Land of Windmills and Wooden Shoes

A couple weeks ago I went to visit my best friend/sister Gentry and her husband Chris in Amsterdam.  I'd been looking forward to this trip since they moved last September.  It came at a perfect moment too.  I'd been saving and saving to go and just before I left, I lost my job.  I know it doesn't sound like an ideal time to lose my employment, but I'd been saving so intensely for this trip that I actually over-saved and have some money left over!  It was a great stress reliever after a strenuous 4 months.  Needless to say, once I got there and got to hang out with these two I didn't want to ever come home!  I got to go with Gent to her ultra-sound, which was exciting because I won't be able to see her baby until 2 months AFTER she's born!  So the little image that was barely discernible as a baby at times, will have to hold me over.  They tried to keep me awake after the 8 hour time change so we went down and wandered through Amsterdam and went to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Chris and Gent took me to Madurodam, the miniature of Amsterdam,  Gent and I went on a bus tour to Volendam and Marken, toured through a cheese factory and a wooden shoe factory, saw windmills across the countryside, went to the Anne Frank museum, (which literally made me cry, it was incredible), went shopping, walked through a nunnery, went to the bookstore, walked around the city, went to lunch and just hung out together.  It was just like before we lived in different countries!  I've missed her so incredibly much, and it was so hard to come home, but I loved being able to spend time with her (and Chris) again.





It was so fun to visit and I miss it already.  The country was beautiful and there are museums on every corner! I never really planned on visiting The Netherlands (although it probably should have been a priority since it's my heritage) but I am so glad I did.  The buildings are beautiful, the trains are super easy to navigate, the canals are amazing.  It was such a wonderful trip!  Thanks Gent and Chris!