The Long and Winding Road

The last few days have been full of fun and surprises. On September 9th Michael and I boarded our last long train ride, a 7 hour adventure from Berlin to Amsterdam, with a 20 minute stop in Amersfoort, which I assume is in The Netherlands. This was my second time in Amsterdam, because as you recall, I spent 6 days there way back when in June. We stayed in an area I had not visited, so that was kind of fun, and we ran into my sister and her boyfriend! They hadn't intended to still be there, but Monica was suffering from a swollen face infection and remained in the city because of her connections to a doctor she found while there. Though the disease distorted her appearance (only slightly), her personality was unchanged so we enjoyed a dinner at the Burger Bar while avoiding faux-hippies, "too cool for school" jocks, and stoned guitarists who fell a bit too in love with Amsterdam's unique culture.

We stayed 2 nights in Amsterdam, making sure Michael got the full tour of the Red Light District. On September 11th we headed to Bruges, Belgium, a location both of us have been looking forward to ever since we planned to go to Europe. Bruges was the location for a movie Michael and I liked, called "In Bruges." My dad took me to see it last year and then I showed it to everyone, and I consider it one of my favorites. Because of this we were extremely excited to go there and take pictures of all the places that were featured in the movie. And guess who we saw there? Monica and Christian! They decided to stay there an extra night and surprised us in the lobby of our hostel, since they knew where we were staying and Bruges is a small town. We went to one of the bars that was in the movie, and today we climbed the big belfry tower that is in the movie so many times. Right when we got to the top of all 366 stairs the bells began ringing. It was glorious. We had an almost perfect 360 degree view of the city untouched by world wars, and it was a perfect way to end the "backpacking through Europe" portion of my summer.

Now I am lying in my bed in Brussels, waiting for my 8 am train ride to London where I will meet my grandma. In 5 days I will fly back to the United States of America, and in 8 days I will move into my new apartment in Davis. In 11 days I begin my Junior year of college (although professors have scheduled a walkout to protest school funding or something, so we will see). Oh and in 2 days I turn 20 and I am no longer a teenager. How weird is that? I would like to stay a teenager. 19 has been good to me. But I guess it cannot be avoided.

Tomorrow is my last non-metro train ride for a long time. This year you may find me on the Amtrak to Berkeley or Santa Cruz just to reminisce about traveling through Europe. I will surely miss my trains and the time I got to spend staring out the windows into foreign countrysides, pondering whatever popped into my head at the moment.