August 3rd-8th, 2016
I adored Amsterdam! It had that classic European charm with the cute houses and the canals but with a more edgy feel. And it was packed with bikes on bikes on bikes.
The better part of my time in Amsterdam was spent writing a lab report from my field course in Peru. I wasn’t thrilled to be inside all the time writing about leaf cutter ants but the city kept me well caffeinated. Our first day we did a walking tour of the city. I really came to love the free walking tours in all the different European cities. They’re perfect for seeing everything and narrowing down other things to do.
My friend, Katie, also met up with us in Amsterdam!! We did an evening canal boat tour at sunset and the views were beautiful on the canal.
On our second day, my family lined up for the Anne Frank Museum. It was my favourite thing we did in Amsterdam, and I’d recommend it to anyone. It was difficult going through the space and coming out at the end and seeing the dates when all of the members of the family, except for Otto Frank, died.
On our fourth day in Amsterdam we got to leave the city a bit on a cheese, clogs, and windmills bike tour! We started at the I Amsterdam sign and went out into the countryside. We got to see the outskirts of the city and it was really fun to bike around (like a local lol). We stopped at a farm for fresh cheese and met a deranged farmer that carved clogs. He was mildly racist and spoke to my mom in Chinese and made me take off my shoes for a reason I still can’t understand. But he did make beautiful clogs.
I managed to finish up my report that evening and the next day my family was packing up to head home but Katie and I were off to Berlin!