Amsterdam

The train and tram systems are very efficient. I think this is an exciting thing to experience - when you are used to traveling by car everywhere. 

While riding on the train, Rachel revealed to us that she had her own supply of condiments for the day. It is not common to have ketchup in restaurants there - or at the pommes frits (french fry) stands on the street. So Rachel took matters into her own hands which thrilled Hannah who has an addiction to ketchup. We found this out from friends at school who give her all of their ketchup packets at lunch. They are only allowed to take 2 packets with their meals. The other tip-off to this addiction was the ketchup splotches on her clothes every day. . . Back to the train - Rachel acquired (stole) these from the breakfast buffet at the hotel. 

This is the memorial to Anne Frank. It is located right by the church that Anne could see from the window in their secret annex. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour of the Anne Frank house. If you ever get a chance to go there - I highly recommend it. If you can't get there - and want to see it - the website is very well done.  The thing that stayed with me the most from the tour - was the last thing you hear before you exit the museum. Anne's father is on video and he says that he didn't really know Anne before he read her journals. He encouraged parents to have their children write about their lives, their feelings and their dreams. He didn't address the challenge of sharing those journals with each other while we are still alive - I guess that is up to us.
After the tour we headed to PC Hoofstraat. It is the "Rodeo Drive" of Amsterdam. We were not going shopping - but we were eating at a restaurant not far from there. Rudy, Kellie, Mom and Dad, Jenni and Rick met some friends for Indonesian food. Steve and I took all the kids to a Pizza place across the street. We ate outside and Brock and Steve enjoyed the show of the high-end luxury cars going by. After lunch we did stroll down Hoofstraat. We oohed and ahed at some fancy things - and more cars. 

 
This is the park area right behind the Rijks Museum. That is me and Hannah by the M. We went to the Van Gogh museum by the same park. I have always liked Van Gogh's paintings - probably because my Dad loved Van Gogh. We had several prints of his hanging in our home while growing up. We saw the originals here.