided we would go to a natural hot spring.  We read about this "secret natural hot spring" in Fluđir close by but it said "one of the most popular hot spring in Iceland". It was an oxymoron and we said we want to find one more secret... and we found it! On a little farm off the beaten path there it was! So secretly place! We were so happy, like we found a rare gem. There was enough space for about a dozen people. We met a nice older couple from Slovenia (an engineer and a judge). We spent about 2 hours there.

Then we came back and began making dinner and doing laundry (it was a winner winner chicken dinner!) Bbq chicken, potatoes and sugar glazed carrots. We played some euchre and went to bed late again around 3am!

[lilmissliss666]

Iceland - Day 2

We woke up to the parting of the rain clouds and the sun was out(not that it ever goes away during this time of year). Nothing but blue skys. We knew we were going to pack a lot into this beautiful day. But anything we had showers and ate some awesome omelettes brought to you by Kelly Currie. So good and Iceland cheese is just amazing!

We drove to the south of the country, to a town of Vik (an old viking town). As we drove through the vast landscape we saw some miraculous mountains and volcanoes, and another waterfall. We of course stopped off at the waterfall. It was called Seljalandsfoss. It was breathtaking, especially on a sunny day. There was a lot of tourist because it was about 130pm in the afternoon. We didn't stay long there. Then we took the F series road to... well.. we had no clue to where. But there was a river crossing the road so we turned back even though Kelly and pat said we should cross it, Tania and I disagreed (win for the women).

We turned back but we noticed someone parked close to the mountain so we thought we would see what was up. Thank goodness because we discover Valhalla! We began hiking through a crevasse in the mountain, there was a rope that allowed us to scale up 10 meter steep area. Then we just kept climbing to the very top. I was last the whole time (my 20 days of not smoking made it much better but I'm sure 13 years of smoking takes awhile to get back to my normal lungs). We finally made it to the top after an hour hike up. It was such a beautiful view from so high up! We took pics and began the much shorter descend down. I must add once we were at the top Kelly noticed he did not have his sunglasses. Feverishly looking through everything it was confirmed they were gone. But luck of the Irish (I guess) he slightly stepped on them on our way down the mountain, did not break them just enough to find them. It was so lucky! Yay Kelly!

Once at the bottom we began hiking inside the mountain to find the secret waterfall. We had to step stone all the way through the stream trying out our best footing so we wouldn't get wet. We had to scale the sides of the cave over the heavy watered areas (there were chains attached to the rock to help). It only took about 20 mins to reach the waterfall in the mountains crevasse. It was a beautiful lagoon with some light reaching down just enough to see the beauty. We also witnessed a viking wedding, they were getting their photos taking in original viking attire.

We continued on our drive to Vik to see the black sand beach. We stopped off at a gas station grabbed cold beers and peanut butter. We ate pb&j Sammy's on the beach took photos, it was approx 8:30/9pm and the sun was still high in the sky. We saw sea lions hunting fish in the water! Then we left back to Fluđir. (Note that Tania lost her lens cap, then proceeded to re-walk the beach and yes she found it, lucky of the.... Icelandic.. I guess)

We through on the huge pork shoulder that has been salting for 24 hrs and hoped into the hot tub. Basically ending the night with dinner at 3am and a copious amount of beer and whiskey. That ended our amazing 2nd day in Iceland.

[lilmissliss666]

Iceland - Day 1

Well, after a painless flight of about 5 hours we made it from Toronto to Keflavik airport in Iceland. My travel companions this trip are Pat, Tania and Kelly! They are the greatest!

So we land at the airport in Iceland and waited about an hour for our car rental guy to arrive. So I guess there is no urgency in Iceland. I wanted to complain about the tardiness of our pick up but it seems like this car company was a one man band, so I had no one to complain to. Finally we rented our 4x4 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The guy didn't get our GPS that was included so we kindly took one since he left in such a hurry. That was our first great decision!

It was about 7am and we didn't have a plan! We were hungry, sleep deprived and nothing opened until 11am! Finally after driving a bit we found a bakery and ate some bagels and coffee. Then we stopped off at a grocery store in the city. When we were almost done filling our cart a local lady said we could save a lot of money if we shopped in the country, so we left immediately and didn't shop there. We began our drive to Fluriđ where we checked into our beautiful country cottage. We all went into the hot tub then took a well needed 3 hour nap!

