Afscheid (Farewell in Dutch)

Our very last day...how sad:(

The view from our hotel room was quite scenic. 

Here's what the inside of our room looked like. 

Here I am standing at the entrance to Sebastian's, our hotel. 

The big question for us today is how do we want to spend our last day on vacation?  We slept in quite late and by the time we leave the room it's lunch time. So we found a place with tables right on the canal and enjoyed the view while having lunch. 

 

An omelette and ham and cheese sandwich with fries. 

Then it was on to Dam Square where we toured the Royal Palace. The rooms here were quite lavish. It was first built as a town hall but is now used as a royal palace. Much of the decorations inside were symbolic using reliefs of Greek gods  and goddesses to represent the the qualities needed for the leadership of Amsterdam.  

 

In case you were wondering, it was an audio tour, and we were kept fully engaged. 

It was a nice walk back to our hotel for a brief rest. Then out we went for ice cream on our way to a paddle boat rental. 

We spent the first 20 minutes paddling in circles unable to steer the boat. We made it a little ways before getting super frustrated. Mike went to the back and looked at the rudder.  It was almost completely broken off, hence the lack of steering ability. Since we weren't too far from where we started we took the boat back. The funny thing was that the only way we could control it was by pedaling backwards. I'm pretty sure we were quite entertaining for the onlookers while all this was going on. Once we got a new boat, however, it was a great ride in the canals. 

This was a very congested intersection and I almost had a panic attack while trying to maneuver around the motor boats and tour boats. 

We pedaled all the way to the Rijkes Museum. 

 

Almost back to the rental place. The tower you see there is from the church by the Anne Frank house. This is the tower she talked about being able to see from one of the windows in the attic and could hear ring. 

We wanted to eat dinner outside again by a canal. We ended up at Vlaming, a place the had been recommended to us by our hotel. When we tried eating there on Wed. night, we were too late and they were already closed. We had another delicious steak dinner here. 

Amsterdam- Rijks Museum and Boat Tour

Breakfast/lunch. Enough said. 

Move in day on the canal takes place with ladders and through the windows.

The Rijks Museum is too far to walk, so we take a tram. Once off the team we wonder around Vondel Park before going  into the museum. 

You can see the museum in the background.

Here wa are ready to go in 

The Night Watch- Rembrandt- the museums most famous painting 

One of Van Gogh's many self portraits 

When we left the museum, we decided to take a bike taxi instead of the tram back to our hotel area. 

This was a great ride. It was comfortable, felt like you were outside enjoying the weather and not standing on a packed hot stuffy tram. 

After dinner, pizza tonight, we decided to go on a night canal cruise. This was super fun. The lights were on so we could see in to many of the canal houses and canal boats. This was cool. I liked that we did this cruise in the evening. 

The building lit up in the background is Amsterdam Central Station. 

As we were walking back to our hotel, we stumbled upon this bike repair shop. It made us think of Chris. There are a gazillion bikes in this city. 

On to Amsterdam

It's on to the last leg of the trip. We're 11 days in, and it seems like we've been gone longer. This trip has exceeded all expectations that I had coming into it. 

The last three days will be spent in Amsterdam. It's kind of bittersweet though because this signals the end of the trip.😕

We've really enjoyed the built in nav system in our rental car. So when it offered up a detour for an accident ahead with a 4 mile backup, we took advantage and took the detour. We ended up in rural Holland driving on a one lane road that felt like a bike path. 

Once again we are booked in an elegant fancy hotel right on a canal. Driving in the city was CRAZY!!!  The roads are all one lane with bikers and walkers EVERYWHERE! There are NO stop signs and it appears that it's a free for all. To say I was a bit tense is a bit of an understatement.  But, once we arrived, got the car parked, checked in, and went to lunch at a quiet place on a beautiful canal, all was well!!  

Went to a great place for lunch, recommended by the hotel clerk who checked us in. Nice view, huh?  Food was yummy. 

Burger for me, 

Crostini for Mike. 

After lunch it was time to explore. We made it to Dam Square. This place was crazy with tourists and wacky street performers. 

The Royal Palace in Dam Square. 

At 5:30 we joined the line to see Anne Frank's house. 

That line is for the Anne Frank house. 

Anne Frank house is third from right. 

Almost there. We waited two hours to get in. What an experience to actually be in that space and see where she was. The original bookcase and her diary are also on display.