Amsterdam is SO BEAUTIFUL. I really love it here! After that one night that Alex, Felicia and I spent in the hotel, we Met up with Jaime and Heather and moved into our apartment. Apartment is awesome. Safe building and central location to everything. The view from the apartment is beautiful, as well. The only downside is that is literally takes about 5 minutes to walk through the building- up six narrow flights of stairs that go in all different directions, then outside and up some more stairs then wrap around the side of the building, down some stairs, through and inside hallway, back outside and down more stairs, then back inside and up another flight to our apartment door. Needless to say, any burglar would be bored halfway to our door.
We did a lot of walking these past few days. We museum hopped, went shopping and sat in the park. The park is always full of people of all ages sitting down, eating and drinking and riding bikes, playing music and games, etc. Such a relaxed and beautiful atmosphere. Everyone is very laid back!
We saw the Anne Frank house. It was really cool to see… The walls and original diary pages are so well preserved- really a special thing to see.
We ate a lot on this trip, too! Not so much traditional food around here except cheese, but we did eat Dutch pancakes which were decently yummy, and today Jaime and I shared a chocolate-dipped waffle covered in whipped cream and strawberries – YUM!!!!!
We went out in the red light district last night- what a bizarre experience. Prostitution and marijuana are legal here, so it was full of smoke clouds and half naked women in windows, beckoning to alex (hahahaha!). It is very odd to see women for sale so blatantly, but it seems to be such a regular part of the culture here.
I also got my lip re-pierced (don’t freak out, Gram!) which I plan to remove when I get back to the states. I don’t find it appropriate at work all the time, but I’m really enjoying having it back on my vacation while I can let my hair down a little.
All in all, I really loved Amsterdam. I will be sorry to see it go. This is definitely a place I could see myself living for a summer one year. The people are laid back and friendly and seem to have a lot of respect for other human beings. Also, everyone bikes! They even have a special tax on gas here to encourage public transportation. :)
Tomorrow, we fly to Barcelona at 7PM! Don’t know about the wifi situation, but as always, I’ll keep you posted.
Xoxo
B
