Ohh Amsterdam...

Immediately upon arriving in Amsterdam, Laura and I looked at each other and were in complete agreement that this city just might be more incredible than Paris, and we hadn't even left the train station.
En route to our hostel, it became very apparent that this felt more like home, in a completely different way of course, but still much more to our liking and interests. Paris was extraordinary but Amsterdam is enticing. The people made the most difference, and the stunning canals and architecture didn't hurt. The Netherlands in general is such a melting pot of people, cultures, weather and learning opportunities that it's hard not to have an awe-inspiring experience.
So, despite the fact that we had to adapt sharing the road with trams, busses, cars, bicyclists and other peds and had to spend the night in a hostel with one heck of a snorer, the time in Amsterdam was a wonderful way to end the trip.

Thank you all for following along :) we hope you enjoyed the journey!!!!

Love, Stephanie and Laura

Au revoir Paris!

The last couple of days have truly made Paris an unforgettable experience...

Easter Sunday we began our day stopping at a small cafe on our way to Notre Dame. Crossing the glistening Seine River on a gorgeous morning we were very rudely bombarded by a group of kids/teenagers who tried scamming us with a petition. We very quickly picked up on this and kept walking trying to ignore them, unfortunately they picked up on lauras phone.

After dealing with this fiasco we shrugged our shoulders, muttered a few absurdities, and moved on with our day.

Montmartre was our next destination...for those unfamiliar, Montmartre is a neighborhood north of the city center that both Vincent Van Gogh and Salvador Dali called home. It is also the birth place of moulin rouge. Set atop a butte is a cathedral that overlooks the city of Paris. The surrounding streets and buildings are quintessentially Parisian, or what one may imagine to be Parisian. Narrow cobblestone streets, pocket parks, gardens, and a single hillside vineyard create a quaint, comfortable atmosphere one could contemplate calling home... that is, until you get to the bottom of the butte where the Paris "red-light" district exists.

Heading east we were en route for parc Buttes Chaumont and I don't think we could have seen this particular park on a more perfect afternoon. Walking along an allayed, cobblestone street, we enter through a large iron gate into what we guessed to be an old quarry turned park. Wide paths wind up and through the extraordinarily large hills where children and families have flocked in large numbers. Apparently it is the destination for Easter. Playgrounds and bridges, lookout towers and lakes, Easter egg hunts and soccer games, it's all happening at parc Chaumont.

Monday, most stores and restaurants are still closed from the holiday, but we were able to find a small bakery open this morning as we made our way to the train station destined for Chartres.

Chartres (both the town and the Gothic cathedral) was stunning, as expected. We walked silently through the sanctuary and had a low lit tour of the crypt, where we got to look down into the well that was the original reason that a church was established there. It was interesting to stand in the cathedral in a place where people have stood agape (or fearful) for the last 800 years.

All in all Paris was an adventure. From lost phones to found strength and everything in between, this was an extraordinary experience.

Following photos are from Montmartre, Butte Chaumont, Chartres and of course the Eiffel tower...

See you in Amsterdam!

Bon soir!!

We have successfully made it to France!

After a long travel day and adventurous hike through the city in search for our hotel, who needs cabs anyway, we have settled in to the city of lights.

The first night we decided to introduce ourselves to the city and see just how spectacular the lights truly are.

The second day, two of us spent the morning and early afternoon at the Louvre and then walked the Champs Élysées and the Seine in the afternoon. It is hard to say anything worth saying about the Louvre, but we both left the place with a desire to learn more about art to greater appreciate what we had seen. A highlight was seeing the foundations of the old castle that over the centuries morphed unto the Louvre that we see today. This part involved walking along a boardwalk constructed above what we think was the original moat. To make things even more interesting, while we were walking down in the depths of the museum rounding a corner more or less in the dark we heard a distressed female voice speaking in French. We came around the corner and the woman was being questioned by a guard while another Louvre guard searched for something under the boardwalk with his cell phone light. We have no idea what was going on but it made the journey to France in the Middle Ages feel pretty authentic. The rest of the Louvre was equally dramatic, but dramatic in an inspiring way.

