March 22-25th
Well Andrea and I had made it to Amsterdam nice and safe on the morning of the 22nd and rushed to Bobs Youth hostel to see if they had any walk in spots open. And sure enough I think we ended up getting some of the last available beds. Then we wasted time til Katie got there by trying to find this library that had free internet. we had been at the train station and left there in search of the library which ended up taking almost two hours because the library we had been searching for no longer existed and a new one had been built about a 2 min walk from the train station. And two hours of walking is not that bad except that it began to rain, then snow and then hail for the entire time and neither of us had caots with us. So I have to admit most of the afternoon was miserable.
Anyway we had fianlly broken down and decided to find the nearest cafe so we could get something to warm us up. We ened up at a bagel place and it was amazing. I had my first bagel in over 6 months because they really dont sell bagels in England. From there we returned to the hostel but along the way we passed close to 30 windows with half naked women in them. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! So I knew that Amsterdam was pretty liberal but I dont think I had quite prepared myself for this. I have to admit although it was quite disturbing we couldnt help but glance but then once I did I felt like my eyes were going to be burned out of my head. We finally met up with Katie and when we returned to the hostel everyone was smoking weed in the common room. The haze was so thick you couldnt see very well and we were all gettig headaches just walking through there. I mean people were even smoking weed the next morning at 8 am with their breakfast!!!
Sunday was Easter Sunday and Katie and I were able to find a Church of England so the entire service was all in English, thankgoodness. I am super glad to have found a church to attend on Easter since that is where I usually am on that day. Anyway before the service even started I almost broke down in tears because at that moment all I wanted to do was go home. But oh well I just had to think about where I was and the fun I was having and the homesickness soon goes away.
Later that day we all went to the tulip museum. Did you know that tulips are not orginally from Holland. In fact some were even found in Morocco and Turkey. I also learned that there used to be a big market for these and one specific type could even reach 30, 000 gulleons (or whatever the name of their moeny was then)
On Monday the 29th Katie and I visited the Anne Frank House. Now I read alot about the Holocaust in school but actually being there was a bit unnervering. There were portions of Annes diary on the walls describing her daily life. Even though I read her diary before being there really hit me. I mean to share 3-4 small rooms with 8 people having to be quiet all day and never being able to go outside for two years would be so hard.
After the Anne Frank house we took a walking tour of Amsterdam, and one of the best parts was that it was free! The weather however acted as though it couldnt make up its mind. Earlier that moring it had been so nice while waiting in line. But then before the tour even started the temp dropped about 15 degrees and it began to snow/hail. The weather there is similar to England, very tempermental, however I think I can deal with the rain better because at least then its still kind of warm out. On the tour I learned that XXX stands for the three dangers that faced Amsterdam: fire, flood, and I cant remember the other one. Oh some of the houses look very cartoonish because they tilt forward. This originated when trading was big and the merchants kept their goods in their attics and would pulley them up to the attics.
So overall Amsterdam is quite an interesting place but I think I will forever look at large windows differently.
Netherlands' Flag
Map of Netherlands