It has been a busy couple of days. I got into Amsterdam on Sat. morning with no problems. Bright and early found the apartment aaron and his friend laurence were staying at. They dragged me around town for the whole day - lots of wandering plus the Rijksmuseum and the Anne Frank House (I finally went in!) I was dragging at the end of the day though. Next day we slept in and then rented bikes for the afternoon. We rode down the Amstel to Oberkirk taking in all the families out on the river for the weekend, windmills, and then having a drink at a small town pretty much shut down for Sunday.
Monday we got started late as Aaron and I tried to investigate a mysterious bus to the way out of town Weeze airport. We had a little luck but we werent positive. To get it off our minds, we all took the train to the Hague and wandered for a few hours. It had some interesting narrow streets and we entertained ourselves in the parks until dinner time. Back in Amsterdam we started to get a little worried just because we couldnt find anyone around the train station who knew there was a bus to Weeze. We found where BBS buses normally leave, and prepared to show up before midnight to catch the 12:30... Even though the website said the bus existed, and we had called the company earlier and they said it existed, we were getting fairly uneasy just because there were no signs and no one around had any clue that there was a connection to this airport!! So we show up a bit before midnight, and glory be there is a bus sitting there. We check and sure enough itàs the right one. With that we sat by the canal to relax before getting on what ended up being a completely empty except for us bus. It was actually a little creepy as it was a 3 hr bus ride to the middle of no where in the netherlands. We pulled up around 4am, and Weeze is literally in the middle of fields. It reminded me of the size of Purdues airport honestly. There were two other guys asleep on benches inside but the rest of the place was empty... The bus pulled away and we went to try to nap. People started coming in for work around 5am and the place slowly woke up. Did I mention our flight was at 7:50? Yeah, plenty of time to kill.
The rest of the trip went of without a hitch. We made it to our wonderful B&B (Home) which is about a 14 min walk from the Vatican out in a very residential area around 11am. Since then weàve been wearing ourselves out walking around Rome! It s just incredible and will require a post at a later time. Tomorrow we are catching a bus to the Tuscan town of Siena...
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Nassau, The Bahamas
So it's been ages since I posted, but I figure a trip to the Bahamas is worthy of at least a few paragraphs. First if you just want the overall trip summary: Nassau had some lovely beaches- I enjoyed the time in the sun and water- but it is definitely not my scene and I don't anticipate every going back.
Aaron and I got in Sunday afternoon and caught a cab to our hotel - Orange Hill Beach Inn. We chose this place because it seems as laid back as we were. It's fairly distant from downtown Nassau, small, and is family run. The Inn was definitely one of the best parts of our trip. The staff was extremely friendly/helpful and all the other guests (mostly older, some families) were there explicitly to relax and avoid the rest of Nassau. Outside our room, there was a nice covered porch witha view of the beach and ocean that we made use of when it started raining the second day we were there. After checking in, we wandered down the beach aways, looked at some maps and brochures about various snorkeling trips. Then we walked down the road to an outdoor type restuarant, Plantation Hill, and ate a great meal (with the best mojitos ever!!). After it got dark, we did the requisite walk along the beach, smoking a cuban cigar and drinking a local beer - not a bad start to a vacation!
Monday, we got up and caught a bus into Nassau. The city is an odd place - completely overrun with tourists, duty free liquor stores, and jewlery stores. As you can imagine, not our scene. We wandered for awhile, grabbed some food (expensive! but more on that later) and as it started sprinkling we started walking in the general direction of orange hill (12 miles away or so). We eventually caught a bus to Cable Beach which is one of the main resort areas between Nassau and orange hill, but as we got there it started POURING! We ran inside and passed some time in the casino watching old folks get drunk and loose money playing craps. The rain didn't let up though so we headed back to the hotel to attempt to relax. Neither of us are very good at it, but we tried admirably on this trip. Monday afternoon we both read and drank some of the incredibly cheap rum we bought. Dinner was just at the hotel followed by another evening walk and going to bed early to get up for our trip planned on Tuesday.