Four hours later, we ascended through the glass pyramid to find a blustery, beautiful, dark-skied afternoon, which served to set a dramatic scene for the beige buildings and spring green horse chesnut trees that characterize the Paris cityscape. After a bit of wandering, we stopped to sit near a small reflecting pool at the Tuileries for some high quality people-watching. Steph and I got a kick out of watching the adorable French kids pushing around miniature sailboats. It was pretty obvious that their ancestors played a role in forming one of the greatest sea fleets of all time. So cute:)

In other news, tomorrow we're hoping to catch a Gregorian chant at Notre Dame and to wander the city in search of parks potentially making our way to Montmartre in north Paris.

We hope that you are all doing well!

Floriade

Hi all!

My apologies for the delayed update. Internet connections have been hit and miss in these parts. But here it goes...

We both arrived safe and sound to Amsterdam and were able to navigate the train system to successfully find the city of Venlo!
After 26 hours of no sleep we granted ourselves 15 hours of sleep that night to wake up refreshed and ready to take on Floriade!
The show was quite the sight to see...

For those of you who don't know, Floriade is a "world horticultural expo" that happens once every ten years in this historic town on the border between Holland and Germany. It is a celebration that explores the different ways that various cultures try to push the envelope of design, interpretation and research of all thing horticulturally speaking. This year's theme was 'nature as theatre' which translated into some pretty entertaining themed areas (including healing and relaxing, environment--which you would think would be inherent to the whole event, green education/innovation and a world show) and some fairly bizzare multimedia displays with dancing tulips...

All in all, Laura was most struck by the world culture area, where around ten different countries had produced displays representative of their national style. The US was not represented, so it was interesting to imagine what we would have produced if we had created some sort of garden/landscape. Seems like a cool studio prompt...

Steph was most impressed by, not surprisingly, the relaxing and healing area. Primarily because of the interactive features of it. They had a room of hammocks, yes of hammocks, that was enclosed by an adobe wall with shade trees placed all around. Guiding you into the relax and heal zone was a boardwalk that meandered through a forest. An obstacle course of climbing ropes and logs that cross crossed through the boardwalk created a fun alternative to walking, and she happened to be the first one to notice it and try it out with all the little kids, and some adults following suit. At the end of the trail were other gardens that focused on some aspect related to healing designed with the utmost care and attention to detail.

On a final note, for those of you interested in urban design, primarily focused on transportation systems, Venlo is a place worth researching.
The city center is quite a site to see, it's the only piece of the city that was no bombed during WWII so needless to say the architecture and roads are incredible.

Here are some photos of our time in Venlo...

Photo 1:
The entrance to Floriade included passing through a gate, through a tunnel and over a bridge. Talk about a sense of procession:)

Photo 2:
The winding path in the relax and heal area was quite entertaining. It meandered over a berm and into a sunken area surrounded by cherry trees.

Photo 3:
The aforementioned winding path. Definitely not ADA approved

Photo 4:
The people on stilts who greeted us at the entrance were dressed a little bit like spiders. Stephanie's remark was that it looked like a fun job.
...who wouldn't want to dress up in a costume unrecognizable and tower over people :)

Photo 5:
This is the boardwalk that leads Through the red pine forest to the heal and relax area.

Photo 6:
Steph at the little cafe where we grabbed an espresso back in Venlo

Photo 7:
One of the inside exhibits at Floriade. I'm not sure there are any orchids left in the South American rain forests... But the display was sure stunning.

Photo 8:
Some goof ball who got in the way of our photo

Photo 9:
The entry pavilion with inflatable boulders. Back when I was a kid we had real rocks to sit on:)

Photo 10: One of the many amazing floral displays that made the whole show smell like a perfume shop

Photo 11:
The hammock room

Well, Venlo, tot ziens (see you later). And Paris, salut!! We'll be in touch.