We woke up refreshed and decided to get some grocery. We drove from Flurid to Selfoss about 45 mins. Stopped off at a lovely little cafe called Kaffi Krús. It was absolutely delicious, I had fish n chip(so fresh) Pat had a chicken bbq pizza and Tania and Kelly shared a margarita pizza and seafood soup. It was all amazing food(I tried it all). I casually asked "what's the time?" It was 6:10pm and the grocery store closed at 6:30pm. We sent pat and Kelly to the store while I finished my beer with Tania to proceeded to drink about 4 cups of coffee (I like Tania when shes on coffee x4).

Once done shopping we drove back to our lil country cottage. On our drive back I noticed this little church I had seen on the net while researching Iceland; i asked if we could stop. We drove up the gravel road to the church. It didn't look open but I tried the door anyways. To our surprise it was open. It was a quaint little wooden church with a painted blue ceiling with golden stars. It had a beautiful wooden organ that Kelly played an amazing tune while we respectfully enjoyed the space. After about 30 minutes we left and looked around the cemetery. The oldest grave was 1880. We then arrived back to the cottage and unloaded our groceries then chilled for a bit.

At about 11pm we decided it was time for an adventure! So we adventured! We went to the Great Geysir where there was no tourist because it was 11:30pm. It was epic! A blast out power from the earth center just exploded out from the ground. It smelled like rotting eggs! We hiked up a large hill/small mountain. The few from up there looking down was completely breath taking. Nostalgic feelings swept over me... then I realized I have seen Brave Heart a lot and I felt like I was in a scene in the movie. We then drove 10 minutes to Gullfoss, a remarkable waterfall.

The time was creeping up to 1:30am and we experienced the most beautiful sunset over the waterfall. The sunset just sat there forever . We drove back "home", made 2am KD, sat in the tub all while the sun was still sitting on the horizon. It never leaves. We passed out happy with our first Iceland experience.

[lilmissliss666]

Day 12- Monaco

It was an overcast day, just like yesterday. But I knew we had a little day trip planned to go to Monaco. It’s only 30min drive away, and it’s a very very small country, but small in geographical area doesn’t mean small pocket books. It’s a place for the lavish and rich. We started our morning off our morning with breakfast on the balcony. Then we ment our tour guide to begin our day in Monaco. It wad an intimate tour, jus a van with 5 of us total. A middle age couple from Washington DC, a younger gentleman from Lebanon and Pat and I. Our guide spoke great English and could be described as a “cool cat”.

Our first stop was the medieval community of Èze in the neighboring town of Grasse, France. The community was first populated in 3000 BC but my unanimous descision of the people of Èze became a part of France in 1860. It’s perched on top of a cliff with tiny caverns where small art galleries and shops are. The population is approximatly 2900 people and is approximatly 310 km2. After discovering the community for just under an hour we were onto the next place.

We arrived at an old perfume factory called Fragonard. It was built in 1926 and still produces fragrants to this day. When extracting scents from flowers, like lavender or roses, they use 10 times more flowers to create the finished product. This is why perfumes are so expensive. The process is similar to making moonshine. After we threw down a hefty amount of perfumes we were on our way.

Next stop was Monaco. We stopped at a few view points and I took some good shots even thought it was very cloudy and grey. We went to the prince’s palace (Prince Albert II, the currently reigning Prince since 2005). Our finally stop in Monaco was Monte-Carlo, the ritziest of ritz. I have never seen so many nice cars in my life. Neither have I seen so many brand names on one person like Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Dolce And Gabbana. I was sporting my best Giant Tiger outfit and my sterdy $5 Ardene kicks. We checked out the Casino and the Hotel-du Paris, and that’s where our day in Monaco concluded.

Once we were dropped back at our hotel we ate the rotisserie halal chicken we picked up from the grocers next door, cooked up some carrots and leftover hashbrowns. It was a great dinner, we had a bubble bath then watched The Pianist in english and dozed off ready for Paris tomorrow.

[lilmissliss666]

Day 11- Nice

It was a late and slightly groggy morning due to excessive fun last night. I would like to take a moment to thank the late night pizza because it would have been much worse. Eventually we walked to the market to buy food and made hash browns with all the fixings as well as dippy eggs and toast with butter packets we took from Switzerland. We relaxed around the apartment, watched a little t.v. and read some more. To sum it up it was another lazy day.

