This trip keeps getting better and better! After some much needed rest, we started off our day heading to Amsterdam Centre for a historic tour and chocolate tasting. Our tour guide was Ian, and I can easily say that it was the best tour that I have ever been on. In just an hour I learned so much about the history of the city. For instance, many buildings were leaning diagonally towards the streets, and I thought about it in the back of my mind. During the tour we found out that 200 years ago, the property was taxed on how wide it was. So, the Dutch found a way around this and it also came with some perks like keeping water of the wooden base and more room to put stairs. My question about the trash cans was answered as well! There were originally small trash cans around, but the government tried electric trash cans that compressed the trash. These kept breaking so they took them out and some weren’t replaced. They were trying to be sustainable but did not prove to be effective.
We then spent the other hour chocolate tasting and apparently there is a right way to do it. These chocolates were environmentally friendly and tasted better than any chocolate in America that I’ve had (yes, even better than Sarris). We sampled dark, milk, white, black clove, and even Carolina reaper chocolates, so naturally I had to buy some to bring back. What surprised me the most was how sustainable and interesting chocolate making can be. For example, this chocolate was made in a biodiverse place where no trees were cut down around them. Some companies even use sail ships and bicycles to transport ingredients to cut back on CO2 emissions, as well as using for most out of the cacao plant for chocolate, juice, handmade bags from the sacks, tea, and the one I found most interesting, flooring! After, we went on a canal cruise where we learned more about the 100km of canals and local sites along them.
At the end of the day, we had free time, so a small group of us went vintage and jewelry shopping. We walked around a lot to see all the shops and went to many other sites, some of which we unfortunately found were closed as we had already walked there but this added more fun to our adventure. We then ate some good dinner and went to the Dutch supermarket, Jumbo (yum-bow), for a Dutch dessert and sat around talking and having a good time. Great way to end the 2nd day!
