Going through the wormhole

Well, Poojaland now has a new home on WordPress. I'd been thinking about making the switch for some time now, due to WP's more varied features, functions, etc., but only finally got around to opening an account and transferring over my Blogger posts just this weekend. So ... welcome! Again! Oh, and if you're one of my real-life friends and hit the "password-protected" speed bump on one of my posts, just shoot me an e-mail and I'll hook you up.

Head on through the wormhole with me...http://poojaland.wordpress.com.

My name is Pooja, and I'm addicted to socks

I love socks. I don't know if it's the germophobe in me or what, but except for those handful of super-warm Seattle summer days, you'll find me in socks, both inside and outside of my home. I think it also has to do with my love of being cozy and comfortable, which usually equals wearing layers on my upper half (I wear tank tops nearly year-round), lots of fleece around the house and jeans and T-shirts. I even sleep with socks on, though on warmer nights, I'll pull off the socks after a little bit (I should note that I don't ever have the heat on in my bedroom, except for a few minutes right before bed during the fall and winter). My current favorite type of sock is a knee-high sock by SmartWool. I have several pairs of hiking socks by them, but I've recently also picked up some more casual/trendy pairs. I even got a pair of snowboarding socks by them in advance of my trip last November, and wore them quite often during my travels. They're great worn inside boots!

This whole sock thing came into my mind because yesterday, I wore some high-top Converse boots with knee-high socks, and then realized once I got to the gym and started changing that I'd forgotten to pack gym socks -- oops! I was tempted to make a fashion statement and wear my knee-highs anyway (see picture, which I took after I got home; and yes, I don't really have any calf muscles!!), but in the end, I just went commando. That set up wasn't very comfortable right off, and was even less comfortable 15 minutes into my 40-minute turn on the elliptical, but I usually wear "no-show" socks to the gym, so I at least didn't feel self-conscious about being obviously sock-less.

I was a bit late finishing up my work out, so I didn't have time to put my socks back on before I headed out of the gym to the bus stop. Soon as I got to the bus stop and found out via my OneBusAway iPhone app that I still had some 10 minutes before the bus arrived, I immediately pulled off my shoes, let my feet air out for a minute and pulled my socks back on (oh, and I was alone at said bus stop..). Call me weird, but putting on socks is one of my favorite things to do! So I nearly sighed out loud in relief when I put my feet back into my tennis shoes, with the socks on. Ahh!

Feb. 14...why does that date ring a bell?!

Another year, another Valentine's Day ... I must admit that one of these years, I'd like to actually do something with a boy on the occasion, cheesy as said occasion is!! Alas, none of my various short-lived "relationships" have occurred during that time of year. So instead, the day is an annual excuse to round up some single gals and hit the town. This year, the lucky two ladies were Kristen and her friend ML, whom I'd never met. We decided to check out one of Tom Douglas' (most well-known local chef/restaurateur) restaurants, Palace Kitchen. While we were waiting in the lobby, Douglas himself came out to greet some folks he knew at a table right next to us. That's a pretty big celeb sighting in Seattle!

Our dinner, while a bit pricey, was definitely worth the splurge. And we of course followed it with a slice of coconut-cream pie, which is AMAZING, and I believe served at all of T.D.'s restaurants (I think he has five here in town). We'd been intending to head to a bar for some socializing after dinner, but we all three got along so well (yes, we mostly talked about boys!) that when we finally took a second to do a time check, we were shocked to discover it was 11:15 p.m. -- we'd met at the restaurant at 7:30! On top of that, ML had been up since 5:30 for work, it was pouring rain, and the main drag of downtown Seattle with the good bars was enough blocks away that we'd have had to cab there and back or deal with finding parking over there (always tough on a Saturday night). So we all parted ways with the promise to schedule another girls' night out and be sure to make it to a bar or two.

So it was a really, really great V's Day. Sure, I didn't spend it with a special someone -- but hey, I spent it with TWO special someones!

The dude abides

I was a bit amused -- and somewhat disconcerted -- to realize recently that I'm starting to show the signs of hanging out with nearly only guys at work. These guys are all really good pals whom I've known now for anywhere from two to five-plus years (one of them was my office mate for four years), and are all about my age and married. It's not as if there are a ton of ladies on my team to begin with, but for some reason, though said ladies and I are friendly around the halls, we don't actually spend much social time during the work day (i.e., going to lunch together). Of my three closest guy pals at work, only one of them and I hang out occasionally outside the office, and that's often with his awesome wife too (hey, Dr. Pistachio!). You'd think that it'd be a wealth of knowledge being imparted to me, the single girl, on a daily basis by these guys, but though they always gamely listen to my whines or ravings about this guy or that guy, they're sort of lacking in the advice department. When I was heading to an event one night where a guy I was kinda interested in would be there, E said "Don't dress like a tramp." D's advice in general to me was, "Dress sluttier." I've also been advised to randomly sit in Anti-Bac Boy's lap (which made me think of your constant advice, Julie!!), go up to him and take off my shirt, and all other manner of eye-roll-inducing suggestions. I really should write these nuggets down as the guys hand them out!

Getting to my earlier point, though, I've realized that I've started using the word "dude" a lot, and dressing even more casually. My standard uniform these days is a T-shirt, zip-up hoodie, blue jeans and Converse sneakers. Of course, bear in mind here that my entire work day is spent mostly at my desk, working on my computer. Plus, I take the bus, and walk to and from the bus stop. So it's not really logical to wear anything with heels or even anything dressy. I'm always a little cold around the office, so I need some layers, and pretty much all Microsoftees dress just as casually as I do. However, after my little revelation, I'm trying to make more of an effort to dress a little more flatteringly (if that's a word) once or twice a week. That may mean wearing flats and a nice shirt instead of Chuck Taylor's and a tee, or longer jeans with low-ish heeled, comfortable boots. One just never knows whom one might run into 'round the halls ... I actually got hit on (in my opinion) by a random cute guy in the elevator earlier this week! I was hoping it was a sign that my luck in the love department was finally turning the tide, but life is quickly beating me back to reality. Argh. (That's another whole post's-worth rant about that other certain situation, which I promised to write less about. Those in the know....you know.)

Deep thoughts on ... life outlooks (or something)

So, I have this problem. When anything starts going my way, I get really scared and weary and pessimistic. I'm basically waiting for the other shoe to drop, as it too often seems to do. I even freak myself out if I start feeling optimistic about a situation -- I have to remind myself, "Look, it probably won't pan out. Actually, just assume it won't." I've always tried to expect the worst and just leave it at that, but sometimes, in a weak moment, I break down and cautiously hope for the best. It's not so bad if the situation is totally or mostly in my control ... but when I only have a little bit of influence or say, it really drives me crazy. I've been dealing with one of those situations recently, and I periodically catch myself spontaneously exclaiming, "What the F---, dude!" Very ladylike.. but I'm just ready to come out on the other side, you know?

Anyway, not to be all mysterious and vague; I had bad insomnia last night and started self-analyzing and decided to share.

