Vacation # 5: Honeymoon, Part I: Amsterdam

Our fairytale wedding ended, but a honeymoon of a lifetime was about to begin!

 We woke up at a beautiful bed & breakfast, dined on the best Eggs Benedict ever, & hurried along to catch our flight out of New York that day, to land in  Amsterdam {early} the next morning!

It was so early in fact, we couldn't even check into our hotel room!

 

 It was the day after the big soccer {le football} finals that Holland played in. So literally, everything was closed until about 9-10am...I was tired & wanted a shower & a nap, but since that wasn't in the cards, we made the most of our morning.

our landmark clock tower!

Yes, they were better than we have here in the states.

We finally got to check in, I got my nap & shower

Our tiny room!

We were ready to hit the city!

 Dinner at an Argentinan, Italian, Mexican restaurant?

Everything came with fries & mayonnaise.

Ew?

Don't knock it til you try it!

If you haven't noticed, each vacation has had "a song"...

Well, over in Amsterdam they bumped this fun tune
{it's on the TV behind Joe!}

 

 We still absolutely love this song & of course its memories!! :)
P.S. I thought they were singing, "cotton fly" & Joe thought "dragon fly"
It's "hot & fun"
hehe

BIKES everywhere! I loved this one.

lounging by the canal

dutch apple pie & joe's donut yum yum yum

need to use the WC? Ask for a key!?

truly enjoying its goodness

coffee shops

Next to Anne Frank's house

totally surprised me to see this!!

so delicious!

Non-alcoholic beer...it was free. eh.

the shopping was surprisingly awesome!

how the Dutch live

we ate lunch here~yummy croquettes! 

Overview:

via

• We spent 5 days and didn't see everything, but it was a decent amount of time!
• Highly recommend going to the Anne Frank House; I taught her story so that was really interesting to me & to bring that back to my students.
• The food was not our favorite, but we did try a lot of Dutch food
• We had this curry sauce the first night & brought some home (I need to order more!)
• The amount of fries I saw eaten, I could not believe how thin all the people were!!
• However, bikes are crazy popular, you literally will get run over if not careful!
• Red Light District is a sight to see.
• There is nothing better than fresh baked bread, wine, & old Gouda--thanks mom & dad {in-laws} for the tip!
• Restaurants are different; waiters don't really work on tips, so the service is different...
• Even though Holland lost the soccer game, you could not tell the way they were partying!
• It was a tad dirtier than I anticipated {a lot of garbage in canal}
• We would stay closer to the downtown area next time
• There really wasn't a language barrier--most people spoke English
• It was still light out at like 10pm--we thought that was so weird & cool!
• We had a ball together and Joe was sad to leave, but we had two more amazing cities yet to visit.

We will be back. I am sure of it.

Travel Date: July 2010
Have you still not entered my pretty bracelet giveaway???!!
You have until Monday 11.21 to do so!

Today I'm thankful for a happy heart. Only you can make yourself happy. It comes from within.
Only then will you truly enjoy everything that life has to offer.
Tomorrow we'll have hopped a train to, La Ville De L'amour~oui oui, Paris!! xo