The weekend of March 26-27 I went on an adventure to Brussels, Belgium!
So I caught a train the night of March 25 and headed to Brussels on my own. I got checked into my hotel and stayed in for the night. The next morning I got up and went into the city center. I wandered around for a bit. I found amazing Belgian Waffle stands so I had an honest to goodness Belgian Waffle in Belgium for breakfast. I continued into the city center to see all the cool buildings. After a while I found this open top bus tour that went to all the big sites so I decided to do the hop on hop off tour. I was able to see everything in the area, hear details about them and take pictures. I saw the Atomium, the royal palace, the Belgian Arc de Triumph, Mannequin Pis, the tomb of the unknown soldiers, and many others. Something cool was that Mannequin Pis was dressed up for the first day I was in Brussels which they do for special occasions/holidays but I don't know what the occasion was.
The next day I went back to a few of the places I wanted a closer look at. I also went into the shops around the main square... Belgian Chocolate and Belgian Lace. It was a lot of fun to eat good food and have an adventure in a country where I understood the language! I went to the train station to catch my late afternoon train to only find out that they had cancelled all international trains. I met a girl at the train station who was also supposed to be on my train and we talked to the people at the station about where to go to catch an alternative. They sent us to another station where there were hundreds of people waiting for busses out of the country. We had to wait for about 2 hours before the busses finally got there and thankfully they took us all the way to Koln where I was able to catch a train back to Bonn. All together it has been my favorite European solo trip!
The weekend of April 1-3 I went to Amsterdam, Holland!
Thursday night I found out that I could have a long weekend so I stayed up late booking trains, a hostel, and a tour. I left early Friday morning to Amsterdam. There was more train drama on this trip too but I am getting used to it and learning to expect some sort of train difficulty. I made it to Amsterdam in the late afternoon. When I got into town I went straight to the tourism office so that I could find out more about transportation and how to get to my hostel. I got a 28 hour all inclusive train pass and directions. I headed over to my hostel to get checked in. It was my first experience in a hostel and I made sure to request an all girls room. There were 3 other girls in the room with me that were traveling together from Germany. After I got settled I went out and about just in the area of the hostel and made sure I knew where to get my tour in the morning. I turned in early because I had a tour that left at 9 am.
The next morning I went to the tour pick up spot where I was going to the Keukenof tulip gardens. During the bus ride out to the gardens we went through Harlem which I would love to go back to! We also got to see some of the tulip fields covered in plastic to keep the bulbs warm, and some daffodil and crocus fields in bloom. There was one field that they were decapitating the flowers to preserve the bulbs. Apparently I was 2 weeks early to see all the tulip fields in bloom but the gardens were gorgeous. It was also cool because there were some families who were wearing traditional Netherlands attire visiting the park. After that tour I went back to the hostel and took a nap for a bit. Then I went out to find a canal cruise and went on an evening cruise that started just before sunset so it was an awesome couple hours. I even got a sneak peak at the red light district without being scarred for life. The canals were absolutely beautiful and our guide had lots of cool details for us.
The next morning I checked out of the hostel and went to see a diamond factory where I got a personal tour. Then I headed over to the Anne Frank House and did that tour as well. After the Anne Frank tour I went to a cafe that my canal cruise guide had pointed out and I had the best apple tart in the world! Then it was time for me to head back home... no train trouble on the way back thank goodness! I had so much fun in Amsterdam with all of my last minute tours... though I was always the youngest person on any of the tours because I was not in Amsterdam for the classic 21 year old reasons ;)
The week of April 16-23 the family and I went to Carinthia, Austria!
So the original plan was that we were going to Switzerland with another family to go skiing. However because Easter was so late this year there was not enough snow at any of the Swiss resorts. So the week before we left Patrick, Koko, Hannah and Dave talked about alternatives... they ranged from Barcelona to The Netherlands.
The night before we left they settled on Carinthia, Austria. We rented a car and spent the next morning packing up for a 10 hour drive. We got to our hotel around midnight. The hotel we stayed at was really cool and kid friendly. There was a water fountain playground in the front as well as a fun trampoline. There was a full on rope climbing pyramid playground in the back. There was also a room with racetracks and virtual floor games. Some nights the adults would meet up after the kids were asleep and we would all spend a few hours playing Wii or watching a movie. Sunday morning we all met at breakfast and started planning our week.
The first day we were there we went to a castle and also to a reptile zoo. The castle was really cool because all the security gates were still in tact. Then there was a museum up in the actual fort showing different armor and all that jazz. The view from the top was pretty amazing. After the Castle we went to a reptile zoo it was pretty neat because they had a giant chameleon, an alligator, 3 crocodiles, 2 galapagos tortoises, etc. We actually got to touch the galapagos tortoises and I got to have a snake around my neck. Then we headed back to the town we were staying in to a restaurant that we ate dinner at every night.
Monday we went to the ropes course playground place that was really fun. Patrick, Koko, and Dave rode their bikes that morning and met up with Hannah, the kids and I at the ropes playground. There were all sort of obstacle courses and a giant bouncy ball trampoline. There were giant mettle slides and bridges up in the treetops.
