Traveling Soul

When I saw the huge cross on top of the Alps that symbolized our accomplishments of making it, I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that I would never see it. Drenched in sweat and out of breath, the view on the Alps was truly breathtaking. In the distance, you could see the top of nearby mountains and down (down) below was the beautiful tiny town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Three guys had reached the top before us and not long after was a middle aged couple. We ate our packed sandwiches and store bought smoothies and as badly as we wanted to rest and stay up there, we had to rush because we were on a time limit. Florent had to be at his bus station at 6:40 which meant that we needed to leave the hike by 3 depending on traffic. The steep incline up was a battle against gravity on the way down, but asides from the minor falls, no one was terribly hurt. Halfway through we reached the restaurant, meaning that we had survived past the worst of it. Along the Alps, but mostly ...

Amsterdam was such a whirlwind of movements and sounds and I absolutely loved all of it. Over 100 canals ran through this busy beautiful city, one of them being the Canal Belt considered on the list of UNESCO's World Heritage site. The first thing that you see when you get to Amsterdam is the endless rows of bikes so of course we had to do what the locals did and we rented bikes for the whole day. Not only did Amsterdam have a big separate street for bikers, but they also had a huge sidewalk for pedestrians, a tram that ran through the main roads, the public bus system, and regular streets for drivers. At first it felt crazy with all of the honking, the yelling, and the talking, but eventually, you get comfortable with the different twists and turns of the lanes. Your bike bell indicates that someone is trying to pass you (mine was broken) and if a motorcycle/moped or those tiny little cars were behind you on a bike, you better move out of the way because they are running over...