Amersterdam

 Ever since my parents were called to Africa on their mission, Josh and I have been planning to go visit them.  Right after Thanksgiving weekend we headed off on our LONG trip around the world (half way around anyway).  Josh isn't a huge fan of flying, so I have to thank him a million times for indulging my love of traveling.  It was a great flight and we both slept for most of it.  

We had a 24 hour layover in Amsterdam which we couldn't have been more excited about.  I am in love with all things European and was so excited to spend a little more time there (we have been to England), even if it wasn't very long.  We were both wishing that we could have stopped there on the way home too.  We will have to go back.  Even the train terminal was pretty (above picture).  There is so much history and charm everywhere you look in Amsterdam!

 I look so serious/concerned in this picture! I really felt like my heart was bursting I was so in love with everything I saw. I felt that I couldn't absorb it fast enough!

This was the view outside our window.  Gorgeousness everywhere we looked.  

I loved the little food stands everywhere.  The big thing was breakfast foods, waffles and pancakes.  I think they eat them like we eat donuts.  Even when we stopped in Starbucks for some hot chocolate, there was a stack of pancakes to buy.  

 Prepare for a million views of the canals.  The whole city is built around the canals and they are so gorgeous that I had to take a million pictures.  The other thing there is a lot of is bicycles.  I loved all of the old bikes everywhere.  EVERYBODY rode bikes and we were doing our best to stay out of the way.  Most of the time nobody locked them up, they were just piled in great bunches all over everything.  

There were so many things that we wanted to do in Amsterdam, but we knew that we didn't have a lot of time, so we had to choose one thing.  My first choice was the house from The Hiding Place (one of my favorite books), but it was a little far away, so we went to the Anne Frank House, which was a close second. 

 Forgive that we are both pretty casually dressed, we made the decision to send our bag on to Rwanda so we didn't have to deal with it, and didn't grab a change of clothes, so we were stuck in our traveling clothes for most of this adventure.  

Front of the Anne Frank house.  It was so surreal to actually see this piece of history.  I knew they wouldn't let us take pictures.  How come you can never take pictures of anything good!?  Especially in Europe.  We did get to see all of the rooms, most of them had the original paint/wallpaper in them.  They weren't furnished anymore as Otto Frank (Anne's father), decided they should remain empty.  My favorite thing we saw was Anne's actual diary.  It was amazing.  

 We walked and walked and walked.  It was so fascinating that I wanted to see every corner of Amsterdam (and I'm pretty sure we did...oh except the red light district.)

There were signs EVERYWHERE about being careful where you buy your drugs.  Like here when they are telling you to make sure to wear your seat belt. So strange.  

 I loved all of the window boxes.  Even in the winter when it was SO cold, the window boxes were taken care of.  I have a window box and felt inspired to actually plant it this summer!

 Gorgeous flowers everywhere.  As it is winter, here weren't any tulips growing, but there were so many shops selling tulip bulbs.  Looking back, I wish we had gotten some.  Maybe next time...

 This square reminded us of the movie The Best Two Years, which was filmed in the Netherlands, only without the tall grim reaper in the center...

 It was so fun to see everything all decorated for Christmas!  Again I felt like I couldn't take it all in fast enought. 

 Instead of selling wooden shoes, we saw a lot of these slippers shaped like wooden shoes.  What a cute idea!  I'm pretty sure my boys wouldn't wear them, but I was tempted.

 I loved all of the cheese stores everywhere.  So European right?  We went in and sampled some I had never heard of and it was delicious.  

The huge wheels were so perfect!  I think Josh could really get into cheese, he's a fan.

 We thought things would be so easy as everything was labeled in English in the airport.  Once we got out of the airport however, NOTHING was in English and luckily Josh is a directions genius or we would have been in trouble (we only got lost once...)

 We went on a hunt for good pastries, good chocolate and a good dinner.  We found them all. 

 We didn't know what all of the hype around the Stroopwaffles was and decided to try them.  

 They were the most delectable thing EVER!!  Luckily we found mini ones at Trader Joe's when we got home so we can have a little taste of Amersterdam whenever we want (and we have).  

 I love Rembrandt and studied his art with the boys.  I wish we could have seen the Rembrandt museum, but we didn't have time.  We did see this awesome statue though. 

 Aren't these shutters amazing!  Add the window boxes and it's just everything.  

 For our good meal, we chose an Italian restaurant.  We went out in search of authentic dutch food, but were informed that it wasn't very good (need to look into that), by some of the locals.  The food we ended up with was absolutely divine and the owners were super Italian, so I'm pretty sure it was authentic.

Our quick trip to Amsterdam was everything that I had hoped it would be, and I hope to go back one day!  It was the perfect way to start our fun trip.