July 18, 2009

So I am finally able to get back online again, so expect a bunch of updates over the next few days. I am in Paris now and we just finished our time in the Hague.

Today we left Oisterwijk for The Hague. On the way we visited Amsterdam. Not quite the city I was expecting. Based off of American stereotypes I thought it was all drunks and potheads and people looking for prostitution. It was an amazing beautiful city with some great architecture and canals that ran throughout the city. We first stopped at the Rijks Museum in downtown Amsterdam. They had a large collection of Rembrandt and his student’s paintings. It was cool to see the Night Watch, the most famous, and largest, Rembrandt painting. I have a hard time paying attention to artwork after an hour or so, so it was good we spent just under an hour walking around. One cool thing was a clock on the second floor. The entire face was a screen that showed a video of a man that would draw the hands of the clock, hour and minute, each minute. He would draw the time and then spend a minute fixing and admiring his drawing until it was time to erase the minute hand and redraw it for the new time. 

The Hague's Beach!

After the museum we had lunch and went on a canal tour of the city. It was okay, mainly due to the fact that it was drizzling and overcast all day (until we left of course!). We got some good pictures and were dropped off at a diamond factory – something I thought was a waste of time. I was tired and ready to move on and the girls were going gaga over all of the diamonds and jewelry. The next visit was my favorite. We went and visited the Anne Frank house. 

Stairwells in Amsterdam are so narrow they have to use hooks to lift furniture up

The Anne Frank House

It was absolutely mind blowing to walk through the very same bookshelf that hid her and her family for two years. To see the exact rooms and stairwells I had read about in 7^th grade was amazing. After the Anne Frank house we headed off to the Hague – a beach side city that houses the Royal Family. We had dinner at a restaurant on the boardwalk and then headed back to the hotel. Our hotel is very nice – apples in random bowls on every floor and hotel rooms that are really nice with some English language channels! I know I am going to enjoy my time here – it will be good to relax after all of the classes and tests and projects of the past three weeks.