Eventful night in downtown Seattle

An evening earlier this week, I went straight from work to downtown Seattle to attend one of those free movie screenings, this one for the movie "Leap Year" (yes, I'm a sucker for rom-coms, and on top of that, I love Matthew Goode). Once I got downtown, I had just over an hour to kill, so I walked to Pacific Place, a huge mall/restaurant/movie theater complex across the street from the theater the movie would play in. I went inside the mall, and then as I headed toward an escalator, I walked by this questionable-looking guy (read: a bit unkempt, shifty). Right as I walked by he said "Follow me out, OK? Let's go." I pretended I hadn't heard anything -- at this point, I thought he was maybe talking toward someone already on the escalator -- so I kept walking. I got on the escalator, and as I was going down, he said "They're watching you." I stealthily looked around, and didn't see anyone he could've been talking to. So.. he was either just talking to no one, or just to me. Um, yikes! He got onto the escalator a few stairs behind me. As soon as I got off, I booked it to the other side of the mall. Thankfully, I didn't spy him again.

I wandered into some random stores with "Sale" signs out front, making sure to quickly walk past Victoria's Secret (where the big Semi-Annual Sale was going on) and Express (where the famous Box Sale was going on), two places where I have little will power. Swung through J. Crew, and then went next door to BCBG Max Azria (which, as I side note, I used to think was Max "Azaria," as I confused it with the actor Hank Azaria), a place I normally would never go into, but this time I was lured in by the "Extra %30 off clearance items" sign. Most of their clothing, even marked 50% off, and then an additional 30% off, was still waaay too expensive for me, but I found a casual jacket and a couple skirts to try on. A saleslady led me over to the dressing rooms and then opened up one for me. I walked in, closed the door behind me, and then turned around and around in confusion: There was no f'ing mirror in the room!! I then remembered that as I'd waited to be let into the dressing room, I'd seen a man and two kids sitting on this large sofa thing, and the mom of the family had come out to show them the dress she was trying on. There were mirrors on the outside of each dressing-room door, so she was obviously showing them the dress while also getting a first look herself. BCBG is such a high-end store -- and yet they only have mirrors OUTSIDE their dressing rooms?! Luckily, I at least didn't have all stubbly legs, as I'd had swimming the night before, but there was still no way I was going to step outside to show off every bulge and dip. The jacket I'd took in to try on was much to short -- I didn't need a mirror to figure that out -- so that immediately went back on the hanger. Next, I tried on the two skirts. Herein was where I ran into a bit of a problem.. I tried to take some self-photos on my iPhone, but as all other iPhone owners know, this is a pretty impossible task. At right, you can see the results of those attempts. The skirt was actually quite cute, but being that it was all black, the details don't show on a low-resolution/badly lit iPhone-camera picture. The lack of being able to truly see how the skirts fit, combined with the still steep price of them, led me to easily decide to not buy either of them (though I could've of course bought them, tried them on at home at my leisure, and then returned them). One of my friends suggested that the no-mirrors-in-dressing-rooms thing is so that when you step outside to look at yourself, the salespeople can come over and start lauding you with compliments, so you get all excited to buy everything you try on. I definitely don't mind stepping out for some compliments/affirmation on something that looks good on me, but only after I've looked at myself for 10 minutes and from every angle in front of the mirror inside my dressing room. So...yeah. Now we all know!

After wasting some more time at other stores in the mall -- and not spending any money: snap! -- I headed back out to walk over to the movie screening. About 20 minutes into the movie, the screen suddenly went white, and we saw the film literally melt right there. It looked like someone stretched some thin caramel across the screen, and then it just tore apart and disappeared. The theater was at full capacity, and we all laughed nervously and were like, "What the--?" About 10 minutes later, we were back in action, though the film obviously started again at least a minute or two from where we'd last seen it. Twenty minutes later...another film meltdown! This time, it only took them about 5 minutes to fix things (after each meltdown, the rep from the film studio told us "Sorry about that! They say they'll have it fixed within a few minutes!"). Once again, the film started up. And then 20 minutes after that...a THIRD meltdown! Jeezus! I heard later that a couple people walked out during one of the meltdowns, but in general, everyone took it with good humor. Certainly, no one was yelling or complaining loudly or anything. And after the third fix up, though the screen definitely had a blurry section right in the middle, it was smooth sailing through the end of the movie. As for the movie itself, well, it was up and down. The best part, for me, anyway, was Matthew Goode. Oh, and as a bonus -- on our way out, we each got a free ticket for an upcoming movie as the theater's way to apologize for the technical problems. My boss was like "You attended a free movie, and got a ticket to see another free movie?" Um, yes. And why not?

The saga of ... rain boots

Though I've lived in Seattle basically my whole life, and own a couple pairs of waterproof shoes (of the hiking variety), I was surprised to realize a few months ago that I've never actually owned a pair of rain boots. So I made it a quest to find my first pair. As I began shopping around, I made some discoveries..

A lot of the fun/funky boots are waaay too big at the top for my non-existent calves. I knew that I'd only occasionally be wearing them with pants tucked in (which would still not fill up the calf areas completely), so I also needed to find a pair that wouldn't bulge out awkwardly from underneath jeans. My quest got sent into high gear when I first received a $20 gift certificate to Nordstrom (a side bonus of having a Nordstrom Visa as my main credit card), and then a $40 certificate. For some reason, I got it in my head that I needed to look into buying a pair of boots by Hunter, a British company who I believe first designed the original wellington style of rain boot. Their tall boots are pretty high, so I figured I wouldn't have to worry about the calf issue as much, and though they have a $115 price tag, I knew I'd be taking a $60-chunk out of my final price. A few days before Christmas, I was out to lunch with some friends from work, when Ben mentioned he wanted to make a quick stop at Nordstrom to buy a present for his wife. I happened to have my gift certificates with me, and knew that the Nordstrom by work has a bigger shoe section than the one by where I live (but it's not convenient for me to go there in general), so I was like "I'm a-comin' too!"

Once we got to Nordy's, I made a beeline for the Hunter display in the women's shoe area. While I was waiting for a sales person to come help me out, I heard two other Nordy's workers discussing the special Jimmy Choo-branded Hunter boot that was on display. I overheard one of them say something about it being "so cute," and "they're $250." When someone finally came over to me to help me out, I told him I usually wear an 8.5, but since Hunters only come in whole sizes -- as do a lot of rain boots, it seems -- he went off to get a 7 and an 8. I first tried on the 8, which was way too big. Then he pulled out the size 7, which was the Jimmy Choo-branded boot. He said, "We don't have the boot in the original style in a 7, so I brought out this one." I suavely said, "Oh, uh, those are the really expensive ones, right?" He said, "They're $250." I was feeling a bit stupid from my first remark, so I just mumbled, "Oh, well, they're a bit out of my price range." They turned out to be too small anyway, and neither pair was very comfortable, so I crossed Hunter off my list. As a side note.. turns out those Hunter by Jimmy Choo boots are actually $395!!

