We didn't have internet service in Amsterdam so first I'll tell you all about our time there...
After taking 4 trains from Rothenburg, Germany - we finally arrived in Amsterdam. Once we got into Amsterdam we had to hop on a tram to get to our hostel. Like every other time we got off of the trains we got lost finding our hostel, but eventually found it. The hostel was a bit rough, the whole place reeked of weed and there were a bunch of "shady" looking guys running around. Napes and I officially decided that we aren't cut out for the true "backpacking" experience so we asked if there was anyway we could get a private room (so we didn't have to share a bunk with one of the creepo's running around). They didn't have a private room, so we made up a sob story about a "bad experience" at a previous hostel, and got some of our money back! Then we headed off in a search for a roof over our heads...
We then tried a few hotels, and found a "5-Star" hotel that was reasonable (it was cheaper than the crappy looking Mariott). It actually wasn't much more than our hostel. Let me just say that their version of a 5-star is far from a 5-star in the States, but it was WAY better than our shady hostel. I think the extra 20 Euro a night was worth it (and Napes does to0!). We also were fortunately staying in a great area called "Leidseplein" that had a lot of restaurants, bars, "coffee shops", and other entertainment.
After dropping our stuff off at our hotel we ventured our for a bite to eat. While eating at our restaurant we met a guy from the States that just moved to Amsterdam about a month ago. So we hung out with him for the rest of the night. He showed us around the town and we eventually made it down to the Red Light District. It was much different as I was expecting: 1) I thought it was one street, one block - it was a long street, many blocks, with streets branching off of it, hence the term "district" I guess 2) I thought the girls were going to be trashy and ugly - most of them were gorgeous! 3) I thought they would be up off the street somehow - they were RIGHT THERE!! It was pretty neat, but we were content with 10 minutes of it. It's probably more entertaining for a guy to walk around there than for us! We didn't get back to our hotel until about 2 or 3 a.m. so we slept in the next morning!
Our next day in Amsterdam was spent doing some sightseeing. First, we went to the Anne Frank Museum. It was an awesome experience to see the actual annex that her and 7 others hid in for 2 years. I loved reading about Anne Frank when I was younger and am thrilled that I got to learn more about her and her family. I also bought her diary and have started reading it, it makes a lot more sense now that I'm older and can understand it better! It's amazing that she wrote those words from the ages of 13-15, the caliber of her writing to mine is astonishing, she had true talent, it's a shame she didn't live on to write more...okay, enough of the sad stuff! Second, we went to the Sex Museum! You didn't think we only did the serious stuff did you? Let's just say, the Sex Museum was very graphic, and again, I only needed about 10 minutes and I was ready to move on! Finally, we went to a comedy show! There is a comedy place in Amsterdam called "Boom Chicago". It is part Improv part scripted, there were 4 comedians, all American so it was all in English. They made fun of Dutch people, American people, pretty much everyone! It was very entertaining and well worth it - we even got a free ticket to the show!
We called it an early night the last night in Amsterdam because we were pretty tired from the night before. We got up the last morning and went to the Van Gogh Museum. After having been in Rome and seeing all the naked paintings and old statues, it was nice to actually see some art we were familiar with. The museum was very nice and they had tons of his paintings as well as others. We thought about buying some prints, but I'm sure everything we saw there is readily available in the States, so I bought a little book about the museum and his paintings instead. After the museum we packed up and headed out on the train to Brussels, Belgium (only 1 train this time!).
Overall, Amsterdam was absolutely amazing. There were canals throughout the city, the homes were beautiful, and the architecture was much different than other places we had been. This is the first place that Napes and I agreed would be somewhere we would love to come back to when it's warmer outside and spend some more time getting to know the city. There is a lot more to it than drugs and the Red Light District. We were surprised with how much we enjoyed our time in Amsterdam. : )
~Jenna
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