Warm Weather - FINALLY
It's not a secret that I hate cold weather. Sure, I have a higher tolerance for low temperatures because up in the mountains of British Columbia we get really cold, long-ass winters. The reason why this winter was so particularly infuriating is because Offenburg sits in a sort of valley, and while most of the time it's weather is pretty mild, in the winter time you get this sort of half-assed winter that is having an identity crisis. So basically, cold - but not cold enough to wear a fluffy winter jacket otherwise it's too much, grey - like the entire city is a silent film, and wet - either a tiny amount of snow that is not enough to be pretty, or freezing rain. I'd honestly rather have full-on Canadian winter where I can snowmobile to work, or the exact opposite and have Australian winter.
It's finally settled around here to a pleasant 18 degrees, which means no more jackets/sweaters, and replacing my boots with sandals. Goodbye socks, you are suffocating and I hate you.
Amsterdam Round Two, Cologne and Zandvoort.
My husband's friend was staying with us this past month, and obviously she wanted to see everything there was about Europe, which OBVIOUSLY meant she wanted to go to Amsterdam. I didn't mind, I love Amsterdam, and seeing it for the second time was slightly different from my first experience, this time I was desensitized more or less to the 'newness' of the city and was able to pick out more things that I liked specifically, like watching a disney movie for the second time. (An R rated disney movie.)
So we checked out the red light district, browsed some shops, the usual, and because the weather was so darn nice, we had a little picnic/nap in Vondelpark.
I always find that I'm a little stressed out about capturing every single exciting thing in a new city on camera, this time around I was able to just kind of chill out and explore the city, which is why I only took photos on my phone.
This time around we stayed in Hotel Crystal, which was a small step up from a hostel. We weren't aiming for anything fancy, just somewhere cheap, but I probably won't stay here next time around. Lloyd was far better for the reduced pricing, but it still wasn't that bad. If you have an old European grandmother who hasn't updated her house since the 50's, you've already stayed here.
On the way back we stopped in Cologne, which is home to one of the coolest/most terrifying structures I've ever seen in my life, the Cologne Cathedral. I love to visit this place, not just because it's only about 3 hours from my house but because the story of how the cathedral stood strong while the rest of Cologne was bombed to rubble is one of my favorites. Its resilience is frightening, and it was jut the cherry on top that they were playing loud ominous music on the pipe organ when I went in.
My favorite part of the trip? While it wasn't as warm in the Netherlands as it was back home, it was beautiful, and about a half hour or so away from Amsterdam is Zandvoort, home to the Zandvoort Circuit Track and Zuid-Kennemerland National Park, which we drove through to get to this magnificent place:
Just me taking a selfie with the North Sea. I hadn't seen the ocean in a full year, and I didn't know just how much I missed it until I got to smell the salty air again. Sure, it wasn't my beloved pacific north-west but it was just as satisfying. The murky water and rigorous waves breaking at the shore gave this particular sea a very distinct personality, like the shoreline is furrowing it's brow at me. Call me a weirdo for personifying bodies of water but this ocean is a motherfucking Norse King.
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