After a little over a week or solitude in my flat, I was paid a visit by my parents - my mom's first trip to England in something like thirty years and my dad's first ever. I almost didn't have a chance to print off my bus ticket to London to meet them, considering everything was closed on 12/23, but some kind folks at a pub I frequent let me use their printer as a last resort and I met up with the folks on the morning of Christmas Eve.
We all celebrated seeing each other for the first time in months at a pub - the first of many over the course of what would be a long and excellent visit.Spent the day checking into the hotel, napping (they had just taken a seven hour flight and I had to be up at 5 to catch my bus) and wandering around London, taking in the sights. We had dinner in another pub then headed over to Westminster which was about as dead as you'll ever see it, being Christmas Eve, and everything was closed or closing. Still pretty though, as you can see.
Christmas Day broke rainy and the area around Victoria Station was equally dead. We slept in, exchanged gifts (some hiking gear from my parents, a Keith Jarrett CD from my friend Charlie, a leather desk note pad thing from Florence to my parents from me and a sapphire necklace to mom from dad) and basically relaxed all day. Not much was open, but I remembered the Christmas lights being gorgeous on Old Bond Street from my last visit earlier in the month so I had the three of us walk over that way to check out the displays in the ridiculously overpriced stores and the decorations.
Obviously everything was boarded up for the holidays, but we found a bar where we could warm up and hang out and ended up sitting around there and laughing until they closed, then came back and went to bed. All in all a memorable and relaxing Christmas Day.
We had three more days in London and things slowly began opening again, most importantly the Tube, so I had a chance to do all the touristy stuff that is too expensive for me to do on my frequent visits to the city.
The London Eye in particular was a highlight. We also checked out the Tower of London (mom wanted to see the Crown Jewels) and capped the whole trip off by seeing Wicked - check it out if you haven't, it was spectacular. Even my dad enjoyed it!So that was London. One of my favorite cities in the world and now it's one of my parents
favorites as well, so mission accomplished. We left via Heathrow on the 29th for The Netherlands and made it to Den Helder that night for a day and two nights of relaxation. We were picked up at the train station by the father of a family friend whose summer house we were staying in - a rather boisterous and eccentric old man who took to us...mom especially...immediately. More laughs and drinks with them before we bedded down for the night.
We didn't do much on the 30th - we barely even ate, which is an extreme rarity for us. Around sunset we walked about a mile over the nearby dyke to checkout sunset over the North Sea which was worth the walk.
We didn't get into Amsterdam the next day until late in the afternoon and made it to the Anne Frank house JUST as it was closing up for the next few days so no culture for us. Instead we bought some champagne and cheese, headed back to the hotel and got started on NYE a little early. The scene in Amsterdam was unreal - it sounded like I imagine a warzone would soundlike, just people yelling and screaming over the constant din of the popping firecrackers, smoke and light everywhere and huge crowds. The whole experience was at once overwhelming and chaotic while not once becoming worrisome or too much. Just plain fun. Delicious pastries at every corner too, which (quite literally) made the experience even sweeter. Amusingly enough, after a few Heinekens we ended up missing the official fireworks display in Dam Square, but we still had our fair taste of pyrotechnics, including a display directly at my mom's feet which sent her scuttling for safety in a hurry.
So that was New Year's Eve in Amsterdam. The next day we took in the sights, at some Thai food and took a boat cruise to see the city via its many canals. Day after we parted ways and I met my girlfriend at Heathrow for a four day visit which was excellent, being the first time we had seen each other since early September. All in all, it was an amazing two weeks and a nice break from being completely alone in my flat. Everyone is back now and I start classes back up next week, thank goodness - all this idle time is driving me nuts. Next on the agenda: Ireland to visit the girl. Before that, hopefully I'll be taking a trip up to London to visit a high school friend who is studying there - I also have friends studying in Dublin and Copenhagen from HS, so I should get a decent amount of traveling done this term, if I stumble across some money somehow. Until next time, I leave you with a parting shot:
(sunset over Amsterdam's canals on 1/1/08)
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