This is a picture from one of our bus stops along the way. This was in the French countryside... which is gorgeous (this picture does not do it justice).
When we first got off the metro in Amsterdam all we saw were hundreds and hundreds of bikes. There are as many bikes in this city as there are people!
Since Amsterdam is essentially a floating city, there are canals EVERYWHERE! Amsterdam is just like Venice in this sense. The canals made for some great photos!
We stayed at a hostel called "Heart of Amsterdam" in the famous Red Light District. Each room was named after a movie (which was fun) and they provided breakfast daily. It being our first time to stay in a hostel, we opted for the 3 bed private room (baby steps)! These are pictures of our crazy stairs to our room!
Throughout the weekend we went to the Bulldog, another hostel a block away, where a few of our friends were staying. This hostel had a bar and coffee shop. We all tried Absente here (legal in Amsterdam for all of you freaking out)!
Everywhere you look you can find leaning buildings! This is partly due to the fact that a firm foundation is not the easiest thing to find in this city. But also, as we learned, part of the building plan. The fronts of the building were built leaning out. Hooks were and still are attached to the roof and are used as a pulley system to lift furniture and other things up floors. In order to prevent the items from scrapping the exterior, the buildings were built leaning forwards!
While here, one of the places we visited was the Heineken Brewery. The tour of the brewery was extremely interesting. It came complete with a beer tasting, an interactive brewing experience, and a bar at the end where you could relax and enjoy the beer. One of the rooms in the building was a club and the ceiling was covered in Heineken bottles (see last picture).
After leaving the Heineken Brewery, Cameron and I stopped at a local wine shop called Hart's Wijnhandel. That is where these pictures and our wine for the night came from!
These pictures are of the narrowest house in Amsterdam. The man who lives here is taller than his house is wide!! Taxes used to be determined based on house wide your house was, which explains why someone would do such a thing.
This is a picture of De Dampkring. It is a famous coffeeshop in Amsterdam and is where Matt Damon filmed scenes from Ocean's Twelve.
The first two pictures are of Amsterdam's Coat of Arms on a local building and the third is shows Amsterdam's flag on a window sill. The three X's represent the three plights that faced the city: fire, flood, and plague. This is also where the Triple X's (XXX) of porn come from... so we learned. Because Amsterdam was the only place where porn and prostitution were legal, when item were shipped from the city, a stamp containing the coat of arms was place on each box and is why the two are associated today. Interesting tidbit huh? Hopefully it will be the million dollar question to my Slumdog Millionaire story!
One of the most interesting parts of the trip was our visit to the Anne Frank House. It is where Anne and her family and a few other Jewish people hid during the war to avoid deportation to the concentration camps. It was a very emotional experience. It is hard for me to grasp the horrific events that happened not too long ago. One of the quotes that really touched me was what Anne wrote on December 24, 1943: "I long to ride a bike, dance, whistle, look at the world, feel young and know that I am free, and yet I can't let it show". This had a great impact on me because I ride a bike daily, and take it for granted. There is a great message of hope in Anne Frank's words - we are free, do not take like for granted. I hope that each of us will remember this and the time to bike, dance, whistle, or whatever it is that makes us feel young and reminds us of our freedom.
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