So Sad to Leave

Right now we’re on the overnight train from Amsterdam to Munich. For the time being, we are the only two people in our SIX person sleeper compartment. Our train attendant just informed us that the train is full…yay. We are enjoying our last few moments together alone, by writing this blog. We’re really curious as to who will join us, and all that we hope is that they’re normal.

We were really sad to leave Amsterdam. We thought nothing could top Brussels, but we were mistaken. Amsterdam was absolutely breathtaking. We never expected it to be as wonderful as it was. We spent our second to last day in Amsterdam waking up early to visit the Van Gogh Museum and Heineken Brewery. We decided to beat the lines by getting to the Van Gogh Museum before 10 am, when it opened. I guess we weren’t the only ones with that idea because there was already a good amount of people staking their spot in line at 9:30 when we got there. But as soon as the doors opened at 10, the line started moving. We were taken away at how many Van Gogh pieces the museum had. It was really interesting because they showed the natural progression of his style from his beginning to end. Van Gogh really didn’t develop his renowned style until after moving to Paris. Before then, his work looked very similar to other artists at the time. We saw Starry Night the original, many of his self portraits, and many other works. Overall, it was an amazing experience.

After leaving the museum, we went to lunch and shopped for gifts for our family. There are so many stores in Leisdesplein that we didn’t really have to leave the area to find gifts for our family.

The next stop for the day was to the Heineken Brewery, and for fifteen euros each we got a complete tour. Once inside, they refer to their tour as the “Heineken Experience”. We started out getting a history of Heineken and how the brewery started before entering whether the beer used to be made. Inside this part of the brewery we were able to sample the beer in the middle of the process before it was turned into an alcoholic beverage. We left the old brewery to enter the “Brew U” ride, which allowed us to get a first hand look at what it would be like to be the beer as it gets prepared. After this, we were rewarded with our first sampling of the finished product. The rest of the tour gave us a complete look at the brewing process, and we got to see bottles as they filled up. At the end of the Heineken tour, there is a bar where they give you two free beers. Quincey saw a third untouched one, and got to have an extra one. This was so much fun, and it is definitely a must see for anyone visiting Amsterdam.

Full from freshly brewed beer, we left to checkout the gift shop, before walking back to our hotel. We got a nice little rest in before heading out to dinner back to Leidesplein. Austin grabbed some nice food from a place called “Wok to Walk”, while Quincey got ice cream from Ben and Jerrys for her dinner.

We were pretty exhausted from such a full day, and we hit the sack pretty early.

For our last day in Amsterdam, we had no plans. We started by going to the Museum of Bags and Purses, which Quincey had been dying to see. Austin had seen enough, so he headed outside to sit by the Canal. After seeing a few bags, Quincey headed outside. We left to go to the Hortus Botanicus, which is the botanical garden in Amsterdam. Not wanting to spend the money, we decided to walk around the outside, and peak in from there. Unimpressed, we headed to the Zoo just to see what it looked like. Without having to go inside, we were able to see the Camels, Ox, Deer, and Flamingos, so we decided to save the twenty euros it would take to go inside.

Because we had been going nonstop all trip, Quincey wanted to take some time to shop. We went out to the big street for shopping in search of some scarves. This whole trip, the shopping had been about other people, so this shopping trip was just for Quincey. We were on a mission to find some everyday scarves that Quincey wanted to add to her wardrobe. After searching for almost three hours, we had almost given up hope. Austin pointed out a store that seemed like a long shot, but we headed in anyway. It turns out that this store had a wonderful selection of scarves, and Quincey bought one, while putting another on hold in case she wanted to come back later that day.

Ever since we went to the Van Gogh museum, Quincey wanted to get another scarf she saw at the nearby gift shop. Since she couldn’t stop talking about it, we decided to go back and buy it as her final memory of Amsterdam.

With just two hours until our train left for Munich, we decided to grab dinner at an Irish pub. The food and beer was cheap, so we grabbed a quick meal while watching Newcastle play Aston Villa in one of the final soccer games of the year. The fans were going nuts, which added a fun element to the dinner. We finished out meal, headed back to the hotel, and grabbed a cab to the train station.