Bikes, Wind, Art... Amsterdam

Thurday the 10th, I woke up early and took about an hour and a half train ride to Bruxelles to be there at 8am. I met all the exchange students in the train station and then we all loaded on a Coach Bus and made a two hour trip to Delft. On the bus we watched The Girl With the Pearl Earing which I had never seen, but I really liked it and I soon found out why we watched it. After an incredibly windy walking tour of the city, where on more than one occasion I almost got run over by a cyclist (everyone in Holland has a bike, bikes have the priority, remember that or get run over...), we went to the Vermeer museum which is the artist who painted The Girl With the Pearl Earing. The museum was more about his style and life and did not hold the painting, but it was interesting to learn about his technique. After that, we loaded back on the bus and went another two hours to Amsterdam. We went directly to the hostel which was very nice, and after a few minutes to freshen up (comb out the tangles in our hair from a day of windy whip lash), we walked to the Hard Rock Café for dinner! Rotary always takes us the the Hard Rock Café for Rotary trips :) After our meal, we took the tram to the central part of the city, and with our Rotary guys we went on a walking tour of the city at night-- including the Red Light District!! Let's just say that I am going to college... after our evening on the town we came back to the hostel and all the girls gathered around to dye Mollie's hair! We are such girls :) but we had fun and were good and in bed before midnight!
It was a good thing that we were in bed early because we woke up around 7 the next morning and after breakfast we were on our way. Our first stop was the Portugese Synagogue which was really pretty, but under construction so that we couldn't see a whole lot. After that we went across the street to see the Jewish History Museum which was nice and didn't focus on WWII and the Holocaust which was a nice change because you were able to see all that the Jewish community has done for the world. Then we took the tram to the marche aux fleurs which is a place where there are tons of flower, mostly tulip, vendors lining the sides of the canals and little cafés along the streets. Mollie and I had lunch and then walked around, and then we met back up with the group and hopped on the tram towards the Jordan Quartier. There, we were split into two groups: first I went with my group on a walk around the Jordan Quartier, the sun was shining and gorgeous and we found a park and became children again, playing on the see-saw! After an hour and a half of play time, we switched with the other group, and it was our turn to see Anne Frank's House. This was what I was looking forward to the most, and was the reason I chose to go on the trip, so I loved it. It was so moving, and incredible to see where she really was. You can see all the pictures that she hung on the walls during her stay to make the dreary times brighter, and you can just imagine being locked in that confined space for two whole years, never once leaving or even looking outside! Very moving. After that, we took the bus back to our hostel where we had a chinese dinner and then at 8:00 we took a 10 minute walk to the Van Gogh museum which was one of the coolest museums I have ever been to. The atmmosphere was very relaxed, with a DJ, drinks and desserts, and you could really tell that the point was to talk about the art and enjoy openly, rather than a typical hush-hush museum. We stayed there until about 10:30 and then walked home.
Saturday we woke up early and had breakfast before loading all the luggage onto the tour bus. We walked to the Rijks Museum which was very cool, but I was hoping to see the real Girl With the Pearl Earing but she was at a different museum for the moment unfortunately :( After waiting twenty minutes for the Rotarians to find a girl who was lost in the museum, we took the tram to the central district of Amsterdam. There we took an hour long boat ride along the canals. Fun Fact: Many houses in Amsterdam lean forward because the city is built on water so often the foundation for these old houses is wet sand and after years the house begins to sink and tilt. After the boat ride we had 3 hours of free time, in which we got lunch and did some souvenir shopping, and then for the last hour, a friend Darby, Mollie, and I went to the tour information area and asked if we could rent bikes! They said yes, of course, so we took our last hour in Amsterdam riding bikes and finally having the priority! It was such a wonderful way to end a great trip :) We took the bus back 4 hours to Brussels, and then a long train ride, so I ended up getting home, exhausted, around 11pm.
I feel so lucky to have these opportunities to travel all around Europe this year! It is just a wonderful gift!