The Shwits

A Harry Potter Weekend in London

It’s the blog who lived!

All thanks to my good friend Harry and his cursed child.

You may (or may not) have noticed that things have been pretty quiet around here. Shane has been feverishly writing and trying to wrap up this Ph.D. thesis. He’s in the phase now that I like to call “edit purgatory,” but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s getting brighter. Hopefully, within the next month to month and a half, there will be some good news to report!

While Shane’s been working his a** off, I’ve been doing important things, too, ya know. Like making sure I know how my friends on Jersey Shore enjoyed their family vacation, and fully investing myself into the career of our beloved American princess – pardon me, Duchess of Sussex – Meghan Markel. This could have potentially come in handy last weekend because we headed to London to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child!

In case you don’t know – I love Harry Potter. Last summer, my sister, mom, and I did a pretty serious HP tour of London and Scotland. We weren’t able to see the play, though; tickets just weren’t available.

I bought these tickets in February 2017. So, after our travel drought (darn you, thesis!) and the long and much-anticipated wait, I was itching to get out of Groningen for a weekend!

We arrived pretty late on Friday, so we didn’t really do much. This time, we stayed near St. James Park in a hub – by Premier Inn. I wasn’t sure what to expect out of this hotel (it’s advertised as a budget hotel that emphasizes technology), but it was great! The rooms are small, but it reminded me of what (I assume) it would be like to live in a tiny house – clever storage and layout – the bed was comfy, it was across the street from the tube, and (most importantly) there was free coffee. All in all, it was a win.

Anyway, the next morning, we were up bright and early to find a good ‘ole English breakfast! And we won the breakfast lottery thanks to this gem.

It was the English equivalent of a hole-in-the-wall American diner – delicious & cheap. Dutch breakfast just doesn’t do it for me…

The play didn’t start until the afternoon, so we had all morning to do something new in London. Our intention was to visit the Churchill War Rooms, but we severely underestimated the line for this museum (mostly due to online ticket sales and the size of the museum itself), so we abandoned ship and ended up walking around St. James Park and down to Buckingham Palace.

You may notice all the barricades in the background. They were clearly setting up for something in the future. Little did I know that in only two short days, the entire royal family would be out on that balcony for a flyover celebrating 100 years of the Royal Airforce. I always seem to be just a bit too early or just a bit too late for these types of things…

We did get to see some of the Guards up close, though, as they marched down the street. I (naturally) ran to the road for an up-close view.

Shane felt just fine staying where he was. (hah)

We continued our pre-show wanderings and ended up at the Wellington Arch.

Shane noticed you could go up, and a trip surely isn’t complete without dragging him up a few flights of steps for a nice view. He might complain (especially when there’s an elevator available), but it’s always worth it. We even got lucky and saw the Royal Calvary coming through for the changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace.

And, of course, there’s always time for a pint!

To top off the weekend, it was Pride Day AND England was playing in the World Cup. It’s safe to say the city felt quite festive and was super busy! We were in the play for most of the England match, but we were out for the very end…. not that we could see anything. You definitely weren’t getting into a pub, and there were crowds watching TVs through the windows.

And, when England won… chaos! In a fun way.

Now, for the crème de la crème: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child!

Unfortunately, I can’t say much. JK Rowling sent a personalized email after the show asking to #keepthesecrets. And what JK asks, JK receives. What I can tell you is that this story is supposed to be the 8th of the series and picks up where the books left off – Harry sending his 2nd child, Albus Severus, off to Hogwarts on Sept. 1st, 2017 (which is also why Sis & I lived the dream last year and went to King’s Cross station on Sep. 1st). I can also tell you that the magic in the show was fantastic. It really felt like the world of Harry Potter, and if you’re a fan and have the chance to see it, then do it!

I’ll be honest, it’s a long play; Part 1 and 2 are ~2.5h each. It really doesn’t feel like it, though. Shane was also happy because they served ice cream at the intermission.

We had a few hours in the morning on Sunday before we flew home, so we headed to the British Museum. Fun fact: it’s free. Another fun fact: if you go to the back entrance, you avoid the long lines in the front! This was quite by accident, but thanks, Google Maps!

We eventually made it to the front of the building.

