Craic in Cork: Lots and Lots of Touring

Saturday was a little bit of a rainy day, AKA a perfect day for museums. Amsterdam is known for having a museum for just about everything you could imagine. There were two that a majority of us were set on seeing before the weekend was over: the Anne Frank House, and the Van Gogh Museum.

We (Me, Jane, Betsy, Nicole, and Will, another HC abroad student) woke up early Saturday morning in order to avoid the long line at the Anne Frank House. We did not have to wait very long, maybe about 45 minutes. I learned a lot about Anne Frank when I was in middle school, so I was very interested to see the real setting of where everything I have heard about truly happened. This was an incredible experience, seeing the house, but so emotional as well. It was heartbreaking to hear Anne Frank's father speak about his family on old video recordings, and so eye-opening seeing where the families hid, learning about what their daily lives were during the horrible time. I really enjoyed seeing this house, and it definitely puts life into perspective. I think that it was important for me to see this while I was in Amsterdam, because while my travels were all fun and games with the Holy Cross crew, it was good to have a little bit of a reality check as to what Amsterdam used to actually be like.

After the Anne Frank House, we were on a mission to find this cafe, Cafe Papeneiland, which is famous for their Dutch apple pie. It was very close to the House, and a perfect morning snack. When you walked in, there was pie everywhere! Clearly this cafe is famous for the pie, because they were very prepared for the crowds of people they would soon see. This pie came just in time for a little Thanksgiving prep!

Once we had our fill on pie, we headed towards the famous Amsterdam sign and the Van Gogh museum. When we got to the sign there were so many people there that we recognized, it was crazy! I ran into one of my friends, TJ, from West Hartford! I had no idea he was going to be in Amsterdam for the weekend. It was such an awesome surprise.

We stayed at the sign for a little while, probably longer than we should have. It was like an adult playground, we were having so much fun! We then headed over to the Van Gogh Museum, which was so amazing. I could have stayed there forever. The art was absolutely gorgeous, definitely a highlight of my trip!

We were pretty tired, and hungry, so the five of us headed over towards our hostel area to find some dinner. We went to a cute little Italian restaurant and had some delicious comfort food. After we ate, we went back to the hostel to clean up and get ready for the night. We were meeting up with the HC kids again for a quick drink later in the evening! It was so fun having everyone back together!

It was an early night for everyone, but a very fun night! Most people had early flights on Sunday, so we were saying our goodbyes. Hopefully I will be able to see everyone in December!

Be back soon!

XO,

Caitlin

Pie Time!