Amsterdam!

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Hello Everyone!
We arrived in Amsterdam yesterday. We Took a train and then the tram to Corine's place. Corine the girl we are couchsurfing with was meeting us at 4: oo and we were at her place by about 1: 00 we killed some time by walking around the rea with our packs.. this proved to be somewhat tiring as our packs aren't exactly light.. it then started t rain.. refreshing but cold! Corine's place is in an IDEAL area. It is very central and we are in wlaking distance to anywhere we would want to go. Corine is super nice and showed us around abit before she had to head to work. After seeing a little bit of Amsterdam, the red light district and getting groceries Sera and I crashed. After not sleeping in over 24 hours we went to bed at 8 pm.

We got up early this morning to go to the Anne Frank museum. Corine had suguested we leave at 8 so we could get there and beat the line ups. This was a fantastic idea as hen we got to the mseum there were only about ten people in front of us and when we left we walked down the dtreet ad looked down the block and there was no end to the line. It was interesting seeing the Anne Frank house as it can bring to life the story, that we were standing where she was standing many years ago. The message the Anne Frank's father wanted to send theough the museum was that there is still prejidice and discrimination in the world and it needs to be acknowledged and changed.

After the Anne Frank museum we wandered the streets enjoying the architecture and the lack of crowds as it was still early. We bought the most delectible looking and tasting strawberries from a fruit andveggie shop and sat in Dam square observing al the pople and entertainment. We went back to Corine's for lunch and then ventured out to the market and to Museum's square. WE did not actually go into any museums in museum square but we enjoyed the park and gardens. After some more walking around we headed back to Corine's and took a boat rout of the canals. It was really interesting to hear the history and stories of the area. I will have to show you all pictures when I get back.

Amsterdam is an extremely beautiful city. The canals are everywhere and everybody bikes. There are way more bicycles then cars and the streets are very busy with people on bikes, foot and cars. When we first arrived we were taken aback at how much litter there was on the ground, we soon founf out it was not mormal and through the past day have seen the many effortsby city employies to clean the city. Queens day celebration started on April 29 and went until April 30. This is a huge celebration and party where everyone is wearing orange and partying 110%. The streets are completely packed with people celebrating... this resulted in a lot of garbage.. we missed Queens day by one day, but thats alright, we stil got to see some of the decorations and the mass amount of people may have been overwhelming.
Tommorrow we head to Paris for more adventures. Hope everyone is doing well!
Untill next time...

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