Amsterdam, Netherlands - Spring Break April 2022 - 1 of 2

With covid levels and restrictions waning, the family geared up for a Spring Break trip to Amersterdam, Netherdlands for a well-deserved break.  Michelle has always loved tulips (her favorite flower) and it's always been a dream of hers to see the tulips in Holland; it was time to make that dream come true.  North and South Holland are two of the wealthiest and most well know of the 12 districts of the Netherlands, hence many people referring to the Netherlands as Holland.  We celebrated Easter mass in Warsaw in the morning before flying to Amsterdam in the afternoon.  Jonathan was able to check out the cockpit before takeoff and pilots even let him sit in the Captain's chair.  Excellent experience and all I did was ask if my son could take a quick look in the cockpit.

Upon arrival in Amsterdam, it took a while to figure out the local public transit system and took just about as long to get from the airport to the hotel as it did to fly to Amsterdam.  By the end of the day we learned several lessons about navigating various transit options that we applied throughout the rest of the trip.  On our first full day, we took a trip to Keukenhof Gardens and it was the most beautiful botanical garden we'd ever seen.  The pictures speak for themselves but the sheer size of the garden and number of flowers were amazing.  There are a bunch of pics below with additional comments, enjoy the sights and stories.

Easter morning in Warsaw

Walking to the bus stop to head to the airport, a true European experience.

Waiting for a train after eventually figuring out the local train/metro system. Kaitlyn was not pleased with the experience.

Interesting building architecture.

Burger King receipt for 2 waters.  Talk about wasting paper!

J-bird chillin at the train station waiting for our ride.

We lucked out and were one of the first ones on the bus, which meant front row seats on the second level of the bus.

Keukenhof Gardens!

Kaitlyn's yummy french fries

Notice the kids behind the trees?

This was a nice treat since we don't have it in Warsaw.

Amsterdam is known for many things, to include being a city with more bicycles than people.  We got in on the action and rented bikes for a day and had a great time exploring on 2 wheels.

Van Gogh museum (we didn't go inside)

Anne Frank statue located just around the corner from her house.

River cruise

That's it for post 1.  More pics to follow from our other adventures in Amsterdam.