Back in Paris!! :D

Brussels didn't seem to be calling out to us as we passed it on our way to and from Amsterdam. SOOO, we're back in Paris! On our way to the library, we snapped some pictures. The library was closed to non-students so we made the best and had fun on a walk!


Wouldn't you know our travels would end up taking us back to the movie theater we were at last time we visited? Here's an outside shot for you guys ;) There's a yummy crepe stand right behind me as I'm taking this picture. The same place we had a crepe and a sandwich after we saw the movie!

The crosswalk sign was cool. Lighting made it hard to take a pic!

Look what we found! Is it a coincidence she has animals with her? I think not.

At a restaurant we stopped at.

Lights, lights, lights!

After all the hours we spent walking, it was time to call it a night. Until next time!

Last day in Amsterdam!

My internet is reallly slow today. It's taking me about 3 times as long to post this. Thankfully this is a short post! Also, this interface is messed up today. It keeps placing every picture I post at the top of this page and also at the bottom.......

Taking a walk after we returned the bikes! 

This is the entrance area of a museum. I really love the green grass here. We have none of that at home most of the year.

These rocks and this fountain were incredible. One of my favorite Amsterdam things!

Not the clearest picture but it gives you a better idea of the garden :)

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Some street art.

The last beautiful shots of the wonderful canals :)

Here is the tram waiting at a traffic light behind the cars. Still boggles my brain! Eventually the track veers to the left and the car lane stays where it is but there are lots of times where the lanes and track overlap like in this picture.

And lastly, a bird friend who kindly posed for us!

This little one was awesome and made me smile all the way to the train station! :D That's it for now! Next time, Paris!

As promised, a quick post about odd Spanish words :)

Well, this will be a quick one. I'll post another post, hopefully later on today. I'm busy but decided to do this before I forget yet again! Here's a list of some Spanish words that don't mean the same things they do back home!

At home the following words are familiar:
Salsa= hot sauce
Jugo= juice
Carta= card
Tortilla= flat, delicous stuff made of flour
Tacos= tortillas, hard or soft, filled with amazing food(usually topped with salsa! :P)
Flauta= fried tortilla, rolled and filled with meat
Cafe= where you get coffee, muffins.

In Olvera, these words all have new meanings!
Salsa=Sofrito
Zumo=Juice
Carta=menu (this might mean the same thing back home, but I thought I'd heard menu(imagine saying it like meh-new) as the word for menu in Spanish.)
Tortilla=Omelette
Tacos=Chunks of something
Flauta= Burrito
Cafeteria= coffee house!

Weird, huh! Imagine our surprise when we went to the cafeteria and tried to order food, only to be told that they only serve coffee!!! :D

That's all for now! I'll try to be back soon!

Riding around in Amsterdam!

We just went for a ride for a few hours around the city. Taking in the sights. Seeing what there is to see, hearing what there is to hear.

Here's another canal picture for you guys. The water really brings a different feel to a city. I can't put it into words but perhaps you know what I mean if you've been to an ocean city or even a river within a city? I really like how the water seems to change color each day.

I wanted to show you the bike lanes here and more bike stuff. I never was able to find where those thousands and thousands of bikes were. I'm not sure if I even told you about it but there was a place, the first day we were here, where we passed by the most bikes I've ever seen in one location. It was more than are in a bike shop! They were all parked and leaned on each other. It looked like a very, very, very large pile of bicycles. I have no idea where all the bike owners were and what they were there to see but it was an incredible sight!


Here in this picture, are two bicycle lanes in the center. On the right side of the right solid line is the sidewalk for pedestrians. To the left of the left solid line is the car lane. There are lots of bicycle lanes like this. Alot of the time, bicycle lanes are protected by a median separating them from the car lanes. And the sidewalk is separated from the bike lanes by posts coming out of the ground! I think the system is genius! I wish we had these back home. I'd ride more!

This is a toddler bicycle! How cute is it!? I love the colors! All of them! I think it's cute that it's all locked up too. I think they teach the value of being responsible with bicycles here early in life.

A youth bicycle. I really like that here, the bicycle doesn't need to be locked to anything. As long as it's locked so it can't be taken apart, people leave the bike alone! That's not to say there aren't bicycle racks and such, because there are, but it's a neat thing to witness. People can even leave their puppies in their bicycle baskets when shopping and no one steals them!

Family bicycles! This one has a cart in front that can carry 2 kids or supplies and a seat in the back for another child. Sometimes, the carts are bit bigger and 4 kids can fit!

The shape of this bike frame is odd but is necessary!

Two seats on the back!

