Amsterdam: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday

Monday

Breakfast was supposed to be French toast, but when we got there they had run out. So we had muesli and yogurt and I took a banana but didn't eat it because I wasn't feeling too hungry.

We slept in a little bit because we did more stuff than we planned to do on Sunday (ie: Anne Frank House) but then we went to Museumplein (Museum Square) and didn't go into any of the museums because they weren't free, but we took pictures in front of the I AMsterdam sign.

Then, we played on the playground. It's not the first playground we played on either. On our first walking tour we found some see-saws and spinny things and had to try them.

Then, we went to Pancake House Upstairs which I found on TripAdvisor and we climbed the scariest, narrowest steps to a tiny cafe and ordered pancakes.

Plus, there were teapots hanging from the ceiling and it was awesome!

I went back to the hostel because I hadn't been feeling well all day. I woke up with a headache and tummy ache and I was achy all over like when you have the flu.

So I napped for a long, long, time.

Jaimie and Madhuri went to the Nine Streets area and learned that most of the shopping was expensive, so they hungout in a bookstore/cafe for a while.

When they got back, we got dinner at a little Italian cafe and I had tomato soup and bruschetta and it was way to much food for me. Whatever sickness I had made me feel very full all the time.

As with many of the nights, we took a nap and then were going to wake up and go out, but once we woke up from our naps we just wanted to go to bed. Haha.

Tuesday

Breakfast was pancakes again. Not that I was tired of them.

Jaimie and I went on a canal tour for an hour in the morning.

Then we met up with Madhuri and looked around Waterlooplein flea market until it was time to go to a free piano concert in the Amsterdam Music Theatre at 12:30pm.

The majority of the crowd was elderly people and I saw a few people sleeping and heard a couple snoring.

Then we bought some food (I actually didn't buy anything because I wasn't hungry but I did eat a day-old banana) and ate it under some small trees in a kind-of park.

Then we took pictures at a crossroads of four bridges where you can supposedly see 15 bridges, but we couldn't count that many.

Then we walked to the Heineken Brewery and did the Heineken Experience.

It was 18 euros, so pretty expensive, but we got two free beers and a 'free gift'. It was also a ton of fun. We learned about the Heineken family and their history.

We learned how to make beer and we saw all the brewing tools and we tasted wort (water and barley) and smelled the hops (gross).

Then we went on an interactive ride/4D movie about brewing beer. So we stood on platforms and held onto railings and then the platforms moved as we went through the brewing and shipping process and bubbles came down from the ceiling. Haha. It was great.

We learned how to taste a beer: don't drink the foam, take big sips and hold it in your mouth before you swallow it. 

We also traded in our two tokens for two free beers to learn how to pour it from a tap. I tried three times to get it perfect and Jaimie did it twice and Madhuri once. They waste a ton of beer trying to get the perfect amount of foam and teaching us. I asked the guy where that beer goes and he patted his tummy.

Then we drank our beer.

We also saw the Heineken horses! Haha, I'm pretty sure there is no more use for them but they keep them around for tradition.

I loved the smell of the barley, it reminded me of Wisconsin. And actually the whole thing reminded me of Wisconsin and my family.

We had to go across town to the newly opened Heineken merchandise store to get our free gift (a bottle opener in the shape of the Heineken smiling e) so we did that because we love free stuff.

Then we went out for Thai food, but I still wasn't too hungry so I ordered chicken spring rolls.

I also tried some of Jaimie's pad thai and Madhuri's red curry dish.

Jaimie and Madhuri wanted to go out that night, but I wasn't feeling so great, especially not for dancing, so they went out and came back within an hour. They said there was a football game on so nobody was dancing! Haha.

Wednesday

Woke up to Madhuri yelling, "It's 9:45am!" But it wasn't even 8:30am yet, so I slept until my alarm went off.

There were fried egg sandwiches for breakfast, and they were pretty good! I had a hot chocolate, too.

We had to check out by 10:00am, so we checked out but left our luggage in their storage room so we could go get ice cream with waffles from the place around the corner.

Oh. My. Gosh. That warm home-made waffle underneath my forest fruit frozen yogurt was one of the best things I've eaten. Almost as good as a pannekoeken from Pannekoekenhuis back in Minnesota (which I thought were real Dutch pancakes, but all I had in Holland were crepes).

Then we got our luggage and took the train back to the airport and didn't get a Starbucks this time.

I slept through this flight, too. I feel a lot less queasy flying if I'm asleep.

Then I realized I didn't have my new half-of-the-semester's transportation pass so I used my klippekort and didn't have enough left so I prayed really hard that they wouldn't check on me today, and they didn't!

Yay!

Also, now it really looks like fall.

And apparently Sne went through my makeup while I was gone and took a little bite out of my lipstick.

I didn't learn this until dinner but when I was unpacking in my room I felt like someone had been in there moving stuff.