We arrived in Amsterdam via the train at around 11:45am after leaving Paris at 8:35am (we left the hotel at 6:15 so it was an early morning). Following our arrival at Amsterdam we had orientation followed by a brief break after which we attended the Anne Frank house. The Anne Frank house was amazing and something I will probably always remember from this trip. The fact that this family lived in this small cramped area for so many years was astounding to me. It also was very sad that they were discovered when they were so close to making it through the war unfound. After this house we had some free time which I utilized by exploring the city and swinging by a coffee shop. The coffee shops here are a lot stronger than any found back home and I wasn’t expecting it. I stopped by an Italian restaurant on my way back to the hotel and it was really great quality and very authentic which makes sense since we are somewhat close to Italy here. The next morning we attended a Jewish Synagogue and some other Jewish memorials as well and these were a great experience. I have little experience with Jewish churches so it was great to get to learn more about them as well as the history of the Jewish population in this area during World War 2. Overall Amsterdam has been wonderful and the city itself is beautiful. In fact, this has been my favorite city so far by far. Now for the breakfast. While it was good, it was not great. 5/10. The spread contained the normal assortment of breads and deli meats and cheeses but lacked any warm meats which Caen and London had. It did have scrambled eggs but these were tasteless and did not provide and enjoyment. The pastries were good though which I appreciated and there was a sweet lemon bread as well. Overall, the updated and final rankings of breakfast locations on this trip are as follows:
1st: Caen
2nd: London
3rd: Amsterdam
4th: Paris
5th: Paris Bagged Breakfast
Thank you for reading my blogs and I hope you one day have the opportunity to travel to these cities. If you want a more in depth account of my travels please feel free to reach out and I will be more than happy to talk about my favorite/least favorite aspects!