And we're off

I desperately needed a vacation, and I think I more than deserved one considering I was working 10hr days at the hotel, then going to the zoo for more work on the weekends. Not to mention all the petty political stuff going on (which I won't mention). Needless to say, when Diana mentioned going away for New Year's, I was all over that. We decided on Amsterdam by the fact it was cheap airfare and the employee rate was available. Later I found out my co-worker was going, and Steve and Ayaka, at overlapping times. We never managed to meet up with my co-worker, we were unable to get Agnes to come, and there were some rocky times and horrible weather, but this may have been my favorite vacation yet.

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Here's my first photo, I threatened to send Diana to her namesake hotel if she pissed me off. As I was bone tired and jet lagged we spent about 4 hours in the city before going back to the hotel to crash for 14 hours.	The next day we were actually motivated enough to meet up with Steve and Ayaka to see the famous Van Gogh museum, even though we got lost and were an hour late. Hey, the map lied to me!
After returning to our respective bases for a nap, I mean a rest, it was time to head out for New Year's Eve. We met up at a bar then headed out to the New Market Square to see the fireworks.	Ayaka and Steve, actually looking at their camera as the fireworks hadn't really started yet. In reality the fireworks had been going off for days, and they are set off everywhere, by everyone. It was rather frightening, but in a good way since none of us got hurt.
Me and Diana, can you tell it was absolutely freezing? I couldn't feel my fingers or my toes and we were out there for at least an hour.	I resorted to actually drinking in the hopes the alcohol would help warm me up. It didn't really work.
Christine and Michel, her brother-in-law (and later our de facto tourguide). Christine is Steve's sister	Steve, Ayaka and Christine. Can you see the family resemblance?