Amsterdam & Lately :)

May 8th

Hello :) it's Sunday 8:50 pm and we are in Amsterdam. We got in to Holland this morning and it's been great. We left England last night and arrive early this morning at the Hook of Holland. Saying goodbye to Anna and Bob was really difficult. I cried :( I know, I'm such a baby, but I really fell in love with them. They were amazing and it'll be hard to not be around them and not having delicious fresh home cooked dinners. Anna also got teary eyed...it was difficult for her to say goodbye. I mean it must have been nice for them to have guest at home considering their daughter just moved to New Zealand and they have no other close family around them. It's just the two of them and considering they have been married for 47 years I'm sure they do just fine on their own, but I'm sure they enjoy the company :). It makes me sad knowing that they have no one close around them, but that's life I suppose.

Any way, I know last time I wrote I told you about us taking an overnight ferry to get here? Well you see when we were thinking "ferry" we were thinking good old typical ferry like the ones in movies; they get you from NYC to Ellis Island type of ferry. Well this was a cruise ship type of ferry, it was amazing!! When we got on the boat we were shocked to see how huge this boat was. Let's put it like this, this ship was so big that there were huge semi trucks and cars on board. The ship had free wifi, a movie theater, casino & bar....it's was crazy. The funny thing was when we got to our room instead of getting the bed that we asked for, we got two twin bunks. Anthony and I just sat there laughing, but we couldn't really complain considering we got it for a good deal, it was better than what we expected and we would save on a hotel for the night. So I slept on the top bunk and he slept on the bottom bunk since he gets up 50x's throughout the night. He is such an old man!

We got in to the hook of holland at 745 am, but it was 645 am in England which threw us off. We have been walking around all day and decided to call it a night early so we can just enjoy our day tomorrow. I'm not tired now that I'm laying bed, but Anthony on the other hand is knocked out. He is actually snoring right now haha (he's going to kill me when he reads this).

Anyway, Amsterdam is very interesting.Our first impression of Amsterdam was not good to be quiet frank. It was dirty and very unkept. We got dropped of at Amsterdam central station and the first place we saw was the red light district area and Anthony was not liking it. I was actually concerned! Don't know how else to put it but this city is as liberal as it gets. There are sex stores and pot signs all around the Red light district area. Well there is pot everywhere actually, basically you can walk inside a coffee shop and order pot just as easily as you can order the coffee. Honestly, I'm not a smoker and I've never smoked pot, but I would have to say that smoking pot is better than smoking cigarettes. The way I see it is pot comes from the earth while cigarettes contain a bunch of chemicals.

After the craziness of the red light district we went on to check in at our hotel. It's not a very cheap hotel, but it was the best price we could find in a good area and that didn't have us rooming with other people. We both really like the room, but there isn't any ac which is the only downfall. After checking in we decided to go have lunch; Rick Steve's recommend this "amazing, but budget" way to eat so we did it. We went to the grocery store and bought bread, ham, cheese, chips and drinks and it was just so worth it. I had this freshly baked croissant stuffed with cheese, far from healthy, but very tasty. Just thinking of the crunch when I bit into it and the savory taste of butter yummmmmy....I want another one already (I actually had one for dinner too). It was really nice to have lunch sitting on a bench looking at people go by on their boats in the canal. It was just perfect! Moments like that make me appreciate my marriage more than ever! I can't tell you how in love with Anthony I am and I just feel more in love with him now than I have ever before. We just click!

Something funny....everyone here in Amsterdam and everywhere in Europe speak a different language besides English. So Anthony has decided that we will speak Spanish together so that we are different too. The thing is Anthony does not speak Spanish. He makes me talk to him in Spanish and then he responds by saying "como?, por que?, Si!, No, ayi, okay." haha so basically I can be asking him anything and he will respond with those same answers. He was making me laugh so much. Another thing he does is speak a made up language; it's a mix of what German and Dutch sound like to him. So earlier this lady was talking by him and he decided to say something that sounded like this, "shlaagen laagen baugen?" and he expects me to respond to him in his made up language too. The ladies face was priceless too. We also heard someone talking Dutch and they were talking about their the length of their sheds, but instead it sounded more like "long shets" which Anthony thought was the funniest thing in the world because it sounded like they were saying something inappropriate and they kept saying it over and over. It was pretty funny.

