Amsterdam

Saturday we left the hotel at 7 and caught the continental breakfast. Hotel breakfast is almost always standard in Europe and it's usually pretty good. There was lots of fresh bread, fruit, cheese, meat, coffee, etc. For the later crowd they had eggs and bacon too! It was nice to get a free meal.

We headed to the train station and found our train without any problems. It was very easy to find our way around and we gave ourselves plenty of time. We accidentally ended up on the quiet car which we were a little worried about but at the first stop the car became crowded and everyone was talking at a reasonable volume so it was perfect compared to the other loud and rowdy cars.

After an hour and a half of sleeping and talking, we were really excited to arrive in Amsterdam... Until we realized what we thought was a 2 hour train ride was actually 3 hours...womp womp. The last hour was killer but we finally made it. While pulling into the station we watched the group of kids next to us roll up their joints on their seatback tray table... Welcome to Amsterdam!

The city was so much better than i expected. The train station was a beautiful old  building and we walked out right in front of a canal. The number of bikes in the city was immediately noticeable. The train station had a parking garage solely for bikes and it was packed full. There must have been thousands!

so many bikes!

Bike parking garage

With the help of the great information desk we found our hotel in no time only a 3 minute walk! The location was both a blessing and a curse. We were a little too close to the red-light district for comfort. But that also meant we were close to the nightlife, the train station, and dam square. The hotel guy was really friendly and helpful and spoke spanish as well as English which was refreshing! We dropped off our stuff and headed out to see Amsterdam

First we walked down to Dam square. It was nice, but a little disappointing because the main site, the royal palace, was under construction and completely covered up. After, we found a pancake place for lunch. I had no idea amsterdam was famous for pancakes, but i read it in my europe book on the train there (thanks Carrie!). Thank God I did too because it would have been a bad thing to miss out on, as ot was one of the best things ive eaten in europe! I ordered from the "savory" category (as opposed to sweet) and got a pancake with cheese and bacon. The guy brought out a HUGE pancake covered in really good cheese and big slices of bacon. It wasn't a fluffy, sweet type of pancake like at home, but heavier and thinner (but different from a crepe) it was so so good and I'm getting hungry just writing about it.

yummmmmmmm

 When we were finished we walked around downtown and got our bearings and suddenly found ourselves standing at the end of one of red-light district streets. It's crazy how they creep up on you. I think it's pretty much one of the most foul things ever.. Government funded prostitutes stand in windows half-naked waiting for me to come buy them. Obviously we had to check it out .. right of passage in amsterdam. During the day it was pretty tame (as tame as it could be, haha) but at night im sure its alot more intense and disturbing. When we walked through it was mostly a tourist thing. The street was only like one block and we all agreed we were THRILLED to get out of there! Definitely something to see in Amsterdam but not something we ever needed to see again! Soooo disturbing and sick that their government actually allows that.. sad!

Afterward we decided on a more wholesome activity so we went to see the "iamsterdam" sign. With help from the tourist desk we took the tram a few stops away. The tram was really confusing on how to pay and we definitely rode at least one trip for free. Still not sure on how it works but at least we made it through the weekend! We took lots of fun pictures around the sign. We could see the people beginning to set up for tulip season.. I'm sure its so beautiful then!

me, Lizzy and Corey at the iamsterdam sign

Next we went to the Anne Frank house. We were on the fence about this because we heard there were long lines and we only had one day here. But it was cheap to get in and we had finished seeing what we wanted to see by 3. I'm really glad we decided to go! It was really cool to see the actual house where she was in hiding from the Nazis. I kept thinking back to reading the book in high school and it was very similar to how I pictured it. The museum was very well done and it was just very cool to be standing in this once secret hiding place. Cant imagine being trapped in there for 2 years.

Anne Frank's house

After the museum we spent the rest of the day exploring Amsterdam. We walked around, went into shops and took in the atomsphere. I ordered another typical amsterdam food, called Poffertjes, mini pancakes (kind of like silver dollar pancakes but smaller and much better). They were covered in something similar to syrup, powdered sugar and strawberries and whipped cream on the side. SO good! The lady in the cafe told me it was a typical dish and was really happy that i liked it so much. I had been craving this kind of breakfast food for a while (instead of spanish bread and salami) so im glad brussels and amsterdam could go above and beyond for me!

Poffertjes

A lady in another cafe making Poffertjes

Amsterdam was great but one day and one night were plenty for us, at least for being near the Red light district. I'm so glad to have been to Amsterdam. It was awesome, but none of us really feel the desire to go back!

Lizzy and I

"High Quality" Coffee shop

The Bulldog - one of the really famous
coffee shops in Amsterdam