Amsterdam

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I went to Amsterdam for the weekend with five other teachers to celebrate our friend Lucia's 30th birthday.
Lucia and I took the train after school on Friday and didn't get into Amsterdam until really late Friday night. We stayed at the Hilton, which was quite luxurious!
On Saturday morning, Lucia and I had a huge (and delicious) buffet breakfast at the Hilton. After breakfast and before the others arrived in Amsterdam, Lucia and I walked to the museum district, took lots of pictures with the 'I Amsterdam' sign, and then went to the Van Gogh museum. After the museum, we walked over to the flower market alongside the river and met the others for lunch. The rest of the afternoon we spent walking around the city. We went to a few shops along the popular Nine Street area (it's an area with nine shopping streets) and we stopped at a few cafes for some drinks. In the evening we went out for Lucia's birthday dinner and then Lucia and I went to the Amsterdam Xtra Cold Ice Bar. It was really cool in the ice bar and we got to wear big parkas and gloves and we had drinks out of ice glasses.
On Sunday we all had a special birthday breakfast for Lucia at the hotel. We had champagne and cake with our breakfast and spent a good portion of the morning just chatting and eating! We then packed up, checked out of the hotel, and headed toward the city centre. We saw the Palace and the Nieuwe Kerk (new church) and then sat by the river and had a few drinks. By the time we were done our drinks, it was time to catch the train back to Brussels!

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