Amsterdam!!

AMSTERDAM!!

The weekend I got back from Italy for spring break I hopped on another train to Amsterdam. Because Amsterdam is part of the Benelux, trains there are especially cheap and easy. I met my friend Dan there in the morning. We got some Thai food for lunch and then started exploring the city.

Our first stop was the House of Bols, which shows you the process of making cocktails. It was a very interactive experience. We got to smell and taste the different liqueurs, practice flair bar tending, and sample our own special cocktail. You can watch me below. It's basically me laughing at how horrible I am at flair bar tending.




Lori flair bartending

Next we paid the expensive price to go see the Van Gogh Museum, but I thought it was worth it. You got to see how his work evolved and my favorite part was the temporary exhibit of his starry nights work.

For the rest of the afternoon we took it easy and hung out and explored.

The next day we went to the Keukenhof Gardens. After standing in multiple lines for what seemed like hours we finally made it to the gardens. It was packed!! I was really surprised. The gardens were huge and had millions of flowers! On our bus ride there (and my train ride), you could see the colorful fields with rows of flowers. It was really beautiful!


After a stressful day at the gardens we relaxed in a park and then went and got Wok n Walk which is my new favorite place. Basically you order whatever you want, noodles or rice, and then chose what kind of veggies you want in it and what sauce you want and they make it in a wok right there! It was delicious and a brilliant idea! I wish we had something like that in the States. They took out my favorite stir fry station in Danforth last year. :(

That night we found an Irish pub called Mulligans (which alsoppens to be a nickname of mine) and listening to some live music and sipped some cider.

The next day we walked around the canals and went to the Ann Frank House. I really liked this museum. I especially liked all the quotes and the video clips of people talking about trying to keep the Franks hidden. It is actually really sad what happened in the end though.

After that we went to the Pancake Bakery as per my friend Glenalyn's suggestion. Basically the idea is to make giant pancakes and put whatever you want in them. I had chocolate, bananas, and whip cream and Dan had something a little more hearty.



In the afternoon, we went to the Heinekin Brewery. The highlight for this was not the beer (Belgians make beer so much better), but a little ride they have where they Brew You! I felt like I was in Disneyland for a second.

A little bit of Belgian Pride