Amsterdam 2024- Exploring Amsterdam and Tulip Fields

 The next morning we spent exploring Amsterdam. We saw their Lego shop that of course had a Lego windmill:

We made a necessary stop at the Amsterdam Duck Shop (since Ryan is known for rubber ducks as work), where we saw a bunch of really cool rubber ducks and Ryan bought a few:

We admired the beautiful houses that line the canals:

We had amazing Dutch apple pie at Winkel 43:

We saw a lot of cool vehicles and bikes, and even saw this little Smart car parked right on the sidewalk:

We went through the Anne Frank house (the one between Hyrum and Ryan's heads), which Cora was especially keen to do since she had read Anne Frank's diary recently. It was sobering, but Anne Frank was truly an optimist and a light during a dark time:

We got a crookie at Louren's, and oh man, that was the dessert of my dreams!! We only got one because we saw it had a long line and everyone was ordering one so we gave it a try. So glad we did!

Tony Chocolonely originates in Amsterdam, so we wanted to give it a try. We went to the Tony Chocolonely Superstore, which was actually quite a small store, but it was fun to get a chocolate bar from a vending machine-type thing and the kids all tried it and now we all LOVE Tony Chocolonely chocolate.

We checked out the Beginjnhof, where we saw the oldest wooden house still standing in the world:

We also saw an old statue and church and learned about the history of the place (nuns secretly worshipping and openly serving others):

We went on a canal tour, where we learned a bit more about Amsterdam and saw some more cool places. They had a kid version of the tour, where the kids got an eyepatch:

We learned that most of the houses have that beam sticking out of the top of the building, meant to haul big items up to the top of the house, and we even saw a couple in use!

We went to the Albert Cuypmarket, where we had fresh, amazingly delicious stroopwafels:

We also had a super delicious Italian lunch nearby the market:

We saw stores with both Ivy's and Cora's names:

The next morning we went to explore more of Amsterdam! We saw some cool buildings, and another duck store:

Every morning in Amsterdam we got breakfast from the little grocery store on the corner by our hostel. Most mornings that included a baguette or two that we shared (they were amazing). We would buy it, then eat as we walked to our first destination (very American of us, lol). This morning Ivy was double fisting the baguette:

We went to Dam Square, where we saw the royal palace and Nieuwe Kerk (an old church):

We saw the Gingerbread houses on the Damrak canal:

Then we went to the Rijksmuseum:

The Museumplein was very beautiful:

We enjoyed the Rijksmuseum gardens as well:

We saw a lot of famous, cool, and amazing art inside the museum:

We tried McDonald's, which had way more vegan options than in America:

Beautiful canals, filled with bikes:

That afternoon we decided bike riding in Holland was pretty important to us, so we skipped our other plans and went back to Lisse (near Keukenhof) and rented some bikes to ride through the tulip fields. It was an amazing decision. and ended up being the favorite part of the trip for most of us. The birds were chirping, the weather was amazing, you could smell the hyacinths, and it just touched my soul how beautiful it all was. It was a bucket list item for me, and it. Did. Not. Disappoint. I wish I could ride bikes through Holland's tulip fields every year!

Ivy and Ryan rode an adult-child tandem bike and Ivy loved it! She even helped peddle a couple of times :D

After the bike rides (we rode about 12-15 miles- even Zane!) we headed back to Amsterdam for some last shopping to a cool candy store we had seen earlier.

Zane loved the Prime wall:

Captain Candy store:

We ended the night with a delicious dinner al fresco. It was beautiful right near the canals:

The scenery at sunset was breathtaking:

We saw these signs all over the metro in Amsterdam (it means "emergency exit"), and Ryan loved to tease about it, saying this is where the Nude Gang exits, lol:

We left for home the next morning! It was a great trip, where the kids learned about other cultures and people, we spent great time together, had delicious food, learned a bit of other languages, navigated public transportation so well, saw so many beautiful things, and just made some great memories together. We're so glad we did it!