So this morning after breakfast the kids opted for their father bringing them to school. Why? Because it was raining. And he has a car instead of a bike like me! So off they went! The rain eventually stopped. It is now cloudy and windy.

So I took the bike and went to a small tobacco/depanneur sort of shop to mail my postcard, buy a strippenkaart (ticket for the trams/metro) and withdraw some money at a nearby ATM machine. I then went to the Albert Heijn grocery store. I wanted to buy a lot but kept reminding myself that I would have to carry it around in London… So I only bought: strawberries (to eat now… mmmm), some fresly pressed juice (for the plane trip tomorrow… mmmmm), paprika Wokkel chips, ontbijtkoek & kandijkoek (2 typical Dutch morning breads), De Ruijter hagel 8 little packs of different kinds (little pieces of sugar/chocolate that you sprinkle on your bread after having put butter), saté saus, the special soap for my mom (it was on sale, 3 for the price of 2), the mix to make poffertjes, Rexona spray deodorant and raisin roll breads. It came up to 18.65€. Most of these things I can't really get in Canada so it's worth it!

So after grocery shopping I took the tram to the city centre! The family dad lent me their Museum Card which allows to visit museums for free! Yay! I went first to the Verzetsmuseum (Dutch resistance) where I saw their permanent exhibition. It was quite interesting to learn about how the Dutch lived during the German occupation. For example they had food stamps smuggeling, ladies wearing pregnancy corsets would bring them in there. They also had cook books on how to make good food during war time with the few things that were available. They showed how women smuggled guns, in an hidden compartment in a baby carriage for example. They also had objects made post-war using german soldier hats, for example a pasta strainer! It was informative. I was there from 11h10 to 12h15.

After I walked towards the Rembrant house. I was hungry and wanted an Albert Heijn to buy lunch. And all of a sudden there was one 2 minutes away on foot! I was so happy! I went in and bought a sandwich, apple pieces and a freshly squeezed juice for 5.35€. I ate sitting on a nearby bench with a view on the canal. Then I looked at the entrance prices for the Rembrant house and it was 5€ so I decided not to go!

Instead I walked to the Oude Kerk where the World Press Photo exhibition was set up. Again free entrance with the Museum Card. The church itself was pretty impressive inside. And the photographs of the exhibition also. I really enjoyed it there! It took me from 13h to 13h45 to view this exhibition.

Then I walked to the Bijenkorf store on the Dam. I browsed a bit inside the store. And continued walking to the Flower Market on the Singel canal. I bought 50 tulip flowers for 5€!!! That's 0.10€ per flower… While in Canada 1 tulip flower cost me 2.10€!!! I got the flowers for my Dutch family to say thank you for having me over. At 15h20 I was back home with the tram. The weather outside today wasn't really nice… Rainy, windy, cold. But I still managed to have a nice day in the city!

Later in the evening I went to the Zaanse Schans with my Dutch family. We saw the nice windmills. And old wooden houses. It was really windy but I was happy to be able to see the windmills! After that we drove to Volendam, a little fishing village. We first walked around in the harbour area. And then we set out to find a restaurant. The first one turned us down… The kitchen was closed because there were not enough clients the waiter said. The second one also turned us down because it was full so there was no place for us! The third restaurant finally gave us a table. I had a nice meal… A tomato soup for starters. Then a cod filet with mostard sauce, nice potatoes, nice sweet peas, rhubarb compotte, etc. And finally dessert was a Dame Blanche, ice cream, whipped cream and melted warm chocolate…! Mmmm! I went to bed tired, belly full and happy!