Dublin...sweeeet!

Well we arrived in Dublin this morning after a solid 24hrs travelling by train through Belgium and then catching an early morning flight from Brussels to Dublin. A 30 min bus ride dropped us in downtown Dublin and we meandered our way to Isaac's hostel. This place is super cool with all the amenities, clean facilities and a very helpful staff. They set us up in a room right away that was available at 9am and we all crashed hard. We are up and at 'em now though and are doing our laundry. Catherine and I enjoyed a good meal at a cafe nearby while Sas and Scott chilled at the hostel. This city looks awesome and we can't wait to get exploring.

A little bit more about Holland and Belgium. Amsterdam is a beautiful city with a laid back atmosphere but totally nuts red light district. The place goes off basically every night and we stayed in a hotel at the heart of all the madness. The staff at the Old Quarter were quite helpful and the place was clean, biggest recommendation would be the food, it was badass! We tried the traditional Dutch dishes and were not dissappointed. Catherine, Scott and I followed a local recommendation to the sister pub, the Old Nickel, and Wilhelm served us cold beer and the cold shoulder...he warmed up when we told hime we were Canucks at 5am.

Well, I would like to say just this little bit about our day bike riding in Holland, it was the highlight so far. Yolande (mom) guided us to her parents old place in Haarlem, absolutely beautiful estate which is a heritage location now backing on to what was once the biggest forest in Holland. We were so happy to find it as the farm in Quebec is named after this home. ZOMERLUST (summer love). I say we were relieved to find it because we got turned around a few times with directions and addresses, but thanks to Yolande's perseverance (ie. willingness to even knock on local doors and interupt children's birthday parties) to get us sorted out we did achieve our goal. The whole bike ride was absolutely beautiful and capped off by biking through farmers fields and past cozy houses along rural canals. We probably did 40km and almost missed returning our bikes on time. This last task was a scene straight out of the amazing race with teams arriving back at the bike shop in 5 minute intervals, having only seconds to spare! What an awesome experience!

Before leaving Amsterdam we also visited my great grandparents home in the city and walked in the park my mother and uncle played in as children. Yol remembered affectionately her brother guy watching the draw bridge go up and down from the front window of this place.

When we left Amsterdam we travelled by train to the medieval trading city of Brugge in Belgium. While this place is definitely a tourist trap it is a must see. The city circa. 1200-1400 is unbelievably beautiful and immaculately preserved. Because the canal that was at the heart of the city's trade wealth silted over in the early 1500s the city was virtually abandoned over night leaving it in the same period as we see it today. Recommendation, eat, drink and stay just off the markt square, it is a little less touristy and much more polite.

From Brugge we trained in the evening to Ypres where my parenst would spend the night and go to Vimy while we made our way to Dublin. In Ypres we visited the Menin Gate, a WWI momument to the fallen soldiers with unmarked graves. We witnessed the sounding of The Last Post at 8pm, a moving ceremony which is done each night at 8pm. Regiments from all over appear each night and participate to help us all remember that they gave their today for our tommorrow. A quick dinner followed and then off to Dublin.

Here we are Dublin...woooot woooot!