I AMsterdam

There's no other way to say it: I LOVED Amsterdam!  It completely took me by surprise and charmed me!  I think, like many others, I categorized Amsterdam as being mostly about marijuana and the red-light district, but I was so wrong.  Just like Bruges, it is nicknamed "Venice of the North" because it is situated on a series of canals.  The buildings are really cool and they have pretty strict zoning laws so most of them are very old-style.

The hook things at the top of the buildings are there to hoist up furniture to the upper floors because the staircases are too narrow!

This was our hotel-- it was amazing!  It was built in the late 1800's and even though part of it looks like an old church, it has always been a hotel.  You could just tell that it had seen so much history, plus it was in an amazing location- we walked everywhere!

We started things of with a canal tour and also did one that took us a different route at night.  It was an awesome way to see the city-- but the true Dutch people traverse the city by bike!  Literally EVERYONE rode bikes there-- here is a massive bike parking garage type thing we spotted near the train station.

We visited the Anne Frank house and got to see the annex where her family and others (8 total) were in hiding before being caught and sent to concentration camps.  It was extremely small- especially the staircases!  Luckily my Mom was travel-savvy enough to buy tickets online in advance, because the line was absolutely massive and the house is not that large.  We also saw the original Diary of Anne Frank.

Another historically significant Amsterdam landmark: the Heineken factory!  Even though it was pretty touristy, it was fun to learn about the history of the beer and of course, we got plenty of opportunities to taste test!

One afternoon my Mom and I also got to shop and go to the famous flower markets!  I couldn't buy much at all this trip because I had such a small bag but I did manage to snag a really cute mint-green belt.  

On our last day in Amsterdam, Michael and I decided to do as the Amsterdamers do and go biking!  With the help of TripAdvisor and my friend Kim, we found a bike tour that took us out into the countryside where we saw an extremely old windmill.  It was well preserved because a farmer stored it in his barn for a long time and then after World War II when many of the original windmills had been destroyed, he donated it and it was put back up!

We also biked to an 8th generation family-owned cheesemaking and clogmaking factory!  It was quite fun and even though it rained a bit, it felt great to be biking around.  Luckily, Amsterdam is pretty flat because four hours of biking would have been killer otherwise!  We also swung by a high-end houseboat community and road through Vondelpark, Amsterdam's largest park on our way back into the city.  All in all we biked about 20k!  

I was extremely sad to leave Amsterdam because it meant I had to say goodbye to the family, and also because I just loved Amsterdam and could have stayed indefinitely longer.  Luckily, I had a fun week ahead of me in Spain.   

PS: Look what my Dad spotted right by our hotel!