My spring break continued from England to Amsterdam on Wednesday. We took a train, the tube, and another train from Bath to London's Southend Airport. From there we took a plane to Amsterdam, Holland. Or is it The Netherlands? I'm still not really sure...
hopefully this will shed some light on it.
Come to find out they had signed up for a pub crawl for the night, so we decided to join in and spend their last night in Amsterdam with them. I'd never done a pub crawl before, but it was not something I think I'll ever do again. It wasn't horrible, but it was a Wednesday and some of the bars were just the pub crawl group. Also, I'm not a big drinker, so paying all that money wasn't worth it for me.
The crawl took us to five different bars and a club all over the city. Including one through the Red Light District. THAT was awkward. It was kind of interesting in a never-would-you-see-that-anywhere-else kind of way...
Thursday we all met up at the "I AMsterdam" sign to take pictures and be tourists and all that. From there we walked around and did some window shopping and such before the other group had to head out.
When we all parted ways we headed back to the hostel to relax for a bit. Amy was getting in that afternoon so when she landed she called and Sam went to meet her and show her to the hostel. When they got back we all met up with Sam S and the 4 of us went to a Thai place for dinner.
Friday we tried to go to the Anne Frank house but the line was too long and we had already made plans for lunch. We went to the Pancake Bakery and had some amazing pancakes! They were gigantic, and almost more like crepe's, but they were so delicious!
After lunch we all walked around and checked out a giant flea market before splitting up: I went to do some more window shopping and the other 3 went to a "coffee shop" before Sam S headed back to Florence. After a while I headed back to the hostel to relax. Sam D and Amy came back shortly after I did and both took naps.
After a while, I got tired of waiting for them to wake up, so I went down to get some dinner. Our hostel - Durty Nelly's - was part of a bar, so I didn't even have to out outside to order my burger, fries, and drink. I sat watching the soccer game on TV and shortly after Sam and Amy came down and joined me.
Not too long after that, some English guys - Richard (our age), his dad, and some of their friends - on a stag weekend (bachelor party) came over and we all talked and hung out for a few hours.
Saturday we made it to the Anne Frank House, after waiting in line for about an hour and a half. It was so emotional. Being in the place where all that history happened it was almost overwhelming. The Secret Annex wasn't furnished, but we got to go up in it, through the original bookcase (yes it's still there!) and walk around. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures, but they wouldn't have done it justice. It's something you have to do in person to get the full experience. I don't know if it was worth the long wait, but I'm definitely glad I did it.
After the museum we made our way across town for the Heineken Experience. Along the way we stopped at the "I AMsterdam" sign again, because Amy hadn't seen it and it was a better-weather day.
The Heineken Experience was interesting. We got to see the history of Heineken and then went in to see where and how the beer was made and bottled etc. We even got to do a 4D "ride" where we were the beer.
When the experience was over we made our way back to the hostel to grab our things and made our way to the train station to get to the airport. Our flight got us in to Milan around 10:30, but once we got our bags and took the bus to the train station it was about midnight.
We then had about 6 hours until our train back to Florence, so needless to say it was a long, cold, and uncomfortable night. Once we got on the train we all slept practically the entire 2.5 hours back to Florence, where we arrived at 8:30 Sunday morning.
I promptly took a nap until around noon, when I then took a shower, unpacked and relaxed for the day: catching up on TV shows, uploading photos, updating my blog, etc.
Yesterday classes resumed - kind of. We didn't have Italian because the school had organized a "round-table" for all us US students to learn a bit more about the Italian politics and what happened with the elections over a month ago. I still don't really understand, but it was an interesting lecture.
I then had my internship in the afternoon and soccer at night. Today, classes actually happened and tonight we have our last soccer match tonight so we're going all out. We are playing probably the best team in our league so we're going in knowing we're going to lose, but we're going to get the best out of it and finish the season with a bang!
Over all, spring break was a good time, extremely relaxing, and much needed. Now, however, it's back to work for these last 4 weeks. But, of course, I'll be having adventures still, so the time is just going to fly by. I don't have anything planned for this weekend but I think I might be going to Milan for the design/furniture fair as part of my internship, so I'll be sure to update about that if it happens.
Otherwise, practically everyone from my group is going to the Amalfi Coast this weekend, so I'm going to have ample time to start (and hopefully finish) my Art History final paper. It's not due for a few weeks - at the end of the semester - but I'll be practically all by myself in Florence all weekend, so what better time to get my paper done. And besides, the weekend after that is the school trip to Venice Friday-Saturday and we are going to a Florentine soccer match that Sunday; and the weekend after that (my last weekend in Florence) is a long weekend (that Thursday is a holiday) so Lexi, Sam D, Max, and I are going to Trapani. So, I figure I might as well just get it done now so I don't have to worry about it!
You are always right on top of stuff -- good work old girl! Thanks for the update.
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