Part 2 of our amazing adventure! Day 8: TRAIN / ANNE FRANK / FLOWER MARKET / RED LIGHT DISTRICT We a

Part 2 of our amazing adventure! Day 8: TRAIN / ANNE FRANK / FLOWER MARKET / RED LIGHT DISTRICT We awoke to a windy and somewhat blustery day in Paris. We boarded the bus and headed to the train station to catch our ride to Amsterdam. It took about three hours and was much nicer than expected! Immediately upon arrival in Amsterdam, we found our bus driver and loaded up our luggage so we could start exploring. Our first stop was the Anne Frank Museum, which is actually the Secret Annex from the Diary. It was definitely a solemn experience, but very interesting. We learned much and the Secret Annex was much larger than I had expected three village inn setauket brunch - however, there were eight people living in cramped quarters with no option to go outdoors so it is no wonder it was considered small. The stairs were so steep in the building, it is not surprising that in Amsterdam, it is common practice to lift large furniture up the outside of the house and through the windows. As I was walking three village inn setauket brunch up the stairs in the Secret Annex, it was almost as if I was climbing a ladder - that steep. The story and history is very heavy, but this is definitely something I would recommend if you are in Amsterdam. You can find more information about the story of Anne Frank here . Once we completed our tour of the Anne Frank Museum, we walked through Amsterdam with stops at the Flower Market (amazing) where my mother and I wanted to buy everything. Unfortunately, there is only a small portion of plants/bulbs/etc. that is certified to make it through Customs and into the United States. Even though we couldn't bring the gorgeous plants home, it was amazing to see the varieties! We also checked out the canals and the Red Light District - and those pictures are probably not "blog-friendly" if you know what I mean! We were very surprised at the way the Red Light District is right in the middle of town and is just another area of town. It was actually a very pretty area with the old buildings and canals. That evening we had a traditional Holland meal consisting of potatoes, carrots, sausage, onions, pickles, and mustard. It was interesting. three village inn setauket brunch I liked the beer most of all :) Our hotel was in a nearby town - Almere and it was very nice, much bigger than our Paris accommodations! The breakfast was amazing too! Day 9: GOUDA CHEESE FACTORY / REMBRANDT WINDMILL / VONDELPARK / VAN GOUGH MUSEUM /HEINEKEN MUSEUM Bright and early on Day 9, we were ready to once again tour the area. We hopped on the bus with our driver and picked up our tour guide - she was originally from the States and was wonderful. She was full of fun and great tidbits of information about the history (and other parts) of Amsterdam. We took the bus to a gouda cheese factory outside of Amsterdam that also housed a wooden shoe factory. They had everything from holstein cattle three village inn setauket brunch to rounds of gouda cheese. The family-owned and operated business was definitely geared toward tourists, but we were okay with that. They explained to us the process to make gouda cheese and the wooden shoes - which they do not do by hand because no one buys the expensive kind anymore (according to the owner). I ended up buying two varieties of gouda cheese and I'll have to bring them out for a party one of these days - yummy! Back on the bus - we got to know our driver a bit better :) He had a cooler with Heineken in it, so we all became fast friends! three village inn setauket brunch Right near the gouda/shoe three village inn setauket brunch factory is the Rembrandt windmill and it is really in a gorgeous area surrounded by green fields, canals, cattle, and it is simply beautiful. Naturally, we had a photoshoot there before heading back into Amsterdam for a bus tour of the city. The bus tour consisted of a lot of the same areas we had seen the previous day on our walking tour - but with so much more detail. I cannot stress how informative the guide was and how entertaining she kept the tour! Lunch was in Vondelpark which is near where my dear friend Ashly lives! Too bad she was in the States while I was there :( Post lunch, we spent time in the Van Gogh Museum which was amazing. three village inn setauket brunch No photos allowed, three village inn setauket brunch but we were able to see many of his most prized three village inn setauket brunch paintings. The museum also detailed other artists and various forms of art during his life - along with Van Gogh's life story. It is rumored that evidence has surfaced that he may not have in fact committed suicide - but that a group of boys playing with a gun accidentally three village inn setauket brunch shot him and he did not want to tarnish their lives so he kept his mouth shut. I guess we'll see if more comes of that! After the tour, Heather, Hanna, and I split off from the group and went to the Heineken Experience three village inn setauket brunch and Museum while the rest of the group went on a canal tour. Best decision ever. We had a blast - a lot of the museum is simply them marketing