I
AMSTERDAM
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| A for "Ann" |
Well
I just got back from my last trip studying abroad. This past weekend we traveled across the
ocean to Holland! First of all it’s
really confusing because we went to Amsterdam, in Holland, in the Netherlands…
too many names for one place. But
anyways we had a great weekend! We left
Friday morning at 230am… this started off the trip not so hot because none of
us slept before we left. We were in
bed…intending on falling asleep but it didn’t happen. So I was up from Thursday
morning at 8am til Friday morning at 10am when we checked into our hotel 30
minutes outside of Amsterdam. It was
quite the experience and we were all very exhausted. So before we could get
into Amsterdam we all decided it would be best to take a short nap. After we checked
in we slept until 12:15 and then tried to figure out how to get into Amsterdam.
We took the hotel shuttle to the airport and then from the airport took a train
into Amsterdam. The trip took about 45
minutes total but once we were there it was worth it. First we went to the I
AMSTERDAM sign!
We took lots of pictures on top of the sign, in front of the sign, at a
distance from the sign…you name it, we took it!
Afterwards
we headed towards the Van Gogh museum.
This place was 5 stories and really neat. It’s amazing how many pieces
of art he completed and with so much detail.
The museum was really interesting and definitely worth going to. It also had a few other pieces by other
artists.
At
this point it was around 6 so we headed to Heineken! Our brochure told us the
last tour was at 8…but it just so happened it was wrong and the last tour was
actually at 530. So we went through the shops and then decided to go get dinner
and call it a night. All the local pubs
around us were absolutely packed! So we ended up eating at a smaller Italian
restaurant and had pizzas. They were
good but we decided we’d want pancakes allllll day tomorrow! After all that’s
what you have to get while your there! Pancakes and Fries with mayo…yeah it’s
weird but actually not too bad. You should probably try it next time your in
Amsterdam haha.
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| Anne Frank House |
Okay
so we went to bed after dinner that night and got up the next morning bright
and early! We heard you had to get to the Anne Frank museum early if you didn’t
want to wait in line for hours. We ended
up waiting an hour which wasn’t too bad…especially since the museum was totally
worth it! The house wasn’t like anything
I expected. The first floor was the warehouse, the second floor contained the
offices and the 3rd & 4th floors were the hiding
rooms! The third floor had a storeroom in the front and straight back down the
hall was a bookcase on henges. This is
what hid the hidden staircase! It was sooo freaking cool! In her parent’s room
the wall still had markings from where Margot & Anne were measured growing
up as kids. It was surreal walking
through the rooms imagining having to stay quiet all day locked up in a dark
room. It was super cool and was
everyone’s favorite stop on the trip.
After
we toured the house we were all hungry so we went to a local pancake
house. I ordered a ham & cheese
pancake that was delicious. Our waiter
said try putting syrup on it, it’s good that way…and I looked at him and the
table and said I mean why wouldn’t I put syrup on? I guess because I was the
only one at the table that did everyone else doesn’t eat syrup on their
pancakes…I decided they were all psycho… I need to find some new friends! Haha
just kidding : ) But anyways we had lunch here and then headed off to the red
light district. It wasn’t as creepy as I
thought it was going to be, it was actually a neat area if you take the girls
out of the picture. The main drag had lots of restaurants, souvenir shops (both
regular & sexual) and then the shows of course. The side alleys were where most
of the girls were lined up in windows.
But we walked through there and then our group split up into two smaller
groups. Half went back to Heineken and
then I went with the Tamers to get some drinks and shop around.
Around
7 we met up with some guys and their friends we met last weekend after coming
back from Barcelona. We had dinner with
them at the Pancake Bakery where I had a chicken, cheese & pineapple
pancake! YUMMM. Afterwards we walked back and hung out with them in their
apartment and then walked the red light district again at night. It was a completely different atmosphere at
night but still not as creepy as I thought it would be. It was a lot more crowded and lots of
curtains were closed… but we were all glad we saw it both at night and during
the day. Around
11 we jumped back on the train and headed back to our hotel. We all took showers and went to bed knowing
we would have a nice mornings sleep ahead!
We chose to sleep in until 11am and
leave for Keukenhof around 12. We spend a few hours there walking the grounds
looking at the gorgeous tulips and other crazy assortments of flowers.
It was miserably cold and windy unfortunately
so that made it not as fun…but it was still amazing to see all of the flowers
and walk the gardens. It was a really
nice area. There were so many different kinds of flowers and they were all so beautiful i can't even pick which one was my favorite. Not only were there tulips but also crazy ones like the raggedy edged one on the left. It was really neat to see; i just wish it had been warmer so we could've enjoyed being outside longer.
So
the end of the trip consisted getting back to the hotel and shopping in there
for a bit. The airport in Amsterdam had victoria secret…which London doesn’t
even have. Then we stopped in some other souvenir stores before getting dinner
at the Amsterdam Café. Our flight got
delayed but luckily we still got home at a decent hour! So the trip went really
well and we had a great time! It was a great ending to our crazy 12 weekend
travels… very bittersweet though knowing we were done but at the same time glad
to be done. Traveling takes a lot out of you and is very exhausting. Although I’ve learned more taking trips that I
probably would’ve learned in a classroom in one year… I’m glad to be done and
ready to get back to enjoying London before I head back home to the states.
Only 18 more days left until I’ll be back in the good ole’ bluegrass state!
Y.O.L.O – court :)
“I’m becoming more and more independent
of my parents. Young as I am, I face life with more courage and have a better
and truer sense of justice than Mother. I know what I want, I have a goal, I
have opinions, a religion & love.
If only I can be myself, I’ll be satisfied. I know that I’m a woman, a woman
with inner strength & a great deal of courage! If God lets me live, I’ll
achieve more than Mother ever did, I’ll make my voice heard. I’ll go out into
the world and work for mankind”
–
Anne Frank April 11, 1944
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