Alot of the time when the children outgrow these seats and carts, they just ride along on their own bicycles right next to their parents in bicycles like the ones in the photos I posted a few pictures up! It's neat to see :)

The store front windows are like installation art here. They really use up a large amount of space and put it to good use with artistic displays. This picture doesn't do justice one bit. To the left was another set up with shades of blue and beautiful blue and black butterflies. To the left of that was a bunch of pinks and magentas. This was the only picture that came out though. So here you go!

I wanted to show you the road set up here on the main roads. It was pretty odd at first and took a bit to get used to. Sometimes you don't hear the tram coming and it gets pretty close but 99 percent of the time the tram driver rings the bell to warn you of it's proximity. That brings me to an observation about Amsterdam. You rarely hear a car horn. In all of our time here, we only heard two car horns and the police siren a few times. It's very quiet here except for the sounds of life: talking in person, laughing, people singing or whistling, bicycle bells, dogs barking from time to time, birds singing.

One of the main roads. Used for biking, trams, cars and walking. Alot of the time simultaneously! 

This is a narrow road. Only one train can pass at a time.

It blows my mind that cars drive on the same road!

Wide road. Two trams can pass.

We passed by a produce shop and couldn't resist the temptation of these beauties! :D They were the most strawberry strawberries I've ever had. Sweet and light, fresh and not dirty! I had no idea strawberries could taste so good. And that's saying something because strawberries are one of my favorite fruits! We also got a starfruit(!) from here that was light green, crisp and wonderful. It's hard to find these back home and even harder to find one so perfect. No picture of the starfruit though :( I should've gotten one!

Well, tomorrow is the last day here! I've got to upload the pictures! 

Going for a ride down a main street

We decided to rent bikes for a few days. It's been alot of fun and we've seen alot of stuff! It's hard to take pictures while riding so there will only be a few pictures from when we are actually stopped. Amsterdam is truly a beautiful city.

This is a street artist that we passed.  He works with  a wet on wet spray painting technique.

Some of the shots of the pretty drag here for you to see.  You can see from the first to the second picture that the building has sparkling lights.

The cars, bikes, buses and tram all use this road as you can see. There is a bike lane to the right of this picture.

This is a restaurant we stopped at. We liked the interior design. The light silver light fixture just to the top left of J's head is not quite right though, in my opinion.

Garlic bread with olives in  sauce as well as butter sauce on the side.

J's artfully plated steak.

My yummy pasta with mushroom sauce. Best I've ever, EVER had. I now like mushrooms quite a bit due to this plate.

Another teeny tiny car. This is the bike lane that I was telling you about a few pictures previous. As you can see, it's very separated from the main road.

After this, we rode to the grocery store and did some shopping. Here are our bikes all locked away with our groceries in tow. Just like the natives!

Our groceries are in the red bag on the back of J's bike!

My bike is the little one on the right!

Renting bikes is such a great idea. You see so much of the city and get some endorphins going while you're at it. Amsterdam is quite a flat city in comparison to any of the cities I've ever biked in. I didn't notice how easy I had it until I thought back on the day. We went all over, rode for hours. There was one street with the slightest incline that gave me the teeeeniest bit of trouble. And I still didn't break a sweat, which is saying alot because I sweat  pretty easily. The biking experience was wonderful! I highly recommend it in this city.

Ice Skating & Burgers

At the grocery store there are lots of salads. Tuna, chicken, potato. This is what chicken salads look like here. Sliced eggs, shredded carrots, baby onions and extra spices.

After grocery shopping, we went ice skating!

The seals are for tiny tots to sit on while someone else pushes them across the ice! Half the time they are used for this purpose. The rest of the time, they are just used as fun toys! There are also some upright penguins that are used as ice scooters. They are pretty cool. Similar to those razor scooters kids ride around on the streets.

Here are some examples of family bikes here. This one has a seat in the front and back. I like that the front seat has a windshield for the toddler. The foot holsters are nice too!

This is also fairly common. Up to 4 kids can sit in these front wagon things. I really like that they are convertible for rainy weather or sunny weather. This one is ready for the rain.

We find it interesting that all of the beverages we have ordered so far come in glass containers.

This is the way our apple juice was delivered. Very festive!

We ordered some burgers. J got goat cheese, caramelized apple with sweet sauce and I ordered pumpkin squash, portobello and gorgonzola. As anyone can see, from this post especially, but from previous food posts as well, there is plenty of wonderfully delicious food for vegetarians! (In case you didn't know, I am vegetarian. J isn't.)  We thought so highly of the burgers that we left them a beautiful picture saying they were the best!

Getting  picture of the cow artwork.

Saw this on the way home and couldn't pass without taking a picture for you guys. I can't get enough of the canals!