Fun in Amsterdam... *** CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO SEE IT LARGER ***

It is now 10:38 p.m. on Wednesday and we just returned to our rooms after an insightful discussion reflecting on our visit to the Anne Frank house this evening.

SO - Our morning began at 6:15 with our wake up calls... Most of us got in a full 9 to 10 hours of well deserved sleep - Thank Goodness! We all had a lot of options for breakfast food... eggs, beans, sausage, fruits, cereal, muffins, bread, cheese, cold cuts... the list goes on, and we were ready to MOVE by 8:15 a.m. We boarded the coach and drove into the heart of Amsterdam. Ask your delegate if he or she remembers our first "morning song". (If he or she needs a hint, you can ask if it was by (a) the Rolling Stones, (b) the Beatles, or (c) Queen.)

The first stop on our walking tour was at Dam Square and the Dutch Royal Palace. It was nice and quiet at 9:15... We continued along and found the floating flower market (the only one of its kind in the world). We had some free time and set off in groups of three to check out the shops! On one side of the street there were shops with Amsterdam t-shirts, Amsterdam mugs, Amsterdam pens, Amsterdam earrings, Amsterdam postcards, Amsterdam stickers, Amsterdam hats, Amsterdam shorts, Amsterdam scarves, and MORE! On the other side was the floating flower market, filled with beautiful flowers and plants. It sounded a bit tricky getting flower bulbs into the U.S. so most of us just took pictures.

Although it was difficult to leave the flower market, we set out around 10 a.m. for our next adventure. We took a 30 minute walk across a number of canals, dodging cars, and bicyclists along the way. Are we there yet? YES! We are the start of our Canal Tour. We boarded our boat, along with other tourists from all over the world. As we cruised the canals we learned about the city of Amsterdam, the slanted / leaning buildings with hooks outside their top window, the Western Church, the Anne Frank house, and SO much more! It was nice to sit for a bit and listen... The information was repeated in 5 languages (Dutch, English, French, Spanish and either Chinese or Japanese). Whew!

Guess what restaurant we ate at for lunch ?!? The Hard Rock Cafe, Amsterdam! It was GREAT. We all had some fabulous food and kept our waiters, Andrea and "Sir" Paul on their toes. We finished off with home made vanilla ice cream and walked over to the Diamond Museum. We learned about the 4 categories that add value to a diamond, got to watch people cutting and setting diamonds, and actually got to try on some fun diamond jewelry. Our group was escorted by a guide into a room (with a door that locked behind us) where she showed us examples of very small, high quality diamonds along with larger diamonds with lower clarity. They all looked pretty sparkly to me! Then she took out about a dozen trays with rings, earrings, necklaces, and watches made at their location so we could try them on or take pictures. Once everyone was finished we made our way down to the showroom and saw many other amazing examples of how diamonds are used as jewelry (this time everything was behind glass, though). I overheard a few young ladies discussing their plans to bring their future fiances back to Amsterdam because they had already selected a ring from the store.

So... Back to reality... Let's go to some shops where we can actually afford to purchase things!

A short walk brought us back to the Dam Square and the Royal Palace. What a difference a few hours makes! The square was filled with street performers, people dressed up in costumes (willing to pose with tourists for a nominal fee), and LOTS of hungry pigeons. We had another hour to browse the main street shops, sit down and have a beverage, or feed said pigeons and take pictures with said street performers.

Believe it or not, it was already time to eat dinner! We made our way to a restaurant called Haesje Claes and sat down for a traditional dish called, "Dutch Hot Spot." Ask your delegate if he or she liked this meal and the beverage service compared to that of the Hard Rock Cafe.

By 6:30 p.m. we were inside the Anne Frank House. It was nice to have a group reservation because the line to get in for the "regular" tourists went around the block! There was an abundance of information to read and see and hear and experience inside the building where Anne Frank and her family hid during World War II. Everyone was intent on examining the differnt areas of the house up close.

Once we returned to the hotel we all retrieved our journals and met in the lobby. As a group we discussed specifically how our visit to the Anne Frank house had made an impact on each of us - and how we deal with similar issues in our own lives. We spent time writing in our journals and headed off to bed. Lights out is at 11 p.m. Just enough time to get cleaned up and ready for tomorrow...

Good Night!