Going from a funny side note to something that was really sad...sorry. We went to the Anne Frank house today. It was the saddest thing I have seen in a long time. I had chills the entire time. It's one of those things that words nor pictures can explain. It's overwhelmingly sad everything she went through and just how much suffering went on during that time. I remember reading her diary when I was younger and feeling sad for her, but being in the house overwhelmed me. It's just so sad to see how she lived and it's crazy to make the connection from her diary to the real stuff. Anthony was really saddened by her house...we left the museum overwhelmed with different emotions.

Another museum that we went to that was probably my favorite was the Van Gogh art museum. It was A-freaking- mazing!!! Van Gogh is my favorite painter ever and seeing his work was just surreal. Anthony loves art, it was so great to be there in the Van Gogh museum, in Amsterdam, enjoying our favorite artist art work. At one point we both went to the bathroom and when he came out he grab my hand and said, "babe, I was just thinking, I'm peeing in a bathroom in Amsterdam at the Van Gogh museum!!" lol I don't know how to explain the feeling that overcame me just thinking about that. The things we have been doing lately are things we have dreamt about doing and the fact that we get to do it is amazing. I am just so thankful for everything we have and everything that God has provided us with. We are so blessed to have this opportunity and that definitely doesn't go unthought of :)

May 10th

Good morning! It's Tuesday morning, we are headed to Brussels from Amsterdam. We really wanted to go to Brugge, but there was no cheap bus that could take us to Paris from there so we decided to go to Brussels instead. We found this bus line which takes you from Amsterdam to Brussels or Paris for dirt cheap; compared to the trains. The most expensive thing we have paid for has been transportation; the trains in England especially. The hotel in Amsterdam was more than I cared to pay, but Anthony put his foot down when it came to staying in a hostel and having to sleep with other people, especially other males, in the same room. Other than that we haven't really spent much at all. We have been buying food at the local grocery store and have only ate in a sit-down restaurant twice. Speaking of eating out, my girlfriend Yanet recommended this pancake house in Amsterdam and we decided to try it. I mean I think it's the same one considering the way she advice we find it. Whether it was the same place or not it was definitely a good place to eat. Anthony ordered a banana nutella pancake and I ordered a chicken and cheese. I know it's sounds weird think of a pancake filled with chicken and cheese, but I must say it was delicious. The pancake was probably a foot in diameter, but not as thick as the pancakes we eat; it was thin, but not thin like a crêpe. The edges had a crisp to it and the cheese was burnt just the way I like it. Anthony's pancake was more of a dessert than a meal. It had chunks of bananas and it cane with a side of nutella which melted perfectly when placed on top of the warm pancake. Both pancakes were the best pancakes I have ever had & trust me I have had my share of good pancakes. Americans should learn to make pancakes like this, seriously. It's funny to think I'm going gaga over freaking pancakes; that should tell you how good they were. Yesterday we ate so bad, but we have been walking so much lately. We haven't used any type of transportation with in the cities we have visited. I would say we are walking about 6-10 miles a day. Since we have been walking so much and eating pretty healthy, we figured we have a splurge day. So we enjoyed our pancakes and at night, we were still full from our late dinner, we decided to have an Amsterdam typical snack; French fries with a white sauce (like mayo) and of course we had to add ketchup too :). It was really good. We were a little skeptical about the white sauce at first, but we just went along with it. Yesterday, I definitely gained the few pounds I had lost in the first few days of this trip. We brought cliff bars with us from the states and we eat that for breakfast with a banana or apple for breakfast- keeps us energized.

When we woke up yesterday it was raining and it was just so nice to sleep in and enjoy the sound of the rain. It's raining right now too, but we haven't let this rain stop us from walking around and enjoying our trip. We are so glad we invested in these Columbia lightweight jackets/raincoats. They have been so handy.

Anyway, I can't believe a week ago we left the states and headed out on this adventure. It doesn't feel that long, but it's crazy to think we still have two more weeks until we head back. It's incredible!! Who knows when we will be able to go on a vacation like this again, if ever. And who knows when we will be able to go on a vacation again period. I graduate in December and then it's back to having a career and taking life a little more serious. Not that I won't have summers of every year! Oh, the joys of being a teacher, I love it!!