I have been going to bed really late and waking up before
everyone else, and I am not quite sure why.
I think part of it is because I really like the quiet time where I can
get some things done, reflect upon my day and catch up on some emails. As I mentioned before, I have a lot going on
in my life right now and my head seems to keep spinning. In addition, we usually have a strict
itinerary that we have to follow and today was no exception. I like to get ready first so I can start
kicking little bums into gear without worrying about kicking my own.
It wasn’t until the day before yesterday that we even had a
hotel in Amsterdam booked. It was, by
far, the hardest one to decide on because IF you can find parking in the city
it is really expensive. We had been
searching for all sorts of housing options:
Apartments (will we ever learn our lesson?!?!), house boats (we
eliminated that when we pictured inebriated “coffee house” patrons jumping on
our boat in the middle of the night), and hotels. We couldn’t however, find anything that had
parking on premises and if you recall the nightmare of Paris, you remember that
with the enormous amount of luggage and little people we are attached to,
on-site parking is non-negotiable.
Therefore, we came up with the brilliant idea (if I do say so myself) of finding a hotel at
the airport because we knew we could park there and that getting the train into
Amsterdam for a day’s visit would be easy enough. In addition, Carrie B’s husband has a ton of
Hilton points so we took advantage of the idea of “free hotel for two nights”
and booked it!
It was a great idea, actually. Even though we “illegally” squeezed ourselves
into the room, free was free and we decided it was worth it!
After we all woke up and got ready for our day, Carrie and I
hit the executive lounge for the free breakfast (free being the theme for the
day, apparently), although keep in mind the hotel really didn’t know we had
three kids with us AND they thought Carrie was with Justin. We left the kids locked in the room (don’t
judge) and went on yet another breakfast hunt.
As if we weren’t worried enough about being “found out” for having more
people in the room than was allowed, when asked what room we were in at the
entrance of the lounge, Carrie B confidentially says, #544. “Nope, I said to her. That was another hotel. We are in room #825 here.” We both laughed at the fact that we have no
idea where we are, nevermind what room number we are in. Already skeptical of us, the woman at the
lounge didn’t enjoy our humor and seemed to suspect we were not actually
“executive material” and that we really shouldn’t have been partaking in such
benefits. So, to make it even more convincing
that we weren’t smuggling lots o little people into a hotel room, Carrie and I
piled as much food as we could on two plates, each with coffee and multiple
juices. So much food, in fact, that I
had to make two trips back to the room to carry it all. Ms. Lounge Worker kept starting at us,
wondering why we weren’t eating the food in the lounge which clearly was set up
for such refined executives such as oursevlves.
“We are just going to take this in our room,” I felt the need to explain,
to which she only gave me a less than courteous nod.
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Learning more about Anne Frank |
Tying together the lessons in Germany about the Holocaust,
Hitler and World War II, I introduced the historical figure, Anne Frank. I was really excited to teach the girls about
who she was and what she did because I knew it would be such a great way to tie
in Germany and the Netherlands, as Amsterdam was where Anne Frank lived after
her family fled from Germany during the war.
I am ashamed to admit I never read “The Diary of Anne Frank” and so I
was pretty much as riveted to the story as the girls were, this being my first
time hearing about it myself and all (I guess my private school education has a lot left to be desired, huh?).
Before we left for the trip, I downloaded a children’s book about her
and we started reading it to the girls before we left the hotel.
We love the HOHO buses! |
Finishing our Anne Frank lesson on the bus |
Anytime you have a 5, 6 and 7 year old that motivated and
enthusiastic about visiting a museum, you MUST take advantage of that. But we were faced with the tough decision of
spending most of our time in Amsterdam waiting in line and missing the other
sights of the city with their passion for visiting a historical museum that
would tie in much of our learning on this trip.
So, after a lot of hemming and hawing, we noticed that because it was
Saturday, the museum was open until 9:00 at night so we would return later
when, hopefully, the line would be shorter.
We walked around the nine-streets area which is filled with cafes and shops. It was a fabulous area for taking pictures and doing some window shopping. The girls fell in love with a little jewelry shop where they each got a ring and for Grace’s belated birthday present, Carrie bought her a precious jewelry box to keep it in.
I must say, we had all the best intentions of introducing
the girls to authentic food throughout our journey, but we really didn’t do
well executing that plan. First of all,
we realized, in all our ignorance, that we don’t know much about the various,
authentic foods in each country and researching it? Well, we didn’t. So, we typically went more for the familiar
choices as well as the things we knew they’d eat. We tried to go as healthy as possible, but we
often didn’t succeed (hence the reason why my pants are SO tight!) But, we have, at least, tried not to do
Japanese sushi or Italian restaurants as clearly, those are not authentic to
where we have been travelling. This day,
however, would mark the last city on our itinerary and we were in the mood for authentic
pasta and pizza! We have noticed
throughout our European adventure, Italian restaurants are a dime a dozen so it
didn’t take us long to find one near Anne Frank’s museum. Autentica cucina Italiana!
