We had to change planes in Amsterdam, so to cut down on jetlag and get additional stamps in our passport, we decided to stay the day/night. At first I was enthralled by the city. It's so quaint and old-fashioned. As time went by though, I realized I was absurdly homesick. Not for America, but for Paris! Amsterdam is extremely similar but I was starting to notice the differences. Firstly, everything is English and considerably touristy. Secondly, the people are friendly. While both of these helpful when traveling I found myself distinctly missing the isolated "island unto oneself" feeling. Weird, but true. We went on a wonderful free tour (some new Euro-promo deal, they have them in almost every city and I highly recommend them) led by this hilarious Australian which basically took us around and through the red light district, the various coffee houses and churches eventually ending at the Anne frank house. I remember reading her story in eighth grade but it was still fascinating to actually see where it all took place. The steps hidden behind the staircase were so incredibly steep that it was like climbing up a ladder. I cannot even begin to imagine how difficult it was to live during those times. The second day we went to the rijiks and van goh museums. I loved the rijiks because it was multi dimensional. There were sculptures, pottery, weapons, boats, silver pieces, and massive dollhouses in addition to paintings. It kinda showed a history of dutch artistic culture which I thought was really cool. The van gogh was whatever. I am not a huge fan of paintings so I kinda zoned out after a while, but I did like how the museum was arranged so that you followed his life from beginning on the first floor to end at the top floor. We also went to the I AM AMSTERDAM sign which was super cool.
Outside it is absolutely FREEZING! all that cold weather blowing in from the North Sea. Taxis were no where to be found and would have been expensive anyways so we basically museum/restaurant hopped our way back to the hostel.
p.s. fun fact learned on the tour: there are more bikes registered in the city than there are inhabitants of the city.
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