Amsterdam!

I AMsterdam!

After a wonderful weekend in Paris, I continued my vacation in Amsterdam.  Tuesday morning, Brenah and I headed to the Garde du Nord to take a train to Amsterdam at noon.  The train was reallly nice and the seats were comfortable.  The Dutch know how to travel!  The train only took about 3 hours and we passed through Brussels on the way so it was a nice ride.  We arrived in Amsterdam around 4 and walked around the station looking for our friends from the program, Kaila and Rebecca, but we didn't find them until about 30 minutes later.  The 4 of us split up so that Brenah and I could check into our hostels but we ended up taking a lot longer and cell phones were difficult so Brenah and I ended up spending our first night in Amsterdam by ourselves.  We had Thai food for dinner and then walked around the city.  Amsterdam is beautiful and many of its canals are lit up at night.  The city is lively at night and we enjoyed walked around in the cool air and enjoying the sweet smells coming from the coffee shops.  We accidentally found the Red Light District our first night we were there and that was crazy!
The next morning, Brenah and I hoped to meet Kaila and Becca at the Botanical Gardens, but it ended up not working out.  However, we did meet up with Kaila's friend Lydia from Ireland so the 3 of us finally found Kaila in the late afternoon.  Once we were together, we decided that we should go on a touristy canal cruise.  That was a lot of fun and I got to see the smallest house in Amsterdam!

In the botanical gardens 

Crazy tree in the gardens

On the canal tour, 7 bridges in a row!

A carnival that opened on the 20th, the second day we were there!

On the touristy canal cruise

The smallest house in Amsterdam!

The tour was about an hour, and afterwards, we grabbed dinner and walked around the city until we wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel.  We wanted to go on other rides, too, but they were all separate and expensive, so we just enjoyed the view of the city from the top of the Ferris Wheel.  It was so cool!  After the carnival we got ice cream before we decided to call it a night.

The next morning we met up and wanted to go to the Van Gogh museum, but the line was ridiculous so we ended up going on a pedal boat tour instead after hanging out in the park behind the museum.  We rented a pedal boat and went through the canals for an hour.  

In the park behind the Van Gogh Museum

with Kaila!

After the pedal boats, we went to the shopping district and looked around for some dinner.  We stopped at a pasta restaurant where I enjoyed some delicious spaghetti and sangria.  After dinner, Kaila and Lydia wanted to take a nap before we went out at night so they slept while Brenah and I hung out.  Kaila and Lydia ended up not waking up until the next morning so Brenah and I just walked around town by ourselves and hung out.  We got the best frozen yogurt I have ever tasted and had a lovely evening!

The next day Brenah and I woke up early to go to the Van Gogh museum to beat the line but we still had to wait an hour before we were admitted inside.  It was soo cool though and definitely worth the wait!

After the Van Gogh Museum, Brenah and I hung out in the park behind it and soaked up the sun.  I have yet to mention that the ENTIRE time I was in Amsterdam, the weather was absolutely perfect.  I didn't need a jacket at all.  During the day it was sunny and bright with a perfect sky and I'm not sure of exact numbers but I'm pretty sure it was in the mid to high 70s.  Consequently, we tried to spend a lot of time outside enjoying the sun whether it was walking along the canals, sitting in a park, or sitting in the city center at the monument.  It was wonderful!  I think there are more bikes than cars in Amsterdam and everyone is really friendly.

The next morning I had to leave Amsterdam and while I was looking forward to a few days in Paris and then a week in Madrid, I was really sad to leave Amsterdam!  It's a very unique city and I think the weather contributed a lot to my impression of the city.  The city is very green (in many senses of the word) and there were lots of flowers.  I can't wait to go back there someday, I think I could live there!!

Dutch Tulips!