Today was a full day, featuring another round of tourist activities in Amsterdam, plus our final on-court korfball action of the tour.
Vikki, Jakob, Alice Stella, Chelsea and Juliet made an early start and took the opportunity to see Anne Frank’s house. As with those who visited the house the other day, they needed to stay in the queue for around two hours. Today’s weather was fine, so the wait was easy.
Chelsea said going into the house was “a very moving experience, and an eye opener about life during wartime.” Stella described standing in the secret annex as “thought provoking and inspirational,” while for Alice, who had studied the diaries at school, it was “almost incomprehensible that we were in the same rooms as the family was all that time ago.” Vikki felt visiting the museum was sombre yet enlightening.
Everyone else made a later start to the day, heading to Madame Tussauds, where the Anne Frank group caught up with them. General opinion was favourable. Lara particularly enjoyed the David Beckham waxwork, including lifting up his shirt to see whether his abs had been authentically formed underneath, and being pleased to see that they were. She also had great fun with Chelsea performing a karaoke rendition of Sugababes’ ‘Push The Button,’ while Bev provided entertainment jamming with Bob Marley. Meanwhile Kiana was pleased to see that the exhibits included not just celebrities but also people who are famous for actually doing something, such as Nelson Mandela.
Shopping featured high on the agenda of just about everyone, with shoes in the sights of a number of boys. Jared was pleased with his ‘fresh kicks’ from Nike, particularly with the chance to try them out in a game a couple of hours after purchasing them. Sam also bought shoes and a ‘weed’ themed shot glass, which he said is destined to become a gift.
Meanwhile Mark and Rob spent a couple of hours in the Rijks Museum, which mainly contains the work of many Dutch Masters, including Rembrandt, whose masterpiece ‘The Night Watch’ is one of the museum’s most highly prized works. We could easily have spent much more time appreciating all the amazing art and history on display, though with so much to look at it is best viewed in short bursts.
At 4.30 we re-assembled to board a tram taking us back to the west of Amsterdam, and a return to the Blauw-wit sports hall, where Casper had organised first dinner, then another game for us, this one against Amsterdam club Sporting West, whose A2 team provided our opposition.
This time around, after a tasty pasta meal provided by the club’s cook, Leo, we managed a good period of pre-match preparation, and everyone was much better focused than for the start of the game we played on Tuesday. Our opponents were generally slightly younger than us, and we controlled the game well, with everyone making a useful contribution, and Jayden, in particular, creating the focus for a number of effective attacks. After two 25 minute halves, we won by 17-4. Most of Blauw-wit’s A1 team was watching, and begged Casper to organise a game for them against us. Unfortunately we have run out of time for that. However, we did finish with half the players on each team swapping shirts and running a further 25 minute ‘mix up’ game, which was excellent value and a lovely way to end the on court part of our tour.
After winding down in the Blauw-wit canteen, we said our farewells, including to our Nijeveen friends Jelle and Ineke, who had made a surprise visit to see our last game. On the way back to the Droompark, we took a detour to see some of Amsterdam’s traditional night life, which on a busy Friday evening, was a bit of an eye-opener.
Saturday, our last day before heading for home, we are looking forward to spending the afternoon at the Ahoy stadium, in Rotterdam, where we will join around 10,000 Dutch korfball fans for the Korfball League final, the pinnacle of the season, which promises to be an amazing spectacle.
Tot morgen,
Rob
Vikki, Jakob, Alice Stella, Chelsea and Juliet made an early start and took the opportunity to see Anne Frank’s house. As with those who visited the house the other day, they needed to stay in the queue for around two hours. Today’s weather was fine, so the wait was easy.
Chelsea said going into the house was “a very moving experience, and an eye opener about life during wartime.” Stella described standing in the secret annex as “thought provoking and inspirational,” while for Alice, who had studied the diaries at school, it was “almost incomprehensible that we were in the same rooms as the family was all that time ago.” Vikki felt visiting the museum was sombre yet enlightening.
Everyone else made a later start to the day, heading to Madame Tussauds, where the Anne Frank group caught up with them. General opinion was favourable. Lara particularly enjoyed the David Beckham waxwork, including lifting up his shirt to see whether his abs had been authentically formed underneath, and being pleased to see that they were. She also had great fun with Chelsea performing a karaoke rendition of Sugababes’ ‘Push The Button,’ while Bev provided entertainment jamming with Bob Marley. Meanwhile Kiana was pleased to see that the exhibits included not just celebrities but also people who are famous for actually doing something, such as Nelson Mandela.
Shopping featured high on the agenda of just about everyone, with shoes in the sights of a number of boys. Jared was pleased with his ‘fresh kicks’ from Nike, particularly with the chance to try them out in a game a couple of hours after purchasing them. Sam also bought shoes and a ‘weed’ themed shot glass, which he said is destined to become a gift.
Meanwhile Mark and Rob spent a couple of hours in the Rijks Museum, which mainly contains the work of many Dutch Masters, including Rembrandt, whose masterpiece ‘The Night Watch’ is one of the museum’s most highly prized works. We could easily have spent much more time appreciating all the amazing art and history on display, though with so much to look at it is best viewed in short bursts.
At 4.30 we re-assembled to board a tram taking us back to the west of Amsterdam, and a return to the Blauw-wit sports hall, where Casper had organised first dinner, then another game for us, this one against Amsterdam club Sporting West, whose A2 team provided our opposition.
This time around, after a tasty pasta meal provided by the club’s cook, Leo, we managed a good period of pre-match preparation, and everyone was much better focused than for the start of the game we played on Tuesday. Our opponents were generally slightly younger than us, and we controlled the game well, with everyone making a useful contribution, and Jayden, in particular, creating the focus for a number of effective attacks. After two 25 minute halves, we won by 17-4. Most of Blauw-wit’s A1 team was watching, and begged Casper to organise a game for them against us. Unfortunately we have run out of time for that. However, we did finish with half the players on each team swapping shirts and running a further 25 minute ‘mix up’ game, which was excellent value and a lovely way to end the on court part of our tour.
After winding down in the Blauw-wit canteen, we said our farewells, including to our Nijeveen friends Jelle and Ineke, who had made a surprise visit to see our last game. On the way back to the Droompark, we took a detour to see some of Amsterdam’s traditional night life, which on a busy Friday evening, was a bit of an eye-opener.
Saturday, our last day before heading for home, we are looking forward to spending the afternoon at the Ahoy stadium, in Rotterdam, where we will join around 10,000 Dutch korfball fans for the Korfball League final, the pinnacle of the season, which promises to be an amazing spectacle.
Tot morgen,
Rob