Good morning! It’s Day 3 kids. I’m sitting in the lobby waiting for 0845, which will be our departure time to head into Amsterdam. I had a fairly decent sleep last night, having gone to bed shortly after checking on the kids at 2200. The breakfast buffet was great and now I’m ready to roll on our adventures for today. Hopefully all of the kids will be ready on time.

So we’re here near the centre of Amsterdam waiting for our tour guide to show up. We were a bit late getting here, which was due to a road closure that affected the bus arriving at our hotel. Our guide this morning is Larae, who will be showing us some of the notable points of this beautiful city.

Alright, so we’re back on the bus after a busy day. Larae was a great guide, taking us around parts of the city before we ended up the Rembrandt Hoose. We actually visited this same place during the 2014 tour and it is really neat. It is a farm, and they have milk cows which are used to make delicious Gouda. We had a tour of the facility and got a nice explanation of how it is made. They also make wood clogs and they gave us a demonstration of the process. Interesting to see. Afterwards, we were given samples of Gouda and time to buy some souvenirs in their gift shop. I picked up a few things for my family which I hope they like.

Rembrandt Hoose, April 2017.

Clog making, April 2017.

Windmill, April 2017.

After a quick stop at a nearby windmill, we proceeded back into the city centre for the remainder of the tour. Larae had some fantastic information and stories to share about the history and culture of Amsterdam. When the tour ended, we were brought close to the Royal Palace, or the Koninklijk Paleis, where everyone had an opportunity to grab a bite to eat and take a quick look around. For me, lunch was ham and Swiss on a croissant.

Our next stop was near the Amsterdam Centraal Station, where we embarked on a boat for a 1 hour canal tour of the city. I knew this would be great, as we did it in 2014 and it was an amazing way to see the city. It would have been nice if the boat was more open, which makes it easier to take pictures and video, but it was good nonetheless. The canals make this place such an interesting and unique city. I really would like to visit here more often to be able to see more its amazing culture and architecture.

Streets of Amsterdam, Paril 2017.

Streets of Amsterdam, Paril 2017.

After that tour was over, we slowly made our way to near the Rijksmuseum, which is the largest museum in Amsterdam, where we had a chance to see the “I (am) Amsterdam” sign. Our bus picked us up there and brought us to our dinner destination, which was a place called Drovers Dog. The food was okay at this Australian themed restaurant, in Amsterdam, but I think the kids found the portions to be a bit light. The dessert was good though, with cool wooden spoons (not like the wooden sticks we ate ice cream with as kids). When we arrived back at the hotel, many proceeded to get food from one of the hotel restaurants to satisfy their unquenched appetites.

Wooden spoon, April 2017.

We just finished checking on the kids, who are now in their rooms for the evening. Tomorrow is a busy day, as we have a 1000 appointment at the Anne Frank House, and then we are off to Tyne Cot Cemetery and Ypres in Belgium. So on that note, I better turn in. I’ll be back tomorrow with all the details of our day. Until then…