Amsterdam: Day One

A few months ago Mr. Stannix was asked if he wanted to attend an international tax course in Europe. It made for the perfect opportunity to celebrate our tenth anniversary a month early with ten days across the pond. We left the littles with Gramma and Grampa and took off for Amsterdam Friday afternoon. The plane was huge and only a year old with so many cool things.

We were served two full meals and drinks every hour. It was relaxing to be together just the two of us and I will never forget Mike's peeling laughter or his huge smile which were good to hear and see! It was fun watching our flight path and seeing that we would be flying over Greenland, and waving to Iceland on our way by.

 The sun set as we flew over Greenland and then I tried to grab a few hours of sleep before our arrival. We arrived in Amsterdam late Friday evening which was actually early Saturday morning here. The flight was so long and I am glad we don't have to get on another plane for a while. Once we arrived it took us a long time to figure out the train system and how to buy a ticket and which train to jump on. Then we walked from the station a few blocks to our hotel and by the time we arrived there we were both absolutely exhausted. The hotel didn't quite have our room ready by the time we made it so we freshened up in the bathrooms and plopped down on some couches until we had worked up enough energy to head into the heart of the city and explore for a few hours.

When we got off the tram we were immediately surrounded by people everywhere. The streets were busy and crazy! We walked a few blocks down the street in search of a cafe and explored a few neighborhoods. When we were finally too tired to walk anymore we settled on a quaint little cafe for brunch. I enjoyed some fried sugar bread covered in fruit and Mr. Stannix grabbed some cheesy fries.

 When we were finished we walked back up the other side of the street to Centraal Station and hopped a train back to our hotel. We slept for a few hours to get ride of headaches and ease the jetlag.

We went back into the city in the evening to explore and find food. We had booked a tour of the Anne Frank House at 7:45pm and hung out in that neighborhood until it was time for us to go in. The audio tour was really well done as they took you through the house and showed you where the family hid. To see how they lived and be there was quite interesting and sobering.

When we were finished we hopped another train and rode it to the food area of the city. There were so many people out enjoying the evening and most of the bars and cafes were packed!

We found a nice steakhouse and got a seat on the second floor balcony, overlooking the crowds and people down below. We enjoyed our meal so much!!

 We finished our evening walking around with gelato in hand soaking in the views and the history. We arrived back at the hotel exhausted! It was late, but we were able to chat with the kids back home who were enjoying an afternoon outside. My feet were aching from all of the extra walking and it felt so good to crawl into bed at days end!