AMSTERDAM- apparently it's in Holland

This weekend I went to Amsterdam!  This trip was squeezed into my busy schedule because I rationalized that I would never "do" Amsterdam like this again my life...and like this I mean: hostel, cheap food, crazy cafes, crazy nights, meeting weird people, and well...I'm going to keep this blog PG-13, afterall it is on the internet...

Let me begin by letting everyone know that I am officially retarded when it comes to geography.  The day we were about to leave, my friend Krista and I were looking at a map trying to see where the Netherlands was in comparison to Prague.  So, I'm sitting there searching in what I thought was the right area, and I can not find the Netherlands.  So, I ask Krista if she found "it" and she points to Holland.  I was shocked and confused, because I thought the Netherlands was a country, and I had zero idea that Amsterdam was in Holland...later that day, I flew to Holland.  

We got there pretty late at night and check into our "Inn," which was a hostel, so I don't know why they try to call it an Inn.  We walk into this small side door next to a Frite stand to where our hostel is. Little id we know that to get to even the first, check infloor you had to climb the steepest set of stairs I have ever seen!  Oh, and don't worry, our room was on floor 4...it was a death trap!

I traveled to Amsterdam with quite the group!  It was me plus 5 of my girlfriends from Prauge, plus about 7 of their friends from school (1 girl, the rest boys).  So as you can imagine, we were quite unproductive as a group; decisions were almost impossible, eating was at strange times throughout the day, and everyone had their own idea of how to "do" Amsterdam.  Nonetheless, it was a ton of fun, great people, and just maybe a little less site seeing that I had planned.

Night one, we left our hostel in search of a fun cafe, we had no idea where to look or what to expect.  We came across probably one of the most local places we could have found...needless to say, the people in there were completely confused as to why this huge group of Americans decided to just plop down...but we did.  It was a smoke-filled, kitchy place with very many beer options!

On Friday morning, we woke up and walked around the city, which exceeded my expectations.  When I think Amsterdam, I think drugs and red light district.  But, there was so much more to it!  It was a beautiful place, with so many little canals, boats, good-looking people, and lots os food!  There were even these little apartments/houses.boat things on the canals where people actually lived...what a life!

After walking for a while, getting some yummy pancakes, and wandering, we finally found the Anne Frank house!  Using a map probably would have helped, but boys always think they know where they are going...wrong!  So, we visited the Anne Frank house, which was very moving.  One of the things that the father made sure of was to keep the house unfurnished since the Nazi's stripped it of all its furniture.  Unfortunately, I think that it would have been way more powerful with the furniture, since it was hard to visualize how it actually all looked back then.  But, other than that I am so glad I saw it.  
That night we went to dinner at "Wok-to-Walk," which is a fast food Chinese wok place, actually delicious!  So much so that we ate dinner there the next night too...woops, didn't make it to any sit down dinners!  After that, we headed out for a night on the town.  We went to a club called Jimmy Woo's, which is apparently pretty exclusive.  It is the nicest club in Amsterdam, filled with pretty people, and good music.  The inside was very cool; the dance floor walls and ceiling were made up of small ligh bulbs that were lighting up in different patterns and colors all night long.  We dance until the wee hours of the night!

Day two, we woke on the later side and headed to check out the "cafe" scene.  You can't exactly go to Amsterdam without doing this, we figured.  The cafes are just how you would picture them...I'll let you describe it in your mind...no explanation necessary (remember, PG-13)

Then, we made it over to the Van Gogh museum, which has a special Staryy Night exhibit right now, which was very interesting...it's strange to see such famous paintings in person.  After seeing so many copies of them my whole life, painting a copy or two of my own, and having a horse named Van Gogh, it was nice to see the real deal!
Right outside the museum is the park that houses the "IAMSTERDAM" statues, which are a huge hit...although I'm not sure why everyone finds it so cool, or why I did.  But anyway, we took a million pictures in front of it and then went on our way.
Amsterdam had beautiful weather this weekend!  It was the first time since January that I have stepped outside without a coat on, and it felt great!  Everything was starting to bloom, and we even saw some Tulips!
Sorry if this picture offends anyone, but I had to add it in here!  Our second night at Wok-to-Walk we met a bachelor party (one of a tonnn that happen to be in Amsterdam...I wonder why).  They started talking to us, and after revealing what was under the bachelor's coat, told us hwat they thought about American girls.  Apparently, American girls are very bland and have no sense of humor, and Irish girls are hilarious (they thought they were hilarious also)!  to prove them wrong, they wanted us to tell them a joke...which obviously we didn't have any.  But, we tried to explain that Americans are more sarcastic and actually are funny...but they were having none of that!  Oh and by the way, this is one of the less crazy bachelor outfits!
That night, we went to the Red Light District.  Although the windows, and shops and all are just how I would picture, I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was a canal that ran right down the middle of the street.  No one tells you that tid-bit of information ever!  And then...we may have seen a show... 
Even though you may think this is from the show, it's not.  We went to a club called Escape that night.  There were all these podiums in the middle of the dance floor, most of the time with Go-Go Dancers, and other times....with us!  It was pure techno music, I did not hear one sung word the entire night.  That could explain the headache the next day perhaps.
And then, thanks to Miriam's suggestion, we went to the Pancake Bakery on Sunday morning!  It was delicioussssss, and I will go back in my life.  We sat out on table next to a canal, discussed our previous night, and ate the biggest pancake of my life!

Nutella and Bananaaaaaa
Since we had to check out of the hostel so early, and our flight wasn't until 9PM, we were kind of homeless, and very tired.  So when we (the 7 girls) came upon the perfect, random stoop to rest on in the sun, we were thrilled.  We started out sitting, and then realized that laying down would be so much better...

There were a ton of tourists who just though this was the greatest thing, so I can't even count how many stopped to take pictures of us.  And since they were taking pictures, we figured we should make one of them do it with our camera also!  One man had the most legit camera I have ever seen, like professional status.  This picture could end up in a travel magazine or something, you just never know!
After laying on the stoop, we headed to Vondel Park to do some more relaxing.  It was such a pretty park, with so many people walking around, strolling around, and sleeping on blankets.  Being homeless as we were, we slept on the mud basically.  Still enjoyable though!
My weekend in Amsterdam was quite eventful!  The one thing I regret not doing is renting a bike and riding around the city.  Everyone there rides bikes and it looks so nice and fun.  Maybe another time in my lifetime I will be able to do that!  Now, this week I have to rest up again before I head to Barcelona, which will surely be a crazy weekend as well!  Keep your fingers crossed though because the weather forecast for Spain is NOT good, there is rain and will be in the 50s.  Originally, we planned Barcelona so that we could have a warm weather vacation and catch a tan before heading home in a few weeks...looks like we are out of luck because it will be nicer in Prague...oh well :(

Miss you all, I will be home in just over a month, so wierd!

xox