tiffanypete: AMSTERDAM

we began our 2 week holiday in amsterdam. we stayed in the middle of the city at inntel hotel. sadly is rained almost the entire trip so we didn't get to experience all the city had to offer; we weren't able to rent bicycles or rollerblades and we couldn't have a picnic and relax in the parks. we tried our best not to let the rain ruin our time, we are oregonians and after all. oregonians know crappy weather.

DAY 01

i had some last minute errands to run which included returning library books and getting a spray tan. then i made my way out to gresham to get a ride to airport with my sis.we stopped into rogue brewery at the airport for a couple drinks. which were waaaaaay over priced i would not recommend going there

then we began our 10 hour plane ride to amsterdam. there was a nice little surprise on the flight free movies on your own personal tiny screen. i watched project x and the descendants.

DAY 02
we arrived in amsterdam around 9am and check in wasn't until 12 so we dropped off our luggage and headed out to do a little exploring and shopping. we made a quick detour to buy umbrellas because we were getting absolutely soaked. we went to h&m and bought sweats and i got a sweet dress that i can't wait to wear. then we went back to the hotel and napped.
we didn't make it to EHQ because it was a few miles outside of amsterdam but we went into a nike store. it was pretty dinky but they had some olympic gear i had worked on.

a monument in the square.

most of the houses didn't have numbers. they way you would tell them apart would be from the decor and coat of arms on the facade.

yeah it r pats at the wax museum.

we didn't end up making it to electric lady land but once we got up we got some falafels, which were delicious.(we had falafels twice in amsterdam. they were vegetarian friendly and cheap.)

OUR HOTEL
was really nice. very modern it looked like they had done a remodel not that long ago. the room it's self was a nice size and we had a nice veiw of neighboring buildings.

outside of our hotel.

views from our room.

view at night. i swear it never gets fully dark in europe. this was at 11 at night.

DAY 03

our hotel had an amazing breakfast buffet (which we craved the entire rest of the trip).

then we picked up our canal pass and went to the van gogh museum. i was never a big fan of van gogh but respected his work. after going to van gogh museum i now have a deeper appreciation for him and his work.

street art of van gogh

we made an extra stop to check out the I AMSTERDAM sign.

after the sign we walked over to vondlepark and tried to enjoy some sunshine but sadly it began raining right as we got there.

dutch cooper.

We had to figure out how to use the tram system to get to where we get the tickets for our jump on jump off canal.

our pictures from the canal bus...

this was a single family home, huge even for american standards.

bridge that leads out to the main docking area for large boats.

most of the stores in the jordaan area ended up being closed on sunday but we walked around. the rain burned off by the time we got on the canal bus so the rest of the day was full of sun with a chilly wind.

we took in the beautiful scenery and got some ice cream. i got some chocolate chip cookie and vanilla and lic got something weird like olive and blue cheese.

we decided to try out a touristy place the pancake bakery. the food had little flavor but i loved my extremely mint tea. i ordered a pancake with cheese and apples and lic got cheese, ham, and mushrooms.

i haven't read the anne frank diaries and i don't know much about the story. i thought that she lived with her family in an attic for a little bit but actually 2 families lived in the false back of a house for two years. her room still had pictures she had glued to to walls. to this day it is not confirmed who ratted out the families and ultimately caused that their deaths, except anne's dad, but there are theories. it's a terrible and sad story of hatred and the power it has.

DAY 04
delicious breakfast

after breakfast we started out our last full day with going to a flea market. since it wasn't a weekend the market wasn't at it's full potential but we did get some good stuff.
lic and i each got chunky rings.