Amsterdam

I don't know where to start. Jon and I got in Amsterdam early thursday morning- but with jet-lag and the time difference we didn't do a whole lot that first day.

On Fri, we went to this mueseum to see some famous paintings by Rembrant. Sorry, no pictures were allowed. But I got real familiar with a piece that he did called The Night Watch. We saw it in all forms after that. Here it is in a statue form. The picture doesn't do it any justice. It was really neat (but the sun was setting just as I was taking this picture and I never really got a good shot of it!)
Jon and I found this little pancake house in a park that we ate lunch at. It reminded me of something out of an fairy tale.

It is common to travel on bicycle. It was amazing all the people that were riding bicycles to work or to the market over there. No wonder their food is soooo much better. They can afford to eat things with real cream and butter in them- they will work it off on the way to work!The canals were neat-o too! I was amazed at the canal system.

Apparently there is a class that you can take that teaches you how to get out safely in the off- chance that you should drive into one of the canals. I guess that you drive a car (not yours) into a swimming pool and are taught how to get out safely. Anyone want car-swimming lessons?


I fell in love with the buildings and the old style of the structures. Unfortunelty, I never had the chance to learn much history of the buildings.

Here is a typical residential area down the street from our appartment.

I thought that in Holland we would see a lot of windmills, but I only saw about a handful. Our tour guide said that there used to be about 10,000 windmills and now there are only about 1,000 left. She said that they are made of wood and lighting has destroyed many of them.

I guess that I never realized that Anne Frank lived in Amsterdam. I was able to go the her hide-out. It was sad but amazing at the same time. It was such a story and celebration of her life.

Eventually Jon had to go to the HUPO 2008 Conference (The whole reason for the trip) so I got to explore and venture out on my own quite a bit!

He managed to drag me to the end of one and this is what I saw. Silly Scientists! Good thing I brought a book!!!If there was a giant wooden shoe- you can bet we had our picture taken in it!
Jon's conference had a dinner the last night and we were able to meet people from all over. (like Russia, Turkey and Austrailia- love the accent!)
The whole time I was there, I was still a good aunt! Even though I couldn't bring this home on the plane, I saw this in a children's store and thought of my lil'nephew! I loved the little old- fashioned cowboys on it!

Next blog will be about Belgium- Did I mention that I fell in love with Belgium?!?!?