Amsterdam

The Tuesday that my parents were here we got a super early train to take us to Amsterdam! My sister made up the most annoying song about this place that now I automatically think of when I say or type the word Amsterdam...great. Anyway once we got to Amsterdam we bought tickets to have an all day pass on another hop-on hop-off boat tour like we had in Paris. The first stop of the day was Anne Frank's house.

The line actually was not that bad when we got there since we were fairly early. But, Kim had led us to believe that it was going to be nice and sunny and not freezing. She lied. The wind was horrendous and it was all gray and cloudy out, and it was freaking freezing. So we were more than excited to finally get into the house and out of the weather. The house was super interesting...this was the house that she stayed in while she was in hiding. We got to walk throughout the house and see the secret annex where she and others hid. All the information was given in German and English which made it super helpful. Again, its just a crazy feeling to me standing in Anne Frank's room with the same posters she hung up on the wall still there...sometimes things like that just make me stand in awe. After we walked through the museum I bought the book because I don't actually think I have read it. I know the story clearly, but I don't think I have ever read it. After being in the house I think it would be super interesting to read because I have been to those places. So I plan to start that soon.

We had lunch after the house and did our Amsterdam shopping before we got back on the boat that was going to take us to our next location! Since we were only in Amsterdam a day, we had to split up and decide what we really wanted to do. Kim and Emmy went to the Van Gogh museum, while Ron and I opted for the "Heineken Experience."

The Heineken Experience was really cool actually. First of all they spoke English everywhere inside and all the information was only in English, so that was just a nice change of pace. The museum was really high-tech. It was the first Heineken brewery, but its not brewed there anymore. It started off by informing you of the history of Heneiken and how it came to be. Then you got to see how it was brewed. Then there was a little ride that you went on where you were "brewed." That was really cool, after the ride they took you into a room where they gave you a free beer and taught you the proper way to taste a beer. Then there was all this stuff about the promotion of the beer. There were individual lounge chairs with personal tvs where you could just sit and watch all of the Heineken commercials throughout the years, there was a place with a bunch of foosball tables, then you reached the bar where you got 2 free Heneikens. It was really cool and it would have been nice to have had more time in there but we had to rush a little to catch the boat bus back to the train station.

We had a little time once we got off the boat before the train, so we tried to find the Red Light District. Apparently it was right next to the train station, and I think that we eventually found it and were walking around in it but it was still light out so nothing was really happening. Although a guy at school said that they have recently made the Red Light District only two streets...so who knows.

We caught our train and came home. I definitely would have loved to spend more time in Amsterdam, eventually the sun did come out and it was nicer. There is just so much to do there that one day doesn't do the city justice.