We only had about an hour and a half before we needed to start heading to the airport, but conveniently enough, the museum was prepared for this! And let’s be real, the average person’s attention span for looking at old stuff is probably only about 1.5 – 2 hours anyway.

So we hit the highlights, the Rosetta Stone, an Easter Island man, and we took our time through the Egypt section just because we like Egypt.

All in all, I love Harry Potter. I love London. And we’re already looking for an excuse to go back!

And keep those fingers crossed and positive thoughts coming – hopefully, in the next post, I’ll be reporting a submitted thesis. 😉

Tot ziens,

Whitney

Keukenhof & Koningsdag

We are just rockin’ and rollin’ on our Netherlands bucket list this year!

A few weeks ago, we finally made it to the renowned Keukenhof gardens! We were lucky to have some family visiting the Netherlands, so we met up in Amsterdam and headed about 30 min south to Lisse, where the gardens are located.

Good side – it was the first warm weekend of the year!

Bad side – it was the first warm weekend of the year.

While we did get to wear short sleeves, most of the tulips weren’t in bloom yet because the weather here has been quite cold this spring. It was only a few weeks ago that the canals froze over, so we were kind of anticipating this.

We were able to see some ‘early bloomers’. We learned on this trip that there are early, middle and late blooming tulips. The Keukenhof keeps their gardens blooming through the entire season by strategically planting the bulbs, like the example below. In this way, about the time the early bloomers are dying, the middle ones are blooming, and so on.

Although the fields were mostly green, the greenhouse in the center of the park was in full bloom! There were literally hundreds of types of tulips in here. I had no idea so many existed.

Next up, something just as colorful…

Koningsdag 2018!

And this year was particularly special because the King came to Groningen! I was BEYOND excited. In case you didn’t know, we don’t have kings and queens in America (something about a Revolutionary War? *joke*). So when I heard there was a chance to see King Willem Alexander and the royal family up close and personal I knew we were going. PLUS – I love a good parade.

Quick recap – Koningsdag, or King’s Day, celebrates the birthday of the King. I would say it’s the Dutch version of the 4th of July: everyone is super patriotic and there is a lot of beer consumed.

Also fun fact – King’s day is celebrated on April 27th, which is indeed the King’s birthday, but this was not always the case. His mother, (former) Queen Beatrix was born on January 31st, but that’s a terrible day to have an outdoor party in Holland. To remedy this, she kept the birthday of her mother, (former) Queen Juliana who was born on April 30th. So, considering the eldest daughter of King Willem was born in December, it will be interesting to see if she adopts the birthday of her father.

Maybe you don’t at all find that interesting. I’ll move on to pictures now.

Bright and early Koningsdag morning Shane and I headed to the parade route to get a good spot! Thanks to Shane, we ended up with a spot on the fence. And, I would say it worked out well for us.

Unfortunately, we were ONE person off from shaking hands with him. Just my luck. We were able to shake hands with all the princesses though, so pretty much that means the future queen and I are besties now.

Princess Ariane.
Queen Maxima in red.

The rest of the day was reserved for the Vrijemarkt (aka – free market, one giant yard sale) and free music in the city center.

Keukenhof Gardens – CHECK!

(basically) Meet the King – CHECK!

Let’s see what else we can do this year…

Tot ziens,

Whitney

Livigno, Italy

Ahhh, nothing better than alpine wind blowing through your braided pigtails as you whizz down snow-covered mountains with a board strapped to your feet.

Especially so, considering we almost didn’t make it on this trip. I’ll explain.

We had plans to fly on Saturday around noon. The last few trips we’ve cut it pretty close at the airport for various reasons – delayed trains, delayed baggage check-in etc.. This time, we were going to be smart. We booked ourselves a hotel at the airport Friday night and planned to have a “leisurely morning before the flight”. Boy, were we wrong.

Friday night, in the hustle and bustle of getting all the snowboard luggage off the train, Shane left his backpack in the upper storage compartment. What was in the backpack? Oh, let’s see. Only everything important: his work computer, the GoPro, a Nikon camera, his snowboarding goggles, his keys, his new hat, and the kicker – his passport.

Now, I must say. We’ve learned a few lessons from this experience.

