Saturday, April 28, 2007
Saturday was a busy day....First I got up at 6:30 am after going to bed at 2:30am (still not sleeping properly), and then met up with Shannon for breakfast at 8am in order to get to the Anne Frank House by 9am. That's when it opened and apparently you have to get there first thing otherwise the wait in line is about an hour long. I really lucked out with my location here because not only did I get the Amsterdam location (other members of our team are out in Zwolle, about 1 1/2 hours away), but this Marriott is basically a 5 min. walk to Leidseplein Square - this really great area with restaurants, bars, shopping, etc among everything else.
It took us about 30 minutes to walk to the Anne Frank House (about 1 1/2 miles away) and we got there at 9 am sharp. The line was already around the corner, but luckily it didn't take too long to get it. It was a very sobering place, sad but amazing at the same time. I never read the Diary of Anne Frank, so now I feel like I should. We were there for 1 1/2 hours or so and just really absorbed everything. I was really amazed to see how big the "hiding place" was, b
ut at the same time it wasn't really THAT big...considering 8 people lived there for years, couldn't go outside or make any sort of noise especially during certain times of the day. It was really sad to realize that they were discovered and taken to the concentration camp and died just weeks before the war ended (her father was the only one who survived and got her diary published) . Anyways - really interesting stuff, but it was also so sad. It reminded me of the Holocaust Museum in DC...an amazing museum but it really makes you sick to your stomach to realize what these people went through and how someone could actually do that to another human being.
After our tour of the house, I wasn't really up for a 4-hour bike ride and I needed something to lift my spirits. Shannon and I agreed that we should go to the Keukenhof Garden(Tulip Garden) in Lisse about 45 minutes away. First we needed to get some lunch so we were girls on a mission to find a sandwich shop that served something besides ham. Shannon doesn't eat beef or ham and I'm not too fond of ham myself...apparently in this group of internal auditors, that makes us "vegetarians". I was surprised at how difficult it was to find a turkey sandwich. The great thing about Europe is that everything is so fresh!! We found this really great deli near our hotel (I'll have to find the name to give the manager/owner mad props), but they had fresh vegetables, sliced smoked turkey and really fresh (as in they were squeezing the oranges right there) orange juice! We both had a turkey sandwich and tried this Kiwi/Orange juice concoction that they also were making fresh. One of the workers was peeling the kiwi fruit as we ordered our sandwiches. Everything was phenominal! I'm sure you're thinking "it's just a turkey sandwich", but you'd be amazed at how good something is when you're starving and it's fresh. We also picked up some fresh strawberries from a local market and ate those with our lunch. They were perfect! Definitely hit the spot. All the workers at this deli were really friendly even though I think only 1 guy spoke English. He must've been the manager or the owner. Anyways - it's my new favorite sandwich shop over here.
So off we go to the gardens. We got off to a little rocky start, but it ended ok. We saw that there were tons of people in-line to go somewhere and so Shannon dropped me off to go get tickets while she parked the car. Turns out there were multiple entrances and I went to the one
opposite of where she parked. So we killed about an hour while I was waiting for her at my entrance and she went to multiple entrances looking for me. When we finally found eachother we agreed - never split up again! Once we got inside though, the gardents were soooooo beautiful!! We really lucked out with the weather, sunny at 70ish but breezy so not too hot. The different tulips were amazing, different colors, shapes, heights. I had no idea that there were so many variations. Of course it made me think of my mom and how she would have LOVED it!! We were there for almost 3 hours just wandering around and getting lost in all the flowers and the atmosphere. It was so serene and peaceful even with the hundreds of people all over the place. Shannon and I 
had a good time taking lots of pictures! I've put in a few, but for all of our Tulip Garden pics, see the link below:
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/ambi713/albums (it's the album that says "Amsterdam - Tulip Garden).
We eventually were too tired to walk anymore and started heading back to the car. Unfortunately, we had no idea where we were or where we parked. It took us a little while to find it, but eventually we were good and found the right parking lot. Thankfully Shannon drove back and when we got to our hotel we PASSED out!! I ended up sleeping for almost 4 hours! Woke up at 9pm and realized i was starving! I got a hold of Rafael and then he, Shannon and I headed out for dinner. We went to this massive Heineken Bar in the square and got some Heiny's and Shannon and I got something to eat. Like before, it took us an hour before we actually got our food, so by 10pm I was getting a little cranky. Anyone who knows me knows not to talk to me when I'm that hungry! Oh well - we finished eating and I wanted to go check out the Red Light District to see what all the fuss was about. Shannon only wanted to see it during the day, but Rafael was with us so we felt pretty comfortable with our Mexican body guard. The RLD was about 1 mile away and somehow Rafael knew how to get there by only looking at my map ONCE! I didn't ask any questions - don't ask, don't tell ;-).
