Amsterdam

I was privileged enough to go with CHOICE humanitarian to Kenya this fall and miss a few weeks of school (not the best idea in your graduate program). My roommate Willi joined us, and we had a nice stop in Amsterdam on the way. Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities. It's super clean, each building is unique in its self, and everyone rides bikes around. The Netherlands is one of my favorite places to visit.

I saw these all over in Amsterdam. It fascinates me seeing what people are into. 

Hopefully I am on top of things and I post about my amazing trip to Africa here soon!

Here is a little about Amsterdam and why I loved it last time.
We only spent a day in Amsterdam this time so it was a pretty quick tour of the city for the people that hadn't been there before. 

Amsterdam

I took a train to Amsterdam.

My initial thought was, I feel like I'm in Disneyland.

I think it was the futuristic bus posts with the old buildings. Maybe?

 Here was the beginning of The Red Light District. I don't know if you've ever been to the red light district before, but I'd always pictured it a little more like pretty women. With hookers standing by light posts on the side of the streets cat calling you. Nope. 

It's like window shopping for shoes.

You walk down an empty street, and then you'll pass full length windows, and behind the windows their are women standing in lingerie. All you have to do is window shop. It's simple. Great right.

 All the homes along the canal have to be up-kept, so it was always interesting finding one of these guys along the way.

It's tough finding a home with even peeling paint along the window seal. Everything looks so nice.

I also loved how every home was completely unique to the home next to it. They wouldn't worry about making them the same height, out of the same materials, or even each level the same size. One home would have 9 foot ceilings, with it neighbor having 12. Both homes being only two windows wide.

I forgot what this fish was called, but I was told by Marielle that it was very Dutch and really tasty.

 I agree that it's Dutch, but not really tasty. It was alright, just had a weird texture and tasted extremely fishy. It was just a raw whole fish, Yumm.

Well that is my short tour of Amsterdam. We did have a nice day though, and finished it off with a great dinner of Shepard's Pie at an Irish Pub.

Huib's parents live near Amsterdam so they were kind enough to let us stay the night. When I arrived they had "American looking cakes" and tea for us. His mom thought they looked American so I'd like them. So so nice of them. They were really sweet. When I woke up the next morning his mom had made us a really nice breakfast of good breads, cheeses, jams, egg, and the most amazing freshly squeezed orange juice and tea. She also drove me all the way to the airport so I didn't have to take a train!