So...I then wandered around looking at the various other rain boots. My eye was caught by a pair by Kamik. I liked that they had a bit of shape to them in the foot area, and looked both functional and fashionable. I tried them on, and bonus: They were super comfortable, and fit just right. They even have a thin Polartec lining for some added warmth, and, interestingly, they're made by a Canadian company, in Canada! http://kamik.com/.

I initially bought a shiny black boot with a bright red foldover thing at the top of the boot (made of a sweater material). After I got them home, I decided that I didn't like the bright red color, as it was a little too attention-getting. I went online, and happily discovered that the boots also came in the same shiny-black shade without the red foldover. And then, bonus upon bonus, I read the fine print on Nordstrom's Web site and found out that they do price matching, and then, I found the Kamik boots in my size, in stock, in Altrec.com, for $25 cheaper! I immediately went back to Nordstom, exchanged the boots (and made use of their price-match policy) and in the end, taking into account the $60 in rewards certificates, got the boots nearly for free! I never knew Nordstrom did price matching, and it turns out they do on all their products. Details here.

Anyway, I wore my new kicks over jeans for the first time earlier this week, on a day when it was raining pretty much non stop. As I walked to my bus stop, I stepped around puddles as usual, and then went, "Wait a minute!" and started walking through them instead, since I had no hems to worry about soaking (or leather/canvas to worry about dirtying). Puddle stomping is so much fun! Of course, only really skinny girls with no hips can carry off the whole jeans-into-boots look, but I'm going to force myself to tuck 'em in once in a while anyway, and try to feel less self-conscious about it. I also may invest in another, more fun pair of rain boots down the road. I live in Seattle, after all!

Yes, I'm one of 'those' girls ...

... and am a HUGE "Sex and the City" fan! Sure, last year's movie definitely had some slow/expendable parts, but even after seeing it in the theater, I've since watched it at least 10 times on DVD. A friend gave me the DVD for my birthday last year, and I ended up buying the Blu-ray version just last week.

Anyway, "Sex and the City 2" will be coming out next year. Don't know much about the plot lines, but you can bet I'll be seeing it soon after its release! The first trailer (just a teaser) came out yesterday:

Can't WAIT!

Avoiding a pick-up ... at 8 a.m.!

I walked up to my bus stop one morning last week. I was about the eighth person in line. A few people ahead of me was this Indian dude talking on a cell phone. He looked to be about my age, was shortish, and wearing a really strange/funky hat with crazy red, white and blue fringe on top. He looked my way a couple times, but I made sure to avoid his gaze. A couple minutes later, the bus pulled up. He got on, then a few people later, I followed. As I started walking down the aisle to the back half of the bus, in my peripheral vision, I saw him standing in an empty two-seat row. He looked at me and said, "You want to sit here?" pointing to the window seat. I pretended I hadn't heard him as I stepped into another row on the other side of the aisle a couple rows in front of him (my stop is the first on the route, so there were plenty of open seats). Then I pretended I'd just realized someone had said something to me, so I turned to look at him. He was still standing, and said "You can sit here," and I just kind of shrugged and said "Ohh...that's OK" as I turned around and sat down.

I must admit I was a little shocked that the guy was so bold at 8 in the morning! Sure, maybe he just geniunely wanted to meet someone new, or someone else Indian, but that 30-minute ride to work every morning is my time to read, listen to music or just tune out the world in general. So unless you're really, really cute, I'm likely not interested!

The entire bus ride after that, I was all paranoid that the guy was going to get off at my bus stop, and then try to talk to me on my way to my office. Thankfully, he either didn't get off at my stop, or else just didn't try to approach me. And then the next morning as I walked to my bus stop, I was all worried that he'd show up after me, and then rather than offer me a seat, he'd just come sit next to me (which I guess he could've done anyway that first day, but there were a lot of people still piling onto the bus at that point). I was relieved when he didn't show. Though I've been taking the same bus at the same time nearly every day since June, I'm pretty sure I'd never seen that particular guy before (much less any Indian guy, really!).

Some readers will think I'm being a bit cold with my attitude/avoidance, but it's more my fear of having to give someone the brush-off/heave-ho/rejection down the road. In my (perhaps overly optimistic) mind, I feel like I'll know when a guy is someone I'd be interested in talking to or getting to know better. At the very least, I'd like to think he'd be a bit more smooth -- and subtle -- in negotiating our first contact!

Trip reflections -- the good and the bad

The good:

The XE currency-converter application for iPhone really came in handy. I downloaded it before I left Seattle, and made sure to add my preferred currencies (for this trip, the Euro and Icelandic Kronur [didn't know then that I'd also be in the Czech Republic]). The app caches the latest exchange rate of your favorite currencies every time you go offline, so though my phone was in "Airplane Mode" (and thus not sending/receiving any kind of signals) my whole trip, I could still open that app to check the prices of things in U.S. Dollars. Since I hadn't made the Czech Koruny a favorite currency, before we headed to the country, I went to XE.com and ran the converter to find out that 100 CZK is about $5.80, so I just did the math whenever I had a price in CZK in front of me (yes, we chose three countries to visit that are on three different currencies!).

I borrowed my friend/boss' wee netbook to take on the trip. I think it weighs a couple pounds, and is about the size of a personal planner thingie. The computer was super helpful, and the only reason I was able to blog consistently at least every night. My cousin U, whom we stayed with for a week in the Netherlands, took her laptop with her to work (and didn't have a desktop), so that way we could still get online in her absence. Both the hostels we stayed in had (free!) WiFi, so we then didn't have to compete with other boarders for the shared computer, or deal with worrying about what sorts of exotic bugs we might pick up by using said shared computer ...

Wool socks rock! I have a few pairs of wool hiking socks, and they were my favorite pair to wear, especially since it was cold most places we went, and we did a lot of walking. The wool socks were warm, and because they were of the hiking variety, gave my feet a lot of support and cushioning.

Shoes were key. I think I spent most of my time in my Keen tennies. Thankfully, anticipating the cold in Iceland (but not yet knowing A and I would do the glacier hike), I also had on hand my new Merrell boots, which are insulated and rated to -25F. I must admit that even with those shoes and wool snowboarding socks on, my toes started getting cold a couple hours into our glacier walk. But overall, I was mostly semi-comfortable. I had taken my Converse lace-up boots, but my feet would start hurting towards the end of the day; they don't have good arch support, and we were doing a TON of walking. So next time, I'll either take low-tops (for casual/evening wear) and/or get some insoles to put in them.

Organized tours, though sniffed at by most people my age and younger, can be an awesome thing. It's so nice to hand over the reins to someone else, and then be led around the city. Plus, the guides give you all kinds of cool background info on what you're seeing. We also liked meeting some new people from other countries. Being that we were in Prague for only two full days (and an evening and morning on either side of those days), the tour helped us see the city's best highlights. And then, on our second day in the city, we had a bit of familiarity with the sights' layouts, and could go back and spend more time at our favorite places.

