amsterdam

so omg i am in LOVE with amsterdam. i want to move to the netherlands. i want to have a bike and cycle around the canals and live in a cute house around the canals. love, love, love it!

i got into amsterdam about 10:30 on saturday night and found my way to the hostel and as i was walking down the streets i knew i was in amsterdam. the smell of pot was quite prominent and it made me laugh to just smell it so freely. so i didn't realize but my hostel is on the edge of the red light district. like there aren't any girls in windows here, but lots of sex shops and lots of coffee shops. so i checked in and decided well, it is saturday night in amsterdam - i should go and see what is happening. i had a quick beer in the hostel bar and watched some of the ravens-pitt game (and was excited that meant the jets game would be shown!) and then went for a walk. i was out for probably only 45 minutes, but it was quite entertaining. the girls in the windows and the real red light district was unlink anything i've ever seen. and just the blatant theme of sex. i guess compared to the US where you barely see anything and sex is like such an "evil" thing to see it like this is a complete 180. it didn't bother me - but i kinda wondered about the women and many of them looked bored and were not attractive. so it was an interesting walk. and i was so excited because there were tons of kebab shops and i absolutely love kebab shop fries. so i've missed that and am so excited for late night chips in ireland.

so i was up bright and early sunday morning so i could enjoy the day and to go to the anne frank house. i knew i had to get there early - or the line could be quite long. and the anne frank house is one of the main reasons i've wanted to go to amsterdam. ever since i was 11 and read the book i've wanted to go there. i've read many of the different versions of her diary and also meip's book about it and i was unreal finally getting to see the secret annex. i got there by about 10am and only had to wait a few people. and being there i was on the verge of tears the whole time. the office and annex were left empty - after they were discovered, the annex was stripped and her father decided to leave it that way and it needed to be that way because there was very little room. it was an emotional experience and i'm glad i finally was able to go and see where they hid. and i was glad i was there early - when i left the line to get in was around the block.

after that i went on a walk - along the canals and just pretty much wondered around. i was in LOVE with the canals. and i stopped at a nice little cafe for lunch - where they had a cute cat who came and sat next to me (aka wanted me to share) but it was a nice lunch. so i wanted to do a bike tour of amsterdam. but unfortunately there wasn't enough people to run it. so i headed back across town to the heinekin brewery. i love heinekin beer - almost as much as my irish stout. so i was excited for the tour.

the tour was pretty awesome - it took about 2 hours and you learned about the family, how they made it, and the history and it was fun! i was pretty much with these 2 guys most of the tour - so at the end when you get 2 drinks we ended up talking and they were both in the army stationed in germany and here for the weekend and then a couple who was stationed in italy. so that was fun chatting about traveling and military life and it was fun. so on the way out the 2 guys ask me what i was up to, so i ended up going out to dinner with them and then we walked around and then went to a sports bar which was playing the JETS game! so it was a fun night and they were great company. and it didn't help that there was major flirting with one of them.
and let's talk about the game real quick. OMG JETS!!! soooo excited! that was a great game and i was on pins and needles the whole game, as it is the jets and well they always manage to mess it up. but they pulled it out in the end! so next week will be rough - but i'm excited!

so today i woke up and it was pouring. uugh. i walked around a bit - went to the rijksmuseum and looked at all the dutch art and found another cute cafe and had an amazing apple & cinnamon pancake. and then it stopped raining so i walked all over, found the i amsterdam sign! and just walked around enjoying the canals, bikes and just loving it.

so i'm off to cork tomorrow. and i can't wait. i wish i had more time here because i would love to go to other places in the netherlands (fun fact- i almost studied abroad here, it was my 2nd choice in the netherlands.)

so lots of pictures :)

anne frank house - it now looks pretty different from what it looked like when they were hiding

i love the canals

more canals

lots and lots of bikes - in dam square

enjoying my heinekin

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS

delish pancake - like a crepe

i (am)sterdam

red light district

i want to move here

:)