EuroTrip 2.0 part 3

The last part of our trip took us to Amsterdam in the Netherlands on a night train. We arrived at 10:00 and got our tram tickets for the two days we decided to visit. Once we figured out how to take the tram we hopped off at our hotel, Hotel Zandbergen the best one yet. It was wonderful because it was close enough to the museums that we could walk there. We dropped our bags off than headed to the museums for the day starting with the wonderful Van Gogh Museum. It was wonderfully set up bringing us through his inspirations followed by his paintings in a chronological order, accompanied by his life story. This let us see the evolution of his art.

Once we finished we headed up town to see the Amsterdam Sex Museum, it sounds garish but it wasn't, it was very interesting. It was taking us through sex in the ages and the different views of sex in the ages. As well as the general history it gave us an over view of Amsterdam's sexual history.

Once again we were on the tram heading for another museum, this time it was Anne Frank's House. The Anne Frank House is where Anne Frank, her family as well as family friends spent quite a few years hiding out during the Nazi invasion of Holland. Having read her diary I was mislead by the size. I don't know if in my mind I made it out to be smaller than it was or if the fact that it was bear of furniture made it look bigger. Either way it was touching for me to be there, in a place with so much history. They had even preserved the wallpaper in Anne and her sister's room.

After visiting the museum the plan was that we were going to go to the restaurant district than take a tram to visit the Red Light District but on our way to supper we got invited to a PubCrawl and decided to go. On this pub crawl the plan was to go to 6 bars that night getting a free drink in each bar. Having visited museum all day we only made it out to 3. It was great because we got to meet people all over the world, there was a big group from England, some Dutch guys, people from Cyprus, Australia, New Zealand, yet we were the only Canadians. I have to admit we did get lost on the way back to the hotel, fine I got us lost, but we got there.

For day two in Amsterdam we registered for a bike tour of the country around  Amsterdam with Mike's Bike Tours. The bike tour was great! I would recommend it for anyone going to Amsterdam. Once we were at the bike shop we got a quick history of the city before heading out on our town bikes to go visit an authentic windmill and a farm where they make delicious cheese and clogs. The 22km ride was very educative and a great way to travel the way the dutch do... by bike. Most road in Amsterdam are not pedestrian friendly, the roads are divided into 3 lanes, the tram lane, the car line and a bike lane... it's a matter of choosing which type of vehicle you want to be run over by, and trust me bikes are not always your best choice.

After the tour was done we didn't have much time to do anything but go back to the hotel to get our bags, eat a light lunch and head back to the train station to get to Paris where I would spend my last night in Europe. We decided to go see a typical french movie called "Il reste du jambon?" for anyone who understands french I do recommend it, it makes you laugh and makes you think at the same time.

The next day I boarded the plane to get back home, just a bit over 24 hours and I was home safe and sound to my familly.

All it all it was an amazing trip full of highs with very few lows.
Au Revoir et a la prochaine aventure