Summer Vacation: Day 4 - Amsterdam

It was our last full day in Amsterdam, and the kids and I needed to be up earlier than the last couple of days because we needed to have breakfast, pack up, and check out of the hotel by 11.  We made it to the check out desk by 10:59 I think!  And then we got a cab to our next hotel.  We were very near the new hotel by about 11 euros on the meter .... but the cab driver turned the wrong direction once, had the address wrong, and then got stuck in a street closed to construction before deciding to reverse out and drive all the way around a different way.  Then he tried to back into the street in front of the hotel and ended up hitting a pole.  He then parked dead center in the middle of the intersection and had us get out there!  We were then just over 20 euros on the meter and Leighton I unloaded the bags ourselves while the driver got my receipt.  We should have just walked!!!

Anyway, we couldn't get into the new room just yet, so we left our bags and set out to explore this different neighborhood.  We walked past Westerkerk and the Anne Frank House.  The kids really wanted to go in.  Had I known how interested they'd be and how tolerant Riley was being with museums, I would have booked tickets ahead of time, but there was NO WAY I was standing in huge line to try to get the tickets then!

We made our way to the Tulip Museum.  There was a very nominal entry fee and the kids enjoyed looking around.

Next-door was the Cheese Museum, so we stopped in for MANY samples, a squished penny, and lots of funny pictures!

By this time we were pretty hungry for lunch, so we went to a cafe right there that I had read made good poffertjes.  We think they forgot about us (we were sitting across the road along the canal), so it took a looooong time.  We had to entertain ourselves somehow!

Eventually the food did come though!

And then it was rainy and time to go meet Roy at the hotel and to check in.  The hotel was actually an old mansion remodeled into rooms/apartments.  We really loved it there.

Roy desperately needed a nap, so the kids and I set out in the rain for Dam Square.  It would have been great to do some photos had it not been raining, but we quickly ducked in and out of stores, squished another penny, and sampled yet another large amount of cheese as we wandered.

After a delicious dinner at a small Turkish place, we went in search of more poffertjes since Roy hadn't had any yet.

Our last stop was a grocery store for some provisions for the train ride the next morning.  It was already after 10pm and SO light out.  The sun set so late in Amsterdam!

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total walking: approximately 5.3km or 3.3 miles (same as yesterday!)
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