Augsburg's women's soccer team is sending diaries during the team's trip to Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Here's some thoughts from Auggie players Gaby Hamerlinck (SR, St. Paul, Minn./Highland Park HS) and Courtney Barthel (FY, St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville HS) for Monday, May 17:
Today was an early morning; we had to be on the bus by 8 a.m. for our trip to Amsterdam. When we arrived we went on a canal cruise through the city. We got to see the skinniest building in the city; it looked like you couldn't even expand your arms.
There are 90 islands and 1,500 bridges throughout Amsterdam. There was a four-story bike garage along with many bikes that lined the streets, everybody bikes! Our tour guide Hub (pronounced hoob) told us to make sure not to walk in the bike lane. Some members from the team learned this the hard way by not paying attention, because the bikers do not stop! They ring their bells, whistle, or yell at you.
The culture here is a lot different from what we expected coming into the trip. While we were in Amsterdam, we walked through the souvenir shops, tourist areas and the Red Light District. The Red Light District is a major tourist attraction here. Hub also told us not to take pictures in the Red Light District or else the women in the windows would come and push you into the nasty water of the canals.
After the three hours in the city, we went to tour the Anne Frank House. The Anne Frank House was really hard to see, because of how much space the families had to live in for two years. It was eye-opening to be in the same house that Anne wrote about. We got to tour the house, except we could not go into the attic where Anne spent most of her time. There are still many things that remain from when they were hiding.
A quote from Otto Frank from 1967 said: “To build up the future, you have to know the past.” He was the only one of the eight that were in hiding in the house to survive the war. After the Anne Frank house, we went to a buffet dinner where they served us tomato soup, salad, French fries, pork, and ice cream.
It is a bummer being here because water is not free and you also have to pay .50 Euros to use the bathroom in most public places. When dinner was finished that concluded our wonderful day in Amsterdam and all we had left to do was drive three hours back to our hotel.
