A weekend in Amsterdam and now off to Dublin

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Well, I guess I shouldn't start with Amsterdam, since I did go to Cambridge right before I left:

Cambridge: On Friday Maggi and I went to Cambridge to walk around. She had been there for a summer program in High School so she was a bit nostalgic for it, I think. Although one of the main reasons she wanted to go was to visit a bakery she went to, and it had closed, so she was a little bummed.
But, we had a really nice time walking around and looking at the colleges. We walked through the back of one of the colleges "illegally" because we wanted to get back the road and didn't know the quickest way back. It was pretty funny. But we saw other tourists doing it too, so it apparently isn't a big deal.

Amsterdam After I got back from Cambridge I packed up and spent the night at the airport with Megan and her friends because our plane left too early for us to take the tube there Saturday morning. It was fine, I didn't sleep at all, but not a big deal.
I had a really good time in Amsterdam... it's kind of a complicated story because two of the girls that came with us were just rude and crabby the whole time, so they ruined the trip a bit, and we stayed in a way overpriced hotel, but luckily Megan and Kristi and I escaped and had a really good time walking around.
I don't really have a lot to say about it because we didn't really see anything specific. We walked around the canals a lot, saw the Red Light District (which was awkward), and ate dutch treats that I introduced to them. Megan, Kristi, and I did go to the Heineken "Experience" which was actually a lot of fun. (Possibly more fun because you got two beers with admission and we might have been a little tipsy, but that doesn't matter.) It was very interactive and interesting. We did karaoke to a Dutch song and made a video that was supposed to be emailed to us, but I haven't gotten it. If I do, I'll put it up, it was pretty weird. And there were tons of Asian tourists taking pictures of us doing it - they are extreme.
After that we ate lunch at the Hard Rock there (were we at a 10%!d(MISSING)iscount thanks to my AAA card!) and that was nice. Then we decided that we wanted to see some windmills, and not knowing exactly where to do that, we took a train to Leiden, which is another town about 30 mins away. It was really nice and peaceful there. It wasn't a country town at all, but there were windmills throughout the city, so we did get to see some! We never got to rent bikes which was kind of a bummer, but I would've been afraid to bike with all the traffic anyway, so it's probably fine.
On Monday we went on a canal tour before heading back to the airport. That was very peaceful, a little disappointing though because the tour was called 100 sites of Amsterdam, I don't think we saw that many things, but oh well. It was still fun. On the train back to the airport we "accidentally" sat in the first class coach because we didn't see any seats together in the others. Then a guy came by to check our tickets and kicked us out, which was dumb because we were basically at the airport, but oh well. It was funny because of the six people in the coach with us, all but one got kicked out.

So that wasn't very descriptive, but if you look at the pictures you'll probably get a better idea of what it was like. It was a beautiful town, and I hope I can stop back there on my way to visit my family in December if that ends up happening.

Now I'm just getting ready for class, and then I'm off to Dublin! Maggi is more excited than I am because she is Irish, but I am still looking forward to it. It should be fun though. We are staying in a town outside of Dublin (cheapest hotel we could find - and cheaper than the hostels in Dublin) so that will be interesting too. We are also taking a 3 hour bus tour to Blarney Castle because Maggi thinks that her ancestors used to own it. I dunno, I think it's a little extreme to go that far, but she is really excited about it, and I'm sure it will be fun. I think it is stopping at some other places too, so we will get to see more of Ireland I guess. It it supposed to rain this weekend, but I'm hoping it doesn't because we also want to go on a hiking/walking trail along the coast that looks beautiful. We might get lucky, it was supposed to rain all weekend in Amsterdam, but it was absolutely beautiful instead, except for a little rain on Monday when we were leaving. So, who knows?

Well, I better get some work done before I go to class, but I will let you know how Dublin was next week!

-Manon


Here are the pictures!

Guy Fawkes Night and Cambridge
Amsterdam and Liden

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