Ah. Can you believe Thanksgiving is over!!? The time sure does fly. No lies. I'm currently sitting at my desk, had a delightful little lunch, lit a candle, and am listening to some Norah Jones. It's quite romantic. I should rewind though! I haven't updated, and fun things have been happening!
Last weekend, and by weekend I mean we started on Friday, Kathryn and I decided to do a mini- "tour de Holland" as I called it. We decided to half go with the flow and half plan what cities we wanted to see. Leaving Amsterdam off the list (because I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of Chelsea and Adam do that!) We decided on smaller cities that no one has particularly heard of. On Friday we headed to Gouda for the afternoon. I have to say, this town was my favorite so far of Holland. Quaint, cute, and We found THE best Stroopwafels, and had an amazing sugar-filled lunch consisting of: Stroopwafels, chocolate covered stroopwafels, pastries with stroopwafel on it, chocolate, coffee and stroopwafel liqueur. (See photo, courtesy of Kathryn)

We bought packages of the stroopwafels to share, and also a bottle of the liqueur because it was just so good! We walked around and took pictures, which was difficult considering our sugar intake, we were struggling a little. And having giggle fits. :)
After a few lovely hours and money spent, we got on the train and stopped in Delft. We walked around and it was a nice evening, minimal rain (surprising). We got some giros, as usual, because the greek food here is great AND everywhere. We checked out a lot of shops with lots of porcelain, because delft is big on that. The church bells were playing "Yesterday" and it was amazing. We called it quits, and were convinced we would be the only ones with energy back at the house... which ended up being true, but we called it an early night because we were going to Den Bosch early the next day!
Den Bosch, formally known as 's Hertogenbosch, is the home of the painter Jheronimus Bosch. We chose this town because of its HUGE market, even though it was a 2 hour train ride. It was worth it to see a duck made out of nuts. ha. Kathryn and I just don't get sick of each other so it works out! Ha! We explored, went into Sin Jan's church, and in the Jheronimus Bosch Art Center, where you could go up a tower and see all of Den Bosch. It was lovely! The art was all prints, and Bosch had a very strange sense of imagination and it was all on the verge of creepy. Actually, it was extremely creepy. Especially the end of the exhibit, which was a video of the interpretation of his paintings. Disturbing. I can't even explain.
The whole day the two of us were dying for an ice cream, and not to my surprise of course, we could not find ONE ice cream shop. We searched all day, and finally when we were giving up, we decided on Australian ice cream. Not that this is any significance to anyone, but I really just never had any interest in this chain. There is one in Leiden, and I have refused profusely to go there. But this was the only option, and it wasn't THAT bad. Upon more shopping and wandering and finding another art museum, we were looking for something for dinner and of course we came across a real ice cream shop. We could only shake our heads, we just didn't even know what to do. Always find what you're looking for when you're not actually looking for it. The two days of travel were loads of fun. Kathryn is fun to travel with, and I just enjoy her company so!
Anyway, I do have to tell all about the visit of Chels and Adam, but I think a nap is a better idea right now. Priorities, ya know? :) And so I can borrow some of Chels' photos to put up when she uploads them. THANKS SIS!
Until later, hugs and kisses.
PS. I planned my last and final trip, with Kathryn and two other girls, to PRAGUE, this week!
PPS. And if you didn't start your "Emma's Return to the States" countdown, its 26 days. Oh my. I just looked that up. CRAZY PANTS! AHH. Oh man. I'm freaking out a little. I miss everyone here already. Going to cry.