7/15/11

Day 4 - Amsterdam

Got up at 5 to shower, then back to bed until 7:15. Breakfast of sliced turkey, cheese and bread with jelly and cucumber with apple juice. Such a weird mix...We got on the bus at 8 to go to Edam (the town that's made backwards. ;) haha!) We got there and saw a GIANT bunny and what looked like a mix-breed chicken/duck. Then we got to see how cheese and clogs were made! I tried some clogs on, and then tried some of the cheeses. Yum! Then we got back on the coach to go to our bike ride through Edam. It was my favorite part of the trip so far! I loved it! It made me want to go get a leisure bike and just ride around all the time. We rode through Edam and got some history about the town then went back to Amsterdam around noon. Once there we (Amanda, Stacie, and Katie) went to the Anne Frank House. Almost everyone else in the group went as well but somehow they got ahead of us. It was a 1.5 hour wait, but I wouldn't have missed it for anything. It was so incredible. I was stunned to see how small it actually was. After that Amanda and I navigated the streets of Amsterdam to go to one of the markets. I stopped at McDonalds (the Aussies call it Maccers) because I was starving and knew I could find something to eat there. The lady I went to didn't speak any English so I had a really hard time ordering!! FYI If you're in Amsterdam and they ask you if you want it 'menu' it means a combo... Just so you know. :P After I ate we finished looking through the market and decided to head back. we walked to the central station via Dam Square where there were a bunch of people dressed in crazy costumes, it was a bit freaky. We got to the station only to find out the train we needed didn't go through there. So we took #13 to Marco Polostraat (yes, Marco Polo Street!!) where we got on #7 like we needed. Amanda showered, I got on the internet to check email, FB and try to update my blog (epic fail). I grabbed a protein bar for diner then we met up with Erin, Liz, Luke, Joel, Lauren, Casey and Jason to go to the canal cruise. I navigated (thank goodness). We stopped one stop before we needed to so they could grab dinner then I navigated to the meeting spot where we arrived 5 minutes late. EEK!! Luckily Miriam was expecting us and held the cruise so we could catch up. The cruise was fun but I started feeling sick! I gave my drink tickets to Lauren and Joel since I didn't want them. After the cruise I went back to the hotel instead of going bar hopping with everyone. I packed my bag, checked my email then went to bed early.