The One Where The Parents Visit and We Play Catch-Up

Emily Bernstein
April 17, 2017

I missed a few blog posts, and one of them was such an important one at that! I wrote a few drafts, and never finished them, but I must!!

Mom and Dad came to visit about three weeks ago and we had so much fun. I’m so glad they were able to come see me.

They started their visit here in Limerick, and visited the Blarney Stone on Thursday. Then, on Friday, we saw the Cliffs of Moher (again so beautiful) before heading to Galway – a city I’ve been wanting to see since arriving in Ireland.

Galway was very fun (or at least I thought so!), and we saw a lot of the classic, tourist areas of Galway, while also seeing the beautiful waterside and a very pretty church besides. We headed to Dublin after that and explored some of the more touristy parts of the city. We saw a really cool old jail (called the Kilmainham Gaol – which I think all three of us would highly recommend), Dad saw the Guinness Factory, and we all enjoyed the sunny day in Dublin.

In fact, it seems like Mom and Dad brought the sun with them because the whole weekend was full of sun, and of course, the day after they left, it poured rain. But all is well and good. It’s spring now, so we should be seeing more sunshine.

Of this trip, Dad has most of the photos, so pester him for them!

A week after Mom and Dad came, I headed to Amsterdam with my friend, Emily. Yeah, so don’t forget that name.

We lucked out on the time of year because we were able to see a lot of the tulips blooming! We spent a whole morning wandering the famous tulip gardens in Amsterdam and we both really enjoyed the wonderful colors and vibrant tulips.

Pro-traveler tip #3: Bring your walking shoes. Even if your super cute boots look great, make sure you can walk long distances in them first. 

After the gardens, Emily and I headed to the A’Dam Lookout, a building that on the 21st floor has a 360 degree view of Amsterdam and the surrounding cities. On the very top floor, there is a swing you can get on that puts you over the city. I was terrified, but Emily had a lot of fun, and we get beautiful pictures from it!

We wandered around the city for the rest of the day before grabbing some Mexican food (I’ve found some in every city I visited!).

The next day, Emily and I started the day with the Van Gogh museum and the Amsterdam Sign.

Pro-traveler tip #4: Use public transportation. It is your friend. Even if it looks scary. 

The Van Gogh museum was really cool. I knew the artist was crazy, but I had no idea just how crazy he really was. Reading about his life and seeing his artwork was very interesting.

After that, we took a canal cruise which was a very cool way to see the city we’d already wandered. Emily and I grabbed lunch, then headed to the Anne Frank House to see if we could get in (as we didn’t have pre-bought tickets).

Pro-traveler tip #5: Buy your Anne Frank tickets weeks in advance. 

We waited in line for 3 hours, yes – 3 hours. We met quite a few interesting characters, including a hilarious British couple. At first, I was worried that Emily didn’t want to wait in the line so long, but we both really enjoyed the House. I’m not sure enjoy is the right word, but I don’t think either of us regretted the wait in line. The Anne Frank House is beautifully curated and the story of the Franks is told very well.

After that, we grabbed dinner (Emily enjoyed a very authentic Dutch dinner), wandered the city some more, visited an ice cream shop, and went to bed because we had an early flight home.

All in all, these two weekends were really fun and very rewarding. It’s always good to see family! 🙂

Sláinte.