Eventually we needed to get out and about so we walked to old town and found a place that made amazing mussles and frites. We both started with french onion soup and shared the mussle dish. I stopped in a shop to buy myself a souvenir then took some really good night time shots. I figured something out about my camera that I wish I figured out before this trip. Better late than never. Then we made the trek back to our hotel. We stopped enroute, sat on the rocks and drank our backpack beers while we talked love, life, goals and memories. It’s nice to be around Pat so much. Definitely the most I’ve seen him in 2017. That summed up day 11, mellow yellow.

[lilmissliss666]

Day 10- Nice

The sun is so extremely bright in the morning glimmering off the Mediterranean sea into our apartment. We cooked hash browns and scrambled eggs. It was nice to cook again, something I’ve really missed lately. After a nice breakfast on the balcony in the beating sun we decided we were going to hit the beach; which is only steps from our accommodations. The beach is all smooth rocks and no sand which was a little saddening. Surprisingly, it was rather comfy lying down on our towels. I read a little until I was so warm it was time to hop in the salty water. We only went for a quick dip then spent the rest of the time looking for interesting rocks to bring back for our nephews Max and Elijah.

After the beach we came back to shower off the salt and walked to get on our hop on hop off tour bus. It was about a 10 min walk to meet where it departs. It took an hour and a half to ride all through old town of Nice. I was shocked on how hilly it was, it’s pretty much on a little mountain. Côte d'Azur! After our minds were full of new knowledge of the history of Nice and our eyes were enchanted with new sights we figured it was time to eat again. We walked back to our apartment to get warmer clothes to walk back to old town.

We ate dinner on the main hussle and bussle strip at an irish pub called MaNolans. I had fish and chips which quite possibly some of the best fish n chips I’ve ever had and pat had a BLT. He drank a Budweiser and I drank Magners. We stayed there awhile milking our beers and digesting. We went on a little walk to deflat our food bellies and stumble upon Shapko. A tiny little jazz bar (yet another jazz bar, I swear they find us) it was featuring a soul and funk band. Just up our alley. We stayed there all night. We danced, we drank and had a gay ol’ time. After our buzzes were buzzing and I fell slightly tired we decided to leave. We stopped off for a slice of pizza and a walking beer as we made the 30 or so minute trek back to our apartment. We didn’t pass out until 3:30am that night… or shall I say morning.

[lilmissliss666]

Day 9- Zurich/ Nice (France)

I'll skip through the boring stuff. Woke up in Zurich. Caught plane to Nice France, which only took an hour and 15 mins. Airport to hotel by city bus. Bam! Checked in Adigos aparthotel and entered our beautiful hotel with a balcony and sea view of the Mediterranean sea. We are approximately 30mins walk from Old town in Nice. We have a full kitchen, living room and 1 bedroom.. oh and a heated towel rack. Since we didn't arrive until about 4pm we didn't really have any plan.

We walked to a local sandwich shop and ordered a panini. It tastes great except the mustard was so hot I was sweating and basically with every bite going forth was slowly breaking down my inside. Even pat said it was waaaayyyyy to hot. So I ordered another without mustard. Then we went to the market to get some food for our fridge. Eggs, potatoes, baguette, onion and instant noodles.. oh and of course some beer.

After that it was all hey dayz from there. Lounging, reading, watching the sun go down and overall enjoying eachothers company. It was nice in Nice. I ate instant noods for dinner pat had the left over panini. We walked 2 awesome comedy movies in english; one of them being Bridesmaids; my fav! Then slowly drifted to bed. Tomorrow we venture Nice and figure out how to get to Monaco!

[lilmissliss666]

Day 8- Zurich

I woke up in the bed crack this morning with faint sounds of the city waking and a dim light beam seeping through the window. There was a chill in the air as I opened the hotel window. Let me explain what the bed crack is. Every hotel we’ve been to are double occupancy rooms, which back home you would think is a double or queen bed. In Europe it’s jus 2 single beds pushed together, hence I woke up in the bed crack… again.

We ate the regular hotel breakfast buffet, I had a hot chocolate with my breakfast and they frothed my milk to perfection. I copied what the nice British women had ordered. After breaky we decided today was the day to adventure! So we packed up my cameras and that’s exactly what we did.

