Goedemorgen!!! (Good Morning)

My new adventure was to the beautiful land of Holland. So my dear friend Amanda (who lives in Oregon) works for a Dutch company that has their base in Nuhmens, Holland. Well, her work sent her to Holland for 2 weeks and so I decided to meet up with her in Amsterdam since I had never been there and it had been some time since I had seen her. So last weekend Oct.30 -Nov. 2 I went to see her because it was a long break.

So I arrived in Amsterdam on Friday. We ended up staying in a hostel boat, which was really cool. The room was extremely small but served its purpose well. It's hard to get the full sense of how small it is from this picture, but it was small! Hehe. Then we had a small window that looked out onto the canal with a small plastic raft nearby. I felt it was perfect to be on a boat on a canal because it is the true essence of Amsterdam AND Holland; there are canals everywhere!

The hostel boat
Our Room!

The first afternoon/night we were there, we walked around the city center which was a short 10-15 minute walk from our hostel and we just ventured off. We ended up eating at a small Italian restaurant which was so cute and the waitress was extremely nice. The Dutch are incredibly nice. Anyway, I had one of the best breads and butter spread I have ever tasted. The bread was a dutch bread and the butter was white, very creamy with a wonderful garlic and chive taste. It was absolutely delicious. Our meal was really good as well. We then turned in early for the night because we planned to go to some small villages outside Amsterdam the following day to see the countryside of Holland.

On Saturday the weather was cloudy, but there wasn't any rain. We hopped onto a bus and headed toward Monnikendam, which we were told was a good town to visit. We got off at what we thought was that city and it turned out we got off at Marken, but we decided to see the town anyway. I was so happy we stopped there because it ended up being my favorite. The village was extremely small and very quiet. Since it was autumn, it made the village look that much more picturesque, as if it came out of a Thomas Kinkade painting. We walked around taking pictures of the small homes and old fashioned cars (Amanda has some pictures that I would like so maybe later I can put them up). All the leaves on the trees were different shades of orange, brown and red and some even covered the ground, which made the village look so beautiful. There were also small creeks that flowed through the city and we saw various ducks and swans going down the stream. Simply incredible. We walked into a couple of small touristy shops and saw a lot of clogs. There was even an older man, who walked by us pushing a wheel barrow, and he was wearing wooden clogs. We ended up finding the port (Marken is basically an island) and noticed there was a boat that went between Marken and Volendam, our next stop. We decided it would be fun to take the boat over. It was very enjoyable; we were the only ones on the top deck for most of the ride (which was short) and then some Spaniards came up to take pictures.
Beautiful Marken
Marken
This city is absolutely gorgeous.

When we arrived into Volendam, the town looked like a old western town. We walked around for a little bit and saw that there were some shops where you could dress up in a traditional Dutch outfit and get your picture taken.....yes, we did indeed do this since it was really cheap; how could we let this opportunity pass us by? Then, we had lunch at a fun Dutch bar and we both ordered Dutch plates, which were fantastic! I actually really enjoyed the Dutch food we ate. We then walked deeper into town and passed a small food and clothing market, where we bought some of the best tasting macadamia nuts I have ever tasted. After seeing the town, we decided to go to our last stop, Edam.
Amanda and I on the boat to Volendam.
Here's the nut station at the market. :)
The port side of the city of Volendam

Edam was our last city and the one that we spent the least amount of time in because there was basically nothing to see and everything was closed. The town was absolutely closed down, but it was still beautiful. There were canals and bridges everywhere. It was so beautiful.
Beautiful willow tree along a canal in Edam.
Edam, such beauty.
We passed by a clog maker...very cool.
I am on one of the several bridges we walked across.

That night we headed to Chinatown, which was somewhat near us. It is a big deal in Amsterdam, so we went to check it out and it was pretty good.

On Sunday, we toured Amsterdam and saw the sites that interested us the most. We first went to Anne Frank's House; the place where she and her family (along with 4 other people) went into hiding. It was wonderful learning about the history of her family in that house and their experience during the hiding. The museum was very interactive and just so moving. It was really insightful.
Anne Frank's hiding place.

Then we went to the Van Gogh museum, which was incredible. I love his artwork; it is incredible. Even better, as you walk around the museum, looking at his art, they tell you about his life which was really interesting. Then we headed over to the Heineken Brewery, which ended up being so much fun!!! It was cool because they showed you how the beer was created and then it was interactive. We could make videos, take pictures and then there was an interactive video. We had a free taster and then 2 free beers after that. Surprisingly I enjoyed Heineken. It was fun.
The only watermill we ever saw, leaving Edam. We were on the bus, that's why it is blurry.
I was shocked to see the millions of bikes we walked by everyday. This type was typical for adults with kids, the carriage/carrier is in the front of the bike.
Beautiful clock towers, I loved their chime.
Just gorgeous.
Posing with a Heineken beer ad. There were 4 different ones. Yes, we took pictures with all of them...
Yay!
This was cool, so when we got our first taste tester, we were told how to take a sip and taste the different flavors (for lack of a better word) of the beer. First it is bubbly, then sweet and then bitter as you swallow it. Well after we drank it all, we were told that the foam leaves lines on the glass and you can count them to see how many sips you took.
My dear friend Dumbo.
Giant clog....yes, we definitely looked like tourists....oh well!
The main square in Amsterdam, Dam square. (We think dam means city)

Our last day was dear Amanda's 25th bday! Sadly we only had the morning, but we took a canal tour cruise around and through Amsterdam which was a lot of fun. Hope you all enjoy the pictures!!!
On our canal boat tour-Happy Bday Amanda!!!

Love, Celeste

P.S. I'm hoping I have something exciting to share with you next week; we'll see if it actually works out. Peace!