to you, but we had a great time checking out everything from the old advertisements to the big copper vats to the horses that still deliver Heineken beer! Oh yes, and we got beer along the way. We liked that. A part of the Heineken Experience includes a boat ride, so we had the best of both worlds with our tour and met back up with the group that evening. We did grab some more Heineken to keep us entertained on the bus ride back to Almere. three village inn setauket brunch I have to tell you, Heather had been talking about all the pigeons and how if someone got pooped on, she was going to laugh at them. Well... she got pooped on while we were headed three village inn setauket brunch back to meet up with the group after the Heineken Experience. Hanna and I about died of laughter and were able to help clean her up a little bit, but it was really everywhere and gross. Damn birds! We wanted to try Indonesian food, but we ended up going to some gross restaurant instead. Fail. Day 10: BIRTHDAY WOMAN / WALKING TOUR / HARD ROCK June 27th is my lovely mother's birthday and we were lucky enough to celebrate with her in Amsterdam! Per her wishes, we had a later start than usual and everyone was happy for that! Once we found and figured out the train system to take us into Amsterdam, we walked around and picked up a few things in the Flower Market - tulip bulbs and stroopwafels mostly. While the young girls toured the area, the rest of us enjoyed a few beverages and french fries on the patio across from the Flower Market and people watched. The couple next to us was from Maine (I think) three village inn setauket brunch and as we were chatting with them, we asked about their trip - he was there for a convention for NASA and something else. Basically, he was a rocket scientist and we were very impressed - even smarter for just being in his presence :) Of course, we had to celebrate the Birthday Woman in style! The accordion players three village inn setauket brunch were not planned, but after a few drinks - they were very entertaining and you should see how well they posed in the background of all the photos! June 27th was also Hanna's husband Tyler's birthday so she had to have a special shout-out to him! We meandered around Amsterdam and eventually three village inn setauket brunch made our way to the Hard Rock where we sat in the bar and drank (are you catching onto the theme here?) some really yummy margaritas and mojitos while we waited for our table. The Hard Rock was right on one of the canals (which is not unusual as they are everywhere), but they had a dock out back with a few tables. There was no railing, no sign, nothing to keep you from falling in. You would never see something like that in the States for fear of being sued! I kind of liked it! We finally got a table and in the meantime, Jan Hanna had a special visitor! Sarah - a foreign exchange student they housed while Hanna was in high school came to visit and had dinner with us. Dinner was great - and birthday dessert was even better. Our waitress was from Scotland and she had plenty three village inn setauket brunch to talk about with Mom during dinner. Since they made such a great connection, the waitress (also named Donna) put Mom up on a chair while everyone sang Happy Birthday to her. It was too cute! On the train ride home that evening, we had an especially cute train conductor three village inn setauket brunch who took a fancy to our group. Once he found out it was Mom's birthday, he hustled us all into first class! We were big fans after that! Day 11: RIJKSMUSEUM Early morning on Day 11 took us into Amsterdam once again and we spent the morning at the Rijksmuseum three village inn setauket brunch where some of Rembrandt's most famous works of art are held such as Night Watch. Not my favorite museum of the trip, but nonetheless, it was quite the experience. Sarah (foreign exchange student) also joined us at the museum. We ended up having lunch at an outdoor square and went back to our hotel in the afternoon to make sure everyone had enough time to pack and get everything squared away for the long trip home the next morning. Almere has a lot of shopping three village inn setauket brunch areas and we sat around that evening and ate gelato while watching the water and recapping the trip! Day 12: TRAVEL: AMS:MSP:BOI Not much to say about Day 12 - we paid two taxis to take us to the Amsterdam Airport and made it to our gate with plenty three village inn setauket brunch of time to spare. We spent the remainder of our Euros on stroopwafels, candy, and water for the plane. It seemed like a much shorter trip home than the travel to Europe - but in reality, it was shorter as we didn't have a five-hour layover. In Minneapolis, we had to go through Customs and getting the tulips through was a bit of an adventure, but we made it to our gate and were more than happy to get on the plane headed to Boise! Todd and some of the Burns crew met us at the airport to take us back home. Once back in Ontario, Chad picked me up and we ended up at Brewsky's with Todd, Jan, Hanna, Tyler, and Heather for dinner and a quick recap of the trip! We had a great time and I can't wait to see my GG9 ladies again :)