NEVER put all your expensive stuff in one bag. I mean, rookie mistake. We have traveled enough to know better.

Take a picture of your passport NOW. Don’t make a paper copy. I mean, do that too if you want, but find a way to store it on-the-line. If your paper copy happens to be with your lost passport and you can’t find the number then you’ll run into this scenario – like us.

Save ALL your receipts for any purchases over, say $50, in a dedicated place. You’ll need them if you submit claims for insurance, and when you go to look for a computer purchase that happened in 2010 the odds are you don’t have the email anymore and the store where you purchased it won’t have records beyond 2012 *cough-Best Buy-cough*.

As soon as we realized the backpack was missing, Shane filed a report with NS, the train company. They told us that we had a chance because the train we were on terminated for the night in Den Haag, which was only two stops away. On the other hand, the train terminated in Den Haag, only two stops away, so when we realized the backpack was gone the conductor had already taken the train to the yard for the night.

Ok Ok, so we lost the stuff. Expensive, yes, but replaceable. And Shane is a compulsive backer-upper so all his thesis data was locked up at work – also ok. Next problem: the passport. Generally speaking, you can’t fly to another country without a passport. Lucky for us, we found out that the airline KLM would allow Shane to fly with only his Dutch drivers’ license as ID. So, I kept the original flight and Shane rebooked with KLM to Milan.

Fun fact. Milan has TWO airports. Our original flights went to LIN. The rebooked flight went to MXP.

Ok ok ok – soooo no problem. We rented a car to drive to the mountain. New plan – I’ll pick up the car, drive to Shane (who arrived after me), pick him up and we will be on our way.

That’s a big fat NOPE!

I booked the car but listed Shane as the primary driver because he usually is. Turns out, for reasons that are still beyond me, when one makes a car reservation you can’t change the primary driver to someone else without canceling the booking and starting over (despite having all the booking information and the same credit card). Since we definitely didn’t want to do that – we still needed the car – Shane had to land and come to me.

So, 4 hours and an expensive cab ride later, my knight in shining armor arrived and picked up the car with no problems whatsoever (insert eye roll – to the car people, not Shane).

BUT HOT DAMN WE WERE FINALLY ON THE WAY!!

And no, this picture is not from our journey there. By the time we arrived in Livigno, it was ~10:30pm (instead of ~6pm as intended) after a dark and winding way into the mountains where, despite Shane’s excellent driving, I did very little talking and pressed my invisible-passenger-side-break a lot.

But it was all worth it. SO worth it!

I think I’ll stop talking now and let the pictures speak for themselves. Since we lost the GoPro, no real action shots this trip, but we did agree – it was kind of nice to be disconnected in that way. As fun as it is to have the GoPro, you’re always thinking about if you’re getting good videos for pictures or for the compilation video. This time, we just snowboarded, drank, and snowboarded again. And we were very lucky with the weather, only one white-out day (which we used to play in the *beginner* funpark – I made 4 JUMPS IN A ROW!) and the rest was snow overnight, sunshine during the day.

Ok, now I’ll really stop talking.

I swear we were having a good time. (lol)

One really nice thing about Livigno, if you could get to it then it was open for business. As in, the off-piste (off-trail) options were just about equal to the piste options. This was my first time trying off-piste, and now I get it. It’s like snowboarding on a cloud!

Despite, as Shane likes to put it, “his best efforts” we came. We snowboarded. We conquered.

Now we have to wait another year to do it all again… sigh.

And don’t worry. Shane figured out a way to report the lost passport without the number and goes next week to apply for a new one. Turns out, it requires exactly the right combination of information (current address, permanent address, phone number etc.) to allow the online system to find you. Quite a challenge if you’ve moved a lot.

Oh, and FYI, don’t try calling – they will only direct you to the website. Good work, America.

Tot ziens,

Whitney

The Siberian Bear

IT HAPPENED!

The canals (and ponds) froze!

We’ve heard rumor of this, but it hasn’t been cold enough for long enough to make it a reality. I don’t think the canals in Amsterdam have been frozen enough to skate/walk on since 2012, so I imagine it’s safe to say that for Groningen as well. But, thanks to the “Siberian Bear” (as the Dutch are calling it) it’s been cold (and I mean COLD) enough to cause a deep freeze and pull out the skates!