I highly recommend http://www.picnik.com for on-the-go photo editing, when you don't have a photo editor on your computer. Yes, it's a bit time-consuming, but they have all the tools you need -- crop, resize, sharpen, adjust exposure/brightness/colors. I used it to prep all the photos I ended up posting on this blog. Thanks for pointing me to the site, Noah!

The bad:

A and I had good intentions when we left Seattle -- we packed a bunch of fruit/nut bars, fruit leathers, applesauce containers and easy mac 'n cheese, intending to save money by eating those as snacks/meals whenever possible. However, once we got to one city or another, the draw to eat locally -- though not necessarily local -- was too strong. So we ended up bringing a lot of that stuff back!

We tried to rely on the maps supplied in our Lonely Planet/Time Out guidebooks, but those weren't always comprehensive/detailed enough to prevent us from getting lost at least once a day. As we didn't know we'd be in Prague before we left Seattle, we didn't have a guide book for it, and instead bought a city map at a convenience store as soon as we got into town. That map was so helpful, and made it very easy for us to navigate the city. Yes, it was a pain to have to unfold/refold the full-size map, but again, it helped us get around town more efficiently than we had anywhere else.

I didn't know in advance that money-exchange counters don't exchange coins -- though they're happy enough to hand them out to you in the local currency! So I came home with pocketfuls of change in Euros, Czech Koruny and Icelandic Kronur. We were happily able to get rid of some of the Euros on the Icelandair flight from Reykjavik to Seattle, though, as you can buy menu items in USD, Euros or with a credit card. We spent 6 Euros (about $9) on a sparse fruit salad and some nacho Doritos. Hey, at least the coins didn't go to waste ... the universe only knows how little USD those Euros will have next time (if ever) we're in a country that uses them!

I need to do a little test and weigh my suitcase when it's empty. I honestly didn't over pack (too much), but my bag when I first packed it was 60 pounds!! I was able to get it down to Icelandair's limit of 50 lbs, but I was scratching my head over why it'd been so heavy in the first place. In the end, it didn't seem like the Icelandair check-in folks paid too much attention to our bags' weights anyway, but I'm sure my arms appreciated those 10 extra pounds being gone.

Next time, I need to pack much lighter. A and I each had a 50-lb rolling suitcase, and then we had a third checked bag, which was a smaller suitcase that pretty much only held our sleeping bags. Then for A's carry-on, she had a duffel bag, and I had my purse (which was a bit on the bigger side, but small enough to stow under the airplane seat in front of me) and a rolling carry-on (with my neck pillow, extra books, travel games and computer). On the way home, we also ended up checking in a day-pack, as both our suitcases were over the limit. All these bags made getting around on public transportation (trains and buses) a bit sweat-inducing and stressful. But, bear in mind that traveling in winter time inevitably means packing bulkier and heavier clothing, plus shoes for rain/cold/snow.

Overall, I'm happy with how everything on our trip went in general, considering that I hadn't really traveled anywhere in seven years. I didn't forget to pack anything major, we did successfully get our bags lugged around everywhere, we enjoyed the sights in all the cities we went to, and the hostels I ended up booking for us turned out to be really good (yes, even the 10-bed place in Reykjavik!). Certainly, it'll be much easier to plan and then go on my next travel adventure!

Day 13: Last hours in Reykjavik (and on our trip)

Due to another 10 a.m. check-out time at our hostel, A and I got up around 8. I hopped in the shower, and then we began packing up the last of our belongings. We parked our bags by the front desk, and then set out on foot. We mainly wanted to do some shopping.. We saw and fell in love with some jackets at 66 North, and Icelandic outerwear company, but everything was super expensive (the thin down jacket I liked was $383), so I only left with a kids' hat (and A with nothing). We found a random store a block away called The Viking, where we each picked up a much cheaper jacket (though wind/water proof, not down). A also picked up a cute wool hat at another store. On our way back to the hostel, we stopped at a famous hot-dog stand where Bill Clinton once ate. I got a hot dog with gremolata (? it's a variation of mayonnaise) and fried onions. SO GOOD! We were tipped off to the place by Johanna, of course.

Here's a shot of downtown Reykjavik, which is, conveniently, about three blocks from our hostel:

And finally, we made one last stop, to the harbor, and took some shots of and in front of the beautiful scenery we saw for the first time (all our other outings in Reykjavik were in the dark).

Thank you, Island, it's been great, and we hope to experience more of you sometime in the future!

With that I'm officially wrapping up the extended blog coverage from our trip ... see you in Seattle!

Day 12: Glacier walking in Iceland

Well, our two-week adventure is just about done. We're going out with a bang, though, as today was a really fantastic glacier walk in southern Iceland on the Sólheimajökull glacier tongue (don't ask me to try and pronounce that, I just copied and pasted it from the Web site!). A and I rolled out of bed around 7:30 a.m. and sloooowly got dressed in the dark, as all our roommates (by yesterday morning, there were three other girls in here) were still sleeping. I have a lot of plastic bags in my suitcase, as well as one huge and very loud space bag, so I actually took my suitcase into the hall so I could open it up and root around to get what I needed for the day.

By 8:30, we were in our hostel lobby, and soon after, the Reykjavik Excursions shuttle bus pulled up to get us. After picking up some other folks in nearby hostels, we were off. It was a two-hour drive to the glacier, and around 10, the sun finally started coming up, and we got some great views:

During the ride, I also realized that sh*t, I'd forgotten my gloves!! We stopped at a service station about 30 minutes from the glacier to visit the restroom and buy food, and luckily they had some Polartec fleece gloves for sale. They were a bit small, but I just found the largest pair, and bought them without even looking at the price.

Then, we all (there were about 12 of us, and two guides) arrived at the end of the glacier "tongue," and split into two groups. Our guide was named Atna (or something ... that's his name in my blog, anyway). We got fitted for crampons, and got ice axes. Then we walked a few hundred feet out past the car-park area, and sat down to strap on our crampons. Atna gave us about two minutes of training on walking with the crampons, and then we were off:

Because no snow had fallen on the glacier, we didn't have to worry about ice bridges or hidden cravasses. The ground was solid ice, and you could see the blue of the water/ice very clearly (the dust/dirt everywhere is thanks to all the winds and volcanic dust that gets blown around):

Obligatory shot with the ice axe held in a funny position..:

Atna takes us through an ice tunnel:

Atna helps someone get up and out of the ice tunnel:

Etc.:

The weather was of course cold (I'd say in the 20s, Fahrenheit), and we even had some snow flurries. Plus it got windier and windier the higher up we went. Atna would periodically just stop and look around for seemingly no reason at all, and we'd all just stand around him, waiting...waiting...and then he'd whistle some tune after a few minutes and set off again. Very strange, and not super fun when we were amid the wind gusts!

