Amsterdam was full of surprises. I envisioned trashy, dirty, and wild. Honestly, it was gorgeous, surrounded by water (did not know that!) and out of all the cities we visited, the one that I would want to live in the most should we ever decide to live overseas. The stacked housing overlooking the canals and cobblestone streets were absolutely gorgeous, and our hotel was the nicest, roomiest, and definitely had the best breakfast of any of our stops. Oh, and it had the most historical, grand train station as well.
Our first day, we took a boat ride through the city that started before sunset and ended in the dark, so we got to see Amsterdam lit up at night. Over 2,000 people live on houseboats so we got to float by these homes (and envy their simple, laid-back lifestyles!) during our romantic, relaxing ride. The next day, we rented bikes and went to Anne Frank's house, the Van Gogh museum, and to some fun, off-the-beaten-path bars. We actually felt out of all the cities we visited, we wished we had more time in Amsterdam. There were just so many quirky things to discover around every corner, like the caged bathrooms for men lining the streets (you paid a quarter--not as gross as you would think!) and of course, the Red Light District filled with sad, not all that sexy women (we entertained ourselves one night watching out our window 5 men visit one particular spot). Extremly nice people everywhere we went too. Great great times, which was much needed since we had to board the rail and gear up for a 12 hour overnight ride to Prague with about 8 inches from my face lying on the bunkbed to the roof of the rail car (more on that next Sunday...this 12 hour debacle was BY FAR the worst part of our 2 week backpacking excursion!).
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The Parts of a Short Story Organizer
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