First weekend off

Every week we are getting Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off to explore the city (and work on our research papers).  On Saturday I slept in then decided to go wander around the city alone.  I was in need of a little "me" time. 


I wandered past the Heineken brewery.  There you can take what they call the Heineken Experience.  I think that means they give you free beer.  But I'll have to save that for another day.

I went to a two flea markets that they have every day (except Sunday).  The first was a bunch of stores selling everything on sale.  The second was like a huge garage sale.  Both were pretty cool but the best part was the infomercial guys demonstrating stuff in Dutch.

I ate dinner at a little cafe by the park that played Prince and James Brown then decided to head home.  It was really nice to be by myself for awhile and see some of the city. On Sunday it was pouring so I spent all day doing homework like a good student. 




Monday I decided to go check out the zoo that is about a mile from our dorms.  I rode my bike there and I really don't know how people handle hills in Seattle cause I am worn out riding on this flat land.  At the zoo I learned that kids running around being really loud and rude is not a trait that is reserved for Americans. 

At the zoo there were tons of baby animals.  I must have gotten there at the right time of year.

This baby sea lion is named Clint.  I watched him sleep for awhile waiting for him to move so I could make sure he wasn't a little dead baby sea lion.

The gorillas are always amusing.  If only this guy had a pipe instead broccoli he could be some of my professors.

I stopped to take a picture of this silver back gorilla in this complete pimp pose.  Then I turned away to walk to the next exhibit.

Right after I turned around a piece of broccoli flew over my head and landed right in front of me.  The gorilla threw his food at me! But as a friend pointed out, at least it wasn't poop.





Dutch dinosaurs are much scarier than American ones.

They had raccoons at the zoo! I wanted to explain to everyone that these are pests, not cool creatures to look at.

I can't figure out if they put the mirror up to give the flamingos something to look at or if they are trying to trick us into thinking they actually have double the birds.

Here is a baby goat for Mike.

After the zoo I was craving a nice American burger so I found a place called Burgermeester.  Then I had to make them translate the menu for me.  I got the mini burgers, one beef, one lamb, and one free range chicken with guacamole.  They were amazing.

That night a few of us decided to go to the Anne Frank House.  The original house and the one next door have been turned into a museum.  There are no pictures allowed to preserve the material there, so I was just able to get the outside of the house.

After Anne Frank we were all feeling a bit sad and deep.  We decided that now would be a good chance to enjoy some of what Amsterdam does best.  Plus the pre-rolled joints come in these cute little tubes.  It was a nice mellow way to end the weekend.  Now back to school on Tuesday.