Amsterdam

The morning after we arrived to London, we met with our group we were traveling with to start on our way to Amsterdam. We all got on the coach bus and met the tour guide, Dean, a low 30's guy from Australia who knew a ton and was super helpful/funny. We saw the White Cliffs of Dover, then got on a ferry to France. After this, everyone on the tour got up and introduced themselves. There were about 50 people aged 19-33 from USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Brazil, etc. Everyone was super cool and it was fun to meet people from such different places.

We drove through Belgium and stopped at a rest stop for the first time. Rest stops in Europe are so fun! They serve gourmet food buffets and wine or beer with every meal. Most of the time you have to pay to use the restroom though, booooo. At this first one, we tried Belgian chocolate, mmmmmmmmm! Then we continued our drive until we reached our hotel in Amsterdam. We quick ate, got ready, then headed out!

We started the night on a canal cruise. It was super fun! We got on this little boat with tables and snacks and had all you can drink wine or Heinekin (which originated in Amsterdam). It was a fun way to mingle with everyone, and we sat with another married couple from New Zealand and London, Stuart and Kim(there were about 4 other married couples, a few dating couples, and mainly singles). There were so many pretty bridges lit up and cool houses/buildings along the canals.

After this we got to walk around and see the night time Amsterdam-totally different than anything I had ever experienced. We were in the Red Light District, which you are not allowed to take pictures in. Why??? Because Prostitution and Pot smoking is legal. You basically walk along the streets and there are windows with women in lingerie dancing and waving at men as you smell the aroma of marijuana coming from the "coffee shops." It was definitely interesting to see, but seemed pretty shady to me!

The next morning we headed out to explore daytime Amsterdam, which is way nicer than night time. Everyone rides bikes, even during the day and there are really pretty buildings along the canals. We went to the Anne Frank Museum, which I thought was super cool to see where they hid out! We basically just walked and looked all around, ate lunch, then met up with the group to hit the road to Germany!

All Amsterdam Pictures: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbM3DRi0cuWQs