Spring Break - Part Sept

Ok, so we woke up and said good-bye to beautiful Brugges, hoping to come back here for more divine chocolates and beautiful scenery and headed to the train station. Our next stop is Amsterdam but first we had to change trains in Antwerp.

Antwerp had such a pretty train station.

This is a horrible picture (remember, good camera dropped and broken
in Brugges), but the yellow is just rows and rows of tulips.
We passed several of these farms and believe it or not,
this is the best shot I got! A little in my defense though,
we were riding on fast moving trains.
Needless to say, they were just beautiful.

I loved our cozy room and the
 hotel was super charming - The Hotel des Arts.

You know I like a pretty ceiling!

I believe this square is called the Dam Square.
It's the main square in Amsterdam.
So, us being us, spent the whole day saying,
"where is that dam square!"

Of course, it was freezing cold so we ducked into a restaurant
for some drinks, one thing Amsterdam is known for  . . . 

And cheese, another top pick here!

So, we happened upon a great little cheese shop and felt like "tacky" American tourists because I think we sampled every single cheese they had, one better than the next! We ended up buying several rounds of cheese and headed out to explore more of the city. I have the name of the cheese shop saved somewhere, I think on my Pinterest, but at the moment, not sure which folder! I will find it and update this.

This is the narrowest (is that a word?) building in Amsterdam.
I would totally be claustrophobic!

The girls in front of the house Anne Frank hid in
during the war. My oldest was reading the book in
school so it was perfect she was able to tour it.
In fact, the lady in the gift shop liked her
so much, she gave her an English copy of the Diary that
was slightly damaged (back corner flap was folded in!).
Hopefully, she will always think of this day when
she reads that book.

This is the church bell tower that Anne Frank
writes about hearing.
Apparently, it still looks the same.

We had a great Italian meal here and needless to say, tulips were everywhere!
The girls hot chocolate was so hot in the glass,
they used their gloves to drink it!
See that water pitcher in the bottom right of the photo?
We were so thirsty, we drank five of them.
No biggie, right?
Except they charged us 5 Euros for each pitcher -
and that was tap water!!

So "Proost" to another great day and, come to think of it, I don't think we took a cab once today. Just a heck of a lot of walking!! We were all exhausted and tumbled into our cozy, cozy beds, all made with thick down comforters. We have one more great day in Amsterdam before flying home, but that is for another post!