On the way back to Reykjavik, we stopped to visit two waterfalls, Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss. I'm beat now, so I'll try to post pics of those later (they're your basic waterfalls, no offense, Icelanders!). On the 1.5-hour journey from the second waterfall to Reykjavik, darkness quickly fell, and the bus was really silent. We got back to our hostel around 6:30 p.m. Turned out we had a new roommate, also Indian, but from Australia. She (let's call her S), A and I all hit it off right away, and headed out around 8 (A wanted to shower) to track down an Italian restaurant recommended by the hostel's receptionist. We set out, and immediately got lost (yeah, surprise! street signs are a rare commodity in downtown Reykjavik, at least for us!). We walked in a couple big circles, asked a couple random folks for help, and then finally stumbled into the restaurant a good 40 minutes later (we discovered on the way back that the place was actually only about 5 blocks from our hostel ...). The food was good (especially the delicious warm chocolate cake we got for dessert), but due to super slow service, we didn't pay our bill until 11:30 p.m. We were going to stop by a bar on the way back to "meet people," but the cold was getting to us by that point, so we ended up just coming right back. A and I spent some time trying to pack up most of our bags, as we have to check out by 10 a.m. tomorrow. Our flight back home to Seattle isn't until nearly 5, so we have a few hours to kill between check-out and catching the FlyBus to the airport -- we'll spend those hours shopping downtown, and finally seeing Reykjavik in the daylight for the first time!

OK, exhausted ... Pooja out.

Day 11: Travel day, arrival in Reykjavik and most hilarious pic EVAR!

Oh MAN!! I caught A unawares in our hostel as I snapped a pic of her from my top bunk while she was e-mailing. Thanks for being a sport about my posting this, A. It's too hilarious for the rest of the world to not see!!

Anyway, moving on ... We had a thankfully less dramatic departure from the Netherlands this morning, thanks to the hours of packing we put in last night (though I hardly slept last night, and am really feeling the burn now). We said our goodbyes to U around 9:45 after the taxi guy pulled up, and then we began the fun task of lugging all our bags downstairs and out of her building, and then through the train station and onto the train itself. Thankfully, it wasn't rush hour -- it's like India times 10 in the train stations then, there're so many people -- but it was still taxing. Thankfully, we had some assistance with bags here and there from some other train riders.

Once we got go Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam (after about a 30-minute train ride from Utrecht), we checked in our bags and then set off to do some duty-free shopping, mainly for items requested by our Dad. We found one item he wanted (Sennheisen [sp?] headphones), but we'll have to try for the others in Keflavik Airport here in Iceland. Our flight from Amsterdam to Keflavik was about three hours long. We had a great view of Iceland as we flew in; A snapped a few pics from her window-seat vantage point:

As you can see, it's pretty barren! Though I don't think we passed over Reykjavik itself, which is where I think the bulk of Iceland's population resides. After we arrived at Keflavik, got our bags, and began heading toward the exit, we two, among the sea of white people, were of course pulled aside for a random Customs check!! Thankfully, it was painless; they just re-x-rayed all our bags, and then we finally were on our way. We stepped out into the frigid air (-2 degrees C/28 degrees F) to hop on the FlyBus that most people seemed to be also hopping onto. This took us on a 50-minute drive into Reykjavik, and then we hopped a smaller shuttle at the bus terminal that took us to our actual hostel.

Our hostel is right in the middle of downtown Reykjavik, which is really convenient. And though our room is a 10-bed, female-only ensuite (meaning, we share one bathroom inside our room), there's only one girl in here besides A and me. The guy at the front desk, who I believe is Australian, has been amazingly helpful. He even, at our request, booked a day tour for us (more on that in a sec) and charged it to the hostel. We then paid the hostel back with our own credit cards. After plonking our bags down in our room, we consulted our (via Johanna) Lonely Planet guidebook, and decided to walk a couple blocks down the street to a tapas restaurant. After dinner (which was good, but nothing exciting), we walked a bit further into the downtown area, and swung through a grocery store to pick up some food for tomorrow's outing. We then came back to the hostel around 8, and are now getting ready to head back out to chillax at a cafe. Apparently the cafes become dance clubs in the late evenings, so A and I will take separate key cards so she can stay out late and party and meet "people" if she so desires.

As for tomorrow's outing, we're actually going on a glacier walk, which sounds super amazing. I think we'll be gone for 10 hours total, but four of those hours will be spent on the road getting to and from the glacier. We get to wear crampons and wield an ice axe and everything! If you want to know more about what we'll be doing, there's more info on the Icelandic Mountain Guides' Web site. Think it's supposed to be partly sunny tomorrow (or, at least, not wet), so this should be a really special experience. More tomorrow night, of course!

And I must of course toss a huge thank you to Johanna, for the guide book, e-mailed/phone advice and even helping us find this great hostel!

Day 10: Lots of running around

Waited too long to write this up, so it's gonna be quick. Just got too caught up in catching up with U after our Prague jaunt, and then A and I tried to get the bulk of our packing done. We were successful, in my opinion, but as it's now nearly 1 a.m., and we're planning to be up at 7:30 a.m., I'm sure it's still going to be a bit of a manic morning tomorrow (we're going to order a taxi for 9:45 a.m. to take us to the train station).

Our trip back to Utrecht was uneventful; we checked out of our hostel (which, for the great reveal, was the Prague Lion -- I'll try to write more about it later) around 9:45 a.m., and stashed our luggage in their luggage-storage room. Headed to Old Town Square and picked up those last-minute souvenirs I mentioned yesterday. Then we sat down for a huge breakfast at a restaurant in Old Town Square, right in front of the Astronomical Clock. It was sunny/warm enough that with the help of the nearby heater lamp, I was able to enjoy my breakfast in just my T-shirt and thin microfleece -- really nice way to stay goodbye to the city. Oh, and FYI, Johanna: Not much further action on the whole Christmas-tree/booths thing. The light strands had been put up about halfway down the tree, and the booths had red felt roofs, but that was it.

Got back to U's around 6:30.. more paneer for dinner, and two servings of tea to bookend the food. Then we were delighted to discover an episode of "Australian Border Patrol" on the TV. Saw an amusing bit on a Chinese lady who was very distressed that she couldn't bring her boxes of mushrooms (with no name in English) into the country ...

OK, fading fast, I'm off!

Day 9, part II: Anticlimax

Well, our evening plans unfortunately went poof tonight ... We set out in the dark and drizzle at 7 as planned to meet our tour guide for the pub tour. We met at the appointed place, waited and waited for others to show up, but no one else came. We were then informed that the guide (who only shows up after the guidees have arrived; in the meantime, there's some other hired dude you wait around with) doesn't do tours with less than three "discount" customers (we had a half-off coupon from our hostel). In the end, the liaison with the guide -- who had the guide on his cell phone -- was like "Sorry!" The guide wanted us to talk to him on the liaison's phone, but we were like "No, never mind, we're leaving." So then we spent a good 40 minutes wandering around nearby streets looking for a "fun" bar were "we [could] meet people" (I'm quoting my sister here, though in actuality, she was looking to more meet "people" of the male variety, though she has a man already!). That was a no go, so we slowly headed back towards our hostel.

A block from our hostel, we perused the menu of a restaurant we'd walked by and eyed a few times over the past couple days. We decided to go ahead and order one dish and one dessert to split between us, and ordered it as a take-out item, to avoid having to tip (plus, it was a bit of a hoity-toity looking place). We then enjoyed a lovely dinner of pistachio-encrusted chicken breast with a lemony cream sauce, and pineapple slices with mascapone cheese, coconut milk and raspberry sauce.

