Amsterdam

Amsterdam was a very interesting trip to say the least. We arrived Thursday night at our hostel "Durty Nelly's", which later earned the name durty because i was woken up in the middle night to some roommates screaming about a mouse in our room. ya that was fun. Friday we went to the Van Gogh museum. I think we spent 3 hours there, and when i say we i mean 5 Midwestern boys too, so you know it had to be quite good. One of the things that stood out to me- they had a floor of all his inspirations and sketches leading up to his final masterpieces- who knew brilliant artists had to practice too?! After that we went to the Anne Frank house. Its been awhile since I've read the book but it is just as i had pictured it. It was kind of a morbid experience but it was neat to be a part of history like that. It was perfect weather all weekend so we walked everywhere we went. The city was filled with beautiful canals, trendy people sipping their lattes outside and speaking languages I have never heard of, kids playing in the park, and french fries vendors on every corner (I have a new found love for french fries with ketchup and mayonnaise. i know it sounds weird but I swear its delicious). The city during the day is absolutely fantastic and the city at night is well, flashy, for lack of a better word. All the creepers decide to come out- whispering drug offers as you go by. And walking through the infamous red light district- well there is a whole different breed of creepers there. My friend jenny and I decided to prove we were strong independent women so we headed out by ourselves one night and much to the guys surprise, as well as our own, we managed to survive "hell's circus" as i might describe it (i forgot to mention that our hostel happened to be located in the red light district- the guys preference).