Amsterdam

Our next stopping point was Amsterdam! We had a "train layover" in Belgium. I am so glad we did not stop and stay in Belgium. They were all a bunch of douche bags! They hate americans (although that is getting more common in Europe), they were extremely rude. It was much worse than the french, and they are known for their douchiness to Americans. Although we met some hilariously drunk people on the train from Belgium to the Netherlands. They were Americans as well, and were backpacking through Europe but their entire point of the trip was to get as drunk as possible as long as possible.

Once we got to Amsterdam, it was a different story! I love this place! The canals and all of the bridges make it such a picturesque place to be! When we got to our room, I had to laugh. There was a sign that said "no weed allowed", yet our room smelled of weed so bad! I swear I got high just breathing in the air.

Biking is huge, there are biking lane everywhere and thousands of bikes. It doesn't matter how cold it is, the people are always out on their bikes. The Dutch are pretty tan too, and apparently it is because of the wind from riding their bikes that causes them to be tan. Interesting fact!

You can't go to Amsterdam and not walk through the red light district. Walking through this area kind of made me a little sad for the women standing in the windows. They were offering themselves for hardly anything, and all of these men and women were walking by and just staring at them in their skimpy underwear. apparently it is a legitimate business there because there is an organization in place that protects the prostitutes rights. It's very weird.

We also went to the anne frank house. There were some things that I was unable to look at because it was really gruesome what was done to these people. Overall though, it was a really good experience. They allowed you to walk through the secret doorways and see where the family hid to avoid the Nazis. It also talked a little bit about the people who helped hide them and the risks that they took to do it. I walked out of there feeling so overwhelmed but grateful that there are still some good people out there, and disgusted at the pure evil that some people have.

Jake loved Amsterdam. Of course he has been here before with his family after he graduated from high school. Jake is Dutch so he loved to see his heritage. He still has some family back there, and we tried to get in touch with them but unfortunately we were unable to make it work. His thoughts on Amsterdam were: happy he got to use some dutch. He walked around in amazement that everyone looked like him. He loved all of the tan gorgeous women riding their bikes in the freezing cold. haha, what guy wouldn't? It was colder than great britian, but it was worth it because of the pastries and bake goods. particularly the waffles. However, we found the big dutch shoe, and Jake refused to sit in it. I was so mad! It would have been such a funny pic!