Destination: Western Europe
When: August/September 1997
Itinerary: Flew into Amsterdam, toured by Rail Europe Europass, back home out of Amsterdam

I spent several weeks in Europe during my senior year of college. It was quite a few years ago, but I’ll try to remember the details for you!

We flew into Amsterdam and stayed at a place called Lucky Mothers. We rented a room with a private shower, but the toilet was down the hall. We used Lucky Mothers as our home base while we were there so we didn’t have to pack everything up when we traveled.

Amsterdam was great! There was so much to see and do there…things that a person just doesn’t see here in Minnesota! I remember walking out of Central Station (trains) and seeing a “5397 miles to Wall Drug, South Dakota” sign. Too funny! The canals of Amsterdam were neat, although very dirty. The city was busy but a lot of fun. We toured the Anne Frank house, several museums, took a tour to the countryside where we say hundreds of windmills and a cheese farm run by a woman wearing old fashioned wood clogs. The harbor was pretty neat.

We took the train through Switzerland on our way down to Florence, Italy. The ride through the mountains was incredible! We spent some time in Florence, taking advantage of the leather goods at the market and dining at a few sidewalk cafes. The Duomo Cathedral was beautiful.

One of the people I was traveling with knew an exchange student from Hanover, Germany, so we took the train to Hanover and stayed with her and her family for a few days. They showed us around Germany, took us out on the Autobaun and to several authentic restaurants. It was nice to have a local guide!

Our final side trip was to Paris, France. Of course we saw all of the historic sites including the Eiffel Tower, the Lourve, the Arc de Triumph, Notre Dame and the Pantheon. We were a bit confused with the Metro, and ended up walking quite a bit just to get around.

My Recommendations: GO! Especially if you like art and history and are comfortable with being lost! Hahaha! Really, the people in Europe speak English and most everyone was very helpful. There is so much to see and do in Europe. I spent 8 weeks there. I spent time studying in Amsterdam, and took side trips to the other countries for 2-3 days at a time, but I think I should have allowed more time for my side trips, especially to Italy and France. My advice is to go for as long as you can, or divide your trip up into sections so you can focus on one area at a time, depending on how much you want to indulge. The train was super easy and very comfortable. We did get a sleeping car for the trip from Amsterdam to Florence. This was a life saver. Europe is definitely a special trip!