Today in Amsterdam was one of the warmest days we have had here so far.  The sun was shining and the sky was blue.  There was still a lot of wind but, the sun made it much more bearable.  The four of us met up with one of Dad's coworkers, Margaret.  She moved here from Seattle a few years ago.  

Margaret took us to the botanical gardens in Amsterdam.  The gardens were founded in 1638, so that  herbs could be grown for medicinal purposes.  Now they grow all sorts of different plants for people to go and see.   There are many different green houses that you can go into.  There is a tropical green house that is really hot and moist.  In another green house they grow desert plants this green house it hot and dry.  Another green house was full of butterflies.  In some of the green houses you could climb a stair case up to a walkway hanging from the ceiling.  It was really fun to look down at all the plants.  Some of the plants were over 300 years old.  After wandering around the gardens we ate lunch at the cafe there.  Then we came home on the Metro.  We are now watching the two man bobsled on the BBC.  Today the British curlers had a day off from competition, so we were spared the agony of having to watch it. :) 

This is Ellie and I in one of the green houses.

This is Margaret, Ellie and I in the tropical
green house.

This is Ellie and I on one of the walkways.

The tree behind us is really interesting,
it grows in a swirly pattern.

This is in the desert green house.
Someone accidentally let a cat in.
He was really cute and friendly. 

This is a Glasswing butterfly. I have never
seen a butterfly with see through wings before.

This is another  butterfly.

This is another part of the gardens.

Today was a very busy day in Amsterdam.  We started the day off watching the Olympics onTV.  Watching the Olympics here is quite frustrating.  We have the option of either watching the dutch stations, which has all the commentary in Dutch, or watch the BBC.  We usually choose to watch the BBC.  The problem with watching the BBC is that they are obsessed with curling.  I personally think watching curling is a boring waste of time.  Over the past few days I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about curling because, there is nothing else on.  

After lunch today the four of us went to the Anne Frank House.  It is the actual house that Anne and her family hid in during WWII.  In the 1960s it was turned into a museum.  The line to get into the house was about an hour long.  Usually this wouldnt be a problem except today was so cold and windy we almost froze. 

The long wait was definitely worth it.  The first part of the museum took us through the warehouse underneath the hiding place.  During the war they made jam and spices in the warehouse.  Now the warehouse has some items from the WWII era.  Next in the museum was the offices that the people who helped the Franks worked at.  After going through the offices we came to the room with the door to the hiding pace.  Over the door they built a book case to hide it.  We got to go through the door and into the hiding area.  The area is much larger than I imagined it.  It has two stories and an attic that the 8 of them lived in.  The hiding place is unfurnished.  After the Nazis found the Franks and other 4 people, the rooms were cleared.  The rooms are still unfurnished because Anne Franks father, Otto Frank, wanted them to remain unfurnished.  After going through the secret hiding place there are a few more rooms with additional information.  Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos in the museum.  But, you can look up pictures on the internet if you are interested.  

After the Anne Frank Museum we went to Leidsplein for dinner.  There are so many different types of restaurants in Leidseplein you can have almost anything you want.  We found a little Mexican restaurant where we ate dinner.  It was really good food. After dinner we came back to the apartment and are now watching the olympics.  And incase any of you are wondering the British women's curling team just lost to Switzerland.  

Ellie and I at dinner.

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!!! 

 In order to celebrate Valentines Day Mom, Ellie and I went to a flower shop and got some beautiful tulips. We had a really hard time deciding what flowers we wanted to get because, the shop had so many beautiful ones to choose from.  The flowers are also much less expensive in Holland than they are in Montana.  The three of us also went to a chocolate shop next door to the flower shop and picked a variety of chocolates.  They are super delicious!

Yesterday the four of us went to see Moms friend from college Jim and his wife Juile.  They have two sons that are 17 and 13.  They live in a small village called Wassenaar.  It is about 20 minutes away from The Hague.  

