Amsterdam

Over the Easter holiday, I went to Amsterdam to meet up with Grandma, Aunt Dawn, and Aunt Debbi. Our hotel (thumbs up Aunt Dawn!) was in a great location, just a canal over from Dam Square. We started off our adventures with a hop on hop off bus tour. Finding the bus was rather trickier than we had anticipated. There were a few directional difficulties, but we managed to find our double decker tour. My favorite little Snapple fact from that tour - it's the only place in the world where you can smoke a joint in an old police station. Perhaps this is why everyone in Amsterdam is so friendly.

On to more serious topics... the first place we stopped to see was Anne Frank's house. I didn't take any pictures, but if you would like to look at some images or would like more information, here is the link to their website: http://www.annefrank.org/  Seeing where she and her family lived is an experience I will never forget. The rooms are not furnished because Otto Frank wanted to keep them empty in remembrance of how the Nazis raided their house. However, even with the rooms bare, or perhaps because of it, you got a glimpse of how tiny the space was - how narrow and steep the stairs were, how dark the rooms were, and you wondered how so many people could live in such a small area. It was truly a moving experience. 

The next day we continued our hop on hop off tour and discovered...the diamond museum! 

Inside Coster diamonds there were several replicas of crowns, royal sceptres, jewelery, and we even got to watch how they polish diamonds. We met the woman who holds the Guinness World Record for polishing the smallest diamond. 

We also saw the Van Gogh Museum. The collection of his paintings ranged from his earliest works to his later years. There were also exhibits showcasing other artists such as Monet and Renoir (my personal favorites) and an exhibit on French art, specifically focusing on Montmartre. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Montmartre, it is a section of Paris (actually the place I stayed in when I visited in February -yes Mom I will post the pictures). It is most famous the Sacre Ceour. Or perhaps you have seen some of the more famous pieces such as the chat noir. 

(These pictures were taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montmartre and http://bit.ly/hgazgT)

After the Van Gogh Museum, we wandered over to the I AMSTERDAM sign. Aunt Debbi and I took advantage of the Kodak moment.

And of course, we went on a canal cruise. Here are some of the things we saw:

Have I mentioned the bicycles? No? Well, everyone in Amsterdam rides a bike. And they rule the roads. There were literally thousands, and they do not stop for tourists, or pedestrians, or little children, or the elderly...they dont stop for nobody. Any available street space is used for parking bikes. This is a picture of a 3 level parking lot just for bikes. 

The Next day we took a trip to the Dutch countryside. We went to Edam (like the cheese!), Markendam and Volendam - a lot of dams. 

And we got to watch a man make wooden shoes!!!

First he carved the show with a German machine that copies the shape of the shoe from a model. Then he uses a French machine to make the hole for the inside. After this was completed he told us that the shoe would need to be dried out. They use a specific kind of wood which is wet and easy to carve. To illustrate his point, he blew into the shoe - and a puddle of water came out. No joke. An actual puddle, not just a few drops. It was pretty amazing.

Along the way to these dam villages, we saw a lot of tulip fields - I did a lot of climbing over people in the bus to get these so I hope everyone appreciates them

This last picture is one of my favorites, and was taken in one of the small villages we visited.