Graduation Trip

It wasn't really the gown or diploma or cane that made me feel like I graduated, it was walking across the map.  For those of you who aren't from Hamilton College, we have a map in the middle of campus.  The myth goes that if you walk over the map then you won't graduate.  Call it a silly superstition, but I've been a true believer ever since my friend from freshman year walked over the map and ended up leaving school because he had Lyme Disease.  Walking around the map becomes second nature, but when I really stop to think about it, that map has stolen from me.  Trying to get to class during a busy passing period, weaving around people, carefully skirting around the map, all together I have spent a significant amount of time and extra steps avoiding that map.  So on graduation day, we stood on the map.

Before I knew it, my room was packed and I was on a plane to Amsterdam with Denis.  Our graduation present from our parents was a 10 day trip to Europe.  We got off to a rocky start.  The plane was overbooked, and Denis was the lucky one who was randomly taken off the flight.  Thankfully some people volunteered to stay behind and they put Denis back on since he wasn't travelling alone.  Then we had another glitch because Denis got the dates mixed up and we arrived in Amsterdam at 7 AM the day after Denis had thought we were going to.  So our 24 hour speed tour of Amsterdam began.

We checked into a hotel, rented bikes, went to the van Gogh Museum, sat at a cafe and drank espresso, went to a brewery, then a distillery, then a pub, then another pub, and went to bed.  Really, we couldn't have done it another way.

I really liked Amsterdam.  Everything in Amsterdam is nothing less than quaint.  The whole city has a warm feeling.  Biking along the canals and finding little pubs in side alleys was the perfect way to spend our short visit to Amsterdam.










Then we were off to Paris.  Unfortunately, Paris is a difficult place to be for 2 days when neither of us speaks any French.  We spent the first afternoon doing the tourist thing, so we went to the Lourve, saw the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo.  The most startling part of the Lourve, however, was the building itself.  You could literally get lost inside for weeks and never see it all.  Feet aching and eyes full of artwork, we continued to fight our jetlag, got some dinner, and made plans for the night.  We decided that the best way to spend our evening was to see the normally very crowded attractions when no one else would be there.  So we grabbed a bottle of wine, stopped at Notre Dam, and then headed to the Eiffel Tower.  After finishing our wine, we were off to the Arc de Triomphe.  By this time it was fairly late, so Denis grabbed a McBaguette as a late-night snack and we went back to the hotel.

We spent the next day in a much more relaxed manner.  We grabbed our books, another bottle of wine, some apples and found a park to spend the day napping, reading, and drinking wine.  Paris really is incredibly romantic and the parks are astonishingly beautiful.  Plus we needed to rest up for London.

Our 2 days in London were a blur of pubs, pub food, and good beer.  We made sure we did some non-drinking related activities, though, by going to the British Museum.  Once we had satisfied ourselves looking at the Rosetta Stone and mummies, we headed back to the hotel to take a quick nap before going out.  On our way we stumbled on the Museum of Health and Medicine.  This was an amazing find.  It is an odd mix of medicine and art, and we spent hours wandering through their special exhibit on the brain.

















Then it was back to happily sitting in pubs.  Of course we spent a little too much time in those pubs our last night and almost missed our flight to Munich.  Fortunately there were some Spaniards in the bunk next to us in the hostel who were incredibly loud at 7 AM, helping us get out of bed and make it onto the plane.


Once in Munich, we miraculously met up with our parents, who whisked us out of our hostel living.  We drove through Austria, hiked a bit, drank more good beer, saw Mozart's birthplace, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.








Then we spent our last day in Munich, sitting in cafes under the shadow of the enormous Munich Cathedral.  And of course, we celebrated my parents' 29th anniversary.