Spring Break, Day 8

We only had a few hours a sleep before getting up to get ready for our walking tour!  We missed the meeting time for the tour at the hostel so we had to take the trolley into town and search for the meeting point.  The meeting point was a monument in the center of town which was covered with people when we arrived.  Everyone waiting at  the monument was waiting to go on the tour since it was a free tour; we were all put into groups of about 25 which was the perfect size.  Our guide was Julian who was from Australia and had been living in Amsterdam for the past two years with his girlfriend.  We were on the tour for a few hours before breaking for lunch.  We were all starving and craving french fries we had seen earlier.  We walked and found the stand again which served cups of fries with a sauce.  The menu of sauces was in Dutch so we had no idea what to order; we saw alot of people walking away with white sauce but I played it safe and ordered cheese.   We met back up with the group and asked Julian what the sauce was, it was MAYO!

We continued our tour onto the canals of the city.  I knew Amsterdam was on the ocean but I had no idea it was also covered in canals.  Another unique part of the city, is that the houses were all built on swamps, so to prevent sinking, buildiners layed down large trees for the foundation.  This method worked for a whie but now the houses are all starting to slant into eachother and to the side.  Also, on top of the houses are ledges that were used as pulleys to lift things such as furniture inot the apartments since Dutch stairs are notoriously skinny and steep.  The walking tour ended in front of the Anne Frank house so we decided to go inside since it was only 8 Euro.  The tour took about two hours and I was surprised at how big the house was.  When I read the book years ago, I some how imagined the house to be small and cramped but the building as well as the Annex were large and mildly spacious.  Inside we walked into the rooms of the house which were covered in quotes from the book as well as photographs and  televisions showing clips from a documentary about the Anne Frank story.  We also walked into the Annex with crazy steep stairs and were in the actual rooms that Anne Frank and her family hid in for nearly two years.  By the end of the tour, my feet were throbbing and I was ready for a nap.

We all layed down at the hostel for a while before getting ready for our dinner cruise which started at 8pm.  The cruise met at the main train station, it was 70 Euro and included a four course meal (appetizer, soup, main course, and dessert), plus prosecco, unlimited wine and water, bread, and tea/coffee.  The cruise was on the canals and toured the city for two hours.  Before being served the first course, we were given the 'Chef's Specialty' which was a spoon full of goat cheese.  I didn't like the cheese but I tried it anyway. The appetizer was shrimp over avocado and watermelon salad.  I was nervous for the combination but it ended up being really good.  Next came out the soups but since they were from the summer menu, they were served cold and in baby shot glasses.  The first soup was cucumber and the other was gazpacho.  I didn't like either one but I think it was because of the coldness.  Next came the main course which was herb crusted salmon over mashed potatoes and mashed carrots.  Everything was amazing, I basically licked my plate clean.  Finally came the dessert which was creme caramel and strawberry soup.  The texture of the creme caramel was strange but it tasted similar to creme brulee so I liked it.  The strawberry soup was sweet and I really liked it.  After the cruise we went back to the hostel and passed out.  Unfortunately I spent the night tossing and turning and hadn't had much sleep the rest of the week either so I woke up with the beginnings of a cold.