Amsterdam & Germany

Thank you everyone for all of the birthday wishes. I certainly had a great day! We started off with a tour of the Anne Frank house. It was very interesting and moving. It's hard to believe that two families lived in such confinement for so long.

Next was a walking tour of Amsterdam. The architecture there is truly amazing. We cruised the canals and even went into the North Sea! The Neatherlands is unique among European nations in that it offers a diverse selection of cuisines from around the world. We were feeling very adventurous, so we had Mexican for my birthday :)

The next day we got up early and headed towards Germany. Before crossing over, we visited the largest open-air museum in Holland. We were able to see them make paper, wash laundry, and we even saw an actual saw windmill in use. Another thing we got to see before crossing into Germany was the Flora-Holland. This is where 60% of the world's flowers are shipped from. We got to see a warehouse--about 1/3 of a mile long--full of flowers being transported in every direction. There were even people in there bidding on flowers. It was really neat.

Today was a full day in the Rhein Valley. We started with a walking tour of the city with a local guide. He was very intersting and entertaining! During the tour, he wrote our names on a piece of slate-rock, along with a heart & arrow. He told us to hang it above our bed :) We're super excited for the great keep-sake! (He even signed it, which is neat, as this is his last year being a local tour guide). After that we went into another small town and visted a castle. It was an amazing site. We had a lot of fun duck-walking through labarinth tunnels.

Lunch was at a traditional German restraunt. Matt ordered sausage & sourkraut. On our way to the Rhein River cruise, we stopped by a pastry shop for warm apple struttle. It was amazing, just like Maria said ;)

We enjoyed crusing the Rhein while taking lots of pictures of castles. When we got back to our motel, we went back out and climbed up to the castle here. We're now back and watching the German Football (soccer) game.

Hope everyone is doing well. I'm sending the sun to you, as we haven't really had a day of rain yet. We can't wait to come back and share our stories & pictures with you!