Amsterdam & Easter

Over Easter weekend we went to Amsterdam on Friday until Saturday evening. Lets just say that I had better expectations for Amsterdam. I was so excited to see an authentic Dutch city. I did not realize that it was such a "free-thinking" city. WOW! I really was surprised by a few things. First off let me just say that Amsterdam is a beautiful  and historically rich city. The canals and the architecture is breathtaking. I loved that part of it! Then once you actually walk on the streets you see and smell something totally different. I guess if you are young and wild you might like or even love Amsterdam. I prefer not to smell drugs, and have to push my stroller by displays of postcards with extremely inappropriate sexual images. It makes me sad that such a beautiful place is tainted by those things. It's now known for drugs and pron instead of the beauty of the city's buildings and unique infrastructure. So sad. Enjoy our pictures.

 I know that this one is not from Amsterdam but this shows how much of a Princess Cosette is. She loves to wear a dress and her crown everyday. The shades are an added bonus!

 This is the Train Station in Amsterdam. It was beautiful.

 A hotel in Amsterdam. The buildings were so amazing. All the lines that you see in the photo are for the Trams that go throughout the whole city.

 Random peanut car.

 This is not only a fun picture of the kids but it also shows a big difference between the Dutch and the Germans. Check out the trash can in the back. Germany is all about recycling and would not stand for such a messy pile of combination rubbish!

 The canals were really great. So beautiful and really neat to see.

 So neat to see that we went on a canal tour (one hour) through the city. It was loads of fun learning about the rich history of the canal system in Amsterdam. The guide also talked to us about the buildings as they came into view on the tour. Oh and the whole time we heard the tour in about three different languages.

 After the tour was over Coco was ahead of me to get off the boat. She walked briskly up to the front of the boat and put her hands on the Captain's helm and tried to steer the boat. The Captain just smiled at her and she backed away and went up the steps and off the boat.

 Check out this house boat. A white fence and everything.

 A view of Amsterdam from the Canal Tour Boat.

 Cruising the Canal.

 This is a bridge in Amsterdam that lifts to let taller boats through this portion of the canals.

 Check out this daredevil bike.

 A Swan in the Canal. Cosette thought that it was the Swan Princess and was worried that she lost her crown.

 This is a parking garage...for bikes. It was amazing how many people rode their bikes in Amsterdam.

 There was a fair or carnival going on downtown.

 Our family minus Tyrus (who was sleeping in the stroller).

 This was pretty funny. These guys were pedaling this trolley of sorts through Amsterdam. They were also singing as they went. I think there might have been some drinking involved too.

 Sad Bike: lost his front wheel.

 OK so see the green structure with the yellow and white graffiti on it. Well that my friends is a urinal. That's right men regularly use these on the streets in Amsterdam. Not too much privacy but hey if you have to go!

 This Sad Bike: Has no seat. Did someone take it? Or did the owner keep it with him so nobody would steal his seat-less ride? We may never know.

 Sad Bike: Look at his front wheel. Bent and broken. So sad.

 Beautiful Canals of Amsterdam.

 I would not mind cruising around in this beauty!

 Fountains!

 See what I mean about the drugs. This stuff was everywhere in Amsterdam.

 We had a photo shoot at the I AMSTERDAM sign.

 These baby sunglasses double as a binky! OR These binkies double as sunglasses. Take your pick.

 We stayed in a really nice hotel on Friday night. There was only one bed and Ty had a pack & play to sleep in. We had to get creative for Cosette's sleeping arrangements. She loved it! Two chairs put together and this girl slept all night long!

 We waited for 2 hours to get into the Ann Frank House. It was COLD! So when the chance came to stand in the sun we took it...along with all our new friends we made while standing there for so long.

 BEWARE OF PICKPOCKETERS !

 Pictures were not allowed while inside Ann Franks House but this is one from the outside. Well this was not actually her house but the hiding place her family lived in while trying to keep from being found.

 Once back home for Easter Cosette enjoyed taking a cushion from a chair and pretending to try on Cinderella's shoe. Check out that cute Easter dress too! Sorry no cute pictures of it. This was after church and she did not want to do any poses for us and so this is what we get until I can try again another time with the same dress. We also had a wonderful Easter with the children and teaching Cosette why we celebrate Easter. We hope she remembers more than the Easter dress and looking for eggs. I also should note that Nathan cooked a delicious Easter Dinner. He made duck. He was so sweet. He bought it at the store all by himself. Then he typed all the cooking instructions into GOOGLE Translate so he could make it properly. Let me just say that he must have translated it well because it was amazingly tasty. I'm so glad we are a family. Germany is great. We are enjoying this experience. Thanks for reading!