Ryan Is In Holland...Again

In case you didn't realize it, before this blog I used to have another one called Ryan Is In Holland where I basically covered the same sort of things I cover now, just in The Netherlands. Well, for the first time since I left the NL on September 12th, 2007, I'm now actually blogging from Holland again, sitting here at a computer in my friends Andrew and Sasha's home (which is also where I lived for the last two months of my time in Europe). So, things have kinda come full circle here on my blog, at least for a little bit...

Anyway, Candace and I arrived in The Netherlands on Tuesday morning (Central European Time), and we spent our first full day touring The Hague, catching up on sleep, and catching up with old friends that night at one of my favorite bars in town. For our second day in town, we spent the bulk of our time touring Amsterdam, which, as always, is exciting in that tolerant Dutch kind of way. Finally, our third and last day in the NL was spent chilling around The Hague and later renting bikes to ride up to the beach town of Scheveningen. I don't know why we didn't rent bikes the whole time we were here, as it was only €6.50 p/person p/day and easily makes the whole Dutch experience that much more authentic and fun.

So, now we're off to Belgium: Antwerp for the better part of today, then a hostel in Brussels for three nights, which we'll use as a home base to see both that city and other nearby towns in Belgium. Overall, the most distinctive thing about my time in The Netherlands will probably end up being how familiar it all was, including getting to see my old friends. Obviously this sort of familiarity won't be nearly as strong in Belgium, Paris, or London, despite having been there before... I was really surprised by how easily I jumped back into my Dutch skin (language and all), and none of my time here really felt all that much out of my comfort zone.

No, you can't ever truly go back, but that doesn't mean it won't still be familiar and fun! Anyway, off to Belgium!