Around 9:15, we wandered back outside and scouted out two bars across the street from that restaurant we'd eaten food from. We went into one, but just ended up sitting by our lonesomes at the bar. There were a few groups of people in there, but they all kept to themselves, and the layout of the bar wasn't such that we could easily join in any of the various conversations. So after the one drink... back we came. Our clothes and hair were saturated with cigarette smoke (I swear, one of our two people smokes here -- annoying), so we've each just finished taking a late-night shower.

Hopefully, we'll get to bed at a decent time, as tomorrow will be a whirlwind for us. We have to check out of our room by 10 a.m. Then we'll stash our luggage in our hostel's luggage room. We'll make one last, quick souvenir run, likely to the Old Town Square area, and then by 11:30, we have to get to the metro (subway) station a few blocks away to head towards the airport. Then we transfer to a bus that takes us the last leg. Our flight back to the Netherlands is at 2, so by 5 or so, we should be sipping tea at our cousin's in Utrecht. We'll be heading out of the Netherlands for the final time Thursday morning (en route to Reykjavik), so tomorrow night will also be a bit busy, in that we'll hopefully get everything nearly packed up and weighed, etc.

We're nearly to the home stretch of our two weeks of travels, and I must admit I'm really looking forward to relaxing in my own home! But we've definitely been having a great time out here.

Day 9: Second (and final) full day in Prague

So I'm doing my Day 9 Part I blog update while Ms. A is (take a guess) sleeping, of course! To recap the day's activities ...

We rolled out of bed this morning around 9:30 not really knowing where exactly we'd go. However, I was craving some TGI Friday's (don't laugh -- I LOVE their Sesame Jack Chicken Strips appetizer, and all of their Seattle [and nearby] locations have closed -- Julie, you'll understand!!), and we'd spied one during our tour yesterday. So as it was about 11 by the time we were ready to head out, we made a beeline for Old Town and TGIF. Thankfully, their menu did contain my beloved chicken strips, and I devoured them with a tasty house-made raspberry iced tea. SO GOOD!

Next, we wandered around Old Town a bit, looking for a souvenir for Mom. Didn't find much, but as it was nearing the hour (of 1), we headed back to Old Town Square and the Astronomical Clock, to see the little ceremony that goes on every hour (and apparently has gone on every hour for 600 years now). There was a huge crowd gathered at the base of the tower. The ceremony itself lasted only maybe two minutes, and featured the "12 Apostles" rotating behind the windows above the clock dials. Plus there were some little figurines under the window who pulled/rang little bells and moved a bit. Ooh la la! After that, we paid about $5 to take two elevators up to the top of the Clock tower. Once there, we had yet another amazing view of Prague. Here are some of the best pictures (I should mention here that we brought along my little 8.1 megapixel digital camera, but also my dad's 12 (?) megapixel Canon DSLR, which of course takes far superior pictures. Nearly all the Prague photos are being taken on the Canon):

Looking west toward Prague Castle (notice the dark spires way in the background):

In the center of this shot, which looks down into Old Town Square, you can see the Christmas tree that's been erected. When we walked back through the Square a couple hours later, they'd started putting lights on it. Looks like they'll have some sort of festival or event there; all those brown, box things were little booths with numbers. Maybe we'll try to wander through there later tonight or in the morning to see what's going on:

Next, we set out for this shopping mall A had seen earlier in the day, which boasted 200 shops inside. We browsed through several, but didn't buy anything. I did grab some kiwi gelato on our way out -- yum. Then, we headed to the Jewish Quarter to a store our tour had swung through briefly yesterday. Our tour guide had recommended it as a good place to buy cheap(er) garnet jewelry (which the Czech Republic is known for) and glassware made in the C.R. We found a cool glass bowl for Mom, that we think she should keep on the dining-room table as a centerpiece (it's not made for putting food in). The store nicely had it delivered to our hostel tonight, but it's going to be a bit of a task getting it home on Icelandair, as both our big checked bags were nearly at the limit of 50 lbs ...

Finally, to finish up our outing, we walked back across the Charles Bridge, to check out the art and jewelry for sale by local artists. At that point, our run of good luck with the weather unfortunately ran out (though thankfully, it was dusk at this point), and little rain drops began falling. The artists all either quickly packed up and left, or covered their wares with opaque plastic, which didn't make for the best shopping for us. So we crossed over to the west side of the Vltava River, and went into a glassware/jewelry store, where I found a cute clear-and-green turtle which I can put on a shelf somewhere, and a bead bracelet. And then, I'm afraid to say, we were silly Americans yet again and stepped into a McDonald's to enjoy some fries and a Diet Coke. What can I say, I get cravings for McD's fries! Interestingly, I ordered a large size of both the fries and the soda, but what I got was the equivalent of what would be a medium for each in the U.S. ...

Around 5:30 p.m., we arrived back in our hostel. A did some Internet business, and then of course fell into bed. Now it's 6:45 p.m., so I'm going to go shake her awake, as we have to head to Wenceslas Square at 7 for tonight's Pub Tour. More later!

Day 9: First full day in Prague

So it's been a long, but very enjoyable first day here in Prague -- and we're actually not done with our day yet (it's now 6:30 p.m.; we left the hostel around 9:45 a.m., and only got back maybe 30 min. ago). We're heading out to an hour-long ghost walk/tour around 8 (it came for free with the ticket to the tour we just got back from). As I type, A is zonked out on her bed. I tell you, that chick naps when and wherever she can -- on the trains, on 90-minute flights, while we're in our hostel between activities ...

Anyway, when I got up around 8, I checked the weather forecast. I saw that the temperature would be the same for both today and Tuesday (upper 40s), but that while Tues. there was a 70% chance of rain, today there was only a 20% chance. So A and I decided to indeed go on the foot/boat/tram tour I mentioned in yesterday's post. We hit the shower, and were on the road headed to Wenceslas Sqaure (same guy the Christmas song is about, although they don't sing the song in the Czech Republic). We had to buy our tour tickets nearby, but the map and instructions were confusing. As far as I could tell, the tickets were for sale either in some place called Muzeum, or in a KFC (yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken). Went to the Muzeum, which turned out to be the underground Metro station. No go. So then we wandered into the KFC. The lady at the counter was like "You don't buy tour tickets at the KFC." Yes, I'd also thought it hadn't made sense, but a day of travel for us wouldn't be complete without some sort of foible like that! Anyway, we then decided to just go across the street to the tour's meeting place. The guy there thankfully pointed us to the actual ticket office, which was in a corridor next to the KFC (I of course looked closer at the brochure for the tour later, and discovered the fine print where they gave this vital information). We got our tickets, and then were off on our tour a few minutes later with our fun Czech guide. There were about 10 other folks with us, all from the U.K., mainly from Ireland.

