Clogs, canals, and countryside

Today was another wonderful day in Amsterdam and packed with a full agenda.  Luckily, the scenery is beautiful during our walks to and from trams and bus stops. 

Is this real life??

Totally stealing this idea next summer:

Ok on to the highlights...

Best part of the day:  Today was all around awesome so it's hard to pick a best part but I think it has to go to our excursion outside of the city to Zaanse Schans, a town where part of which has been recreated to look like an authentic 19th century Dutch village. 

My inner history nerd is dying. 

Omg I can't even...

Even the dying hydrangeas are beautiful. 

There was a shop where wooden shoes are made:

(We had to stand behind a line of children to get this pic) 

And Leah and I bought a pair of wooden shoes to split:

Just kidding - we bought these beauties instead, which are handcarved and hand painted. I think I would have maxed out the credit card buying the ones above. 

The houses were super cute and I loved the souvenirs but the BEST part of Zaanse Schans is the windmills! My trip to Holland is complete now that I've taken (many) pictures of windmills. 

Bonus parts of the day: 

After grabbing a street hot dog (surprisingly delicious), we toured the Van Gogh museum. I know it's really cliche but Van Gogh is one of my favorite artists and I am always really excited when I get to see his work so this museum was like the motherload.  It was a really good exhibit and taught me a lot of things about his life that I didn't know previously. It also gave me some tidbits to store for future trivia nights so here's hoping there's an art category.  The museum has an extensive collection of Van Gogh paintings but also some from his friends and painting buddies whom he worked with as well as pictures from a mid 20th century photographer who took pictures inspired by Van Gogh paintings.  If you are at all interested in Van Gogh, I recommend putting this on the list of things to do.  The museum entrance was free with our iamsterdam cards* so it was a no-brainer that this is one of the museums we would visit. And because I do not have enough things to put on my walls already (extreme sarcasm - gonna have to build new walls) I purchased a print of my favorite painting I saw today. 

After the Van Gogh museum, we took a canal cruise tour which was also free with our iamsterdam card*. The tour lasted a little over an hour and it was informative, breezy, and beautiful so win-win-win. This city has a rich history and incredible scenery. 

And then since the fates decided to make this Hard Rock extremely accessible, we were able to hop right off the canal boat and walk across the sidewalk to get my shirt. 

Worst part of the day: Today was a pretty great day for me minus the back pain and my body temperature that rises each time we try to get from place to place. 

Hot as hell on this bus. 

Also, Leah has decided that she wants a frat tank in every city and decided which one to get in Amsterdam from the various ones she saw yesterday.  Of course, when we tried to find a store who sold it, we couldn't and so that was her worst part and I guess mine too for tagging along.  10 souvenir stores down, 45 more to go tomorrow.  

Most awkward moment: Leave it to me to provide an awkward moment when there isn't one.  After returning to the hotel, my lower back was (and still is) hurting very badly. The almost constant walking with a purse and camera has probably created the pain so by the end of the day, I'm done. Leah suggested she would help me out by leading me into some yoga stretches to help relieve the pain.  The session went mostly like this: Leah speaking in a trance-like voice and seriously holding every pose perfectly while I am attempting every pose only to complete it at 50% flexibility and for 3-5 seconds before bursting into laughter at the thought of it all.  Luckily for me and sadly for you, there are no pictures to share but I will say my favorite poses were Happy Baby and Corpse because those I could actually do (see examples below)

Best things we ate:  There are two equally delicious contenders for this category. The first is the soft serve ice cream we had on our (very hot) walk to the Canal Tour from the Van Gogh Museum.  I'm not sure if it was the hunger/heat combination but that soft serve vanilla cone was amazing. 

We also enjoyed a really nice, relaxing dinner at Zaanse Schans. Leah had a roasted spring chicken and I had a roasted lamb filet, both of which were delicious.  However, I think with this view, I could have eaten a grilled cheese and still thought dinner was wonderful:

Lamb filet with steamed veggies

Roasted spring chicken:

We were joined at dinner by a few ducks who were hungry for whatever scraps they were given.  One duck actually walked up to Leah and grabbed a French fry out of her hand that she was offering, much to the amusement of everyone around.  The ducks had purple feathers under their top feathers. The bright purple would show when they moved sometimes and I took at least 20 pictures trying to get a glimpse of the purple.  This is the best I could do:

Tomorrow we have a few more things to check off the Amsterdam list before taking a train to our next destination, Berlin. Thanks for reading! 

*one of the best investments we made was buying an iamsterdam card which allows unlimited access for all public transportation (trams, busses, and metros) and free entrances to over 40 places.  It's awesome and extremely cost effective. We bought a similar pass in London and that came in handy as well.