Amsterdam, The Netherlands – 07/16 – 07/22

(Michelle) We took in some of the more unusual sights here this week, such as the Botanical museum and the Hemp museum. The Botanical museum has been around since the late 1800s and they have species of plants from around the world. The hemp museum, while discussing things like legality of smoking, also talks about the renewable resource in hemp and tries to get people thinking more about why we aren’t using that for paper and other goods. We also went on a canal tour where we went through the various rings of the massive canal system that exists in Amsterdam. That was the hardest thing for me in Amsterdam was trying to get the lay of the land there. The between the canal rings and the streets that follow them, this has been the hardest city for me to feel comfortable in without a map, even though we have been here the longest.

(TJ) Books read this far…

Last King of Scotland
The Big Sleep
The Historian
The Alchemist
Tai Pan by James Clavell
The Broker by Grisham
Angelas Ashes
The Murder Room