Chapter 2: Day 91: 22 April 2019

Today Casey, Ellie and I got up and got ready to head into the city. Our first stop of the day was Holyrood Palace. We took our time walking down the Royal Mile stopping in shops along the way and enjoying the nice weather. After our tour of the Palace we stopped at Cafe Vivo for lunch before having to go back to the house.

Tonight I was hosting a clean up event for Earth Day and my internship. After everyone was out of Globalization we had dinner outside and luckily we could not have had better weather. It was so fun to have dinner outside and be able to talk with everyone. Once dinner was over we spent an hour cleaning up the estate and got more garbage than I thought we would! The amount we got was exciting, but also sad. When we had our fill of litter pick we had a bonfire and spent the rest of the night making memories and enjoying the gorgeous night air.

Chapter 2: Day 92: 23 April 2019

Today was not a good day.

Chapter 2: Day 93: 24 April 2019

This morning and early afternoon I spent working on homework, relaxing and getting ready for our trip to Amsterdam! At 11:30 I went downstairs for lunch duty and shortly after that we were on our way to the airport! On our way to the bus stop we stopped into a consignment store so that Sarah could find an orange shirt for the weekend (it is King’s weekends and on kings day everyone wears orange). Once we got into the city we stopped at Primark so I could get some orange earring and at Ben’s Cookies for, you guessed it cookies. After that we caught our bus to the airport, made it through security, got a snack at Eat and were ready for take off! Unfortunately we were delayed by 20 minutes, but it was no bother and soon enough we touched down in Amsterdam.

When we landed we grabbed a train to central station where we met my parents! It was so nice to see them and catch up after 3 1/2 months. Once we hugged and said hi they led us to our place. Since it is kings weekend all the hotels were filled so we decided to stay in an AirBnb, but not just any AirBnb we get to stay in a houseboat! Now I know some people might think “why would you ever want to stay in a houseboat?”, but Amsterdam is known for their canals lines with houseboats so I was pretty stoked! Since my parents were jet lagged we just had a relaxing night at the house with some food and good chatter.

Chapter 2: Day 94: 25 April 2019

Today was a fun, busy and wet day. We started the day by sleeping in a bit which was nice and then got up and went to find some breakfast. We found a nice cafe that had a good breakfast. With some food in our bellies we walked to our bus stop where we were going to start our Hop on Hop off tour. Our tour started and stopped within 5 minutes because our bus driver (who was new) hit another bus and took off our mirror, so we had to get off and changed busses and then we were able to start our tour.

Our plan of action was to ride the whole route and decide where we wanted to get off. The first stop we took was at the Gassan Diamond Factory.  Here we got s tour of their place and got to see them cut diamonds and learned how to tell the quality of a stone. It was interesting to learn about and see a diamond with €181,620. When we were done there we walked over to a little street market, but as we were looking it started to pour so many of the shops closed up early. After that we wanted to find a bite of food before making our way to the Ice Bar. We found a cute little Mexican place and decided to just get a few snacks to tide us over.  

The next stop if the day was to the Ice Bar! The last time I was in Amsterdam we did the Ice Bar and I thought it was fun and worthy of another go, so we did. It was so cool (literally at -9c) and I am glad we were able to go. Once we had warmed back up we wandered back towards our house and stopped at Argentinian Steakhouse for dinner. The food was delicious and it was nice to sit down after a lot of walking. After dinner we stopped back at the house for a bit before going on a walk. We eventually make our ways to the Red Light District, but we first had to make a stop for some desserts. We all ended up sharing a waffle with whipped cream and strawberries, Oliebollen (fried dough ball), and a pistachio cannoli. When we were done stuffing our faces we walked through the Red Light District and through a few streets behind it where we found a carnival. It was just a few rides and lots of places to get drinks and food. When we were dont exploring we headed back to the house and called it a night.