Tuesday we had arranged to go on an all day Powerboat Adventure. Our first plan - which was to go sailing, fell through since they predicted bad weather and we were the only ones signed up (we purposefully hit the low season before spring breaks and drunk 18 yr olds arrive). The powerboat thing ended up being our only option, but we got pumped since it would take us to some outer islands to snorkel and feed stingrays, iguanas, and sharks. Things did not start out well as somehow we managed to not be picked up. Fortunately, Aaron has some serious angry negotiating skills from his mother (and to be fair the tourist always has the upperhand in the bahamas - apparently a lesson taught at a seriously young age). So they held the boat and paid for a cab to get us there. We took off from paradise island (the resort/casino island just off Nassau) and spent an hour heading out to the Exumas on a powerboat! A gorgeous day, a fun ride, and our first stop was at an island crawling with iguanas. We walked to shore and they gave us grapes to put on sticks and feed the iguanas with. Nothing too crazy but it was still fun to get up close to the animals.
Back to the boat and we headed to Ship Channel Cay which this company has owned for about 15 years. It ends up being a private beach with a few structures on it (including the open bar that they highly touted on the travel brochure). After being encouraged to get a drink, we lined up on the beach to feed stingrays. Apparently they are well trained, and mostly show up for feeding time and take off when they've had enough of the humans. It was awesome to be able to touch them - slimy-er then you might think, and then feed them bits of raw fish - they suck it out of your hand as the pass over it.
Next, we got out fish, tied them to a long strong rope and started to feed sharks. They were mostly reef sharks, about 3-4 feet long. First they had us all get in the water with snorkels so we could really see them up close. Then, they backed us up and pulled them closer with the fish on a rope. Finally they had some of us take turns tossing the rope out and trying to reel them in as close to shore as possible. I was quickly picked for this (I got picked for a lot of things... not sure why - although I was possibly the youngest not a kid girl) Fighting the shark was AWESOME... plus mine really fought a lot, but I didn't let go. The videographer for the trip was ecstatic since I made for some really good footage (note - Aaron and I were still too cheap to pay $35 for the video).
After this, we were given snorkeling equipment, walked down the beach and jumped in the water. I haven't mentioned this before but it was really kindof chilly with the breeze blowing. The water wasn't exactly balmy but we swam out into the current. Then we just let it take us across a fairly decent reef to the other end of the island. I didn't anticipate seeing too much beyond the normal coral and pretty fish, but there was actually a 4 ft long nurse shark and as we passed over this field of seaweed, I looked to my left and saw what seemed to be another HUGE shark of some kind (in retrospect it was maybe 6-7 feet long?) Still, it just made me feel like I was on a discovery channel show. We also got to see some stingrays, about 4 ft in diameter, hanging out on the bottom of the ocean.
They fed us lunch, which wasn't fabulous, but tasted great after all the activity. Time for a little sitting in the sun, and then a quick hike around the island. To prove it's a small world there was a couple from indiana there. Maybe in their 40s, larger, we picked them out because the man was wearing a colts superbowl shirt. This became a hilarious stereotype as we talked to them at lunch ("Boston, huh? Must be different out there" and "Going on the nature walk? treehuggers!") Ah the middle.... So anyway, around 4 we got on the boat to head back to Nassau - they told us to bundle up and prepare for a wet ride. We could hear thunder and see rain in the distance so we took them seriously. 20 minutes into the ride, we saw maybe the most impressive looking cold front ever.... seriously - clear blue skies just ENDED at this line of incredibly deep, dark clouds. Making it a bit troubling was the fact that the crew seemed mildly worried - told us to buckle down... and then the captain put on a motorcycle helmet... We crossed the line and the air pressure and temperature changed dramatically. At first it wasn't too bad, but then the rain started. You couldn't see more then 7 feet from the side of the boat. Aaron and I had somehow managed to pick one of the drier sections to sit in and we were still soaked. They sent the kids inside the cabin. The rain ended up letting up after a bit (probably helped that we were still powering through at 35mph). It was still cold and damp, but in true traveler fashion I almost fell asleep at the end.
