These Boots Were Made for Walking - Day 4

FALL BREAK:
Amsterdam >> Prague

Woke up craving pancakes...and I found this:

The most delicious thing in the world!  Dutch pancake with chocolate, banana, and strawberry!  Oh yeah and powdered sugar :)

You can see that it certainly did the job

A bit of a rainy day in Amsterdam, but still gorgeous!

Then I walked across the street to the Anne Frank Huis and got to see it - finally!  Buying a ticket ahead of time is most definitely the way to go.  No lines at all.

This is a must-see if you ever venture to Amsterdam.  It's eery, full of history, and oddly inspiring.  Anne Frank was so smart and so optimistic.  She was so young, but extremely mature and understood that having a creative outlet was the only way to truly express herself.  What a brave little girl!

Some more shots of the beautiful canals.

Then I walked through the rainy streets towards the Heineken Experience and stopped for some tea along the way at:

Stanislavski (Russian actor and director who changed the course of theatre and acting forever) Cafe!

Delish!

iamsterdam sign

Found it!

They go through all of Heineken's history.  Quite the story!

You then learn the entire process of how their beer is made.

And you get to taste everything as it's being made.  I tried this - barley and water, boiled and mixed together.  And yes, I tried hops.  It was disgusting!  But this barley/water mixture wasn't bad at all.

They had lots of cool exhibits and hands on activities. 

There's a 4D section of the tour where they turn you into the beer and you watch an inside video of how it's made from start to finish, including bottling and distribution.

Then there's a sampling bar where they teach you the proper way to drink your beer.

Then you can even try to pour your own glass.  Would've done this, but the line was rather long.

And then I got free beer :)

(Well...it was included in my admission price)

Last meal in Amsterdam before traveling on to Prague.  I stopped at a Greek restaurant and was the only customer in there at that time, so I had wonderful service!

And quite delicious food, prepared just for me :)

Vegetarian platter and Baklava (first time I tried it!)

And that was Amsterdam!  What a wonderful trip.  I was so grateful for all of the experiences I had and the people I met.  I truly felt like I got a sense of the city and of the culture.  Mission accomplished!  Now onto Prague where they speak an entirely different language and even have an incredibly different currency.

Hello world.

These Boots Were Made for Walking - Day 3

FALL BREAK:
Amsterdam

Woke up on Sunday and journeyed to Hillsong Amsterdam!

Fishermen were out

It was held here, at a night club.

This sign is always so comforting.

It was a wonderful service and it was in English.  I love that I've been able to find a church community wherever I go.  It's really a true testament to the fact that God is everywhere.  I felt right at home and everyone was immediately so welcoming.  So much so that a woman asked if I'd like to sit next to her during service and then paid for my lunch afterwards as we conversed about our lives.  She also introduced me to many of her other friends, and one of them informed me of Berlin Connect, affiliated with Hillsong, that I would be able to visit the next week when in Berlin.  Everyone I met at Hillsong Amsterdam made my morning that much better, even though it was a bit rainy.

I then took a tram into Central Square and walked around a bit going inside a few churches and few shops along the way.  I then had to give in and buy a cheap umbrella because the rain was relentless.

I had to try one of these of course!

Tasted like fried dough.

Touristy shop with a lot of clogs.

Dam Square

City streets of Amsterdam

Lights for St. Nicholas' Day

Shopping mall which I browsed around in for a bit

I passed plenty of these coffee shops which are very characteristic of the Amsterdam city center

I then went back to my favorite place.  You guessed it, the Two Swans!  On Sunday nights they have live music and they wanted me to come back to sing some more songs.  This Sunday they had a pianist and sure enough we performed quite a few songs together.  Some jazz songs and some show tunes.  As before, people loved to sing along and we all had a jolly time.  After hanging for a bit there I said my goodbyes and headed off to dinner by myself, thinking that this would be last time at the pub.

I walked down the street and into this Dutch Kitchen that I had walked by several times and wanted to try.  As I entered the bar this man was singing New York, New York - I guess I was meant to be there:

When he walked by, I complimented him on his voice and after some discussion I soon found out that he was the brother of Trees - owner of the Two Swans!  What are the odds?!?  He was so sweet!

I then proceeded to eat dinner at a table by myself, but by no means was I alone.  Everyone in this tiny restaurant was very nice and before I knew it I had made friends with the people next to me.  After I had finished my sole fish, salad, and mash, they invited me over to their table to sit with them.

Again, they were the sweetest people, and quite hilarious.  They live outside of Amsterdam and had traveled in for the day as a weekend trip.

This was the waitress who I'm pretty sure didn't speak any English, but she had quite the personality that it didn't matter because I could understand everything.  She was certainly a jokester, as can be seen by her photo bomb  :)  

I sat with them while they ate and we talked about their travels to America and my travels in Europe.  They even invited me on their annual family skiing trip to Switzerland in February!  If only I could get back over here for it.  I'm sure it would be a blast!

