Amsterdam

So Amsterdam is... interesting. And shameless.

I ventured up to Pays-Bas (literally, Low Countries) for the weekend with Maggie, Randi, AnnMarie, Jose, and Jordan. We took a two hour train ride to Anvers (Antwerp) and then changed trains for another two hour ride to Amsterdam. Once we got to Amsterdam Centraal I navigated our way to our hostel, which was a pretty interesting experience. Didn't feel as shady as you might expect.

As for the trip I want to say that all the rumours about this city are true. Our group hit up one of the MULTITUDES of coffeeshops the first night (no I did not partake). I also did not meet anybody who didn't speak English. Their accents are definitely better than the French as a whole.

The next day I woke up and ran for about half an hour. It was pretty quiet once you got away from the city center (the touristy part) and the canals and houses were absolutely beautiful. The Netherlands definitely has its own style of architecture so it was pretty refreshing to see something new.

Afterwards, I went back to the hostel and then Randi, AnnMarie and I went out and walked around for awhile. We ended up visiting the Anne Frank House, which, although interesting, seemed like there wasn't much to it but capitalized on tugging heartstrings because of the Holocaust. Was definitely glad I saw it though and I know the girls really liked it (Maybe I'm a heartless bastard). We then walked around some more and then that night we decided to go for a walk through the infamous Red Light District. It was... enlightening... to say the least

The next day we headed home- got back to Lille around 2200.

Overall I didn't care for Amsterdam. The rumors about the city are all true and if you are into sex, weed, and/or touristy crap then this city is for you. It was a beautiful city but it just didn't have what I was looking for in a visit. Glad I went though- checked the box and drove on.