Fun in Amsterdam

Amsterdam wasn't a city that I'd always wanted to go to, but the opportunity opened my eyes to a really beautiful and interesting city. Amsterdam is notorious for being a city that is 'out there' and I can definitely tell why. We thought the smell of cigarette smoke was bad in Germany/Prague, but there was a very different aroma choking the streets of Amsterdam. This was somewhat of a culture shock since it's very taboo/illegal in the U.S. and was something I was eager to escape.

Our first day in Amsterdam after eating a pancake bigger than my head that was topped with whipped cream, chocolate, and bananas we arrived at the Anne Frank house. We got there an hour early to avoid the crowd, which was a good decision since when we got out we couldn't even see the end of the line. This memorial was different than any I've been to in Europe because it was very personal knowing Anne Frank's feelings and dreams and knowing her struggles while hiding from the Nazis. This gave it a very real quality when walking through the house and seeing the perspective Anne and her family had for 2 years in a tiny hidden apartment. To walk the steps they did and be in the rooms they lived in was a very powerful thing. The museum also had Anne's actual diaries that opened the eyes of the world to her own world. In them she secretly wished to be a famous author and to write a book about her time in hiding, but she never knew that she had already done that. Something that also struck me in this museum is the fact that this is one person's diary out of millions, millions of people with something to say and people they loved and dreams they had. We will never know the stories of these people, but thank God we can hear the words of at least one little girl.

The rest of our time in Amsterdam we spent walking along canals and eating amazing Dutch Apple pie and stroopwaffles (delicious thin waffles with hot caramel inside) and suffering from 30 mph winds and 50 degree temperatures. Europe must be trying to eject tourists because we have had the "most extreme" weather conditions everywhere we've gone. With everything considered I really think I will come back to Amsterdam one day, it has a very quaint quality with a thrive for life and beautiful streets and architecture. This trip is such a whirlwind and is going by so fast, but I guess that's just life....

Bye Amsterdam
Annie