One of the largest canals in the city, the Verbindingskanaal.

The cold weather has been fun for freezing things over, but not so fun to commute in when your commute includes a 20 min. walk (or bike ride in Shane’s case). In weather like this we always think of our friend, Alicia (yes… Alicia – you lol). When she was visiting over the summer a few years ago she made the comment “Biking here isn’t so bad.” Peak summer. Beautiful weather. When the wind chill is -18°C (-1°F) and blowing so hard that you’re simultaneously sweating profusely and turning into a popsicle; it’s those moments that we look at each other through squinty eyes, head turned to the side so you can actually hear each other, and say “Yeah Alicia! Biking here is NOT THAT BAD!”

It’s OK, Alicia – we get a good laugh out of it. (Love ya!)

This was definitely a lifetime first for us – walking on natural ice. We both compared it to walking on those glass floors at tourist destinations, except you know the glass floor isn’t going to break. No guarantees for the ice I suppose.

Shane was a little more nervous that I was. “Did you hear that crack?!”

Canal Walking Zernike – 03Mar18

Alas, as of today the bear has officially moved on. We are back to normal, up to 6°C (43F°). It was fun while it lasted, it’s just too bad it didn’t last long enough to make the Elfstedentocht possible.

Tot ziens,

Whitney

Groningen Round-Up 3 (Plus Some Extra)

So, remember that time we went home for Christmas?

…probably not, because I never actually blogged about it! (facepalm)

In short:

We flew home – we had Christmas with our families – we celebrated New Year’s Eve – I turned 32 (not too keen on seeing that in writing) – we saw as many friends as we could – Shane got to see some of his nephew’s swim meets – time went way too fast – we came back to the Netherlands!

I’ll let the pictures show the details. Presented in chronological order.

Shane with his nieces, Layla and Hudson
Shane, Alex & Brad
Dad’s new kitten, Abby
Christmas Day

Shane was a mattress shopping assistant.

curious kitten. Muffin wouldn't let me get any pictures this trip. — Curious kitten, Abby.

Sis had to work, so we went to her!
New Year’s Eve

Friend reunions!

Since we’ve been back, we’ve been laying low. Shane is officially in the final stretch of Ph.D. so there is a lot of writing going on in our house at the moment. There have been a few new developments though.

1. We booked our next trip! We will be heading to Livigno, Italy for a week of snowboarding in March.

2. We checked something off our Groningen bucket list! We FINALLY made it to an FC Groningen match. The best part? The tickets were free (thanks to our insurance ‘healthy points’ rewards program) and we ended up being 4 rows from the field! The match ended in a tie, but it was so nice to go to a live sporting event.

3. I started a Dutch course! For two hours every Tuesday and Thursday night, I’ll be in class. The group is 16 people, and the people are from all over. Mexico, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India, Poland, Bosnia and America (me), to be exact. I think it’s so cool for such a diverse group of people to be united over a common goal of learning Dutch. Supposedly, when I complete the course I’ll be halfway to ‘B2’ level, which would be advanced-intermediate. I should be able to have conversations and more clearly express opinions in Dutch without problems. I’ll report back on how it goes.

4. We are fully on the climbing train. Right now, we’ve been going to the climbing gym about twice a week. Our gym does mostly top-rope climbing and has a very small (indoor) bouldering room. We recently found out about a fairly new bouldering gym here in Groningen, so we decided to check it out. Lots of fun!

5. And most importantly, Meatball got a house for Christmas (had to get the XL version…). Toooooo cute!

So, I think that’s about all! More to come after snowboarding. 🙂

Tot ziens,

Whitney

The Best Darn Mom & Sis Trip: Video Version

Hi all!

Considering we took this trip in September, these videos have been a long time coming. They’ve been ready for a little while now, but I was waiting until after my trip home to the U.S. before I posted about them here. I wanted to share them with my mom and sister first! 🙂

This was also my first attempt at making the GoPro video mash-up. Usually, Shane is the video maker, but since he “didn’t go on the trip and can’t tell my story” (yeah yeah – I guess he’s right) I did it, and ended up loving it.

So, here they are!

Part 1: the Netherlands and London

Part 2: Scotland

(I would also like to pre-warn you – all the music is from the Outlander series which, of course, was part of the reason we went to Scotland.)

