pannekoeken escapades

Yesterday I went on a very exciting journey with Alanna, Yitka, Taryn, Martina, and Rebecca (those last 3 people are Yitka's SIT friends). We had heard from Yitka's host mom that the best pancake house in Amsterdam was located in the Amsterdam Woods which areon the very edge of the city, right near Schiphol Airport. It was a beautiful sunny day so we decided to venture out into the wilderness on our bikes in order to find and enjoy these delicious pancakes. It wasn't long before we really knew we were in the woods, because shortly after our bike ride began we ran into a Bison! (or some animal of that sort, none of us were quite sure). Yitka spotted it from her bike and so we all hopped off so that we could get a few pictures of the wild animal. We kept biking and eventually reached the ferry that would take us over closer to the pancake house. (We found out on the way back that it's actually much faster to just bike the whole way and avoid the ferry, but I think we all wanted a fun boat ride. Unfortunately, Alanna, Martina, and myself made it onto the first ferry and then there wasn't enough room for Yitka, Taryn, and Rebecca. We decided that we would just wait for them on the other side before continuing our bike ride. The ferry was really cool... It's a medium size boat that can hold up to 100 person and also a fair number of bikes. One of these pictures is of all the bikes packed onto the ferry. Everyone just stands in line to get on the ferry and the driver piles the bikes on one by one. Because of this, everyone has to exit the ferry in the same order that they got on, we were the last people on, so we got to get off first. The ride itself was probably only about 7 minutes accross the water, but I think it was more about the experience of being on a boat in Amsterdam than anything else, and we all really enjoyed that.

After everyone had gotten over the crossing we hoped back on our bikes and really got into the woods. We followed a few more bike paths before coming accross a big field with horses and goats and other animals roaming around, and then the pancake house was right next to this field. At first the whole establishment was a bit overwhelming. None of us could figure out where to order or what to order because there were so many different pancake options. We finally figured it all out and placed our orders. After a few minutes our numbers appeared on the screen and we found ourselves with 6 amazing pannekoeken, Heerlijk! (That means Delicious!). After we all thoroughly enjoyed our pancakes (we finished everything on every plate) we decided to get some ice cream for dessert.
At this point we were all thoroughly stuffed and we decided it was time to head back to the central city, but before we did so we made sure to stop and see the deer! Martina bought some feed and fed one of them, it was very exciting. This place would definitely have been really amazing to visit as a little kid. They had deer to pet, and playgrounds, and all these cool toys to play with, I know I would've loved it even more than I loved it today.

Our day didnt end after our bikeride back to the city though... For those who I haven't told yet, I got my eyebrow pierced yesterday! (I hope you like it mom). Anyway, Yitka, Taryn, and Alanna were nice enough to come with me, and Yitka held my hand while Taryn and Alanna documented the whole thing on film. I don't have any of their pictures yet, but I do have a picture of the final product.

Later that night we all went to this place called Trut, which is a gay and lesbian underground party that only happens on Sundays. We all had a blast and there was a lot of SIT-CIEE mixing which was lots of fun. Now I'm up because I was planning on doing some homework, but instead I'm posting this entry. Now to work!