pictures actually of bonn

since i realized that i haven't really put up pictures of what this beautiful little city looks like, i took some time yesterday to show you people.

this is popplesdorfer schloss. "schloss" means palace in german. this is owned by the school and i think some of the science classes are held there. i was in there once for an informational meeting. it was exciting. ok, not really.

this is the beethoven statue in münsterplatz. that lovely yellow building behind it is the post office.

this is the alt rathaus. or, if you prefer english, the old city hall. i haven't been inside but i don't know if i can go inside. it is pink. i find that funny.

this is a pretty tree. there are tons of these trees. all of a sudden, they all started blooming. and shedding their pretty pink petals. i had never seen them flower before the day where they all seemed to burst into bloom. it was weird.

this is the university of bonn. where i am currently a student. i only have one class in this building though. this building used to be a palace. who else can say that they go to school in a palace? huh? anyone? didn't think so.

and that is my beautiful city. well, not mine, i don't own it. but you get the idea.

amsterdam, part two.

this is the station we got stuck at waiting for a streetcar to take us to cologne. in the middle of nowhere. and it started to rain.

this is the hotel room that we stayed in for free. i found out later that the hotel cost 77 euros per night. ha ha... i'm awesome.

this is us (finally) in amsterdam. in vondal park. it's a really beautiful park.

this is the infamous pirate sign. for the full story, visit my LJ.

this is the view from madam tussaud's wax museum in amsterdam. it was really fun. i have tons of pictures of the wax figures and me but i'll only put a few up so no one gets too bored.

this is me with david bowie.

this is me with sean connery.

and this is me with humphrey bogart.

then we went on a canal cruise. that was really neat. this is the science building that we really wanted to go to but couldn't because it was closed on monday. the tour guide also said that the science museum was silly to have in amsterdam because no one was interested in science. i am, i am.

the funny thing about amsterdam is that a lot of the houses are crooked due to the fact that the whole city is on a bunch of canals. i hope that this picture demonstrates that. the tour guide said that the crooked houses have been used in cartoons to show houses singing and dancing. that immediately reminded me of a favorite film of mine. can you guess what it is? also in this picture: the smallest house in amsterdam. i think it's a little over a meter wide and one person lives there. also, all the houses have furniture hooks close to the roof because that's the only way to move stuff in to the top levels. how strange.

monday we went to the van gogh museum. this is what it looks like. it was really neat although there were tons of people there. but i would say that i enjoyed this trip to amsterdam more than my first one. hopefully next time, i can find somewhere else to go. maybe actually to london this time. or somewhere else.

cologne.

even though cologne is only a half an hour or so away, we waited until this weekend to go because starting april first we get to take regional trains for free.

this is the cathedral in cologne.

this is the top part of the cathedral.

some stained glass goodness.

organ!

this is the area of the church where you can light a candle in prayer. i'm pretty sure those things in the cases are possessions of preists that used to work in this particular cathedral.

this is from the other side of the cathedral. look at all that buttressey goodness!

BUTTRESSES!

this is a coat that i really, really, really want but it's like 159 euros. the reason i want it is....

IT HAS TINY SHARKS ON IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is a picture of emily and i next to a giant cat statue. yes, we are huge dorks.

i went to amsterdam this weekend...

this is the wax museum in the main square in amsterdam. we didn't have time to go but i think i'll go back there sometime and go there. i've never been to a wax museum.

this is a church or something in the main square. i say "or something" because it looks like a church but it has signs saying that there's some exhibit for something which makes me think it's not really a church. i should learn what things are before i post pictures of them, huh?

this is one of the many canals in amsterdam. this one happens to be outside my friend sheree's parents' house. i'm so jealous that they have a canal.

this is a clock tower. it tells the time. that is all.

this is the national monement in the main square. it was pretty neat and impressive.

i thought that amsterdam was a good place to try out the "night" setting on my camera. this is a random street in amsterdam. i think it looks really cool, even if you can't really tell what was in the picture. i like the lights.

the second day, we went to the anne frank house. this is a picture of how long the line was to get in. it was raining. in case you didn't pick up on that from the umbrellas. the museum was really interesting and kind of eerie. it was a neat learning experience.

this is the front of the anne frank house.

ok ok, this was one of the highlights of my trip this weekend: carrot balls. i'm not kidding. it's a little snack bag of perfectly round carrot balls. i would go back just for these.

carrot ball up close. THEY ARE SO AWESOME!!!!!!!