Amsterdam

Our last stop was Amsterdam! We flew home from the airport there but had some time to do some sightseeing. I hadn't looked into the city too much before we went because it was the end of our trip and right before we flew home. I was so pleasantly surprised, Amsterdam was such a cool city! I loved that it was a city of canals and that there were so many people biking everywhere! I also loved experiencing a new country for the first time again. I am now a big fan of the Netherlands!

I didn't take any pictures but when we first got there and were wandering around, we walked down the red light district. We purposefully went down while it was still light light outside. 😂It is so crazy that that place still exists and to learn some of the history of it. Oh man. 

We did a tour through the countryside in a tour bus and the first place they brought us was this Windmill Village called Zaanse Schans. It had the classic windmills that you think of when you think of Holland. It was a beautiful place! We learned that most of the windmills had been brought from other parts of the country as urban development didn't have a need for them anymore. There were the prettiest tulips in bloom there too! 

And a few dead tulips in the mix. 😂

Our next stop was the fishing village of Volendam. Holy cow it was cute. It had these colorful wooden houses and old fishing boats in its harbor. 

wooden shoes! 

We tried our first stoop wafel here, it didn't disappoint! 

We learned how Dutch cheese was made and got to taste test it all. So good! 

Next we took the ferry over to Marken, a city of less then 2000 people. That was a beautiful boat ride! 

They took us to a wooden shoe factory and we were able to see how they are made! It was so cool! 

It was a fun day and I'm so glad we were able to visit the country side and not just the city. It was also so fun to be there during tulip season!

We were able to go to church before we flew out. We didn't understand a word, but I loved being there. And the people there were SO kind to us. It meant a lot. There is a huge bird's nest on their steeple and apparently it's been there for years, there was a sign about it! 

Big fans of Amsterdam over here, and the Netherlands in general. I loved everything about it! It made me want to visit Norway and Denmark really badly as well. 

This five year anniversary trip with just the two of us was incredible and I don't think we'll forget about it anytime soon. Shout out to the fam in Logan, especially my mom for taking such great care of our kids. We are so grateful we were able to experience some new parts of this beautiful world!