Hope you enjoy!

Tot ziens,

Whitney

Berlin, Germany

Good morning!

I’m writing this post from home in Charlotte, NC!

(at 6:45 am – thanks time-change)

I’ll keep it short and sweet.

About two weeks ago Shane and I continued our German Christmas market tradition; this year in Berlin, Germany! I had full intentions of writing this post before we headed home for the holidays, but such is life around this time of year – too many plans and not enough time.

Amazingly enough, this is our 4th year of Christmas market trips! We’ve realized that each year we’ve gone a little bit bigger.

Year One – Day Trip to Münster

Year Two – Overnight in Valkenburg (The Netherlands) and a day trip to Düsseldorf.

Year Three – One night in Cologne

Year Four – TWO nights in Berlin

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it every year. If you ever get the opportunity to go to a German Christmas market then do it! They are so magical and full of Christmas spirit (I imagine the gluhwein also helps with that). Berlin was no exception – great shopping, great food, great company!

This year we were able to meet some Groningen friends (from Shane’s department), Theresa and Giulia, who are now living in Germany after finishing their PhDs.

I mean come on. Who doesn’t want some hot cheesy balls?

And Shane found his dream come true – a marzipan POTATO!

(aka – a potato sized ball of marzipan lightly rolled in cinnamon)

We were also able to fit in some Berlin sightseeing despite the abundance of Christmas cheer on Friday night. Saturday morning we participated in our favorite ‘new city’ activity – a walking tour! We were a little worried a 3.5h tour would be too long, but it wasn’t enough time! Our (funny enough, British) guide did an excellent job at taking us to all the major sites.

img_5804-1 — We saw the Brandenburg Gate in both stone and chocolate form!

The Berlin Cathedral, and the TV tower in the background.

A piece of what’s left of the Berlin wall.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

They had the coolest pedestrian walk symbol. People love him so much he has a store!

All in all I would say Berlin was a success! Of course, two nights is nowhere near enough time. So, until next time, Berlin!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Tot ziens,

Whitney

Groningen Round-Up 2

Hi blog readers!

We head to Berlin in about two weeks for the Christmas markets, but I thought it might be nice to do a little round-up of what has been going on here.

First off, it’s my FAVORITE time of year again!

All the lights are back in city center! One positive thing about my new commute to work is that I walk home from the train station in the afternoon. Right now, the sun sets about 4:30pm. I’m back in Groningen about 5pm, so the walk home is super gezellig!

And speaking of festive things, Sinterklaas has officially arrived in Groningen!

Tradition (aka: me) dictates that we must go stand in the rain and watch a boat parade. Holland did not let us down this year. It definitely rained, but luckily enough most of it passed by the time Shane, Danielle and I were waiting for good ole Sint.

Shane and I have also started a new hobby – indoor climbing!

We have a nice indoor climbing gym here in Groningen with a pretty renowned 37m (121ft) outdoor tower called Excalibur. We have not (and will not for a while) braved Excalibur, but we did take the beginner climbing course with some friends. It was great and now we’re hooked!

And this was just in time for Shane’s 32nd birthday!

Extra lucky for him, our friend has recently started a cake business!

(If you happen to read this and you live in the Groningen area – if you need a speciality cake check out Sarah at Thema Taart Groningen!)

And lastly, we’ve checked something off our Groningen bucket list. We finally made it to the Groninger Museum.

Confession.

We may or may not have ended up there due to a poor translation on my part.

I pass the museum every day when I walk home from the train station, and in the windows they advertised for an exhibit called “Rijks in Groningen”. Now, in Amsterdam, the main art and antiquities museum is called the Rijksmuseum. I thought ‘Cool! Some things from the Rijksmuseum are temporarily in Groningen!’. What I forgot was that the word ‘rijk’ translates to ‘rich’. The exhibit advertisement I walked past for weeks was not borrowed items from the Rijksmuseum, but about the ‘rich’ of the province of Groningen.

Whoops.

Regardless, the exhibit turned out to be nice, and I saw this chicken on the beach.

So yeah, that’s about it! Oh, and Meatball says hi.

More to come after Berlin!

Tot ziens,