Tuesday we went to a monkey mountain. We went to this mountain where we had to do a minor hike up to a monkey zoo. It was a place that kept a community of Japanese Snow monkeys. When you went in there were railings but no fences. The monkeys were just wandering all around you and had no problem approaching people. We had a guide who was giving details about the monkeys but he was speaking german so I got the Cliff Notes version from Koko, Patrick and the boys. At one point the guide was showing us the puzzles that the monkeys solve to get apples when I felt someone tugging on my pant leg. I looked down thinking that it was going to be one of the kids but found that it was a MONKEY! It scarred me to death. While we were there a monkey grabbed Finni's arm and another tried to steal the water bottles from Hannah's backpack. After the tour we went up to another castle a little further up the mountain but it was closed.
Wednesday we went biking around a lake. We biked about 16 km with the kids around this beautiful lake and stopped only a few times. We stopped next to a bridge for our packed lunch then again when we found a beach for us all to play at. Austria is a truely beautiful country!
Thursday we relaxed and visited a different lake. We hadn't had enough time at the lake on Wednesday so Thursday we went and found another lake to play at. Patrick and Dave went swimming in freezing cold water. I hadn't thought to bring my swimming suit otherwise I would have been right there with them. Finni was climbing around on the dock just trying to get his feet wet but accidently fell all the way in!
Friday I stayed and relaxed at the hotel. Friday I decided to play hookie from the family activities and wandered around the town we were at. There wasn't a whole lot to see in walking distance to I got to spend a lot of the day just reading my kindle so it was very relaxing while everyone else went on another substantial bike ride.
Saturday we went to some caves and started our drive back. On our last day we went to this cave that I can't remember the name of but it had stalagtites and stalagmites. It was really sad because I am so used to Mt. Timpanogos where the caves are so well preserved. This cave that we went to had been a mine before and they had destroyed a lot of the rock formations. It was interesting also because they had installed a sound system, interesting lights, and movie projectors so I was not overly impressed... though we from Utah are spoiled like that. After the cave tour we started our trek back to Bonn, we got home around 3 in the morning.
The weekend of May 12-18 I visited Home!
Last week I got to spend some days at home in Utah for Natalie's wedding! It was so much fun to have time with my family in 3D. I left here on Thursday at 6 am and landed in Utah at 4 pm. Natalie, Tyler, Mom and Aunt Mary Ann picked me up at the airport. Then we headed home for the in-law BBQ that night at our house. After the BBQ, my family, some of Natalie's friends and some of Tyler's passe all went to a movie. We went to see "Something Borrowed" though because I had been up for 24 hours at that point I only made it through the first 10 minutes of the movie and fell asleep on Natalie, who ended up falling asleep on Tyler so it was a chain of shoulder sleepers. After the movie we went to breakfast at the Belgian Waffle House and Mat (Tyler's best man) and I (Natalie's maid of honor) proceeded to do the traditional toasts by throwing toast at the happy couple! Thank goodness we all went home and got some sleep after that.
Friday was the wedding day so we started off the day by going to the hair stylist to get mom and Natalie's hair done and I ran over to get my macbook looked at in the mean time. After Natalie's hair was done we went over to Cafe Rio to get me some much anticipated salad. We made it home and started getting things organized to take over to the reception center and getting ready ourselves. We got over to the wedding venue and I had so much fun bonding with Natalie while she got ready, did the rehearsal, and hid upstairs until the actual ceremony. We got to spend some much needed sister time hanging out in the bridal room. The ceremony was beautiful, everything went perfectly even with a little comic relief by the ring bearer and flower girl. After the ceremony we took so many pictures then all the guest started arriving and it was my job to keep Natalie hydrated and fed. It was so nice to see extended family especially since I haven't been home in about a year. I really enjoyed catching up with everyone!!! The reception was really nice and pretty chill. I caught the bouquet so that was a lot of fun. After Natalie and Tyler left I helped mom, dad and Mary Ann get all the gifts and left over food back to the house.
Saturday morning I got to go shopping with my mommy and that was a lot of fun! Then Kiran got into town so she came over to hang out... the thing was neither of us had a car so we felt like we were 15 again wondering what we could do then asked my parents for a ride to Starbucks, got frapaccinos during happy hour then walked back home. That night I went to dinner with my friend Todd who I hadn't seen in 3 years and we got to catch up which was awesome! We both had a lot of stories of our adventures and I was glad that we were still in a great friendship spot even after such a long time.
Sunday morning I went to my sorority sister's homecoming then went to church with my family. After church Kiran came over to hang out some when Natalie and Tyler got back from their weekend in Park City.
After I went to the dentist Monday morning... Monday was National Brooke Day!!! Daddy took off work and so mom, dad and I went up to wander around Park City for the day. When we got back dad was able to get Logan and I into a sneak preview of the Pirates movie. After the Pirates movie I had made plans to meet up with my 3 best Utah girl friends and we went to see Thor. It was really fun to catch up with them!
Tuesday was my last day in Utah so we took Mary Ann to the dentist in the morning then went home and mom taught me how to make bagels before I had to go to the airport. Then they took me to the airport and I started my journey back and arrived home around 4pm Wednesday.
So those are my adventures from the last while. There are pictures on facebook but I can't get them to load to my blog at the moment. (and there are just too many) Things here are pretty normal there hasn't been anything really overwhelmingly exciting as of late. But ya... Next month is going to be crazy busy because MONIKA is coming over to visit me!!! and we have lots of adventures planned! So hopefully... no promises... I will be a bit better at keeping this updated.