The weather, though brisk and chilly, was really beautiful for an outdoor tour. And the sights...wow, they were truly amazing. I swear, every single building in this city is photogenic and photo worthy! I was snapping pictures left and right. I would love to post a ton of pics to go with this blog post, but I'm just going to choose some of the highlights for now.

So again, the tour lasted six hours. We got a quick primer on the history of Czechoslovakia, Prague and the Czech Republic, and then set out from there to walk around the Old and New Town sections on the east side of the Vltava River. We stopped for some lunch (included in our tour fee), where Anuja and I sat across a woman and her 12-year-old niece from Ireland. The niece, Kiera, was quite thrilled to hear we were from Seattle, and quickly revealed her "Twilight" obsession. Kiera and her aunt are from a small village an hour's drive from Dublin, so Kiera was actually quite fascinated with all things American (she's never been anywhere in the U.S.).

After lunch, we hopped onto a boat and took an hour-long cruise a bit down the river and back (to the left is a shot from inside the boat; that's our tour guide in the yellow jacket). We also were treated to a beverage of our choice during this. We got our first glimpses of the Prague Castle (the world's largest ancient castle) and went under the famous Charles Bridge). Then we walked across the Charles Bridge and hopped a tram up to the Castle. We spent some time walking around the castle grounds, and went on a tour of the Basilica of St. Vitus, which took 600 years to build. Then, as the sun was setting around 4:30, we parted ways with our guide. A and I took some snaps of the city from our high vantage point, and then began the walk down and toward our hostel. We stopped for some Starbucks on the way (it got a wee bit colder once the sun was fully set), and had a nice 30-minute walk along the waterfront.

... and now it's a few hours later ...

So we arrived at the start of the Ghost Walk around 8:30. Turned out there were only two other folks there, an Irish couple we'd met on our earlier tour. The "tour" (more a jaunt around a few nearby blocks) took an hour, and no offense to our guide, but even that was a bit too long for me! The stories were interesting, sure, but her delivery needed some work. Everything was a bit too dramatic.. i.e., "And THENNNNNN, out of the DAAAAAARK, the ghost of the buuuuutcher jumps OUT! WHOAAAAA!" And despite their being only four of us, she still used a microphone. We did get some laughs at certain points when someone dressed up as the ghost she'd just discussed jumped out at us from behind a building, but in general....yeah. I'm glad it was free!!

After the tour, A and I decided to walk balk to our hostel, and try to find a cool-looking place to have some dessert and drinks. A few blocks from our hotel, a group of young guys came out of a bar and said "You guys speak English?" We said yes. They said, "Do you know where 'Dkjeoreuiysya' [insert name of Czech dance club] is?" We said "Uh, we just got here last night." Then they said, "Well, would you like to join us for a beer?" We said, "Um, sure!" The nearest place was the one they'd just emerged from (I think they'd been in there inquiring about said club), and A and I were amused to discover it was also the place in which we'd had dinner the night before. Turned out the guys were all from Denmark, in their mid-20s, and in Prague to do something school related (they're going to be some kind of commercial truck drivers) and then party/drink/dance before and after the school stuff. They were all very funny and chatty. One guy was quite tipsy, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head when I said I was 31 ("WHAT?! I'm only 24! I'm a baby!"). We all hung out for just over an hour or so, as by that time their feet were itching to get to the dance club. It was quite entertaining, glad we finally got to meet and chat with some interesting people.

As far as tomorrow.. no firm plans yet. At the very least, we want to do some souvenir shopping, and then in the evening, we're going to go on another tour with this company we did the two tours with today. This one'll be a traditional Czech dinner, followed by a pub tour. Kinda wish we'd done an organized tour in Amsterdam, as they're a really great way to find out interesting info about the city you're in, and not have to deal with getting around town on your own. Plus, then you also find out the spots you want to go back and explore more on your own.

Some of my favorites for today -- view of the Prague Castle from our tour boat (and yes, I believe that entire stretch of buildings comprises the castle):

Looking back on Charles Bridge:

Me and A, self-photo at the bottom of Prague Castle, with Old Town in the background:

From the Charles Bridge, looking to Old Town:

Day 8: Mad packing and travel to Prague

A and I started some laundry around 9 p.m. last night, as it was the halfway point of our trip, and we needed fresher clothes. Due to having some fleece, wool and wicking clothes in the one load, we tossed everything into the dryer on low. However, by the time we started thinking about going to bed around midnight, the clothes were all still super damp! So I took out the quick-dry stuff (mainly my hand and body towels) and some of the fleeces. 1 a.m... still wet.Took out the jeans, spread them over the couches by the radiator. 2 a.m... still wet! Took out all the wool socks, spread them out on the dining-table chairs to dry, turned dryer to "Extra dry." However, by the time I got up and rechecked everything around 9:30, nothing was fully dry! So I restarted the dryer, but when U came into the laundry room a few minutes later, she said we should just try to air dry everything. So we cranked up the heat in her place a few degrees, and spread everything wherever we could. Thanks to A for thinking to snap a pic of the living-room scene (and bear in mind that that's only about half of our laundry you're seeing there!)..

We had some chai, and then started madly packing for our Prague mini-break. We were on a budget airline, so we'd selected "carry-on only" to save the $$ we would've had to pay to check in luggage. Had some minor panic when we realized my carry-on was 1.5 kg over the limit, though I really didn't have a ton of stuff in there. Finally got it down to 10.5 kg, 0.5 over the limit. Then I pulled on my jeans that were still damp at the waist, and we were off to the bus. The train ride over to Eindhoven (where the airport we were flying out of is) took 50 minutes, which was painfully long for me, as I hadn't brought along a book (didn't want to add the weight to my carry-on, though later I realized I could've held it separately), and didn't want to listen to music on my Zune, as it's down to about half its juice, and I don't think I brought the charger from Seattle. However, it was a beautiful day to be traveling through some of the Netherlands' farm country, and I did manage to pull off this nail-fragment thing on my right index finger that had been bothering me for several days!!

Got to the Eindhoven station, and then hopped a bus over to the actual airport. The airport was super tiny -- I think they only have flights to the U.K. and Europe. And look, you can even fly on Twitter Air!! No.. it's Transavia.

Anyway, after all my drama trying to pack that carry on, it turned out it was too big to actually be carried on (yes, I was asked to try and squeeze it into this tester box). So I had to shell out $30 to check it in. (I should note that I'm trying to be better about not focusing on the costs of everything out here -- just on enjoying the sights and scenery and making the most of it!) The seating was open seating, so there was quite a crush as we lined up to hand over our boarding passes. Then A looked out the windows behind the gate clerk to the tarmac, and said "Uh, where's our plane?" Turned out after checking in, we had to stand in line for 10 minutes, then go outside and stand in line for 10 minutes, and then walk over to the plane that'd finally arrived and walk up the stair car's stairs (sadly, no "Bluth Company" logo on these stair cars!). A and I were flying on Wizzair, which you'd think would have a yellow-colored plane ... but it was actually fuschia and purple. Luckily, the plane was only maybe 2/3 full, so we got a three-seat row to ourselves. The flight was only about 90 minutes long, which was nice (you could even buy soda for 2.50 Euro (about $3.75)!

