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Our last night train was similar to the second one, 6 beds and numerous stops but still better than the reclining chairs experience. We met our first people travelling from Finland! It was a nice change of pace from Australians, Canadians and Americans but of course they still spoke English. We arrived in Amsterdam to a cold, rainy morning. After a short tram ride and walk around the block we found our hostel. This hostel is a drastic change from the ones we've had in the past few cities.... our room has 6 sets of bunkbeds stuffed in it with one bathroom for all 12 inhabitants. But hey at least we can use the computers for free and get free breakfast (bread per usual but also hard boiled eggs!). We dropped off the bags and headed to our first real breakfast of the trip: real scrambeled eggs! And Kristi tried some local apple pancakes : ) we were excited!! We walked up to the meeting point for the free walking tour and were lucky we got there in time because there were so many people they were turning them away. We walked throughout the city and learned a ton about the Dutch, including their constant religious tolerance, their dislike for men peeing in public (hence the installation of quick urine stalls and urine deflectors in the corners on the street) and the society's attitude toward "coffeeshops" and the red light district. We dodged the sea of bikers along the way and saw the narrowest house in the city! The man who lives there is taller than it is wide. All the streets blend right in with the sidewalks so it is quite the chaotic scene with bikers, pedestrians, cars, trams and buses.
After the tour we came back to the area around our hostel and went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner! After talking about Chipotle and Taco Bell for the past week it was nice to be able to satisfy our craving (for now). We decided to continue our tradition of going on barcrawls in every city and went on the largest one yet. 180 people at the first bar! We made it to 4 bars, which were considered "dance bars" that played mainly techno and popular American songs. It ranged from Chris Brown to Prince! We liked everything but the techno.... and of course Heineken was the drink of choice : ) Annnd like tradition we befriended an Australian! Impossible to partake in a bar crawl without making an Australian friend. This one happened to be a Czech Republic baseball player who was even on the Florida Marlins for a bit. One big difference we noticed is that people, including bartenders, can smoke inside the bars. Blech. Overall it was a fun night out and we got to experience the Amsterdam nightlife.
Saturday we awoke to yet another rainy day. We made the most of it and headed out to the I AMsterdam sign (the "I" and "Am" are in red and the rest of the letters are in white). We walked by the floating flower market which sells a Dutch signature: tulip bulbs. On the stroll we enjoyed people watching during lunch at a cafe and popping in and out of small antique stores and random souvenior shops. We went to another outdoor market, although the contents at this included hippie apparel, thick, heavy chains used as bike locks and cans of spray paint (for the young artists in the city). Kristi even got a leather jacket! Now she really looks like a European! Continuing our stroll, we stopped at a different cafe so Dana could get her caramel coffee on. We were on a corner so we had a good view of the variety of people on the street. Free entertainment : ) We have to be creative without the ability to watch TV or movies.... After that stop we headed to the line outside the Anne Frank Haus. The line wasn't too bad and it was truly incredible to be in the actual annex where Anne and seven others lived for two years during the war. There were pictures of her and her family as well as short video clips that made the tour very personal.
On the way to our next tour we stopped to get dinner. Kristi had a kebab wrap, Dana got a burger (per usual) and Melissa had our first Chinese food! Wok to Walk! Yum. The tour was of the Red Light District and we joined about 25 other people through this part of the city. How educational! Stories later.... but overall very interesting and surprisingly direct and out-in-the-open. We are thankful this does not exist in Chicago. After the tour we called it an early night and headed back to the hostel to get some sleep! This morning after sleeping in a bit we took a train to a nearby town called Haarlem. We wandered around and of course found another market. The entire market was devoted to books, too bad we can't read Dutch. Also since it was a Sunday almost all the shops were closed which was unfortunate, but it was still nice to spend some time out of the city and breathe some fresh air...... On the way back to our hostel we stopped at an American/British food store where we gazed longingly at the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese but were still able to buy peanut butter M&Ms! And Dana got Mountain Dew in a can!!! Which she drank immediately of course. Tonight we bought tickets to a local comedy show, and by that I mean the Chicago Boom Theater. Subconsciously fulfilling our American roots? I think so.
Tomorrow the plan is to take an early train to Brussels where we will spend one night before ending our journey in England! It's coming up so quickly!
As they say in Dutch, Vaarwel! (and yes we did look that up just now)
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Audrey Hi, beautiful. It has been a beautiful day here. Grandpa, Bill, Luke & Jack went golfing. I COOKED on my new stove & Ophelia came over & ate with us. Love you, Grandma & Grandpa