Our first day in Amsterdam, which the captain of the ship
helped us plan out, was spent exploring the main sites of Amsterdam. This
includes St. Nicholas and Centraal Station, which we can see from our porthole.
We then went to Dam square, with the Magna shopping center, Nieuwe Kerk (or “new
church”), and the Royal Palace. There was also a magician there doing an “escape
from chains” trick. He kept berating the people in the crowd, which got him
dubbed “the world’s meanest Canadian/magician” by Kyle. 
We went and
saw Westerkerk (“West Church”), drooled at a shop window’s glistenirng round
cheeses, and got in line for the tour of the Anne Frank house. It happened to
be the anniversary of Anne’s birthday. She would have been 83, and the diary
was given to her on that day 70 years ago. I found the experience almost
shiver-inducing; actually seeing the bookcase concealing the stairs, the actual
pictures that Anne pasted on the walls, and the diary was very affecting.
Afterwards,
we saw the homonument, and then we
**********Hmmm, this part has been redacted for some reason.
Oh, well.**********
Kyle and I saw Oude Kerk (“old church”), the oldest monument
in Amsterdam, We both agree that we feel almost badly for it, as we’re sure the
neighborhood is quite different. There was a pee station around the corner, a
spiral-shaped metal enclosure, which Kyle was disturbed by due to the lack of
anonymity (“I’d rather just see the pee…and not their faces.”
We ate at a
pancake house and got large, thin, savory pancakes: bacon and mushroom, and
mushroom and cheese.
We went
back to the boat and I fell asleep. In fact, the boat is a little dangerous in
that regard, because our space is like a cozy little rabbit den for me and all
I want to do is sleep.
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