Amsterdam

I finally found some free time to write, so here's my weekend in Amsterdam.

I guess we didn't look into hostel location as much as we should have because our "Amsterdam" hostel was about an hour and a half away from downtown using public transportation.  The first night, we didn't get to bed until about 2, just from wandering around, trying to figure out where we needed to go before the busses stopped running.  We had to take a bus and a train to get there.  I was slightly worried that we would be walking all night, but we made it.  

The hostel wasn't what we expected.  The main office was basically a bar, so it was kind of different.  Everyone was very nice though.  It just felt really relaxed. I kind of liked it.  The girls definitely felt differently though.  They all started freaking out cause guys were staying there and we were all probably going to die in their sleep.  Telling them they were going to be fine didn't seem to help, so I ignored them and went to sleep. 

After surviving the night with all the scary sleeping men, we had a really busy day.  We took a city tour cruise through the canals of Amsterdam, and toured the Heineken Brewery and the Anne Frank House.  Walking around Amsterdam was....interesting.  We passed several coffee shops, and there were people just sitting out on the patio smoking.  I wasn't expecting them to be so public, but yea...they were everywhere.  Also, the bikers have their own lane, and you DON'T walk in it.  They will ring their bell at you, but they don't even attempt to slow down.  We saw people jumping out of the way of bikes and busses and trains at every intersection.  I don't know how there aren't wrecks all over the city.  I guess the constant fear of being squashed kept everyone alert.

The next day was much more relaxed.  In the morning, the small group of us that stayed at the beach hostel walked to the beach and hung out for a little while.  I was with a bunch of girls so I ended up doing a “photo shoot” for them.  This wasn’t the first time I’ve had to do this either.  I’m going to start charging them.  

After the beach, we picked up lunch and ate a really nice park.

Then we went to the Van Gogh Museum.  It wasn’t as cool as I expected it to be for the price, but I really liked a few of the paintings, and it was pretty crazy how one guy filled up such a large museum. 

One more shot of Amsterdam:

After the museum, we got on the train, and headed back to Bonn.

Every Sunday night, my host family has friends come over for a really nice (multi-course) dinner.  One of their friends used to be a chef; so he makes some pretty awesome food.  It's like eating at a really nice restaurant every week for free.
So that’s what I am greeted with when I get home from our free weekends.  I think I could get used to this.