Amsterdam

Hallo,
Groeten uit Amsterdam! Greetings from Amsterdam. The weather here is mild, we wore our jackets and dressed in layers because the sun tends to pop out of the clouds and make us hot. We arrived right in the middle of the pandemonium that is the World Cup so it was chaotic in Dam Square. This city is tiny compared to London and Paris. We were able to walk around the entire town in one day. Our plan was to eat, do some Father's Day shopping and swing by the Anne Frank house to check out the line. We really enjoyed walking along the lovely canals. Folks on boats passed us cheering for Holland FC all decked out in oranje. We didn't get hit by any bikes!

The tram was so fun, clean and easy to ride. I love public transportation in Europe!

The weather would be cloudy one second and sunny and hot the next

We skipped all the cheesy things like the Amsterdam Dungeon and Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum

Let's do some shopping!

New headphones for Papa

Liv ordered a pancake with ice cream, blueberries and rainbow sprinkles

Antz had a pancake with "chorizo" (it tastes like sweet pizza)

My pancake had bacon

Not bad

I wanted to see the floating flower market but I guess we missed it that morning

The cousin to Olivia's Maps book!

Most buildings had these massive hooks outside. I suppose they use the pulley to carry large items upstairs

I love you too Amsterdam ❤

Sometimes, you gotta take a leak

Or take a quick twerk

We checked out a cannabis store. No purchases were made!

 

A majority of town was decorated like this

The unique architecture of the city was fascinating

The Anne Frank House

The line was an hour wait

We found this rad custom t-shirt place

Antz got a couple of shirts printed

We hung out with the owners pets while we waited

Happy Father's day lovely!

We headed back to the Anne Frank house which had a shorter line since it was later in the day. It was a sobering experience.

Of course there is a strict no photos policy inside, but I couldn't help myself. This was the bookcase that hid the Secret Annex.

My giant size could barely fit in the tiny space the families hid in for two years

Signing the guest book

We ended the day in the Red Light District which was disappointing. We saw red lights but no boobies!

We tried fries with mayonnaise (yum!)

We felt a warm welcome on our first day in Amsterdam. It was easy to navigate the city but of course traveling is a trial and error process. We quickly realized we made a costly mistake by taking a taxi from the train station to our hotel. Our cabbie drove the longest way possible and while I planned on being a €20 - €30 cab ride, ended up almost costing €60! We could have gotten off at the Schiphol train station and taken a tram for less than €10. You live and you learn. 

Another lesson we learned during our travels is we must downsize our luggage. It was a nightmare traveling with eight pieces of luggage. I definitely needed only 3 or four pair of shoes and not 8! Although in my defense, I was glad I brought my Doc Martens and I did wear all eight shoes but I could use one pair of sneakers, one pair of sandals and one pair of boots. Since we had to pack for le Dîner en Blanc, we had to carry a fold-up table and a bag of dinner supplies. Liv had two bags which was perfect except she refused to carry her suitcase. Antz had the duffle bag and his backpack but he thought he overpacked and ended up carrying four bags. We did some shopping but I was disappointed that the Swedish Hasbeen clog store was closed. 

Zie je later!