Today was fantastic. Fantastically COLD, that is... I spent a good portion of my day inside a café analyzing the Dutch language. Don't worry... we'll get to that in a little bit.

First... I swear I'm trying REALLY hard to get pictures posted but life is just not aggreeing with me. I will have all the remaining from Scotland, London, Brussels and Amsterdam up as soon as humanly possible. I thought tonight would be the night, but alas, its not looking good.

I got up prettz early today almost feeling not sick. But again, after a few hours of being awake, everything started to get all clogged up again. I went to a bike rental shop and rented a cute little red bike (don't worry, I took a picture of it - oh, and thanks Sarah and Zaff for the recommendation on the bike riding!!!). I rode my bike ALL over town to the flower market - which is this road FULL of flowers for sale. Literally, there was a booth dedicated to tulips that had HUNDREDS of different kinds of bulbs and they were all for like €3/lb. After that I went down the canals (which I had no idea existed... Amsterdam is ALL water) and went to the Anne Frank House and then over into the old Jewish district. There were still a few places where there were high walls to divide the Jews from everyone else.

After this, I rode down to the Van Gogh Museum and the accompanying park (which was fun, but cold). I didn't stay long because of the temperature, but I did look and acknowledge that the museum exists and people do go there. At this point, I was really cold and decided to go home. I rode down past the Heineken Brewery (just to look at it) and then up through town and back to my lovely little hostel. On the way back (I had to stop quite frequently in order to re-charge myself and ensure that I was going the right way. I almost got hit by like 400 cars) I was looking over one of the bridges near Jordan (Jewish town) and saw these two duck things RUNNING on the water. It was the strangest thing I have ever seen. I took a picture of the duck, but he wouldn't run on the water when I asked him nicely.

I just ate some New York Style Pizza for dinner because I couldn't figure out what else to eat solo. I also picked up a Snickers and a Diet Coke. Good well rounded American meal. I just talked to my friends that I met on the train yesterday and I believe we are going to attempt to do Amsterdam after dark tonight. I'm sitting here waiting for a phone call but in the mean time I think I'll finish Eat, Pray, Love. Nat - it's been a good one, I appreciate you giving it to me!!

Oh, and now, of course... it's time for your Dutch lesson for the day. Ok... I'm going to give you some words in Dutch, and then you have to guess what they mean in English. Ready? (I promise.... its not hard, they're just funny) Ok, I'll even give you a practice round.

1. Eaten en Drinken = Food and Drinks... see EASY

These are the others I found entertaining

2. Kippensoep
3. Tortillachips met chilisaus en guacamole
4. Kipnuggets
5. Jonge en oude (pronounced 'yong en ode')
6. Sap (ex. appelsap, tomatensap, perinsap)
7. Chocomelk
8. Kerks

Ok... ready for the answers?

2. Kippensoep Chicken soup
3. Tortillachips met chilisaus en guacamole haha Tortilla chips, salsa & Guacamole
4. Kipnuggets Duh... chicken nuggets
5. Jonge en oude (pronounced 'yong en ode') Young and Old (get it?)
6. Sap (ex. appelsap, tomatensap, perinsap) Juice
7. Chocomelk Chocolate Milk
8. Kerks Churches

Another funny thing to note is that the churches in Amsterdam are all just named by where they are or how old they are... examples...

Noorderkerk (North Church)
Zuiderkerk (South Church)
Westerkerk (West Church)
Oudekerk (Old Church)
Nieuwekerk (New Church)

Not kidding... those are all real names of churches in Amsterdam. I looked for Easterkerk but I couldn't find it. Anyways, hope you enjoyed your lesson for the day. Talk to you tomorrow!!!

XOXO