Amsterdam - The City of (fill in the blank, for really anything works lol)

My journey to Amsterdam took me to London first for a short layover. The funniest thing though happened on the way...well, actually one is a strange coincidence and the other is an embarrassment but overall funny. It turned out that my Hostmutter was also traveling to London and we were on the same plane. She is a teacher and her school has the week off so she decided to take a trip to London. She told me she was heading to London a few weeks ago but I thought she was leaving Monday. I thought I was right when she didn't come home on Monday and Tuesday but it turns out she was just visiting Oma in Upper Austria. We got a laugh about it at the airport. It was an easy two hour flight to Gatwick. Now Gatwick is a HUGE airport and even though I was just transferring, I had to exit customs and then re-enter under my other ticket. Luckily this was a short process for I only had a little over an hour layover. It was weird hearing everyone speaking English after so many months of hearing German everywhere I go. When I bumped into someone I apologized first in German from habit and then in English. It was at the Gatwick Airport that I embarrassed myself.

So I had just gone through security and I was on my way to my gate. There were two moving sidewalks to get to the end of the terminal. I stepped on the right one only to end up tripping because it was moving against me. I forgot that I was in England where they drive (and walk it turns out) on the wrong side. (Alright, not wrong, just different to be fair) So I dropped my bags to try to catch myself and I managed to stay on my feet though not very gracefully. A nice man grabbed my elbow to help me. After I gained my balance he asked with a chuckle "American?". I thanked him for his help and laughed it off. I'm still amazed that I can be really graceful (oh alright, semi graceful) on a quarter inch of mental on ice but yet manage to be a complete klutz walking on a flat surface in tennis shoes. Oh well, I tested gravity and it's working just fine in case any of you were concerned.



Reunited at Last!



My flight to Amsterdam went off without a hitch. We taxied on the runway for about 15 minutes. I was antsy the entire time because I wanted to see my friends so bad! We haven't seen each other since May and this is the longest time we've been apart. All our flights got in within about a half hour of each other so the plan was for Jordan (the first in) to meet me at my gate and then both of us go to Michelle's. Well, this didn't happen like we had thought. Gates in the Amsterdam airport are long tunnels that only those with tickets to the departing flights can get to. There is no arrivals board to see when and where flights are coming in. We all had cell phone numbers though in case of emergency. So I realized once I walked off my plane that Jordan couldn't get to me so I walked down the tunnel hoping she'd be at the end of it. She was and I was so excited to see her that I set of the alarms running through the security booth. Then we both set off to find Michelle. We were told at information where her flight was coming in so we waited at the end of that hall. Turns out her flight was early so they changed gates last minute. We got a text from her saying to meet in the arrivals hall entrance. When I saw her, I ran to her as well. Only this time I included a very vocal and happy "EEEEEEE" (most of you are familiar with this sound). Needless to say it was a very happy reunion!  



From the airport we took a train into Amsterdam Central and from there found our hostel. It was a good hostel. Small but with clean beds. The stairs though were soooo steep! It was more like climbing a latter than stairs. After checking in we went looking for dinner and drinks. We had A LOT of catching up to do and we talked late into the night while exploring the canals of Amsterdam. (These past two weekends I have sure gotten my fill of canals) Next morning we got up and going. We went to Anne Frank's House first. This was the location of the Secret Annex. It was very eerie and a little spooky. The rooms definitely had stories to tell. It was a very interesting museum and I learned a lot about Anne's life, the people living in the Annex, and the lives of those helping the Franks. One the walls are quotes from Anne's diary about the room. Some were a description and others were a little story of something that happened in that room. I read Anne Frank's Diary in eighth grade but this museum made me want to read it again now that I'm older.

My next pair of ice skates :)

From Anne Frank's House we went to Dam Square. There were too many pigeons there for comfort. Then we embraced the culture of Amsterdam and went into the Sex Museum. It was actually really interesting and very funny at times. It walked you through the whole history of sex in different cultures. It included the Cancan Girls of Paris and the belly dancers of India. Even the Tango was considered as an act of sex in a way. Next we did some shopping.  I found my next pair of ice skates...not sure how structurally sound they are, but I'm willing to give them a try.  Being the dorks we are, we got matching scarfs in different colors listing all the places in Amsterdam. Then we took pictures with said scarfs of course :) We saw the Museumplein and the Noordmarkt. I started to walk into what I thought was a coffee shop, when Jordan pulled me back informing me that in Amsterdam, cafés sell coffee while coffee shops sold marijuana. I didn't understand the reason for a code name, but whatever. I was saved the embarrassment of trying to order a latté.

We were walking through Dam Square and all of the sudden found ourselves in the Red Light District. It was a very smooth transition from residential cute Dutch houses to...not residential. It was actually kind of sad and I felt sorry for the girls in the windows. I felt weird looking in the windows and it was a very uncomfortable walk down the street. I also found myself judging the people going into these shops. I was disgusted with the live shows and the idea of what went on in those shops. We quickly tried to find a main street to get out of the Red Light District since we didn't want to walk down one of the small alleys. We all breathed a little easier once we found the way out.  



Amsterdam at night



Instead of actually eating lunch we got mini snacks throughout the day. Amsterdam has amazing french fries and the most delicious waffles covered in chocolate. We were all happy with our choices. When our feet needed a break, we sat at a café and tried the local beer. We explored the city to the fullest and then found a place for dinner. We had a 10 pm bus to catch leaving to Paris so we had a nice relaxing dinner to conclude our time in Amsterdam. We took the overnight bus to Paris and arrived bright and early. From the city of sex to the city of love, according to Jordan. Michelle though really feels like we did this trip backwards since love is always suppose to come before sex.