Day 10 - Amsterdam

Mom and I left the houseboat early in the morning, hoping to get into the Anne Frank house. By 8:45, there was already a long line so Mom chose not to go (I've toured the house twice). Instead we went for a morning walk while Matt got a little extra sleep. We paid a visit to the Tulip Museum and stopped by a lovely pastry/cheese shop. We got pastries for breakfast and sandwiches for a picnic lunch. They also had cheese samples. Cheese samples are very dangerous for Mom and I since we "MUST" try them all.

Since it was easily becoming the coldest day of the trip, we opted for an indoor activity. I was worried that 1 museum per day was too much for Mom and Matt, but with the weather so cold, it was either the Rykes Museum or staying inside a pub and drinking beer. I love the Rykes Museum. They have some beautiful paintings by Vermeer. They also have a great app to tour the pieces. A visitor can type in any painting by number and a thorough audio description is spoken by the museum's director as well as other specialists. The main gallery which ends at Rembrandt's famous painting, "The Night Watch," was filled with lots of school children quietly listening to the app on their iPads provided by the museum. Mom and Matt wandered the gallery learning about different paintings while I lingered around some of my favorites.

We enjoyed our picnic lunch in the Museum's atrium. Outside the museum Mom and I popped into a little museum store while Matt stayed outside checking out the skating rink.

All of a sudden, Matt came running into the store. From the look in his eyes, I thought something was horribly wrong. Then Matt blurted our, "Phil's here!!!!" He grabbed my hand and we ran out of the store with Mom in tow. It was true, there stood Phil Keoghan at the Amazing Race mat. I totally lost my mind!!!! Matt had noticed them because he saw an arm crane with a camera wrapped due to the cold. We watched as they blocked their shot and practiced his dialogue. I was completely giddy. My dream would be to compete on the Amazing Race, but I know they would not take Matt and I because we have been to so many countries. We had also joked that with the amount that we travel, the odds were good that we would someday run into the show being filmed.

We wondered around the filming and found the Pit Stop. All the bikes had GoPro cameras. The teams had apparently just checked in and were off filming their post-leg interviews. At one point, Phil took a break and was trying to keep warm. I called out to him asking if he was warm enough. He walked over to us and said, "You looked dressed correctly, are you from Canada?" He then commented on Matt's boots and then began to visit with us. We talked to him about his homeland of New Zealand and renting Maui camper vans. When I get star-struck, I lack the ability to produce any type of coherent dialogue...my brains basically dump out of my head onto the ground like a pile of oatmeal. Fortunately, Matt spoke up for me and asked if I could take a photo with Phil. While standing next to him, I blathered out some idiot statement about how he had the best dream job and if he needed any help, I'd be up for it. Phil noticed Matt had an iPhone 6 Plus and asked to see it. He wanted to know how much bigger it was than the 6, so I handed him mine. Phil held both phones and engaged in some tech talk with Matt after learning that Matt worked for Apple. I just stood there freaking out in my head thinking, "OMG!!! Phil is holding my phone!!! I will never change that case!!" After Matt sold Phil on the iPhone 6, he returned to filming.

As Phil continued to block his shot, I discretely positioned myself to be in the shot behind him. When Season 26 airs in Winter 2015, keep an eye out for me in the background.

Once filming was complete, Phil ran off the ice with his production crew. The Amazing Race Mat was just sitting there alone and unguarded. Matt & I climbed over the rink's railing and made our own episode of the Amazing Race. This was so awesome!

The temperature had dropped to 28. Mom had left the filming area to seek warmth in the little lodge on the other side of the rink. We joined her and warmed up with hot chocolate topped with fresh cream and hot lava cake.

Since it was so cold, we did not get to walk through Vondlepark as I had planned. Anita had emailed us and was going to be returning to city center with her kids. She wanted to meet up at the Apple Store and have dinner together.

We met Anita at 5pm at the Apple Store. Walt was so big and he looked exactly like Ivo. Donna was beautiful and looked like Anita. While Matt helped Anita pick out an iPad with his friends and family discount, I tried to make friends with the kids. Anita had told me they were shy and might not talk to me. She also said that Walt would not attempt to speak English to me. As they were playing on the iPads, I came up to Walt and showed him a Dutch translator app I had. I began typing in sentences and having them translated and then tried to read the translation in Dutch. The translations were so funny that he began laughing and without missing a beat, spoke English to me. His English was excellent. He was so funny and smart. He spent most of the time explaining  Sinter Claus to me, including how Black Peter comes down the chimney and leaves candy in their shoes. Donna was fully engrossed in playing an ipad game.

Anita and Matt were victorious in purchasing an iPad. The kids were really excited about it too. It was also time for the kid's dinner, so since Wagamama was next door and Anita had never been there, we took them to our favorite spot. Everyone loved their dinner. Walt watched me use chop sticks and did very well at using them himself. Donna had fun taking sneaky photos of us with Anita's phone. I was glad the kids liked their dinner. In addition to visiting the Apple Store and having dinner, Anita had also promised the kids a visit to Ben & Jerry's. Since Walt had explained the story of Sinter Claus, Matt told Walt the story of Ben & Jerry. It was so cold outside, I don't know how the kids were able to eat ice cream. Once the last drop of ice cream was licked clean, we said our goodbyes and watch them jump on the tram to head home. The 3 of us popped into a few souvenir shops and then headed home to pack our bags for an early morning departure.