It took us about 30 minutes to walk to the Anne Frank House (about 1 1/2 miles away) and we got there at 9 am sharp. The line was already around the corner, but luckily it didn't take too long to get it. It was a very sobering place, sad but amazing at the same time. I never read the Diary of Anne Frank, so now I feel like I should. We were there for 1 1/2 hours or so and just really absorbed everything. I was really amazed to see how big the "hiding place" was, b
ut at the same time it wasn't really THAT big...considering 8 people lived there for years, couldn't go outside or make any sort of noise especially during certain times of the day. It was really sad to realize that they were discovered and taken to the concentration camp and died just weeks before the war ended (her father was the only one who survived and got her diary published) . Anyways - really interesting stuff, but it was also so sad. It reminded me of the Holocaust Museum in DC...an amazing museum but it really makes you sick to your stomach to realize what these people went through and how someone could actually do that to another human being.After our tour of the house, I wasn't really up for a 4-hour bike ride and I needed something to lift my spirits. Shannon and I agreed that we should go to the Keukenhof Garden(Tulip Garden) in Lisse about 45 minutes away. First we needed to get some lunch so we were girls on a mission to find a sandwich shop that served something besides ham. Shannon doesn't eat beef or ham and I'm not too fond of ham myself...apparently in this group of internal auditors, that makes us "vegetarians". I was surprised at how difficult it was to find a turkey sandwich. The great thing about Europe is that everything is so fresh!! We found this really great deli near our hotel (I'll have to find the name to give the manager/owner mad props), but they had fresh vegetables, sliced smoked turkey and really fresh (as in they were squeezing the oranges right there) orange juice! We both had a turkey sandwich and tried this Kiwi/Orange juice concoction that they also were making fresh. One of the workers was peeling the kiwi fruit as we ordered our sandwiches. Everything was phenominal! I'm sure you're thinking "it's just a turkey sandwich", but you'd be amazed at how good something is when you're starving and it's fresh. We also picked up some fresh strawberries from a local market and ate those with our lunch. They were perfect! Definitely hit the spot. All the workers at this deli were really friendly even though I think only 1 guy spoke English. He must've been the manager or the owner. Anyways - it's my new favorite sandwich shop over here.
So off we go to the gardens. We got off to a little rocky start, but it ended ok. We saw that there were tons of people in-line to go somewhere and so Shannon dropped me off to go get tickets while she parked the car. Turns out there were multiple entrances and I went to the one
opposite of where she parked. So we killed about an hour while I was waiting for her at my entrance and she went to multiple entrances looking for me. When we finally found eachother we agreed - never split up again! Once we got inside though, the gardents were soooooo beautiful!! We really lucked out with the weather, sunny at 70ish but breezy so not too hot. The different tulips were amazing, different colors, shapes, heights. I had no idea that there were so many variations. Of course it made me think of my mom and how she would have LOVED it!! We were there for almost 3 hours just wandering around and getting lost in all the flowers and the atmosphere. It was so serene and peaceful even with the hundreds of people all over the place. Shannon and I 
had a good time taking lots of pictures! I've put in a few, but for all of our Tulip Garden pics, see the link below:http://new.photos.yahoo.com/ambi713/albums (it's the album that says "Amsterdam - Tulip Garden).
We eventually were too tired to walk anymore and started heading back to the car. Unfortunately, we had no idea where we were or where we parked. It took us a little while to find it, but eventually we were good and found the right parking lot. Thankfully Shannon drove back and when we got to our hotel we PASSED out!! I ended up sleeping for almost 4 hours! Woke up at 9pm and realized i was starving! I got a hold of Rafael and then he, Shannon and I headed out for dinner. We went to this massive Heineken Bar in the square and got some Heiny's and Shannon and I got something to eat. Like before, it took us an hour before we actually got our food, so by 10pm I was getting a little cranky. Anyone who knows me knows not to talk to me when I'm that hungry! Oh well - we finished eating and I wanted to go check out the Red Light District to see what all the fuss was about. Shannon only wanted to see it during the day, but Rafael was with us so we felt pretty comfortable with our Mexican body guard. The RLD was about 1 mile away and somehow Rafael knew how to get there by only looking at my map ONCE! I didn't ask any questions - don't ask, don't tell ;-).
So we strolled down the streets of Amsterdam, did some window shopping, observed some people and made some comments...what shocked me the most is that I saw a lot of couples taking walks with their babies in strollers at 11-11:30pm! Especially with all the crazies out!! It really amazed me.
So we got to the RLD and it wasn't as crazy as I expected. Maybe my expectations were too high, or maybe we went on a slow night...or even could have gone too early. Mainly there were a bunch of tourists walking around smoking joints on the street, drinking, etc. Lots of people, but no one doing anything too crazy. The District itself was interesting. Apparently they have girls stand in these big full-size windows half-naked trying to entice guys into coming inside. If they're with someone, then the curtain is closed. Oh and of course there's a red flourescent light above the windows where the girls are. Streets were lined with these places. I can't believe that these girls were dressed like that and doing those things...but it is what it is. There were also all sorts of peep shows and sex shows, but obviously - we aren't that daring or crazy so we didn't go in. The words and pictures outside were enough for us. So we just strolled through the District and made our way back to the hotel. Nothing crazy, but at least we were able to see the famous Red Light District. Of course you're not allowed to take pictures there, so if you wanna see it - go yourself ;-). Oh, I forgot to mention the outside urinals. Another interesting thing about Amsterdam. Apparently there are over 500 of these things all over the city, but it's basically this big "port-a-potty" outside but for a guy and there are no doors or anything. More explanation will come on this in the next posting as I learned more during our bike tour, but here's my pic ;-). It's kinda hard to see since it was night-time, but you get the jist of it.
Similar to Friday night, nothing wild and crazy and we were back at the hotel by 1am.
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