We got off in Prague at 5:30 p.m. Did the usual post-flight-in-a-new-country drill (pee, exchange money, get more money, buy bus tickets) and then caught the bus, and then after that the metro into the heart of Prague. We got off the metro at about 6:45, and though we had some directions from the hostel's Web site, we of course immediately got lost (how the heck do we know which way is "toward the river"??). Got no help from two storekeepers (most stores were closed by that time, so it was slim pickings), and then we finally were able to buy a map at a drugstore. With its help, we finally walked in the door at our hostel 20 minutes later. Despite the frustration of being lost yet again, we did get to walk along the riverfront and get a preview of Prague's amazing architecture.

Our hostel, which I found myself online, is really awesome so far. It's just A and me in here (though there are four beds), and for three nights' accommodation, we're only paying about $55 each. We have our own bathroom, with a heated floor and heated towel rack (A: "Oh my god, I'm just going to stay here in the bathroom"). We have a little kitchen area with a table and chairs, fridge, microwave, sink and dishes/mugs. There's even a water boiler thing, if we buy some tea to brew. We have free WiFi on top of all that, so it feels quite luxurious. The only hitch is that we're right behind the reception area (staffed 24/7!) by the one Internet-enabled computer, and the window by our beds faces the street (not a main road, though). However, the price is awesome, and we're within a 5-20-minute walk of all the Prague attractions. I'd share the name now, but I don't want to activate my local stalkers, so I'll save that for later.

After gawking for a few minutes over our room, we freshened up and headed out for some grub. We went to a pub a couple blocks away, and had some delicious pasta. Our eyes were as always bigger than our stomachs, but thankfully the place gives take-home boxes (for about $0.50 each), so we've got the leftovers in our fridge to eat over the next few days.

I think tomorrow we're going to embark on a boat/foot/tram tour for most of the day. It lasts 6 hours, costs about $35, covers the main attractions, and even includes beer tastings and lunch. Plus, as a bonus, it doesn't start until 10:30 a.m. ...

Day 7: Amsterdam, part II

Hard to believe we've been in the Netherlands for a week now, and are halfway through our European adventure. But we had a great last day here with U. We were planning to head out for brunch around 11, so I rolled out of bed at 9 and hopped into the shower. After I got out, U and A took their showers, and it was then of course time for our morning tea (what we call "chaha," which is similar in taste to Lipton tea, but U makes it the Indian way, using this brown powder). Next, U asked to finally have her hair styled using my fancy T3 Duality straightener (which, conveniently, is dual voltage, so I just have to use a plug adapter), so there went 30 minutes (she was satisfied in the end, though). So...by the time we got to the bus stop, it was nearly noon. We got off at Utrect's Centraal Station, and then walked down the street to the outdoor walking/shopping area.

We didn't want to take the time to stop to eat, but we did swing through U's favorite bakery to pick up some sweets (for A: a raspberry mousse thing, for U a chocolate eclair, and for me a lemon-meringue tart and a cheese-stuffed croissant, which I'm saving for tomorrow). Then we swung by a frites booth to get some fries, this time with satay sauce. Those we ate on the way back to the train station. As with every place we've gone via train, the trip took about 35 minutes. If you're a little bit tired, the motion of the train can really get you sleepy..

We rolled into Amsterdam around 2:30. I was immediately extra glad we'd come back to Amsterdam for a second visit, as this time (as opposed to Wednesday), the weather was really beautiful -- in the 50s and sunny. We had a little time to kill before A's 4 p.m. tattoo appointment, so we headed south from the station to hit up a couple stores we'd found addresses for online (Puma and Swatch).

We managed to only lose about 10 minutes while lost/disoriented -- and were a bit comforted to see at least one person on every other corner confusedly looking at a map of the city!

It was about 3 by the time we got to the shops, so we didn't spend much time shopping. A picked up a couple bags at Puma (extras of a bag she'd picked up at a Puma in Den Haag yesterday) and I got a watch at Swatch. Then we hightailed it north towards the Red Light District, and managed to walk into Hanky Panky Tattoo with a couple minutes to spare. U and I ate our pastries from the morning while A got inked (an Indian-style elephant, on her right shoulder blade). It was a little disconcerting to be eating sweets in the shop's lobby, with the pumping music and tattoo art all over!

A's tattooing was pretty quick, maybe 15 minutes (it took about half an hour for them to figure out the tattoo itself, location, etc.), so by 5, we were walking down south toward the Heineken Experience. We ended up jumping on a tram to go the half mile or so (the guys at the tattoo shop had told us it was too far to walk, but it really wasn't, so we walked back after wards).

We were a bit taken aback at the admission fee of 15 Euro -- about $23 -- but we figured we were already there, and we'd also read that we'd get a free Heineken glass upon our exit. The place is the site of the original Heineken factory, but they don't actually brew beer there anymore. The "experience" gives you a history of the Heineken founders/family and their beer-making process. There was a silly "ride" where about 20 of us stood in rows behind these railings, and "experienced" the process of beer making. The steps we stood on went up and down and side to side to simulate the brewing and bottling phases of the process. Pretty cheesy. Probably the most enjoyable part of the Experience was making the green-screen video, which you can see on my previous blog post. We've watched the video four times now and we still laugh just as hard!!

At the end of the tour, A and I shelled out $7.50 to get a bottle of Heineken (yes, it has real beer in it) with a custom label. Mine says: Brewed at Heineken Experience, Amsterdam, Holland by Pooja! A also bought a couple beer glasses, which she got engraved for herself and our dad.

We'd been planning to then go to the Van Gogh Museum, which was maybe a half mile from the H.E., but by that time it was 7:30 or 8, and we were craving pizza, so we started walking back up towards the train station. On the way, we spied a restaurant called New York Pizza, so we stopped in to share a medium four-cheese pizza. It was of course nowhere near being called "New York"-style pizza, but it did really hit the spot. Between NY Pizza and the station, we made sure to find and stop by a "coffee shop" so A could restock on her special brownies ...

Now, we've drank our traditional evening tea, had some snacks, and are doing laundry. Tomorrow, A and I have to head out of the apartment by noon or so to begin the journey to Eindhoven airport for our flight to Prague. I've pulled up a "What to do for two days in Prague" list, so as long as the weather cooperates, we'll hopefully make the most of our time over there. I'm also crossing my fingers the hostel is good! Packing tonight/tomorrow will be tricky; checking in bags costs about $15, so we're each just carrying on one bag. Figuring out the whole liquids/gels business will be fun! Not sure what the Internet solution will be at our hostel, but hopefully I'll be blogging from the Czech Republic tomorrow night!

This video deserves a blog entry of its own

We partook in some green-screen fun as part of the Heineken Experience, which is sort of a museum/amusement park in the original Heineken factory in Amsterdam. Yes, we'd already done the tasting by this point. I'm sure we three find it a lot more hilarious than any of you will, but ... enjoy!!