We walked down the Limmat River of the beautifully clean streets of Zurich. We sat with some swans on the river and shared a cookie as I took some pictures with my DSLR. We stop to take in all the sites. I noticed there's a lot of colour, every building/home is a different colour then the next making sure two colours arnt beside eachother. Appealing pastels lines the streets; greens, pinks, yellows and blues. It was a beautiful day weather wise; fluffy cumulonimbus clouds and a bright blue sky; completely picturesque.

We decided to visit Grossmüster church. A Protestant church with Romanesque-style architecture build in 1100 and completed 1220. We went in and paid €2 each (swiss francs not euros) to climb to the top of the tower. It was worth it because the view was amazing. We could see the entire city as well as Lake Zurich, a full 360 view.

After some more walking we worked up a hunger and stop off at a posh restaurant and sat on a table outside. Pat ate a meatloaf meal with mash and veg, it tastes quite different from what I make in Canada, still very good. I ate gnocchi with a gorgonzola cheese and sundried tomatoe sauce, it was rich but also very tasty.

It didn't get anymore interesting than that, we stayed in bed most of the night watching British TV (Come Dine With Me; my favs show ever). We only left to get take-out from the shops in the subway, I had take out noodle soup and salad and pat had a sandwich and salad. We watched Karate Kid and Its Complicated and fell into slumber knowing we were leaving from Nice France the next day

[lilmissliss666]

Day 7- Köln/Zurich (Switerland)

We knew we had to catch a plane to Zurich this morning so we were all packed the night before. Of course we doubled checked everything to make sure we didn't over look details. We had a fairly early breakfast and our last one at hotel Europa in Köln, Germany.

Then a quick walk to the Central station to find out what train took us to Köln airport. Pat was on it because my brain doesn't start working well until 10am lol. After a quick 15min train we were at the airport and before we knew it we were boarding the plane to Zurich Switzerland. It was only a 45min plane ride, we received a free sandwich and drink because Alli (our dear friend and travel agent) upgraded us to SMART passengers. We needed the sandwich and box of water so bad.

Once in Zurich Switzerland airport, it was fairly easy to find out what train took us closest to our hotel but difficult finding our hotel from the train station (even though it was a 5min walk). We walked for an hour with our rolly luggage to realize we were on the wrong side of central station.

Finally we found hotel Montana down a small street called Konradstrasse. After checking in, we walked around a little but not far from the hotel. We found a McDonald's, ate over priced crap burgs; just what we needed. Then we relaxed in our hotel room; also just what we needed. Might I add, this 3 star hotel was absolutely gorgeous! The country itself has put a good amount of money into beautifying the streets. It's extremely clean and smells great compared to most large cities, ex. Köln or Toronto.

After relaxing, we showered up to go out for a nice dinner. We found this swiss resturant called Schůtzengasse. It was small, beautiful and dimmed perfectly. It was so romantic and just our luck there was one table left. We sat at the table for two and I was all smiles from then on out. The service was incredible our server was amazing and helped us with the menu. Pat ate veal cordon bleu with spinach accompanied by a local swiss beer; Schneider Weisse. I ate a dorado fish (white saltwater fish) dish with saffron rice and baby carrots with a glass of white wine. It was absolutely amazing! We could not fit anymore food in our belly when she asked if we wanted dessert. But she brought over a bottle of limoncello liquor and 2 shot glasses and said it was on the house. She poured us each a shot and said, if you like it, please have another. I loved it so I had another. Then back to the hotel for a bubble bath. Basically our favourite relaxing pastime. We called it a day well spent in Zurich.

[lilmissliss666]

Day 6- Köln

Today I ate to much cheese for breakfast! The hotel had an amazing spread. I also ate a boiled egg, fresh fruit and cured meats. Pat had cereal as per tradition (he is a creature of habit).

After a leisure breakfast we went to the pier to catch our panorama boat tour at noon. It was a mighty ship 2 floors, upper deck and an old waiter that did not speak English but apparently is a huge fan of red heads (so said the other waiter). Another win for red heads around the world. The hour tour was interesting and informative. I learnt of how important the city of Köln is to Germany. It's one of the biggest transport hubs in Europe; about 8 trains cross through every minute. It has the 3rd tallest cathedral in the world and the Catholic church bestowes it as a "holy city" (which title has only been given to Rome and Istanbul). It is also Germany's capital of carnivals.

