Everyone's Favorite Part of the Trip

Tess's was Anne Frank House because #history

Michael's was Banksy because graffiti #art

Megan & Alyssa's favorite was living and being with Tulips and flowers because #nature

There She Goes

And the group is officially broken up 😭

... Until next time 😉

(With Patrick....)

Home in the USA

After getting sent all over in boarder protection  and customs we made it thru and are back home! Welcome to the family Monahan's us Smith's get stopped in customs all the time get use to it!

Some look happy to be home some don't... 

No matter what it was an awesome trip!!

Hurry!

Hard at work on their finishing blog post. Time to board our first flight!

On our way home

Here we go, goodbye Netherlands!

Why haven't we boarded yet?!

Here we go... First flight!

Byyyyye water bottle

Goodbye to the worst water bottle in the world!! When initially leaving my place in Vermont I couldn't find my water bottle I usually use and being in a rush to beat the freezing rain that was supposed to happen I took the worst water bottle in the world with me because it was the first one I could find. Throughout this trip this water bottle has soaked my shoes and socks on the plane, wet multiple bags, leaks when I drink from it and has been the biggest pain in the butt this trip (besides Michael 😂). We just got to the airport and instead of dumping my water before security I dumped the entire bottle!! Such a weight has been lifted off my shoulders!

Last Night Out on the Town Ends With a Pleasant Surprise

For obvious reasons we had a little photo shoot on our way home =]

Safety first

My mother was worried about our safety, but she has no reason to worry because our airbnb host was sure to leave us with vital information like the emergency number and closest hospital number.

Also vital supplies such as a first aid kit.

One thing the host did slack on is life preservers #houseboat

24 Hours Cheese Challenge!!!!

 On our way back to Amsterdam, we stop at Gouda and brought a lot of Gouda cheese. Although all of us didn't do the 24 hours cheese challenge, back in Lisse I ate a whole block of cheese between two different cheeses (Ginger and 1 year Gouda) while playing Ticket to Ride. But we are bringing back a lot of cheese. 

"Cheese #art"

On our way to Amsterdam, we stopped at Gouda and brought a lot of Gouda Cheese!

Look at how many cheese places are in the Netherlands!!!

Cheese, Cheese and More Cheese! 🧀🧀

Houseboat

Here's our view from our house boat. 

And here is the outside of that house boat.

Per tradition of most of our photos, we took many and in each of them there is either someone not ready, or talking, or not smiling thus here is another rendition with slightly better faces but slightly less boathouseboat.

Anyways, houseboat brings up an important question: how do you steer a houseboat?

Pancakes

Got some pancakes.  They're much thinner than the ones you would find in the USA.  They separate them on the menu between sweet and savory.  They reminded me of a crapes.  One savory pancake had toppings you would find on a pizza, which was our favorite (minus Tess because it had meat on it).  It had crispy pepperoni and/or salami and crispy cheese.

Prostitute Museum

We went to the prostitute museum to learn about this trade, and how it works on the legal side of things.  The museum was fairly neutral in presentation with almost a slight negative undertone, which made it somewhat more interesting than expected.  It was not too long and gives you a quick overview.  Ultimately, it seems that being legal did not make the trade any more glamorous nor did it remove all of the hardships of being in such a trade, but there were some small positives.

Mark Raven

The first time we were in Amsterdam, earlier in this trip, it was late at night on our way home and Megan saw a shop with shirts that she liked.  She wanted to go back to it the following morning before we head to Lisse and buy a shirt or something.  It was semi-close to our Airbnb, however, the following morning, we were unable to find it! We did not have much time to look around and when we got on the trolley, we ended up seeing it along the route.  We knew we'd be back in town and hoped we would find it along our journeys the second time around... 

Well, on our way to Moco Museum (Banksy Museum), I spotted a shop that I thought the shirts were cool.  When I pointed it out, Megan said they were exactly the ones she liked in that window that night! However, it was a different shop! 

We went in and we all bought shirts or sweatshirts.  The best part is the artist was there working the shop by chance because he had someone call out sick.  We talked to him for quite a while.

When in Amsterdam, Do as the Amsetrdamishians Do on a House Boat

Anne Frank House Again

Today, while on the tram on our way to the Museum of Prostitution, I was looking at the blog  and found out that my original Anne Frank Huis post  was GONE! Here is the Anne Frank House post for you if you haven't seen it yet.

On April 19th, 2018, we went to Anne Frank Huis. It was an interesting experience. One of my favorite and highlight of the trip. While going through Anne Frank House, we saw only what was left on the walls. There was no furniture in the two floors they stayed in while hiding from the Nazis but there was a picture on the wall of each room of what it looked like back when the Frank's and van Pels' families were there. It was very cool the see how small of a space it is especially with eight (8) all living there. 

Since we couldn't take pictures of what was left so here is the building (at the time when the Franks and van Pels' families were there it was a office building) of the Anne Frank Huis.

While we were there, the diary of Anne Frank was an exact copy.