Today in Amsterdam it was COLD!!! The sun was out bright and shining this morning for about a half hour, but it was all down hill from there.  The wind was blowing really hard and the humidity makes it feel even colder.  However, we decided to brave the nasty weather and go into down town Amsterdam.  

The first place we went to was the square near the Rijks museum.  We did not actually go into the museum because we are waiting until dad has the day off and he can come with us.  We took our picture in front of the I amsterdam sign.  Then we walked around the square and went into a few shops.  After spending some time by the Rijks Museum we took a walk by one of the canals. We tried to find somewhere to get a ride on one of the canal boats but we did not find any easily.  After we searched for 2 hours we finally found a place to do this, but it was too late in the day to get on one.  

Then, we went back down to Leidseplein.  This is my favorite area of town we have been to so far.  We had a super late lunch at Ellie's favorite pizza place.  We then went to Starbucks to get some coffee to warm ourselves up.  After staying a while at Starbucks we took the tram back home and are currently trying to warm ourselves up from the cold weather.

This is Ellie and I in front of the I amsterdam sign.
We are standing by the R.
 The building in the background is the Rijks Museum.

This is Ellie and Mom standing by a iceskating rink.
 

This is Ellie and I in front of the backside
 of the Rijks Museum

This is Ellie eating her lunch.

My white chocolate mocha from Starbucks!

This is Mom and Ellie riding home on the tram.
I have no idea why Ellie is making that lovely facial expression,
but I thinks its hilarious!

Today was another exciting day for us.  Dad had to work this morning so he left around 8.  Mom, Ellie and I stayed at the apartment doing school and work.  Then after lunch Mom, Ellie and I took a 15 minute tram ride to the Van Gogh museum.  

The museum has the largest collection of Van Gogh works in the entire world.  There was more than 200 paintings by Van Gogh as well as drawings and letters by Van Gogh. Also there were paintings from other artists such as Monet, Manet and Gauguin.  My favorite painting we saw was the almond blossom  painting.  

This is the outside of the Van Gogh museum.
 I did not take this picture because it was very gloomy
today and I could not get a decent picture.

This is the Almond Blossom painting.
Van Gogh painted this for his nephew after he was born.
 I did not take this photo either because photography
 was not allowed inside the museum.

This is Ellie and I in front of an enlarged
 version of one of Van Gogh's paintings. 

If you want to look at all the paintings we saw today you can go to the Van Gogh museum website which is:

http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?lang=en

Today was the most fun and exciting day we have had yet!  We left the apartment around noon and headed for the tram stop, which is one block from where we live.  We got on the tram and headed for the entertainment district of Amsterdam, which is called Leidseplein.  Leidseplein is about a 15 minute tram ride from the apartment.  The tram was much easier to figure out than the train was.    

After we got off the tram at Leidseplein we walked around and saw all sorts of souvenir shops, restaurants and of course the famous Amsterdam coffee shops. We had a late lunch at a very delicious pizza shop, and got dutch chocolate from a tiny little bakery.  The area is so beautiful!  There are lots of old buildings in this area that were built in the 14th and 15th century.  

 We stayed in Leidseplein for a few hours and then we went to Dam Square.  In the center of Dam square there is a giant WWII memorial.  On it there are carvings of men, each of them have a specific meaning.  You can read it about it on Wikipedia.  Also, across the street from the memorial there was a large group of people listening to a politician giving a speech.  We have no idea what he was saying because it was not in english.  We walked around the area for an hour or so and then took the tram back to the apartment.  

This is Ellie and I standing on a bridge over the canals in Leidseplein.

Another Canal in Leidseplein

This was taken through the window
of a coffee shop.  I made Dad take
the picture because I was too
scared to do it myself.

This is a public bathroom in Leidseplein.
It costs 50 cents to use.  I thought this was interesting.

This is in Dam Square.
The speech was being given where all the yellow flags are to the left of the building.

This is the WWII memorial.

Today was a long day for all of us.  We were all up early this morning around 6am.  We then all got dressed and headed for the train station.  At the train station there was lots of confusion.  We had a difficult time trying to buy train tickets, and had to seek help from the unfriendly train station workers. After figuring out how to purchase the tickets we realized that the first train we were supposed to be getting on was late. This caused us to miss our connecting train.  We got on a later train to The Haag but ended up being very late to our meeting with the dutch government.

Oracle hired a woman named Sandarene to help us get to our appointments with the Dutch government.   The first place she took us was to get our resident permits in The Haag.  This took about 30 minutes so we did not really have an opportunity to see much of The Haag.  Then we drove back from The Haag to Amsterdam with Sandarene.  She thankfully drove us in her car so we didnt have to try and navigate the train again.  On the drive back we saw some of the famous dutch windmills which was pretty exciting!  

In Amsterdam we went to the World Trade Center where dad was given his work permit and we were all assigned a BSN number.  The second appointment in the World Trade Center was at the bank.  Here mom and dad got a dutch bank account and were given european debit cards.  After finishing at the World Trade Center we came home and all took a long nap.  

This is the living area in our apartment.  The TV has lots of good channels. Last night mom found the British Law and Order, she was super excited!

This is the eating area.

This is the Kitchen.  There is a full length fridge and a dishwasher which is rare for european apartments.  Also, the microwave and oven are combined into one machine which I think is pretty cool.  But my favorite thing about the kitchen is that water boils in less than 30 seconds here instead of 5 minutes like at home.

This is mom and dads room.

This is Ellie and my room.  It has a large window and a door leading out to the balcony.  My bed the one on the bottom is about 18inches wide. I fell off it in my sleep last night and the loud crash woke up Dad.  

This is Ellie sitting out on our balcony this morning.

This is the view from the balcony.  It was pretty rainy today so you cant see very far.  Also, there is a laundry room and a bathroom in our apartment that are not pictured

We made it to Amsterdam Wednesday afternoon.  This photo was taken one block from our apartment building.  The area where out apartment is located is actually on a mini island, surrounded by canals on all four sides.  The weather was very un January like. The sky was blue for most of the day, However, it was pretty chili mostly due to the humidity.

Bozeman Airport Tuesday morning with all our luggage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE_IUPInEuc

This is a great video, one of my favorites.

We are getting ready to head out on our adventure, and getting super excited as the date gets closer.  We are leaving for Amsterdam on January 21, only 11 days left. I am also going to be finished with High School in 5 days; and today is also my 18th Birthday!!! Yippie,  is there any better way to celebrate than with a four month vacation in Europe?