Once the panorama cruise was over we ate by the river. I had schnitzel with salad n fries and pat had tomatoe soup served with warm bread and sour cream instead of butter. I shared my schnitzel. It was great! In English they called it weiner art¿

We proceeded to be lazy because I guess walking for so many hours a day is tuckering us out. After the lazies we desperately needed to do laundry. So we found a laundrymat in a shifty part of town. Took us about 10 minutes to figure out how to us the washers (there was no English instructions and it's different than Canada). While we waited we had a few beers.. more than a few cuz I was feeling pretty good. Then we switched our clothes and had some more (when in Germany drink as the Germans do).

Clean, dry and folded we walked off our late day buzz and made it to the Dom Cathedral before it closed at 9pm. It was as breath-taking on the inside as it was on the out.

We ate a late dinner at The Great Wall; an African resturant (syke it was a Chinese restaurant lol) Then back to our hotel to pack and prepare to leave the Switzerland the next morning.

[lilmissliss666]

Day 5- Köln (spelt the German way)

Today we started the day off with a tea like most days in our hotel. Even though we are always offered coffee then looked at weird when we say tea. Then we were able to check into our double bed room with a lovely view of a Roman church which was built in 1218. There are 12 Roman chruchs in Köln because the Roman Empire occupied the area west of the Rhine River and the German tribes on the east side.

After breaky or lack there of we went on a nice long walk so I could capture some picture on my beloved canon t4i.

Today was really chill. We sat in Heu Markt (a quaint square with many restaurants all with abundance of tables and chairs outside). We ate soup accompanied with the warmest and freshest buns; goulash for me and beef broth for pat. Possibly the best thing I've eaten in Europe thus far. (This will probably change once in Nice). After lunch we stumbled upon a Thai massage parlor and decided to make an appointment. Best decision of our married lives! (This is the first of two greatest decisions of our married lives, which has been a week lol). We came back to the Thai massage place an hour later and immediately greeted with smiles and warm Thai tea, I had 2 cups it was so nice. I was excited because it was pats first Thai massage! And he needs it more than me. It was pure bliss for an hour and a half!

We decided that tonight was date night so We went and shower all the massage oil off us and got ready for dinner. Both of us dressed to impress we walked to a steak restaurant and both had fillet mignon (that was the second best decision of our married lives). It had beautiful ambience and low lighting and was a very romantic restaurant. We had a nice chat with our waiter after and he said and I quote "stay cool, do not change the way you are" 😊

[lilmissliss666]

Day 4- Amsterdam/Cologne(Germany)

It was a very early start to our day. I was up around 5:45am, Pat was up by quater past 6. Shower and packed and left the hotel by 7am. We caught the tram and made it to the proper platform at Amsterdam central by 7:45am(with help from a worker at the station). We board and approximately 30mins into our 2 hour train ride our royal fuck up was brought to light. The worker on the train that was going around collecting tickets pointed out we were on the train a day early! So we left our accommodations that was paid for already and didn't have a place booked in Cologne Germany until the next day. Anywho the train worker only charged us for 1 train ticket instead of 2. Also tried to get a refund for both train tickets purchased for the next day. It didn't pan out online but gave us a number to call. In the end, we were able to get a single bed at the Europa Am Dom hotel and a 90% refund on the train ticket. It all worked out and we even made a few friends because we looked distraught (they shared there candy and some interesting stories)

Fast forward to the rest of our day. After checking into the tiniest room ever we were hungry. So we found an authentic German restaurant called Hauxen Haus on the Rhine River. Pat ate pork belly with German pancake and I ate leberkäse (basically ham but more german) and potatoes with salad. It was alright I liked pats food more lol. We then went to figure out where we board our panorama cruise 2 days ahead of time (just incase). With very minimal sleep and energy we took a nap! Cuz why the fuck not, we're on vacation (pardon the profanity).

