Last week I had October break, meaning 9 whole sweet days free of classes. During those 9 days, I travelled from Copenhagen–>Antwerp–>Brussels–>Paris–>Amsterdam.

To get to Antwerp, my friends and I took a 13 hour long bus ride, where we arrived at 6 AM and promptly collapsed at our hostel. Cost effective? Yes. Comfortable?  Not really.  I’m glad I tried out an overnight bus, but next time I would probably pay a bit extra for a flight. But since we slept on the bus, we didn’t have to pay for a night of accommodation. We stayed in Antwerp for two days.  It was a really nice city, but definitely a place we could’ve covered in a few hours then left, had we not already prepaid for two hostel nights.

We left early in the morning to take a short train ride to Brussels .  I was utterly obsessed with their waffles.

 

We saw the famous Peeing Boy fountain, which is extremely miniscule (even smaller than Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid). Afterward, we checked out this bar called Delirium, which serves over 3000 types of beer. Their menu was literally the size of a small novel. I don’t drink, but my beer connoisseur friends unanimously arrived to the conclusion that it was the best beer they’d ever had, so go check Delirium out the next time you’re in Belgium!

Our next stop was Paris. Wow I was so incredibly excited for Paris.  We had a few bumps ( that is kind of funny looking back) when we first arrived. Our hotel, Mister Bed City, which was located outside the city and took us awhile to get to, looked absolutely nothing like the pictures we had seen online. We decided it was too sketchy to stay (the name should’ve been our first warning), so we made arrangements for a hostel for our remaining nights. Also, do NOT buy the 2/3/4 day travel passes. It is a huge rip off and does not last for 48/72/96 hours like I thought (and am still slightly bitter about). It is cheaper to buy the packs of 10, and you can pass them on to other people if you don’t end up using all the tickets.

The Eifel tower was amazing! It lights up and sparkles on the hour, starting at 9 PM.  We took the elevator up to the highest floor and caught the sunset over the best view of Paris.

Of course, we paid a visit to the Louvre and I ran straight for the Mona Lisa. I used to be skeptical, but her eyes really do follow you! We also made a small day trip to Versailles to see the palace and the gardens.

Our next stop was a 6 hour bus ride to Utrecht. Again, we arrived at 6 am and we sat in the central station until things started to open around 8. We didn’t find much to do so we left for Amsterdam much earlier than planned.  The main reason we were going to Amsterdam was to attend the Amsterdam Music Festival ( AMF).

Amsterdam is really beautiful. It reminded me a lot of Copenhagen, but more touristy.

My waffle obsession followed me from Belgium ,and the Amsterdam waffles were just as good, if not even better.

We stayed at a cabin inside “bostel” camping grounds. We had to pay extra for heating, sheets, and toilet paper. It took us around 1.5 hours to reach the city center. The reason we picked this place was because prices for accommodation near the city was extremely expensive due to AMF. To quote my dad, “travelling is for enjoyment, Katarina”, but am I the only one who finds the sign inside our cabin hilarious?

I want to mention something that happened in Amsterdam that sounds really cheesy but has truly affected me. It was 3 AM the morning of AMF, and my friend and I were trying to make the 1.5 hour journey back to our cabin. We had purchased 72 hour travel passes that day, so we were not anticipating any problems. However, when we tried to get on the bus, the driver told us that our passes were not valid for night busses and that we could not get on the bus. We did not have cash to purchase a separate ticket from the driver and credit cards were not accepted.  Despite us explaining that we were tourists and we misunderstood the transit system, the driver and the one after that had no problem refusing to let us on. A random lady overheard us speaking to the bus drivers, and insisted on giving us the 10 euros to pay for the next bus. Although we were extremely grateful, we did not want to take her money and told her we would just walk. She refused to let us leave without the money, insisting that it was a gift from the bottom of her heart and that she knew what it was like to be in our position. She also would not let us take her contact information so that we could pay her back.  I don’t know how to properly explain it, but her act of kindness still leaves me incredibly touched, and inspired me to be equally selfless.

Amsterdam was my favorite part of the entire trip. I visited the Anne Frank museum, attended my first music festival, walked through my first Red Light District, and had the best waffles ever. Despite a great trip, after 9 days I was ready to go back home to my own bed. It still sounds weird to me, but Copenhagen is my home now.