Off the boat they loaded us into buses to return us to respective hotels. Problem is - and this was definitely a surprise - at 5pm, Nassau has traffic as bad as NYC. It took almost 45 minutes just to get out of the city (note, it's not a large city) and it was 6:30 before we were back at orange hill. We freshened up and went on what was supposed to be our one fancy meal of the trip to a restuarant that had gotten good reviews down a couple of beaches. We sat outside, as they played the terrible music that apparently everyone likes in the bahamas, and ate some really great seafood (although my mashed potatoes were definitely from a box!! they probably don't know the difference there). By the time we got back to orange hill we were so tired and full we just collapsed.
Check out on Wednesday was at 11am and our flight was scheduled for 3, so we got our things gathered up and laid out by the pool to read in the best sun of the trip. Around 1 we checked on our flight to find it had been cancelled! Well, it is a tough life afterall so since orange hill couldn't guarantee a room, we headed to the airport to take care of things. JetBlue was great - we were rebooked on the Thursday flight in about 10 minutes, and then went about finding someplace to stay. I was a bit grumpy and angry at the whole spending more money thing (hey, i'm cheap), but luckily aaron isn't quite as crazy and made us look for a place. As soon as flights started getting canceled, hotels around cable beach and paradise island immediately started raising there prices and the first few we called were totally trying to gouge us. We found an okay price at the Nassau Beach hotel, and a great entertaining taxi driver drove us the back way through the million dollar houses. There had a great view of cable beach, and after settling in, went down with snacks and drinks to hang out and read.
This was part of Nassau that we'd been avoiding, but it was enteresting to see for a day. Our beach wasn't too crowded, but the only people there were 30-60 yr olds, most of them WASTED. The best part was when we heard this terrible music which seemed to get louder and louder. Then, off the beach we saw a boat which was just blasting Gloria Estefan and "I like big butts" as it turned the corner we noted that it was actually called "Booze n Cruise" HAHAHA.... As it docked some people stumbled off, and eventually wandered past us. The first few groups were relatively harmless, just stumbling. Then a woman and the two guys she was with were splashing around/laughing down the beach. Next thing you know, she's got her head between her knees and her husband and friend are just as drunk laughing at her. Good lord. I WILL NOT do anything like that when I'm that age. Another group comes by, the woman actually calls one of the bahamanians "girlfriend" and then the large male from the south loudly states "honey, it's a dog eat dog world out there, and I'm wearing milkbone underwear" At this point aaron and i were only pretending to read (so that the drunks wouldn't make eye contact and come talk to us) and trying valiently not to roll over laughing. Anyway, the drama died down quickly.
Wed night we got dressed up and made a reservation at one of the nicer hotel restaurants. It was incredibly busy (valentines day, i know, but it was an accident that we were in the bahamas for valentines day! we really aren't that ridiculous) Since we had awhile, we did another beach walk. The place was desserted as I can only assume everyone was in gambling. Dinner was great - wine, crabcakes, i had shrimp and tuna skewers and aaron had a surprisingly tasty steak. We were so lucky to be stuck on Wednesday - we had the most relaxing day of the whole trip!
Thursday was uneventful. Got to the airport on time, the flight was delayed about 2-3 hrs, but we made it back! At boston logan, we felt even more fortunate as the C terminal was PACKED with people. JetBlue had there snack trays out and everyone involved looked miserable.
So there you have it. I took a vacation! I figure it's one of my first independent ones, and in the end, I actually prefer taking trips. Relaxing is sometimes too much work.
