Amsterdam take 2

Today was a very long but great day. We all went to Amsterdam (the fam + Elmo). We had to wake up at 8am so we could leave the house by 8:45 to be sure we would have plenty of time today. We parked around the area that Margreet grew up in (in Amsterdam) and then took the tram from there to the center of the city.  We got out a few stops before the center so that we could walk over to Anne Frank's house.  There was a long line but it moved fairly quickly..we stood in line for about 1.5 hrs. It didnt seem that long though because I was talking with Margreet the whole time. Elmo and Niels went off and did their own thing for a while and Frans was on his phone, so it was just us 3 girls in line. Only Lotte and I went in because the others went last year with Jenna (the last american girl here). You werent allowed to take pictures inside which kind of sucked but I did get a picture of this before we went in...

It really is shocking to see how small it actually was where they all had to live and to think that they could never go outside or even open their windows. They couldn't even open their curtains an inch or else they might be noticed by a neighbor. It gave me the chills walking through there. They still dont know to this day who it was that told on them that they were living upstairs. It was a really sad but moving experience and I was glad to be able to see it.

Afterwards we walked back towards where we got off the tram and met up with the boys and sat down to have some lunch, and took some pictures of course..

After lunch we walked over to the shopping areas. I really wanted to start finding souvenirs for my family/friends so we kept an eye out for souvenir shops and I had some things in mind that I was looking for (which im not going to mention bec its supposed to be a surprise!!) so we went in and out of quite a few shops and I ended up finding what I wanted for my family and some friends. Only a little shopping left to do but I am going to do that in Rotterdam. Anyway, we did that for quite a while and worked our way closer to where we were taking the canal tour on the boat. We all went on it except for Margreet, she waited for us on the terrace. I am so glad we went on the boat tour it was so beautiful and peaceful. It gave you the chance to really see Amsterdam away from all the busy tourist spots everywhere crowded with people and shops. We got to see a few of the canals and all the awesome buildings that are so old all along the water. It really is such a beautiful place. There are over 1,000 bridges in amsterdam and 100 canals (fun fact I remembered from the tour). We weaved in and out of canals before we came out into the harbor. It is one of the biggest harbors. Just like in Rotterdam, many of the things coming into Europe come through there from shipping. Once again I took a million pictures so here are just a few from the boat tour..

and due to the fact that there is not enough housing in Amsterdam for all of the population (as well as in other places) many people choose to live on houseboats on the canals instead. We saw many boats that were being used as houses and others that had been turned into houseboats, similar to ones I have also seen in Rotterdam. Here is a picture of one of the houseboats I took a picture of..

Anyway, its been a long day and I have to be up semi early tomorrow to go to my coach's house in Hoek van Holland for the clinic she is putting on. Hopefully I will get to take pictures tomorrow of some of the clinic. Until then..Doei!!

-Olivia