Amsterdam

Such a gorgeous time of year in Germany.  As we drove to Amsterdam area, we passed numerous fields, trees and villages, in all their fall splendor.  I couldn’t help but pull over for some shots of the above village!  We stayed at the Duinrell water park resort.  We have been hearing about it for the whole time we have lived in Europe.  It was a lot of fun.  It had lots of pool areas, water slides that shot you straight down, inner tube slides, and the infamous toilet bowl slide.  The kids were in heaven there.  We had the Campbell's along for the weekend which made the water park way more fun with friends.  Duinrell is situated close to The Hague as well as close to Keukenhof where they have the tulip festival every year.  Our bungalow/trailer houses fit us perfectly.  We had one right by the Campbell's so we shared the cooking of dinners. 

After a day at Duinrell, we headed into downtown Amsterdam for some sightseeing.  First stop was the Vincent Van Gogh Art Museum which we had tickets and an entrance time for.  Which was fortuitous timing since it started raining as we walked up. 

The Van Gogh Museum was perfect.  It wasn’t too big and is the largest collection of Van Gogh paintings anywhere.  Ms. Hanna finally made it….she’s been dreaming of the day! 

   

   

Next we headed over to catch a boat cruise of the canals of Amsterdam.  The sun actually shined most of the time we were on it. You can’t tell from the pictures, but as the day wore on it got colder and colder….  Amsterdam is so neat!  Its known as the Venice of Northern Europe since it has so many bridges and canals.  The architecture is uniquely its own however and nothing like Venice.  Lots of Bricks and narrow buildings squished in rows. 

   

 

Amsterdam is the city of bikes……The people ride everywhere they go.  There are bikes lined on every street and corner.  It is definitely the transportation of choice here. 

More bikes……

At the end of the day, it was so cold!  We decided to stick it out and wait in line for a tour of the Anne Frank house.  While we were in line, I downloaded the book since I have never read it.  So it was neat to read the first 50 pages before entering the tour.  It was a very informative tour and very sad to see how they lived for so long once we entered the tour.  Sadly, only Anne’s father survived the concentration camps that they were shipped off to when caught here in Amsterdam.