We arrived at their house around lunch time.  They made us a very delicious lunch.  We had some Dutch yogurt type thing called quark. We also had really yummy chocolates for dessert, they were possibly the most delicious things ever made.  

After lunch we walked to the center of the town.  It has a really cute downtown area with lots of little shops and restaurants.  While we were exploring the town we went into the grocery store so that Julie could show my mom  what different foods look like.  We have been having a difficult time finding certain products at the store, so this was very helpful. 

After we did some shopping we went to the beach.  It is located on the North Sea, and is a cold beach.  It reminded me of the beaches in Alaska.  The wind was blowing pretty hard, so we didn't stay for very long.  After getting home from the beach we ordered some pizzas for dinner.  Then we took the train back to Amsterdam.   

This is Jim, Julie, my dad and I in Wassenaar.

This is an old church in Wassenaar.

Mom, Dad and I at the beach.

Jim, Mom and I at the beach 

The past few days have been fairly uneventful. Yesterday I worked on school in the morning.  Then Mom, Ellie and I went back to the out door market.  I got some pretty yarn at the market.  Last night I spent most of the evening crocheting a scarf from the yarn.  Today I did more school work. Then Mom and I went to the post office.  After mailing my stuff, we went to the train station to put more money on my chip card so I can ride the tram. Then we went to the coffee shop that is right next to our building.  The Dutch people really love coffee, and it is super yummy.  

Since I haven't really posted anything interesting I thought I should post about my favorite foods here in Holland.

This is a triple chocolate cookie.
The bakery at Albert Heijn makes them and
Dad sometimes picks them up for us on his way home

This is my favorite yogurt.
 I eat it for breakfast every morning.
It is white peach and white chocolate flavored.

This is pasta.
It tastes much better than pasta in the USA.

These are honey nut cheerios. They taste way
better than the cheerios at home.

This is Ice cream.  It has 2 different flavors of ice cream in it.
Also, it already has chocolate sauce on it. Its super duper yummy!

This is my favorite snack.
It is like a cookie biscuit type thing covered in dark chocolate.

This is raspberry jam.
I think that the Dutch work for raspberry is funny.

Some of my other favorite things here are the pastries.  Mom and Dad got up early the other morning and went to a bakery.  They brought us home some pastries filled with chocolate.  I also have had some delicious churros.  A few blocks from our apartment there is a chocolate shop.  We went there the other day and got some Chocolate moose truffles and some Irish creme truffles they were so yummy.  But, my most favorite thing of all here are the chocolate waffles.  There is a little bakery in Leidseplein that sells them.  They taste so good, every time we are in Leidseplein I have to go in there and get one. 

Today Mom, Ellie and I went to an open air  market.  It is about 4 or 5 city blocks long.  It had everything you can imagine.  We got some very delicious dutch cheeses.  Also, Ellie and I got some Churros, they were so yummy I almost died. There were also people selling fish and other meat, I thought the fish smelled bad, so I ran by them really quickly.  Mom got some yarn, buttons and a new scarf.  Ellie got a new sweater, a phone case and a scarf. This is what I got:

These are Mom and my scarves.  They were
 handmade in Nepal out of yak wool.

This is a snazzy Ring I got.

I also got some handmade wool mittens.
They are very warm!

Yesterday afternoon Dad and I went to the Rijks Museum.  The Museum has things as old as the 1100s up until modern day.  We did not have time to see the entire museum because it is enormous, but these pictures are some of my favorite things we saw.

These are prayer nuts, they were hand carved in 1510-1525.

These are Dutch cannons made in 1667.

This was a decoration for the dinner table.
It is on wheels and can roll around, also the
head of the deer can be removed so, wine can
be stored inside.  It was made in 1613-1615.

This is a carving of Saint Giles, hand carved in
1525.

This was one of my favorite paintings because the detail
and use of color in it is amazing.
It was painted by Barend Cornelis Koekkoek in 1848.