Amsterdam

On Saturday morning we said goodbye to the Gandalf and crew and our guide, Rikko and went to our hotel to drop our bags.  Five people from the group went with Rikko for the day.  They travelled to Rotterdam and had a tour there.  Then they went to see a "once a year" occurrence, the closing of the flood gates that protect the city and surrounding areas from storm surges on the North Sea.  This gate is used to "keep the feet of a million people dry".

The rest of us split into small groups and explored Amsterdam on our own.  It is just too hard to try to tour with a big group.  We spent Saturday and Sunday walking everywhere, sightseeing, shopping, people watching and relaxing in cafes.  The city was extremely BUSYYYYYYYY!

We managed to get through the weekend without rain, so we considered ourselves lucky.  Most of us met on Sunday afternoon and visited the Anne Frank Museum.  It is the actual house where Anne and her family hid for 22 months before they were betrayed and captured by the Germans.  It is a very moving experience.

The entire group of us went for dinner together at a lovely Italian Restaurant on Sunday night.  It was nice to spend our final evening together.  This morning we said goodbye to part of the group as some people are spending an extra week exploring in Europe.  The rest of us are at the airport, waiting to board our flight to Reykjavik and then home.

It has been an incredible trip!  The group was great, we all got along and had fun together.  The Gandalf and crew were super.  Our guide, Rikko (cutie sunshine) was fantastic!  The weather could have been better but we felt fortunate that we managed to dodge the rain most days!!

I will try to post more pictures in the next day or two.  Thanks for following us on our adventure!!