Hannah's RYE year in Switzerland: Amsterdam

We woke up nice and early for breaky and then headed into the old town of Amsterdam for a bike tour!!! We learned a lot about the city and I think that riding our bikes through the streets allowed up to see and experience a lot, like the bike rage that the locals have when there are tourists biking all over the road lol. The architecture of houses were slightly leaned forward. This was because houses cost by the width not the length. So they built the houses skinnier and longer in length so buildings would be slanted and the top floor would be a few feet longer than that bottom. Earlier the canals were not at all clean and even the water transported was not clean so they said "beer was cleaner then water". About 5 Canals have been turned into streets due to the uncleanliness and smell of the canals. At one point we stopped at a grocery store to buy a picnic lunch. My friends and I bought hummus and veggies, some fruit, sushi and a baguette which fit perfectly in the water bottle holder on the ride of my bag. We got to walk through the red light district and I thought it was really cool. Before we went through our guide asked us not to take pictures of the women and explained how much they are respected and I really appreciated it. They were all standing in their windows just doing their jobs and it was great to see. The area is protected with police because they care about the safety of the prostitutes. We then biked to a park for lunch where we met with the rest of the group. It was raining on and off but it didn't stop us from singing and dancing by the pond/fountain. After a fun morning we then went to visit a more serious part of the city, The Anne Frank House. I am still amazed by how strong she was as a young teenage girl living in a hidden room for 2yrs. We had about an hour to walk around and listen about the history and hear her story. After that we went to catch a boat for a cruise down the canals of Amsterdam, it was beautiful I really enjoyed all of the cruises we did. We went to dinner after then headed back to the hotel for games and hanging out.

It was a long drive from Amsterdam to Berlin - more then 10hrs. We stopped at the Marienborn Memorial site. During WW2 it was a fortified checkpoint. It was a long day of travel ended with a nice dinner at the hotel in Berlin.