Amsterdam

Day 3

We woke up fairly early, had breakfast at our hotel and headed out for the day.

First, we went to Keukenhof Gardens which is a huge piece of land covered in over 7 million tulips. There is a windmill, children's play area and lots of displays. We walked around and looked at the flowers and took a whisper boat cruise around the canals to see the fields of tulips. We spent several hours there but probably only saw 1/3 of the gardens. Keukenhof is only open 2 months of the year during tulip season where they grow the various kinds of tulips, daffodils and hyacinths removing the diseases or mutated bulbs and then prepping the bulbs for sale. I purchased a beautiful collection of bulbs that will be sent to my home in the Fall when it is time to plant them. What a wonderful reminder I will have to get a taste of Holland delivered right to my door in October. Now, every time they bloom I will remember the fantastic time we had at Keukenhoff. I really loved the beauty of the gardens (and it smelled great too).

Rows and rows of Tulips

After a quick lunch cafeteria-style at the gardens we headed to Amsterdam. We were planning to go to the Olympisch Station Park & Ride but when we got there it was full. We headed over to another P&R and was able to get a spot. Our destination was the Anne Frank House and after some directions from a local and a quick bus ride we got there only to find a huge line to get in. The city square was packed with people, there was loud music playing, people dancing and hanging out, food trucks, etc. We wondered what was going on to make this place so busy on a Thursday afternoon! Come to find out, May 5th is a major holiday in Europe celebrating the end of WWII. We waited in line for the Anne Frank house and luckily it only took 1.5 hours and there was some fantastic people watching happening while we were in line. We weren't able to take any pictures in the Anne Frank house but it was a really great experience. I've been reading the book and it helped me understand it. What a remarkable young lady she was! There is a part in the book where the helpers are able to get a bunch of strawberries for Anne and the others in hiding and it was such a treat for them. While we were waiting in line the staff of the Anne Frank house brought out fresh strawberries to us and they were the sweetest, best strawberries I've ever had.

We walked a couple of blocks to a pancake house that we wanted to try for dinner but they had closed. We then just walked around until we found a place to eat. It was fancier than I had originally planned but the food was stellar. I had a parmesan-crusted salmon with green beans and a spinach risoto, Brad had cod with potatoes and cauliflower, the boys had chicken nuggets and fries. We were in a major rush after that because we had tickets for an 8 p.m. canal cruise and let's just say there was some running involved. We had to catch a bus to get to the meeting point for the cruise and didn't want to miss it. The canal cruise was lovely. We got to see a lot of architecture and history. By the time it ended we were cold and tired and ready to get back to the hotel for bed! Luckily we got to sleep in a little the next morning.

This was my favorite, seeing these little houses on the river. Some were even in old boats. Very cool!

These are called the "Dancing Houses". If you look closely you can see that they are tipping but the historical society will not allow the owners to straighten them out. 

Central Station

I've never seen so many bikes in one place in my life!

Amsterdam is an interesting place. There were people everywhere, public urinals, pot on every corner and bicycles everywhere. Driving in the Netherlands is ridiculously crazy: everyone drives super fast and the bicyclists don't seem to notice cars at all. It's been a little scary but Brad has been a great driver.

You buy your marijuana in a "Coffee Shop" and your coffee in a "Cafe"

Public urinals. The thought still creeps me out!