European Chronicles - Day 6

Our last full day here in Holland...

This morning started early and began with a proper meal at a Dutch Pancakehouse. While Tracy and Brandon had waffles and pancakes, I tried a local specialty called poffertjes. They were good. One thing we've all noticed here in Europe are the portion sizes - much smaller than in the US. Actually, this has been a good thing... we're always fed just right and never stuffed completely full.

Afterwards, we went to our last museum visit: this time at Nieuwe Kerk (New Church). They had a really interesting exhibit on Istanbul, its timeline from the Ottoman Empire days, ties to the Dutch, etc. Sounds like an interesting place (who knows, maybe a future trip?)

From there, we did one more visit to the Zoo. It was such a nice day today that we all wanted to stay outside. We wandered for about 3 hours and saw every corner this time - including a few things we hadn't noticed before.

We've collected almost an hour of video, and over 300 photos during our stay in Amsterdam. I can't remember ever taking as many before, but I'm sure we'll enjoy them for recollecting... and it's been fun doing our daily blog updates as well.

We all enjoyed our trip, but also all agree that it's time to return... after we do (and re-adjust to the home timezone), we'll work on that Davis DVD next.

Amsterdam was a blast! Everyone was friendly (just had to watch out for those damned bikes), and they all speak English as well as Dutch. Whatever country we decide to visit next, we'll definitely have to brush-up on the native language beforehand. We did pick up a few basic Dutch phrases - and drove Tracy crazy answering back with "Ja" or "Nee" (yes or no) to every question. Goden morgen is about like it looks, Good Morning. Dank U is thank you. Gesloten means "closed" (the stores close at 6pm here, except on Thursdays when they stay open till 9pm). And the canal where our hotel is situated is called the Herengracht... pronounced "erhen-ghrasht".


We'll miss our strolls by the canals and all the numerous sidewalk cafes along them where we ate. Brandon will definitely miss "La Tosca" where they always served him wine - no questions asked. It was a great week in all.. the slow, relaxed pace... the casual atmosphere... the relative quiet for such a bustling city (e.g no car horns, just bike bells). Definitely lots of good memories. It was well worth the trip, and made for a great locale to conduct our European initiation.