Monday, we got up and caught a bus into Nassau. The city is an odd place - completely overrun with tourists, duty free liquor stores, and jewlery stores. As you can imagine, not our scene. We wandered for awhile, grabbed some food (expensive! but more on that later) and as it started sprinkling we started walking in the general direction of orange hill (12 miles away or so). We eventually caught a bus to Cable Beach which is one of the main resort areas between Nassau and orange hill, but as we got there it started POURING! We ran inside and passed some time in the casino watching old folks get drunk and loose money playing craps. The rain didn't let up though so we headed back to the hotel to attempt to relax. Neither of us are very good at it, but we tried admirably on this trip. Monday afternoon we both read and drank some of the incredibly cheap rum we bought. Dinner was just at the hotel followed by another evening walk and going to bed early to get up for our trip planned on Tuesday.
Tuesday we had arranged to go on an all day Powerboat Adventure. Our first plan - which was to go sailing, fell through since they predicted bad weather and we were the only ones signed up (we purposefully hit the low season before spring breaks and drunk 18 yr olds arrive). The powerboat thing ended up being our only option, but we got pumped since it would take us to some outer islands to snorkel and feed stingrays, iguanas, and sharks. Things did not start out well as somehow we managed to not be picked up. Fortunately, Aaron has some serious angry negotiating skills from his mother (and to be fair the tourist always has the upperhand in the bahamas - apparently a lesson taught at a seriously young age). So they held the boat and paid for a cab to get us there. We took off from paradise island (the resort/casino island just off Nassau) and spent an hour heading out to the Exumas on a powerboat! A gorgeous day, a fun ride, and our first stop was at an island crawling with iguanas. We walked to shore and they gave us grapes to put on sticks and feed the iguanas with. Nothing too crazy but it was still fun to get up close to the animals.
Back to the boat and we headed to Ship Channel Cay which this company has owned for about 15 years. It ends up being a private beach with a few structures on it (including the open bar that they highly touted on the travel brochure). After being encouraged to get a drink, we lined up on the beach to feed stingrays. Apparently they are well trained, and mostly show up for feeding time and take off when they've had enough of the humans. It was awesome to be able to touch them - slimy-er then you might think, and then feed them bits of raw fish - they suck it out of your hand as the pass over it.
Next, we got out fish, tied them to a long strong rope and started to feed sharks. They were mostly reef sharks, about 3-4 feet long. First they had us all get in the water with snorkels so we could really see them up close. Then, they backed us up and pulled them closer with the fish on a rope. Finally they had some of us take turns tossing the rope out and trying to reel them in as close to shore as possible. I was quickly picked for this (I got picked for a lot of things... not sure why - although I was possibly the youngest not a kid girl) Fighting the shark was AWESOME... plus mine really fought a lot, but I didn't let go. The videographer for the trip was ecstatic since I made for some really good footage (note - Aaron and I were still too cheap to pay $35 for the video).
After this, we were given snorkeling equipment, walked down the beach and jumped in the water. I haven't mentioned this before but it was really kindof chilly with the breeze blowing. The water wasn't exactly balmy but we swam out into the current. Then we just let it take us across a fairly decent reef to the other end of the island. I didn't anticipate seeing too much beyond the normal coral and pretty fish, but there was actually a 4 ft long nurse shark and as we passed over this field of seaweed, I looked to my left and saw what seemed to be another HUGE shark of some kind (in retrospect it was maybe 6-7 feet long?) Still, it just made me feel like I was on a discovery channel show. We also got to see some stingrays, about 4 ft in diameter, hanging out on the bottom of the ocean.
They fed us lunch, which wasn't fabulous, but tasted great after all the activity. Time for a little sitting in the sun, and then a quick hike around the island. To prove it's a small world there was a couple from indiana there. Maybe in their 40s, larger, we picked them out because the man was wearing a colts superbowl shirt. This became a hilarious stereotype as we talked to them at lunch ("Boston, huh? Must be different out there" and "Going on the nature walk? treehuggers!") Ah the middle.... So anyway, around 4 we got on the boat to head back to Nassau - they told us to bundle up and prepare for a wet ride. We could hear thunder and see rain in the distance so we took them seriously. 20 minutes into the ride, we saw maybe the most impressive looking cold front ever.... seriously - clear blue skies just ENDED at this line of incredibly deep, dark clouds. Making it a bit troubling was the fact that the crew seemed mildly worried - told us to buckle down... and then the captain put on a motorcycle helmet... We crossed the line and the air pressure and temperature changed dramatically. At first it wasn't too bad, but then the rain started. You couldn't see more then 7 feet from the side of the boat. Aaron and I had somehow managed to pick one of the drier sections to sit in and we were still soaked. They sent the kids inside the cabin. The rain ended up letting up after a bit (probably helped that we were still powering through at 35mph). It was still cold and damp, but in true traveler fashion I almost fell asleep at the end.
