November 11

After an eight hour flight we arrived into Amsterdam. Jan met us in Amsterdam and we followed him to Madurodam. Michael was a little too keen and got ahead of him and we started down a random highway, luckily it was the right highway! Madurodam is a mini holland. They have all the main buildings and attractions in mini form. I loved the mini churches and palace. They even had working trains and vehicles moving about. It was a really good overview of all things Dutch. The weather was cool and grey so as soon as the cafe opened we went for coffee. Plus we needed something to keep us awake! Next Jan took us to his town Scherpenzeel for lunch. I had a taste tomato soup with a croquette! Mmmm...one of my favourite things about travelling is the food! After lunch Jan took us to his house. It’s over 100 years old. There’s the main house and then a kind of living room, which was actually the original stables. Everything was old wood and concrete. It was so neat to see. Very cozy! We were all extremely exhausted from not getting any sleep on the plane and then staying up all day so we went to the hotel to settle in. Michael and I weren’t quite ready for bed so we wandered around Ede a bit. They had some nice walking streets so we explored a bit and enjoyed some olliebollen before going to bed...at 6pm! (Hotel de paasberg)