Entry 5 - April 1, 2009

Yesterday was a great day: started off by going to the Anne Frank House and it surprised me how much her family went through to hide themselves. It was quite eye-opening. (Side note: She and her family were forced to go into hiding to escape Hitler's persecution of the Jews – she wrote everything down in a diary when she was 13, which later become published as The Diary of Anne Frank). One of the things we read just as we were exiting was a quote by Nelson Mandela in 1994: “Being able to read Anne Frank while in prison gave us hope…” He wrote that while on Robben Island – interesting considering we plan to go there too!

Next we headed down to Vondel Park, which seems to be like a “Central Park” or something similar. It was quite pretty; lots of grass, bike paths, walking paths, bridges, benches, dogs, people…sunshine! We found ourselves a bench and just soaked it all in – it was beautiful. After that we headed for lunch at none other than the Hard Rock Café right alongside one of the hundreds of canals. Our feet were throbbing but the food was great.

Next we headed back up to the Bloomenmarket, where they sell hundreds upon hundreds of bulbs, seeds, tulips, daffodils, souvenirs and clogs; pretty hustin’ & bustlin’! After that we slowly walked back to the hostel, rested our feet/backs and checked Facebook (duh). We did a little shopping right outside on Nieuwendijk Street and went back to our room. As soon as we got there, we soon realized we now had a roommate! They were in the shower at the time, but we came to the conclusion that she was a backpacker, and a masculine one at that. Five minutes later, out walks Nick – a guy! Hahah, so much for what we thought were girls-only dorm rooms! I think that rule only applies to the bigger, 12+ rooms. Anyway, so Nick is originally from Ireland, but was travelling in from Germany where he’s doing a year abroad to study law! Nice guy, although I think little shy around two girls (understandably!). So we chatted with him for a bit before heading out for a bit to eat. Not five minutes after coming back, in walks Jane - our 2nd roommate! She had just arrived from London with her whole life in 2 bags – coming to Amsterdam to start over again. She had been living in London for the past 12 months and before that in Melbourne, Aus. I was so in awe that she would just pick up and leave. She didn’t have a job to go to or anything, but was hoping to get one at the Flying Pig Uptown. So we may or may not have a 2nd roommate tonight! We all hung out in the bar downstairs for a bit but headed to bed around 11 pm.

THEN, at about 8 am, the WORST sounding fire alarm goes off so loudly and wakes the whole place up. Jane and I shot right up in bed, our bodies trembling. It ended after about a minute, but seriously… waking up to that was not pleasant.

So now, April 1st, 11 am – we’re now on the train again to Leiden and the Keukenhof Tulip fields. It’s about an hour outside the city so we’re about half way I think. The sun has come out and it looks to be another beautiful day. I’m looking forward to this; all the bright colours and beautiful smells. Anyway, time to start taking train pics…OH and I bought a fisheye camera yesterday too! Can’t wait to see how those come out...