Day 14-17- Duck in "the Meg"

I love when unexpected things happen! So I went into this weekend expecting a relaxing, borderline boring weekend by myself at the castle. I was tired out and still hurting from the weekend in Amsterdam so I opted out of a trip to Belgium to stay back, relax, and get my energy back. While I was heading out to find lunch somewhere in town (the dining hall is closed on Friday and Saturday), my friend Roisin knocked on my door and asked if I wanted to grab lunch with her, Anna, and Karen. The three of them were supposed to be on a trip to Copenhagen but their plans got messed up so they ended up coming back to the castle. I was so happy to have company!

On our quest for food we walked through the old section of Well. I didn’t realize how gorgeous it is! Every house and store is brick with stained glass paneled windows and they are right on the river. There is also an old shrine and church that are beautiful. We ended up going to a snack bar in the other part of town. How it works is you basically walk up to a glass deli-style case that is full of uncooked meats, egg-roll looking things, and kebabs. You pick out what you want and they fry it right there for you. I got an egg-roll type thing that was filled with pork. It was delicious! We also each got frites. The place looked exactly like a Greek diner! It felt like I was back at home in the Monroe or the Bright Star Diner. We sat there for about 2 hours eating and talking and getting to know each other. The girls said that when they realized they had to come back to the castle they weren’t upset because they knew that I would be here. Afterwards we walked back to the castle and went to go relax.

We took the bus into Venlo (about 25 minutes away) to walk around and grab something to eat. Venlo was so cute! It looked like the old section of Well, just bigger. Also, everything was decked out for Carnivale so there were streamers, balloons, and flags up everywhere. All of the stores were closed so we just walked around the city for a little and tried to find a place to eat. We based it on whatever looked cutest and had people in it. We settled on this adorable Dutch café that was completely decorated for carnival. It had streamers and balloons covering the ceilings and masks everywhere. There were old wooden tables and everything had a rustic feel (there was even candlelight!). Since it was a little pricey we all ordered appetizers which was ok because everything turned out to be absolutely delicious! Karen and I both got a duck fliet over greens with sliced figs and mushrooms that was drizzled in a balsamic-type sauce. OH MY GOD SO DELICOUS! I ate every single morsel on my plate. I also had a glass of really good Rose wine to go along with it. The best part was that it was pretty cheap too! After dinner we walked around a little bit more and then went to McDonalds (I know, I know, so American of us) for Stroopwafel McFurries. AH SO GOOD! They are my new favorite thing, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to order a regular McFlurry again. After we took the bus back we all split up into our rooms and I skyped with Lane for a while which was great!

The next day we met up at eleven and went to brunch at the bakery in town. I had a pastry that had sausage inside and hot chocolate, again so delicious. One thing I love about the Netherlands is that anytime you order a coffee or hot chocolate they always serve it to you with a cookie or candy to dunk in your drink. Usually it’s some kind of gingerbread. We caught the bus to Nijmegen, a college town about an hour’s ride away. Once we got there we walked to the Vankoft (?) Museum to go see some modern art. It was a slight fail because half of the museum was closed for “renovation” but hey, at least it only cost three euro! We then explored some old castle ruins that were outside the museum before walking around the down town area. We ate at a place called “Mr. Jack’s” which specialized in Greek and Italian food. The inside of the place was so cozy so we were able to warm up after walking around in the foggy, cold mist. I had a really good tortellini in a four cheese sauce. After our “linner” we walked around for a little bit more but since all of the stores close at 5:00pm, we decided to head back to the bus station.

We grabbed coffee and hot chocolate in Café Vink, the place where the bus drops us off in Well. Again, it was all decorated for carnival making it look even cuter than it does normally. The hot chocolate was so delicious!

Sunday was just a very relaxing day doing a whole lot of nothing. I was woken up by the obnoxious honking of the black swan outside of my window. It woke me up about four different times, damn bird! It’s actually kinda scary looking, I swear it’s evil! Karen, Roisin, Anna and I went to the snack shop again to get milkshakes but since there was no icecream to be found in the store we settled for frites again. Dinner was actually good today with chicken nuggets and potatoes. One thing I’ve noticed is that the dining hall doesn’t really season their vegetables when they cook them so they are blander than bland.