Tuesday, June 28th (Day One): Paris/Amsterdam
Today we reluctantly said goodbye to Paris and boarded the train for Amsterdam. Our hotel was unique—it was a floating hotel docked right on the harbor. (The name? “Botel.”) Today was mostly a travel day, but we did have the chance to grab some amazing falafel right next to the train station in Amsterdam. We closed out the evening with some sightseeing around the city.
Wednesday, June 29th (Day Two): Amsterdam/The Hague
We had a performance at the U.S. Embassy, The Hague. (Over the course of our trip, we’ve seen so many U.S. embassies! Embassy events are my favorite because the foreign service officers are always super interesting.) Luckily, The Hague is not far from Amsterdam. After a short train ride, we were greeted by a U.S. Embassy towncar who picked us up at the station. The embassy was hosting an early Independence Day celebration, and it was decked out in Americana. There were burgers and hot dogs; red, white and blue streamers; and lots of American expats. I felt at home. We performed the American and Dutch national anthems on top of our usual jazz repertoire (learning the Dutch anthem was both fun and a challenge).
Following the performance, it was back to Amsterdam. I went with a small group to a nice Indonesian restaurant for dinner. The food was phenomenal, and I’m excited to try more Southeast Asian food when we’re in Malaysia and Singapore. After dinner it was an early bedtime in preparation for our morning flight to Jordan.
