Wednesday morning shone bright
and sunny, it was gorgeous, although a little nippy with the wind still kicking
up every now and again. We walked in to
the Anne Frank house (although the lineup was around the corner and none of us
felt like paying 20 Euros to wait for an hour to see an attic) and then headed
back to Vondelpark for a stroll.
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| Anne Frank House |
We
left, deciding to come back later with some beers, and headed for lunch at an
Irish Pub near the museum district. From
there it was back to the Red Light District so that Caitlin could get her nose
pierced. While we were there, we saw
people up on top of a church, and decided to go up. It turned out to be the oldest church in
Amsterdam, and our tour guide gave us some splendid information topped with
stunning views of the city.
We headed
back to the park and spent the better part of the afternoon relaxing until it
got too cold to sit outside anymore.
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| Vondelpark |
We made our way back, but the
weather was still beautiful, so Eric relaxed with a movie and Caitlin and I
went out for a walk through Westerpark (right beside our Airbnb) and at twilight
it felt like Narnia. It was absolutely
stunning with the sun setting and the vibrant colours of little houses tucked
in behind trees. We were both very sad
we didn’t have our cameras with us. By
the time we got back, it was quite late as the sun didn’t set until about 10pm,
and we relaxed with some music until bed.
My last full day in Amsterdam got
off to a mellow start. We decided to go
see Haarlem (about 15km outside of Amsterdam) and we walked the 2km to the
train station and took the short trip to Haarlem. Since we really didn’t know anything about
what to see there, we headed to the center, and enjoyed walking through the
sleepy little town- a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of
Amsterdam. We again enjoyed lunch on the
patio, and then wandered the canals, admiring the houseboats (or dock houses
because they weren’t really boats) before heading back to Amsterdam.
We walked back up to the house, relaxing with
a film for a couple hours and then it was time for me to leave. Caitlin and Eric walked into town with me and
we found a patio to sit with a beer and watched people for a couple of hours,
before off I headed to the airport.
Amsterdam topped all of my expectations- it was the perfect blend of
relaxation and culture, and the perfect place to spend four days.
My trip home was equally as
uneventful as my trip there. The man at
Passport Control decided to make me answer questions in Turkish (which at 4 in
the morning is quite tricky) but apparently I passed because he let me back
in. I made it home by 8am to a lovely
surprise breakfast of a fantastic omelette, fresh bread and a cup of
coffee. Joe outdid himself by washing
the dishes so that I could go pass out when I finished eating. It was a good set up for the summer, and an
enjoyable way to arrive home.
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