Last day in Amsterdam

Today was our last day in Amsterdam. We wasted some time yesterday wandering around so I was determined to not let this happen again. Since the time we spent at the Van Gogh Museum was much longer than expected, I allotted more time for the Anne Frank House today. Breakfast was called at 9:00 again, and by 10:00ish we checked out of the houseboat. First we headed to the Central Station to drop off our bags at the locker, and then we went straight to the Canal Boat dock. The boat ride lasted about 45min to an hour. It was just another Tourist thing we had to do, but it was well worth it since it was the perfect way to do an express tour of Amsterdam in 45 minutes!

As soon as we hopped off the boat, we wasted no time to catch a tram to the Anne Frank House. I read about the Anne Frank House while organizing the trip and it instantly became one of the must-see places on my list (the other one, was actually Atomium!)! For those of you who are not familiar with the story of Anne Frank, please Click Here. It was quite an experience being in the actual house, and it's hard to imagine being trapped in there and living in fear for such a long period of time!!! I am so glad that i was there, and i am glad that these sites are being preserved. It was quite a moving experience, so don't miss it if you are in Amsterdam!!!

It was around 14:00 when we finished touring the Anne Frank House. We decided to save some money and walked back to the Dam Square area. I seriously needed that break just to clear my head from the thoughts i had after seeing Anne Frank House. Along the way we passed by some interesting buildings and streets. After a 15-20 min walk, we were in the Dam Square shopping district again. We went back to H&M because we didnt spent enough time there the day before. A lot of things in the store were on sale and Olivia and I both picked up some more clothes ^_^. (Ya just the perfect activitiy to keep my mind off Anne Frank, etc) We were there until 16:30 and it was time to leave Amsterdam. Went back to the Central Station to pick up our bags, somehow we couldnt get our locker open and for a while I thought our contents got stolen, but finally we got help and got the door open. We proceeded to the airport by train (3.80 Euro for a 10 minutes train ride, bloodly expensive!) and made it to the airport just in time, the airport was huge and we barely made it to the departure gate around the boarding time. (I will be screaming if I miss my flight again!) The plane was pretty booked up, so by the time we got on the plane all the overhead bins around us were full! Since we sat in the front row, Olivia and I had to walk all the way to the back to store our bags. It was quite a challenge to walk back to the front of the plane since there were still people getting on the plane!!!! It took us forever to get back to our seats! Same thing after the plane landed, we had to wait for everyone to get off first before we can walk to the back to retrieve our bags! What an annoying experience! When we got to the Customs area, i realized my passport was gone!!! Arrrh!!! I left my passport bag in my seat, so i ran the fastest i could back to the plane to get it. Arrrh first i missed my flight, and then i almost lost my passport! I swear, i am usually more careful than that! What was wrong with me?

And finally, my last destination of the trip, Dublin!

The airport bus dropped us off at O’Connell Street. It’s a wide street and is probably Dublin’s main thoroughfare. The street reminded me of Kings Street in Hong Kong so much, because it’s so busy, full of people and it’s full of Double-Decker buses! Even though I’ve heard Olivia complaining about Dublin being old, kinda dirty and rotten I must say I like it! I guess I was pretty much brain washed when I lived in Hong Kong; yes call me a traiter, i do prefer the British ruling HK. Anyways, Ireland is no longer under British rules, but since it still has close ties to the UK, the two countries still shares a lot of similarities.

We only stayed in the city centre area for like 10 minutes, waiting for the bus. We finally got on a bus and headed to Olivia and Bo's flat. Had a quick dinner and went to bed early since Bo had to work the next day.