After filling up on more carbs (which seems to be the theme
this trip) we got back on our tour bus and made our way to the canal ride. Remember how I mentioned that I have been
going to bed too late and waking up too early on this trip? This is where it really started to catch up
with me. As excited as I was to be in
Amsterdam, I was tired, the weather was a bit chilly and there wasn’t much to
see….so I fell asleep. Yup, just a quick
cat nap and it was the first time, this whole trip, where I was too exhausted
to move. Coffee wasn’t helping…and what
I needed was sleep, even if was just for a few minutes.
Man, I was tired today... |
Van Gogh Museum |
Ellie recognized the Sunflowers painting from the print her
Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Louise has hanging in the classroom so we bought her
and the assistants “Sunflower” post it notes in the museum gift shop as well as
some other goodies to remember their visit.
I saw a bag I liked that I thought would be good for travelling
(remember, I have 2 ½ more weeks of travel in front of me) and while I was
looking at it carefully Grace said, “Go ahead and get it mom. I have been meaning to get you something for your
birthday, so I would like to get you this.”
Geesh, Grace so thoughtful of you…now, where did I put my credit card?
New purchases in hand, we were out by about 6:00 and we
headed towards Anne Frank’s house to see if the line had diminished at
all. Amsterdam is a great walking city
but with three kids who, at this point, are tired not only from the day but
from the entire trip, are just about toast.
My cat naps during the day didn’t seem to rejuvenate me enough and I too
was dragging. That goes to show how
motivated we all were to see Ms. Frank and her Huis. We love that girl and wanted to see her
museum!
We trekked through some really shady parts of Amsterdam,
witnessed a man peeing in front of us and took in the “smells” of passing,
modern day hippies who had just left the coffee shops Amsterdam is famous
for. At one point Carrie B even had a
mouthful of second hand smoke fly right up her nostril by a passing
pedestrian. Well, maybe it would help
her relax as we moved into the evening a bit.
A tired Ellie waiting in line |
The line moved faster than we thought it would and, once
again the kids were FREE! Score.
In a word… the museum was awesome. In another, powerful. One more? Moving. It was one of the best educational experiences
any of us have had. It was, as a
teacher, the feeling we all strive for in our students: The “Ah ha” moment when a concept becomes
“real” for a kid and you can see learning seep into their pours. From the second we walked into the museum,
the kids were riveted, focused and completely engaged. THIS was the purpose of our trip…to give the
kids a chance to BE in the learning…to not only hear about a country, a culture
or important moments in history, but to SEE, TOUCH and FEEL the places they
were learning about. To connect their
learning to a meaningful context…to promote a love for learning that will last
a lifetime. Today, we witnessed this
goal being met. It’s why I became a
teacher and one of the reasons I wanted to be a mom.
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Anne Frank |
We made it to the train station at about 8:45pm and we still
hadn’t eaten. Upon entering the station,
however, we found a great take-away restaurant, Julia’s, which serves fresh
pasta in take away Chinese take out containers.
A cool concept, we ate our individual containers of pasta before
boarding the train and made the quick journey back to the airport. Although taking the train back was a bit more
work, we still felt great about taking this option vs staying in the city.
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Julia's take away pasta...yummy! |
Seeing that today was chalk full of learning experiences, I
took the opportunity to add one more to our day after Ellie asked, “Mom, what
was wrong with that man? Was he a
zombie?” I discussed, as well as I
could, the concept of using drugs and why they were dangerous and addictive. They seemed to understand the basic version
of what I was trying to get across. A
good assessment of their understanding?
Ellie turned to me and said, “I hope Grace never gets on those
drugs.” “I hope not either, but why do
you say that?” I asked. “Because,” she explained. “You know Grace, she can never have just one
piece of candy. If she does the drugs,
she won’t be able to do just one. She
will do one, then two and then she won’t be able to stop. Then she will be died.”
Okay, well…seeing the man on drugs wasn’t exactly what we
were thinking when we talked about giving them a hands-on learning experience,
but a teachable moment none the less.
Good night, Amsterdam.
You wore us out, but you were well worth it.
Some helpful links from Amsterdam!
Van Gogh Museum: www.vangoghmuseum.nl
Anne Frank House: www.annefrank.org
Hop on Hop Off Bus: www.citysightseeingamsterdam.nl
Julia's Pasta: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Julias-Pasta-Amsterdam-Centraal-Station/134918349924732
Some helpful links from Amsterdam!
Van Gogh Museum: www.vangoghmuseum.nl
Anne Frank House: www.annefrank.org
Hop on Hop Off Bus: www.citysightseeingamsterdam.nl
Julia's Pasta: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Julias-Pasta-Amsterdam-Centraal-Station/134918349924732
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