Chapter 2: Day 95: 26 April 2019

Today was another long and busy, but very fun day! We started the morning with homemade breakfast before a short walk to central station to catch the bus for our tour. The first stop on our tour was to Cheese Factory Volendam. Here we got go learn about how they make cheese and even had a few samples. After the tour we walked a bit more down the street where got to see how Stroopwaffles are made. The bakery smelled heavenly and the samples were even better! When we had our fill there we still some time to look around so we walked down by the boats and checked out a few gift shops. Eventually Sarah decided that she wanted a snack so she got Poffertjes (Traditional Dutch Pancakes) with whipped cream and strawberries.

When our time was up there we had a boat ride to Fisherman’s Island where we were shown how traditional Clog’s were made. I had never known how the Clog’s were made so it was interesting to see what looks they use and how technology has helped. After the Clog’s factory we made our way back to the busy and onto the Windmills. We only had about an hour here but we got to see how they use the mills to make Olive Oil. This was fascinating to see how the wind can have a great effect on the work pace. With just a short stop here we were back on the bus and heading back to Amsterdam to chance busses and head Keukenhof (Tulip Gardens). The gardens were 75 acres of more flowers than I knew existed! Here we walked around the gardens, got ice cream and food, took way too many photos, and play at park. It was fun to wander around, people watch and embrace our inner children for a while. When our time was up there we caught the bus back to Amsterdam.

By the time we got back everyone was pretty exhausted so we made a stop at Joselito for tapas before heading home. Once we got back we unpacked a bit and played some cards. Since it was Kings night we decided that we should go out and see all of the action happening. We wandered around Dam Square and over by the Red Light District and Carnival again, but there was so many people and police that we decided to end our walk pretty quick and head back to our area. On our way back we ran into some people playing drums and ended up following them most of the way home. We did not really know what they were playing for or if they were just playing because but regardless they were great! After we got home we got ready for bed and called it a night.     

Chapter 2: Day 96: 27 April 2019

King’s Day! Since we did not have much of a plan for today we were able to sleep in for a while before getting up and finding breakfast at Bagels Sandwich Village. We ended up sitting outside and in the middle of our food it started pouring so we had to move our table under the umbrella a bit more. After food we headed to take our Canal Tour. On our way to the tour we ran into Riley and said a quick hi and bye to him. Since it’s King’s weekend the canals were crazy busy and we ended up running into three other boats just trying to get around. It was crazy busy, but so much fun to see all the boats and people and chaos.

When our tour was over we headed back to the houseboat to watch the boats go by and ended up seeing someone go overboard! Luckily they were able to make it back to their boat and their friends got them back up and into the boat. After a bit more relaxing we decided to head back out to check out what was going on. There were a lot of people downtown with music everywhere. We wandered around for a while checking out the different DJs and stores before grabbing food and hanging out at the house until Sarah and I walked to meet up with Riley (a student in the program we are in). Once we met him we went back to the house to eat a bit, play cards and warm up a bit before going out one more time to check out the festivities. The streets were much more calm than the night before which was a nice change. While they were still busy there were a lot less belligerent people out. We walked for a bit and stopped at a bakery for a treat before saying goodnight to Riley and heading to bed.

Chapter 2: Day 97: 28 April 2019

Sadly today was our last day in Amsterdam. Sarah and I flew out about 12:30p so we got up, finished packing, got some breakfast and caught the train to the airport. Since it was King’s Weekend everyone was trying to get to the airport so the train was packed, but luckily we were not too far away. When we got to the airport we found our gate and went threw security, however Sarah got stopped and they had to go threw her whole bag until they found her soap and that was what was setting off the alarm. After we were through security we found our gate, waited for a bit and ended up talking with a gal from Wisconsin who was traveling around for a while. A bit later we were boarding and on our way to Edinburgh.

It did not hit us until we were about to touchdown that this was our last weekend travel and our last time landing in Edinburgh for a while. A very sad reality that we are soon to be heading back to the states. When we landed we disembarked, went through customs and took the bus back home to Dalkeith. Once we got back to the house we unpacked and organized for a while and I went outside to sit with Andrew for a while. After a bit Emme and Melissa joined us and we talked for a bit before deciding to go to Black Smiths for dinner. It was fun to catch up with everyone about their weekends and hang out. When we were done with food we went back to the house and relaxed the night away with movies.