I AMsterdam!

After a great weekend in London, we are off again to AMSTERDAM! It was short hop, skip and a jump and we landed a few hours later and greeted with wonderful weather. 

Outside the airport

First stop was meeting up with Julie and going for Dutch pancakes!

(We can tell Jeffrey is really excited about it! haha)

They had some interesting sweet and savory pancakes to enjoy. I of course went with the sweet ones and Julie and Jeffrey went with the savory... I have to admit that the savory was really really good! After filling the bellies, it only seemed appropriate that we walked around to explore and let the food digest. 

I couldn't resist not taking a picture this classic scene...there were bikes everywhere!

Julie recommended taking a canal boat ride so Jeff and I went for a little boat ride :) 

  

We got some pretty cool view of the city from the water

After the boat ride, we met up again with Julie. We all the I AMsterdam card (which included all museums), so we decided to cultural ourselves some... first stop Tulip Museum!

I had no idea there were so many different types of Tulips and all so beautiful. I was never a hug fan of them until now... The museum also told a little more background on the trading of the flower and how big the industry is in Amsterdam. 

Next stop was the Amsterdam Museum....it was quite interesting to wonder around. You always pick up a few interesting facts when you go to the cities museums that leaving you wondering for a few hours... unfortunately I tend to forget what I learned for much more than those few hours though haha

After a busy first day in Amsterdam, I got to meet up with another good friend from Charlotte, Lindsay! It was so good to see her! We went over to her and Gijs's flat to hang out for a hot minute and then went to dinner. Check out these steps - Crazy steep!!!

Dinner was great - we went to local place Gijs recommended. After dinner we went back to their place to hang out a little more and catch up. Our fingers our crossed for you Lindsay - It is easy to see why you want to stay in Amsterdam :) Thanks again for meeting up and hosting us afterwards!

The next day we got a little bit of a slow start and headed to the Van Gogh Museum... but the line was already at least 2 hours long. So we decided to skip it and go to the diamond museum. It actually was better than I was expecting! I had no idea that Amsterdam was once the diamond cutting centers of the world. It walked us through the cutting process and talked some about the more famous diamonds of the world. 

On the way to the museum, I got a little photo happy.. the weather was beautiful and I couldn't resist! haha

            

Luck for us, Julie was able to make a booking for a cheese tasting for the 3 of us! I had no idea that Netherlands was the 2nd highest consumer of cheese! Nor did I realize that Gouda cheese originated from Holland. Lucky for us - We love cheese and gouda is one of our favorites!

We were taking notes and grading each one. We had a test at the end!

We got to try 7 different cheeses!

After tasting some cheese we took a took a stroll through the flower market on the way to the Heinken experience. 

Look at all the pretty cacti! 

Found a new fruit and I actually   

wouldn't mind trying this one out

The Heineken experience was awesome. We all got a chance to let the inner kid in us come out!

Love these two!

    

DJ time! (It was slightly embarrassing  
how much I got into the spinning haha)

But maybe not as embarrassing as how     

excited Jeff got with the Trophy!              

And of course at the end of our experience we got to partake in a few Heineken beverages

Before 

 After!

Given the above... we thought it would be a good idea to partake in one more on the way back to the hotel :) and how could we resist with seats by the canal

To top off the great day, Sam had made a booking a true 'farm to table' restaurant. It was a surprise menu and based on what was in season at that time. 

Part of their gardens were on the other side of the restaurant 

The last day we finally made it to the Van Gogh museum! 

After the wondering through the museum, Julie headed off to the airport and Jeff and I wondered around a bit and had a lazy afternoon. We took a few peaks down down the Red Light District lanes and enjoyed a brew by the water before heading off to the airport ourselves. Next stop = Italy!!!!