My love for travel has up to now been a source of inspiration and excitement, and don´t get me wrong--I love it. But this trip, going alone, I may have learned what my limits are in the form of transportation. It all started with a simple flight from Seville to Frankfurt, Germany...then an eight-hour bus to Amsterdam, followed by a boat across the river to finally make it to my hostel (and yes, there´s lots of rivers in Amsterdam). Despite being exhausted at no one's fault but my own, the hostel revitalized my mood because it was SO COOL.
Life-size board games, bars, cider pong and an amazing location were all I needed--besides the slight scare of the mid-afternoon fire alarm. I settled in and on my first day, set out to see the city before I left the literal next day to get back to Frankfurt.
I started with a classic Dutch breakfast (nothing crazy) of bread, eggs ham and cheese...starting to think everyone eats this for breakfast these days. I set out to take in the city and got to see beautiful plazas, churches, and streets parted by waterways through almost every avenue. And bikes--lots and lots of bikes. I made the umcofortable step of making strangers take my photo, and am thankful for that.
The highlight of the trip was visiting the Anne Frank House, where she hid for years during WWII...the literal place she was at and the walls she saw as she wondered about tomorrow. Though no photos were allowed for most of it, it was incredibly powerful and goosebump-inducing to be around the place that held her with such bravery. I highly recommend checking it out to anyone, it was a trip or year highlight for me.
I later strolled through the Redlight district and even stopped by one of Amsterdam's infamous cafes and purchased a baked item (I'll let you connect the dots on that one) and found a frites place that gave you fries in a cone with sauce on top, as recommended by my mother.
The next day, I ferried to the train station and started the equally-long trek back to Frankfurt (I know I am the only one crazy enough to make the trek for Amsterdam, but time is a gift!). Naturally, I got off one train stop too early and got to explore (aka sprint and stress) through Dusseldorf, a town I thought was from the movies. As charming as it was, I went into light speed working to find a new ticket, which they gave me free thankfully.
By the time the sun set, I was in Frankfurt for my last night--scarce on daylight, but still plenty to do. I started by hunting down my favorite souvenir--postcards! As it was late, I had to settle for holographic ones, along with two candy bars for credit card minimums...but by golly, I had them!
I walked around and stopped for dinner at the Paulaner restaurant, a popular brewer of beer I see often in Spain. I had a German meatloaf with egg and potatoes and a cider disguised by a beer mug to fit in. I then rushed to pull up an article of everything to see and giddied up around the city.
From the Römerberg Plaza to the Hauptwache architecture to the beautiful Old Opera Haus, I made sure to check off my list and wander around the highly-developed city, complete with skyscrapers.
As I departed for the airport (which I might add is actually 2 hours from downtown... thanks Ryanair), I could only find a bus before my flight that was 8 hours before...so I embraced the long layover, waited patiently for the McDonalds to open (as it was a tiny airport) and caught up on my shows. For as much transport as this trip required, I set out to see as much as I could while abroad and it was worth every second...even sleeping on the airport floor...and the bus floor...
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