We took it easy today! We took a canal bus to the train station and locked our luggage away (because we had to check out of our hotel).

We took a taxi back to the Anne Frank house, where we climbed the tower of a nearby church. (the tallest protestant church in Europe!). We took a tour of the main bell-tower and stood outside to see the view of Amsterdam. It was breath-taking, really ...

When we climbed down, we still felt good because our legs were conditioned from the Notre Dame climb (see day 3).

So, we took a paddle-boat (or a canal-bike as they like to call them) down the canal to our next destination. we peddled here and there, dodging the other boats who were honking at us to get out of the way! They were hard to steer, but by the end, I got the hang of it. We only lasted about 45 minutes, but it was fun!

When we got off the paddle-boat (trying hard not to fall in as we docked), we went to a pancake house to grab one last Dutch pancake. It wasn't as good as our first pancake experience, but it was still pretty good!

Then, we took a relaxing stroll through the "Vondel park." There were lots of people our age there, backpacking across Europe. Hilary felt very tired after that, so we took it easy and hung out at a cafe on a bridge.

We then made our way to the train station. We kept having to dodge beggars and swindlers, and even got approached by another American whose story just didn't add up. One man, drunken and staggering, was asking for money and passed us four times while we were waiting for our 11.5 hour train to arrive.

When it finally *did* arrive, we hopped on really quick and met a new friend, Manuel. He was from Munich and was visiting his girlfriend in Amsterdam. We were talking about everything from movies to video games to government policies. It was very interesting, an rather freaky, because we both had the same palm pilot (the m100) and we both had digital cameras and we both played the same computer games. Hilary was pretty weirded out! =)

Then, we were joined by a nice German couple who didn't speak English. They knew John Fogerty and Credence Clearwater, though! =) I hope Hilary didn't get everyone sick. She's been feeling under the weather lately. I hope she feels better. I'll be writing more tomorrow!

Day 1/Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14 Day 15 Day 16 Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Epilogue