Today we had two main activities planned, a canal cruise and a visit to a sustainable chocolate store. We left for the canal cruise after breakfast, and it lasted for an hour. It was pretty nice, as not only did we get to see the city from a different angle, but we also got to learn more about the city during the cruise. For example, we learned that a lot of buildings in Amsterdam are leaning due to the pillars that connect them to the soft earth becoming rotten. Thankfully, this can be fixed or prevented using proper maintenance, but its still pretty interesting seeing which buildings are like this once pointed out.
After this a bunch of us got lunch at a grocery store. Checking out was similar enough to back home that I was able to do it despite the language barrier, with the main difference being that I had to scan my receipt to leave the store. I’m not sure if that is a Netherlands thing or a just that store thing though, as that it the only one I’ve visited so far.
After lunch, our group split into two, guys in one and girls in the other, with one half doing a walking tour of the city and the other visiting the chocolate store, and then switching when each was done with their activity. Our group did the walking tour first. Our tour guide was really good, and combined with the knowledge from the canal tour I feel like I’m starting to become a bit more comfortable with this city. After that we finally visited the chocolate store, and that was also super interesting. The owner went into great deal discussing how they source their chocolate from sustainable and ethical manufacturers, and the difficulties in doing so. We even got to taste a lot of their chocolate, which was nice. The sustainability aspect of their store was more interesting than I expected, as we learned things such as how factors such as mono-culture and quality of the soil can actually affect the taste of the chocolate. We could definitely taste the difference, as each chocolate had a noticeably different taste (though all tasted really good). It’s cool that being more sustainable has actually had such a positive impact on the quality of the product, though that does come with a quite noticeable increase in cost. In my opinion it’s worth it, though, as long as you take your time to appreciate it.
After that we had more free time, so we walked around the city until eventually getting dinner at an Italian/Argentinian restaurant. This wasn’t too interesting besides the fact that my Fanta was different than in the US, which I assume is due to restrictions on artificial flavors. It actually tasted like oranges, which is nice. I feel like I’m starting to appreciate this country more, and I can’t wait to learn more about it on the rest of this trip.