"Is this train going to Deventer?" "Especially for you!"

Last night was another long night in Groningen, but it was followed by an 'early' morning start. Phil, Marlinda and I left this morning for Heerenveen where we went to a shop dedicated to speedskating. They had everything you need for training from bikes to inlines. My favourite part was the little ice rink they have inside that you can test out skates on. Clever.



From there we left and headed to the oval in Thialf, which I have just learned is the 'Heerenveen' oval. We didn't skate, we just quickly stopped there so I could take some pictures since I forgot to when I was skating there earlier this week.. Oops. Good thing Phil was nice and drove me around.



Speaking of Phil's driving, Phil drove his car here from London. That means he drives on the 'wrong' side of the car. It was weird getting in the front on the left side of the car and not having a steering wheel.



Groningen is a cute place. I would tell anyone to go there. Be sure to rent a bike while you're there! Everyone has them. Right next to the train station is a place to store your bike if you don't have room for it where you live. It holds 5,000 bikes and is FULL. Most people lock their bikes up to things just outside of their house, but others just leave them chilling in the street. Apparently if yours gets stolen you're free to take another one. It's frowned upon, but that's how they roll.

As I type this I'm sitting on my third and last train of the day, and am in route to Berlin. 5 hours of travel to go! Matt's picking us up at the train station and is letting us stay with him and his room mate. Germany plays in the Semi-final of the World Cup tomorrow so I'm sure we'll be able to check out their party scene, too. That would put me at 3 for 3 :) Then all I would have to do is see a movie in Germany ;) We'll be in Berlin for 9 days and then we're off to the coast of Montpellier! Seeing the water will be a good change. I miss seeing lakes every where I look..

Wish you were here!


Things I learned in Groningen

1. They love techno music. It doesn't even need to be in Dutch. It just needs to be techno. I loved it.

2. The haunted restaurant downtown makes the best omelets.

3. Bikes have their own road next to the road for cars and you have to yield to them quite often.

4. It is SO cool being some where where people not only know what speedskating is, but also appreciate it. I felt really cool.

5. I felt less dumb while doing dryland in the park because of this.

6. I usually had no idea what I was eating, but it always tasted really good.

7. Dutch people are really tall and look rather old for their age. We went to a barbeque for Paul's birthday and I thought he was 24 or 25. Turns out he just turned 20.

8. Sven is better looking in person.

9. The Dutch are really assured of themselves and the fact that they WILL win the world cup. Hup Holland Hup!

10. The Dutch know how to party.