Semana Santa Amsterdam

Controlling those who are out of control
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Amsterdam was an interesting experience. We arrived at about 11 pm and didn't have a place to stay for the night. We were a bit worried, but were surprised by the Dutch peoples' friendliness. Immediately a policeman helped us get train tickets to Central Station and we were on our way. When we arrived, we asked a taxi driver to take us to our hostel, and rather than take us there, he told us it was within walking distance and how to get there. So within 20 minutes, the Dutch had been nothing but helpful. As we walked along the streets, I was puzzled by what I saw. I imagined Amsterdam bieng dirty and kind of scary filled with the scent of marijuana. Well, we weren't scared, it was beautiful, and we didn't smell marijuana anywhere! We got to our hostel and he wouldn't let us check our bags, so we had to walk around all night with our stuff. It was quite the experience, but I would not want to do it again.

Dam Square with nowhere to stay
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The town was absolutely beautiful. It reminded me of what I would expect Italy to look like. There were lots of canals and TONS of bikes. The entire city used bikes and it was very cool to see grandpas and grandmas flying by at midnight. One day we rented bikes and rode all over the city. It was the best idea we could have had. Riding around on bikes showed us a lot of the city that we wouldn't have seen otherwise.

The sites-

Van Gogh Museum-

I loved this museum because it was my kind of art. From close up, it looked like a chile went crazy with a brush, slapping random colors together, but when I backed up a little bit, it turned into a masterpiece. I don't remember the other artists names, but if you look on the internet I'm sure you could find out. The permanent exhibit was my favorite.

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Anne Frank Museum-

This was very sad. I read the book in elementary school and forgot almost everything until I walked into the house. From there, the characters, the layout of the house, the description of the decorations, everything came back to me. It was very interesting to see how they lived and how they were able to survive throughout the war, but it all leads up to a room with the papers saying they had been sent to a concentration camp. I would recommend to anyone going to Amsterdam to go to the Anne Frank house.

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Vondelpark-

We rode our bikes to a park just outside of the city called Vondelpark. This was one of my favorite activities. There were people of all ages enjoying the day, bike riding, having picnics, playing guitar, etc. There are all kinds of willow trees near these ponds that we could climb on and each tree had its own inhabitants, from little kids to adults.

Torture Museum-

Depending on your taste, this was really cool.  It was all torture equipment from the Spanish Inquisition.  I have a lot of pictures of the devices, but there is a lon explanation behind each one.  If you would like to see these pictures, let me know and when I get back, I will explain them to you.

View of the canals, almost all of them look like this
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Amsterdam Dungeon-

Don't do this!!! It costed 14 Euros and wasn't scary at all.  They bring you back to the time of the Black Plague and try to scare you.  It is historical, but a museum would tell you more interesting things about these times.

Heineken Museum-

Didn't go because it's not a real brewery.

My first coffeeshop, my first instructions were "no hats allowed"
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Red Light District and Coffeeshops-

Yup, they smoke a lot of pot and have prostitutes. Kinda dirty if you ask me.

Honestly Amsterdam wasn't as great as I thought it would be. The food and people were amazing, but I was ready to leave after 3 days. Next, we would head to Germany to visit Alfred and Gabi.