Groningen

Went to Groningen yesterday (pronounced ggggrow-nen-gen), the biggest city nearby. Total inhabitants: 185,000 with 20,000 of those students at the University of Groningen. We puposely went on a Saturday to take advantage of the weekly market that is held in the city center, Grote Markt. We picked up some soft swiss cheese from one of the bazillion venders and also some mangoes (both of which shall play a larger role in later paragraphs). It was misting on and off as we walked among the stalls, but finally it started raining too hard so we went and had coffee under the awning of a cafe. Francillia had made fried chicken before we left, and Rachael and I put together some veggie sandwiches, so we enjoyed some lattes and packed lunch on the streets of Groningen watching the rain come down. Eventually even the awning wasn't enough to protect us from the rain so we went inside and sat on some couches. I think we just sat there and chatted and chatted for a good while even past the worst of the rain storm.

We eventually decided to search out the tattoo & piercing parlors in the city that I had marked down on my map before we left. I wanted to get another piercing and Francillia was interested in getting a tattoo. So in our quest to not only FIND the shops (of which I was in charge- I did admirbly, thank you) and estimate costs and tatoo artists ability we got to see a fair portion of Groningen city center. It's a tightly packed metropolis- it only takes about 15min to walk from end to end of the ringed city center. Anyway, of the shops we found one was nice but expensive, one was rude and who cares how much the cost, one was just piercings and expensive, and the other couldn't fit Francillia in that day. So, Mom, you can stop thinking about nagging me, I don't have another piercing...yet.

Thankfully the rain had stopped completely, leaving only overcast skies and a big of humidity (read: a lot of humidity. My hair was crazy!) At a loss for what to do, piercing and tattooing having failed, Rachael and I convinced Francillia to go on a canal tour with us in canoes! BEST DECISION EVER. We found the canoe rental place, opperated by this tiny Indian man who seemed a bit sketch and headed out. The only thing the guy said to us was 'always turn left.' IT WAS AWESOME. (My shoulder are killing me this morning though! 2.3mi of canoeing!)

The photos from the day are HERE. But I'm gonna choose several of them to display for this post too :)






So after the canoe tour, which we finished around 7pm, we headed back to the train station. On the train ride back we ate the rest of the fried chicken, had some cheese, and exclaimed over the wonders of the day. We got to Beilen (a nearby town with a train station. It's something like 9km away from ASTRON) and started the bike ride home. It's such beautiful country here. As we started to get back into the forest we stopped at a picnic bench and devoured the mangoes. Oh. My. God. There were so good. I was covered in mango juice, but it was so worth it.

We finished the ride home, through some rain, and then went to bed. And now today Rachael, John and myself are going to Hoogeveen to see Inception. I'm living up the last two weeks here- what a ride.