We woke up from our nap in our tiny bed we shared in our even tinier room. Then we ventured the city. Walked for hours. Ate some fries with mayo and raw onion in a paper cone (biggest snack food in Europe)..more walking. Stopped off at a Cuban place and drank Kölsch (a beer type only made in Cologne). Left there cuz someone must have pissed in our servers cornflakes, let's just say it wasn't her night. On to the next one! We stumbled upon music. Sweeet sweet jazz music. I heard sax, bass, drums, trumpet, guitar and drums! Clearly the music had control over our feet at that point and next thing you know after a few more Kölsch beers we were German!!!! We ended the night at a patio we shared a margarita pizza. (Note pat said gross he would never eat a pizza without meat, ate some of the meatless margarita pizza without knowing it and LOVE IT) ....zeeeen sleeps!

[lilmissliss666]

Day 3-Amsterdam

This day started pretty hungover (I blame it on the Norwegians). We woke up around 11am grabbed a quick chocolate crossiant, a tea for pat and I had a fresh juice smoothy for me.

We jumped on our hop-on-hop-off canal boat to The Heineken brewery, lucky we bought tickets the day before so we did not have to wait in the line. I won't go into much detail but we both enjoyed the tour and at the end made a personalized bottle saying "Mr and Mrs. Diamond" 😁.

After the Heineken experience we hopped on the canal boat again (we had a 48 hour pass) and went to the Anne Frank house in the Jordaan neighbourhood South West of central station. Here's a tip; if u want to go to the Anne Frank house buy a ticket in advance (2 months in advance) they start taking patrons that didn't buy in advance at 3:30pm. We started waiting in line at around 2-230pm and waited until almost 4pm. It was worth it. Very humbling experience. Since I'm a big WWII junky I found it all very fascinating. It was crazy to think that exactly where the Frank family and other were hiding in the Annex we were in. I definitely had some deep feelings. I'm so happy we went and waited in the line, Pat was glad I was happy but he never read all the books n the diary like myself.

After Anne Frank we decided to use our pedal boat rental for an hour n a half. It was great fun! We brought some "snacks" and had such a relaxing time as we paddled down the canals. I made sure to kiss pat under every bridge because some tour guide said your love will last forever!

We were tired and hungry. So on our walk back to the hotel we were lured into this Italian restaurant from the aromas of basil n fresh bread. The sweet little tables with candle light also made it very appealing. We had the most exuberant waiter EVER. He was Italian but clearly new 5 languages (English, Italian, Dutch, French and spanish). It was very romantic. We shared the best caprese salad (so fresh including the mozzarella) pat did not want to salad, I convinced him he would like it, and boyy did he ever! I had fettuccine with salmon and asparagus and pat had a pizza with mushroom and prosciutto. A couple of beers for pat and white wine for me, we left happy as ever.

We got back to our hotel and since we had to catch an 8am train to Cologne Germany we just had a lil bubbly in the bubble bath.

(The thing is we THOUGHT we left the next day, you'll have to tune in for my next entry to hear our royal fuck up)

[lilmissliss666]

Day 2 -Amsterdam

Our first full day in the city we wanted to see as much as possible and have a sense of direction and the city itself.

We started off with a breakfast around the corner called Pancake King, we got eggs n bacon. The 4 eggs were fried and the bacon was cooked into the eggs, and the bacon was more like fried prosciutto. In retrospect I should have had the banana pancakes (I'm still sad about my decision)

After breakfast we went on to the hop-on-hop-off canal boat to take it back to Dam square (which is close to Central Station) I wanted a jacket so we went to Primark and bought one. Thank goodness because it's went down to 8 degrees celsius. We stopped in cheese shops and ate samples. Walked about the busy streets and stumbled upon the Sex Museum. It was interesting to say the least. Definitely worth the €5.

I really wanted to have deli meat, cheese and baguette. So we spend a substantial amount of time looking for these items so we could eat it on our 100 highlights canal tour. We were so happy about the decision since the tour was an hour. I just love prosciutto and Dutch cheese!!!!!

The canal tour was very informative and interesting. I'll just share one bit, mass majority of the house have beautiful crafted gables and hooks on them. I thought it was just architectural decoration but they actually have purpose. Since the house were so narrow, including the staircases. They had to hoist up furniture to get it into there homes.

After that we spent more time walking around. So much walking. We went to an ir ish pub for dinner and had beer n a fried snack platter.

After a few beers in the Red Light District we found a group of middle aged Norwegians men. They were on some sort of business/drinking trip and went dancing with them at a crazy night club in Rembrandt square. Next thing we know it's 3am and we went back to the hotel n slept.