Today we waited around the hotel room until Tom was finished with his work and then went to the botanical garden called Hortus Botanicus. It has existed since 1638 and holds some of the worlds rarest specimens. Included in the collection is an evergreen which is so rare that only 60 trees are known to exist in the wild in only a single valley somewhere. Other interesting sights were the butterfly house and giant rhubarb plants. As Grandpa would say, that must be a "pithy" plant--so I don't know if it is edible or not. They also had a 3-climate greenhouse (dessert, rainforest, and temperate?). The 3-climate greenhouse was interesting because it had a catwalk where you could look from above if you wished.
Then we walked around a little more before finding a place to eat lunch. We stopped by a market to buy Tom's coworker a plant for his garden for when we go to visit him tomorrow in Roosendaal for lunch. We found an Argentinian restaurant and Tom told the waitress (like he tells EVERYBODY) that I speak Spanish (which I will not be practicing until I have to next week)... I just pretend I don't know what he's talking about.
Then we came back to the hotel and then went out on a "candlelight canal cruise." The boat ride was an hour long and we saw and heard about much of the history of Amsterdam. Did you know that amsterdam was once only built around the amstel river, which really no longer exists in its natural state? Also, the Amsterdam airport is located 5meters below sea level...they have to constantly pump the water out of the city to maintain the dry land. People also live on houseboats which line the canals. Interestingly, some of the houseboats are really nice on the inside--you can see inside at night because many do not have curtains. Over 100,000 people travel through centraal station everyday in their commute. And there is an underwater tunnel for vehicular traffic that goes underwater! There is even a floating Chinese restaurant that can seat 700 people!
Such a learning experience!
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