Amsterdam

From Netherlands

From Netherlands

Amsterdam,

Wow what a great city full of fun things and beautiful scenery. We were very fortunate to have a freind available to give us a nice place to stay and show us around (thanks Sabine) We got to Amsterdam one day before Jason did so we got used some of our time and went to visit the Anne Frank house. I had been there before, but it still was a moving experience. It brought both Heather and I to tears. Our friend Sabine is half Jewish and some of her family was deported to Auschwitz with Anne Frank. When at the museum you could see their names listed below the Frank family. It added an additional personal connection to the entire holocaust history for us.

After the Ann Frank house we met Jason at Dam square in central Amsterdam at a cafe. It was nice to see a familiar face from home after 6 months on the road. We relaxed at the cafe for a while in traditional European fasion drinking beer and coffee before heading off to Sabines house to drop off Jasons stuff.

Jason had a direct flight from SFO to Amsterdam and had been traveling for around 9 hours, but it was only noon in Amsterdam so he had to push on through the rest of the day in order to adjust to the time change. He did good, we managed to drag him around town visiting the red light district and coffee shop area. This is the main tourist area in Amsterdam. We went to dinner at a local Tapas place and Jason held tough all the way to midninght before going to bed.

The next morning we headed off for the Van Gough museum. It was a rainy day and so we really took our time in the museum. We spend over 4 hours wandering around the various artworks and exhibits. I have no artistic ability whatsoever and it is truely amazing to me to see so much natural ability spread out on the various canvases. We spend the remainded of the day wandering Amsterdam just explorling the beautiful city with the wonderful canals, at the same time trying to dodge the endless groups of bicyclist as they pedal around the city.

On Sunday Sabine spent the day with us and was able to take us around the city and show us some neat stuff from a locals point of view. We did go on the hop on hop off canal ferry tour which meanders around the various city canals and is a easy way to see a large part of the city from the water. This was a really neat experience. Afterwards we went to a local cafe that served some of the best apple pie any of us have ever had. In the evening Sabine drove us out to a local beach that had a hippie sort of resteraut/ cafe that has live music every sunday evening. It was a jam session and the musicians were very impressive. At least they were impressive to me since i have no musical talent at all.

Monday Sabine took us to a local market that sold antiques clothes etc. Heather could have spent quite a bit of time and money at this place. We then drove to the local small town of Utrecht where there is an impressive cathedral and quant streets and of course canals. On the drive out to Utrecht we saw so many beautiful Dutch houses and farms. The Dutch really do have a wonderful way of life.

Our time in Holland was way too short and it really was one of the highlights of our trip. I think anywhere you go is better with the help of a local. It was also nice to travel with Jason. It added a different energy to our travels. Holland is deffinately on our list of countries we would like to revisit someday.