Okay, this is a month overdue, but here goes…
3 DAYS IN AMSTERDAM! (end of october 2011)
So, My boyfriend visited me for the last 10 days of October, and for 3 of those days, we (along with 2 au pair friends) went to Amsterdam! We used http://www.eurolines.com for really cheap bus tickets and we drove up over night. We stayed in a hostel in front of the red light district and had hostelmates who were from Israel!
The moment we stepped off of the bus at 6am was perhaps the most confusing moment of my life. We had just spent 6 hours on a bus, and were being left at a dark and freezing cold bus station a few towns over from Amsterdam… And all of the signs looked like this: Daag Staationspleein einnt dergspplaut roaateril. I totally just make all of that up but LOOKED LIKE THAT! I had no idea what to do! Eventually we found the train station and then tried to figure out how to work the ticket machines. We did it wrong. But the station police were nice enough not to yell at us or fine us. We made it to Central Station before 7 am, and it was STILL. PITCH. BLACK. There were bikes and trams everywhere, and this just added to our confusion. It took us 2 hours to find the hostel. It was a 10 minute walk from the station but we were too disoriented and confused to be able to find it that fast.
After the first few hours in Amsterdam, we got used to the language and the cold and the sun eventually came out too. We met up with the rest of our group at Central Station later that morning, and then we did some touristy things such as souvenir shopping, red light district, they ate something called a mcrocket, and then we smoked. We smoked a lot of weed there, and a lot of different types. I got tired of it pretty fast.
I also went to the Anne Frank House while I was there and I loved it. I read her diary a lot when I was little, and to see the place she was writing about was incredible. I wanted to do more during my stay, but I was so poor and so were my friends. Maybe I’ll go back another time.
The last few hours of my stay were a nightmare. I read my tickets wrong (or I ordered the wrong ones) and I missed my bus by 7 hours…. But we managed to get new tickets for the night bus back to Paris. It ended up costing a lot but that’s what I get for my stupidity.
MUST SEES IN AMSTERDAM: Anne Frank House, Red Light District (was my favorite!!!), Van Go Museum, Bike Rentals, walk along the canals, Boat Ride, Windmill Bike Tour, Wax Museum