I had the most delicious apple pie EVER!  Sorry America, but the Netherlands make a mean apple pie.

Me and my new friend Lars.  He was a very sweet boy.  Pretty sure his dad was trying to set us up, but I'm a bit old for him at this point in our lives.  Haha.  Nonetheless, we all had a great time at the Dutch Kitchen.  After they finished their desserts they invited me to head with them over to a pub down the street for one last drink.  I'll give you one guess where we went...

I was so glad!  I got to visit the Two Swans one last time.  It was even livelier than I had seen it before, as we were now there after dinner time as opposed to before.  We had a wonderful time and then said our goodbyes and I went back to the hostel after another magical day in Holland - my new favorite place with the friendliest people I've ever met.

These Boots Were Made for Walking - Day 2

FALL BREAK:
Amsterdam

Woke up the next morning happy to be in Amsterdam!

It's full of streets like this.

And canals like this.

Tried getting into the Anne Frank House, but the line was too long again.  So I found a computer at the cafe next door and bought a ticket online for Monday morning so that I could skip the line.  The website was in Dutch, so I tried to read it the best I could and prayed to God that I was buying the right thing.

Then started my strolling around Amsterdam heading towards the Hermitage Museum on Amstel Strasse.

There were bikes everywhere!

There was art everywhere and I felt at home.

Seriously, such a place exists!  Gorgeous :)

Selfies: product of traveling alone.  This was on the Amstel Dam (Canal), hence the name Amster-dam

Made it to the museum and was very glad I had bought my ticket at the Hostel ahead of time because I avoided this long line:

When I exited the museum this line was wrapped around the building outside the entrance. Crazy!

It was recommended to me by the friends I met the previous night to go to this museum instead of the other two I had originally planned on visiting as the others were under construction.  The Van Gough paintings had been moved to this museum and it was also home to some great Impressionist paintings.

By then it was raining (London and Amsterdam have that in common), so I walked a bit in search of a place to sit down and eat lunch.

Found this Spanish place with really cool interior!

And this is the result of trying to eat tapas by yourself...

Quite delicious though.

I then hopped on a Canal Boat to take a tour through the city by canal.

Their famous drawbridge.

People live in this!  They have to pay taxes on it and pay for the mooring space.  Heat, electricity, and running water are also all hooked up to it.

Our driver.

We passed this couple as we went underneath a bridge and I couldn't help but take a photo. Amsterdam is such a romantic city!

View from the water.

This is a parking garage just for bikes!

After the Canal Tour I walked through the Boemmarkt (flower market).

And of course I sampled some cheese along the way :)

How could I resist?

I then happened upon this fresh herring cart, which I had read in my guidebook was certainly a thing to try while in Holland. 

So I thought, when in Rome...

It was certainly interesting...oh my goodness.  The fish wasn't really cooked, like at all.  Luckily the crunch of the onions covered the crunch of the fish a bit, and the flavor.  But it creeped me out a bit.  I finished 3/4 of it, but then I couldn't stomach the rest.  But I will try anything once! (Probably won't try this one again, haha.)

Stopped in the Bible Museum because it sounded interesting!

They had cool artifacts and tons of Bibles.  Including this one:

The first printed Bible in the Netherlands

Then I went inside this Houseboat Museum for ten minutes before it closed.  Caught it just in time.  It was rather tiny, as one could expect I guess, but certainly enough room for two.

Even though I didn't think it was possible, Amsterdam's beauty multiplied at night.

Certainly happy to be here!

The building lit up on the left is the Anne Frank Huis.

I then stopped by my favorite bar again for a drink and sang a few songs for my friends while I was there.  It was really cool.  The bartender, Trees, introduced me over the loud speaker as a musical theatre student from New York City and everyone was so supportive and sang along when they knew the words.  I sang quite a few songs and had such a wonderful time.  There were quite a few more people there Saturday night and so I was able to meet even more incredible Dutch people.  Seriously, they are the best!

This is my buddy Erik singing at the bar.  He has such a wonderful voice!

That night I also met this group of guys that was a part of a choir just outside Amsterdam and we sang Christmas carols randomly throughout the night.  They were the sweetest and we had the best time.

They then brought me and a girlfriend I had met at the hostel (who took the picture below) out to dinner at this famous Indonesian Restaurant nearby.  It was absolutely delicious and we had great conversation.  They told us about their families and a lot about the culture of Holland.  We also continued to sing Christmas carols. :)

Sama Sebo: absolutely delicious food.

My friend and I walked home and fell right asleep.  I had quite the day that Saturday.  I saw so much, walked a lot, and fell even more in love with Amsterdam.

Proost!

(Cheers in Dutch)