day trip to haarlem

Today we had to get up early and get on the waiting list again for a room tonight since we only booked two nights originally. We were lucky enough to be part of the cut off, but had to pack up our stuff and switch rooms.. thats ok though, it was better than having to find a new place altogether! This also meant we had also woken up in time for the free breakfast, which was pretty good.. mmmm nutella on my toast!

Afterwards we walked all over town trying to find a post office so I could mail some goodies home (to the family- you can be expecting a package in 8-12 days!). It turns out the building we were trying to find on the map had been demolished! yay! haha.. We did end up stumbling across another museum though and since we bought an all access "museumkaart" we went in cause it was free anyways. It was a modern art museum and the stuff was pretty wacky. We breezed through it pretty quickly then headed to the train station and caught the next train to Haarlem. It's a city about 15 min by train west of Amsterdam. We rented bikes, found a post office there, and had lunch in the main square. It's cool how here and other cities we've been to so far all have these huge open squares (usually with a church) filled with cafes and shops. After lunch we wanted to head for the coast. The map we had was only of the city centre, so I had to rely on my "dutch instinct" to get us there.. lol..I've decided that a certain instinct has been activated with me coming here to the homeland and so far it's been right! I led us straight to the beach. It was soooo windy, but it was a beautiful day. I also realized that I forgot to put my sunscreen back in my day bag (i took it out because it's been rainy the last couple of days). I have the most ridiculous looking sunburn I've ever had. I was wearing a vneck tshirt so I have a farmers tan, plus the vneck wasnt sitting straight I guess so it's a lopsided v on one side of my chest... lol.. oh well, i consider it warm up for Greece and Italy!

Tomorrow we plan to do another day trip to Den Bosch, then from there take a bus to Sint Michielgestel. I think it'll be cool to see the town where oma lived! The trip should only take about 1.5-2hrs each way I think.

Anyways, off to bed now

<3 shanon