Easter in Amsterdam!

We were lucky enough to spend our Easter vacation (March 23-27) in the Netherlands this year, mostly in Amsterdam but also spending short amounts of time in four surrounding Dutch towns.

Our route: Prague to Amsterdam

The two main days we spent in Amsterdam (Thursday & Saturday), we spent with Rick Steves and his walking tours. [Side note: If you ever travel to Europe, you MUST consult Rick. He has books, websites, & a free app with walking tours - which is what we use the most. It really improves just wandering around a city.]
We really enjoyed Amsterdam because, unlike a lot of other tourist destination cities, there weren't a ton of "must see" places that we just *had* to visit to really get the feel of the place. We didn't stand in a single line & only paid for one admission ticket for a canal cruise tour. Because of this, we were able to enjoy a more relaxed time wandering the city, stopping in places we thought looked interesting, and eating snacks we thought looked delicious.
All in all, it was a great way to spend our final school vacation.

A Dutch favorite: Fries with fritessaus

On the canal cruise

One of the many beautiful canal, bridge, & bike scenes - with a bonus of sunshine & blue skies!

On Friday, we went on a tour that took us to four different Dutch towns: Zaandam, famous for its old wooden, and still working, windmills; Edam, famous for its cheese and 17th century wealth; Volendaam, an old dutch port town; and Marken, a harbor town on a small island. The tour was fantastic and really gave us an impression about what life in the Netherlands is actually like, more than just life in the international city of Amsterdam.

Two of the eight windmills in Zaandam

Marken's Harbor

Inside the wooden shoe factory & store!

One thing that really impressed us was how many languages most people could speak, at least the tourist-prone people we interacted with. Everyone spoke Dutch (obviously), English, and Spanish(!) fluently. The tour we took was in both Spanish & English, and it was fun seeing how much (not very) we remembered from our high school & university classes.

A favorite part of our trip was attending the services at the English Reformed Church for Good Friday & Easter Sunday. We have rarely, if ever, been to a church that is both so traditional but also exudes so much life and joy. The location of the church was also gorgeous. Located in the Begijnhof in central Amsterdam, it is a peaceful space inside a busy city. This church is also thought to be one of the places the Pilgrims stopped to pray before traveling to America!

Beautiful church in the Begijnhof

Inside the church, stained glass featuring the Pilgrims.

To see the rest of our pictures from Amsterdam, click here!

Prayer Requests:
- English Drama Club! We perform in 11 days!!! So prayers for the actors (and their directors) as we get everything all put together - that it's fun as well as stressful!
- We had some American high school students (ages 15-17), part of a CRU group, in our classrooms this past week. Pray that they made connections & that their conversations can lead to something deeper for themselves and for our students. 

Praises:
- Spring is here! We have had crazy rainy/cold/windy/sunny/warm/maybe it'll snow weather all in one day, which means spring has finally sprung! The time change and the warmer weather have given us such a positive boost, and we are ready to shake off all the dark winter moods! 
- We have 3 people planning to come visit us in Prague over the next 3 months, and we are so excited!! We miss our friends and family, and having people visit really makes us feel cared for and missed, and like people actually want to know and understand where we live and what our lives are like. This means a lot to us, and we are so grateful for the 3 who are coming! (And would love to have more!)