Bali Bound

In Dam square, Amsterdam, this is the royal palace Canals of Amsterdam More canals Tulips at our day at Keukenhof Oude Kerk, an old church in the heart of the red light district

It was our last full day in Amsterdam today.  A little sad but now I''m getting excited for the next leg of the journey.  Today we had our first city tour.  We got to take the giant tour bus around Amsterdam and saw some more of the city.  I'll be honest, most of the sights are all together so there wasn't too much to see.  We also took a canal cruise which was interesting.  The water looks icky but apparently that is because of the layer of muck and bikes.  I guess people enjoy tossing bikes in the canals.  They end up with quite a few when they clean out the canals.  Crazy world.  We also went to a diamond factory.  It was pretty lame.  Because yes, I"d like to purchase a ring for 5000 euros and carry it around with me for the next 2 weeks.  Pass.  Afterwards we skipped out on the evenings optional exursion.  We could have gone out to Volendam, it's a touristy village outside of the city.  However, it ...

(Note from Nicole:  we found free internet at hotel.  keyboard is terrible so grammar and puncuation may be a little dodgy.  just to warn you.  now onto blogging.) We had our first real day in Amsterdam.  I am still looking for the elusive pancakes, we can see a sign from the hotel window but have not made it there yet.  Todays agenda was Netherland fun.  Sort of .  Well it was fun but it is hard to describe walking around a dead girls home fun.  We started the morning out at Anne Frank House.  Wow that was a teeny tiny space for 8 people to live.  It was a really somber sort of day but it is good that you can see the experience and suffering of one to stop it from happening again; it makes it all feel that much more real and terrifying.  We had a bit of a wait but the house was along the canals and its all so picturesque.  We did wander around the area a bit and took a ton of pictures!  Perhaps when I g...

We've officially arrived!  The hotel is really nice and in the middle of the city so we should be able to get around easily.  Bess, you were totally correct, everyone speaks English which is delightful as I never did find a Dutch phrase book.  But a lot of the words are obvious so we'll make it through.  Haven't done too much interesting today as it feels like we've been traveling forever!  But tomorrow we officially join up with the bus tour.  And we are off to Anne Frank House and Keukenhof before the orientation dinner.  Should be a good day. 

It's starting to feel more real now. I'm currently at the airport waiting for the flight. I'd also like to say that the airport got real fancy in the last few months since my last trip. I'm a little sad that the international area isn't open yet. It's still surreal that this time tomorrow we will be in Amsterdam, probably heading to Keukenhof. Home of the bulb fields. Or maybe we'll be sleeping off the jet lag I'm still a little off with the time change. I'm hoping that it doesn't hit us too badly as we leave at night and in theory can sleep on the plane. And it'll be night time by the time we get to Amsterdam. Either way I'm getting used to the lack of sleep with my weird work schedules so I have hope it'll all be good. Our plane has arrived!! In a few hours well be in the air on the way to excitement and adventure.