Off the boat they loaded us into buses to return us to respective hotels. Problem is - and this was definitely a surprise - at 5pm, Nassau has traffic as bad as NYC. It took almost 45 minutes just to get out of the city (note, it's not a large city) and it was 6:30 before we were back at orange hill. We freshened up and went on what was supposed to be our one fancy meal of the trip to a restuarant that had gotten good reviews down a couple of beaches. We sat outside, as they played the terrible music that apparently everyone likes in the bahamas, and ate some really great seafood (although my mashed potatoes were definitely from a box!! they probably don't know the difference there). By the time we got back to orange hill we were so tired and full we just collapsed.
Check out on Wednesday was at 11am and our flight was scheduled for 3, so we got our things gathered up and laid out by the pool to read in the best sun of the trip. Around 1 we checked on our flight to find it had been cancelled! Well, it is a tough life afterall so since orange hill couldn't guarantee a room, we headed to the airport to take care of things. JetBlue was great - we were rebooked on the Thursday flight in about 10 minutes, and then went about finding someplace to stay. I was a bit grumpy and angry at the whole spending more money thing (hey, i'm cheap), but luckily aaron isn't quite as crazy and made us look for a place. As soon as flights started getting canceled, hotels around cable beach and paradise island immediately started raising there prices and the first few we called were totally trying to gouge us. We found an okay price at the Nassau Beach hotel, and a great entertaining taxi driver drove us the back way through the million dollar houses. There had a great view of cable beach, and after settling in, went down with snacks and drinks to hang out and read.
This was part of Nassau that we'd been avoiding, but it was enteresting to see for a day. Our beach wasn't too crowded, but the only people there were 30-60 yr olds, most of them WASTED. The best part was when we heard this terrible music which seemed to get louder and louder. Then, off the beach we saw a boat which was just blasting Gloria Estefan and "I like big butts" as it turned the corner we noted that it was actually called "Booze n Cruise" HAHAHA.... As it docked some people stumbled off, and eventually wandered past us. The first few groups were relatively harmless, just stumbling. Then a woman and the two guys she was with were splashing around/laughing down the beach. Next thing you know, she's got her head between her knees and her husband and friend are just as drunk laughing at her. Good lord. I WILL NOT do anything like that when I'm that age. Another group comes by, the woman actually calls one of the bahamanians "girlfriend" and then the large male from the south loudly states "honey, it's a dog eat dog world out there, and I'm wearing milkbone underwear" At this point aaron and i were only pretending to read (so that the drunks wouldn't make eye contact and come talk to us) and trying valiently not to roll over laughing. Anyway, the drama died down quickly.
Wed night we got dressed up and made a reservation at one of the nicer hotel restaurants. It was incredibly busy (valentines day, i know, but it was an accident that we were in the bahamas for valentines day! we really aren't that ridiculous) Since we had awhile, we did another beach walk. The place was desserted as I can only assume everyone was in gambling. Dinner was great - wine, crabcakes, i had shrimp and tuna skewers and aaron had a surprisingly tasty steak. We were so lucky to be stuck on Wednesday - we had the most relaxing day of the whole trip!
Thursday was uneventful. Got to the airport on time, the flight was delayed about 2-3 hrs, but we made it back! At boston logan, we felt even more fortunate as the C terminal was PACKED with people. JetBlue had there snack trays out and everyone involved looked miserable.
So there you have it. I took a vacation! I figure it's one of my first independent ones, and in the end, I actually prefer taking trips. Relaxing is sometimes too much work.
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