Yesterday, May 11, was our first day in The Netherlands, and it was quite a long day. After an entire day of traveling on Saturday, we landed at the Schiphol Airport around 5:40 am and had no time to rest before jumping into our day. The process of getting out of the airport went smoothly, and then we met with our local tour guide, Brian, who led us on public transportation to our hotel. After dropping our stuff off, we had a scavenger hunt all around central Amsterdam.
The scavenger hunt provided clues and hints that led to various sites around the city, although I think we were a little too exhausted from the lack of sleep to fully process what we were reading while trying to navigate a new city. We learned about things like how a longstanding building had changed over the years, a monument honoring the dead, and a historical church. Despite running into a few bumps throughout, we were still able to see the beautiful streets of Amsterdam for the first time and explore the new city.
After the scavenger hunt, we went to Keukenhof Gardens for their famous tulip festival. We got here just in time to make it for the last day open for the season, which explains why some of the tulips were past their prime, but there were millions of beautiful flowers nonetheless. While I was exhausted from a lot of traveling and walking around, it was such a cool experience to explore and learn about all of the different varieties of tulips.
Once we finished with the tulip festival, we found our way back to the hotel for some much needed rest. In the process, we learned more about the public transportation and got more comfortable navigating on our own. Before we knew it, it was time to head out for dinner. We went to a restaurant to have a traditional dutch meal: stamppot. It consisted of a pile of mashed potatoes with kale and a smoked sausage on top. I did actually enjoy this meal, although I am not sure if I would order it on my own. After eating our dinner, Dr. Kurtzmann and Dr. Dukes treated us to ice cream to end a packed day.
