I Am Sterdam!

5/20/11

Today was the longest travel day thus far. Our destination was Amsterdam and we were in London. We left the city and made our way to the Dover cliffs, which were beautiful. I enjoyed taking pictures of them. However, I was not looking forward to the trip across the Channel because I did not want to get seasick. The journey though was not as bad as I thought. I did feel sick, but I was able to capture mean scenes that I would not have been able to take if I was on land. Once we crossed over into France, we drove north to the Netherlands.  We did not arrive into the city until late that night. We did not even think about food because we found out the hotel had wifi. All of us played on our computers for sometime before we were ready to explore, but the exploration did not last for long because we noticed that we were not in the best area of the city and there were not that many canals to actually take pictures of.  We went back to the hotel and talked for a couple hours. The next morning though was early due to our flower auction trip. Going to bed is hard, so we did not go to bed until 12 when we had to get up around 6 in order to be ready for the business visit.

5/21/11

Today was early! Actually, a better way to describe it is long, probably the longest day of the trip.  Being on the bus by 6:45 is not that hard, but it is when one shower is shared among four people. Ha! We made it though; however, three people in our group did not make the bus in time for the trip to Flora Holland. I felt bad, but there was nothing we could do. The flora auction was a site to see because there were flowers everywhere, but more impressively there was hundreds of people and carts driving around. The floor was a city with carts pulling flowers around as well as the organization of flowers for sells as well as flowers sold and needing export. The supply chain was fascinating, but all I wanted to know is how the employees deal with all that chaos. The whole process inside the auction rooms was confusing, but very interesting. Everything must be perfect in order for it to function. The whole process was quick and done within the morning to ensure that everything is exported that day. Also, the auction is based on the highest bidder; however, the price begins at the highest price that the auctioneer sees fit and then the price falls. We toured around the floor and others areas of the facility, but it was hard to taken in. The plant is the third largest building my square footage in the world. The pictures show the process in better description than what my words say.

After the flower auction, Lucas dropped us off in the center of Amsterdam. We did not know what we were doing. All we knew was that we had to be at the Anne Frank around 1:45, but even then we would not make it on time. We walked over to the canal tour building to order some tickets for the night tour. After we purchased our tickets, we walked around because I wanted to take pictures of the canals and bikes. We first walked through the Red Light district, which was my least favorite area because it was just full of immoral shops and places. Ha! It was an experience, we felt a bad vibe about the city, but later that day we all loved the city.  Making our way over to the Anne Frank house we crossed the other group that was also heading to the Anne Frank house; however, we were going in opposite directions. I believe I was the only one to catch that, but I did not say anything. We went to the flower market and looked around. The floor market had interesting items like a hash pot and many forms of illegal drugs in the states.

Leaving the area, we walked for about an hour before we noticed we were completely on the other side of town. I just started laughing instead of helping. Ha! We jumped on the tram and road over to the other side of town where we found the Anne Frank house. We got there 15 minutes late, but we were able to get in. The house was an amazing experience because you realize that your life is much better than what you may perceive. Having to live in a home where noise levels were at the bare minimum and life was jailed to a small space, you see the significance of the freedom that we have in this world. The words of Anne Frank were of encouragement. An experience like hers had to be published. About two years of confinement, a life so solitude was formed in a book. Otto Frank expressed that parents do not know their children at all. The diary opened a new world to Otto.

After the Anne Frank house, I walked outside to take a picture of the museum when out of the blue I was hit my bike, which was my fault. It was funny to watch according to those who witnessed the event. I have been cussed at two countries so far. I need to keep this up.  Half of our group took the tram over to the Van Gogh museum while the rest of us walked our destination. It was a pretty walk. The streets of Amsterdam are gorgeous.  I cannot wait to look at my pictures and edit them. Once at the Van Gogh museum, we bought our tickets and walked in. The museum was not that exciting except for a few paintings. We left the museum and walked to the I Amsterdam letters. Professor Kimball took pictures for us. We had a fun time just talking and walking around the area. However, we had three hours to kill before the canal tour. We walked over to the casino and found a Hard Rock Café where we ate dinner. Our waitress was from Florida, so we talked to her about the area and the states.  Dinner came to a close and we walked over to our pick up spot and partied for an hour. The tour was fun and pretty because it was dusk for about an hour before the lights came on and we were able to take pictures of the lights outlining the bridges.  Amsterdam started with low levels of liking and became a city I might want to visit again in the future.

I guess I am going to keep up the tradition with talking about certain individuals. Ha! Even though she may read this, I am fine with the consequences because what is the point of keeping something secret. Life is about expressing yourself and putting as much of yourself out there. So kandace and I have hit a plateau. Ha! I am working on getting to know who she is, but I am getting nowhere with it. That is how life goes. Presentence is everything. As Regillo mentioned to me, life would not be worth it if you did not keep moving forward. There is nothing behind you. By the way, she has already read these post. ha!