The
morning after Christmas, my travel companions and I decided that we wanted to
make the most of our central European location and see all that we could. So, we hopped on a train headed north to The
Netherlands. We arrived in Amsterdam
after nightfall and only had time to stay for one night, so we spent the
evening walking around and becoming acquainted with Europe’s most provocative city
(we might have accidentally ended up in the red-light district for ten
minutes).
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| the canals by night |
As I previously
mentioned, Brussels wasn’t the most beautiful city. That being said, Amsterdam made up for any
beauty that Brussels lacked, tenfold. We
awoke the next morning to see a pair of swans swimming in the canal outside our
hostel window. Brightly colored bicycles
were parked on every intersection. Clean
streets and beautiful waterways made walking around Amsterdam feel like
stepping into a storybook. Out of all
the cities in Europe that I’ve visited, this is the first one (besides Córdoba, obviously) that screamed “I could live
here!” Amsterdam was truly gorgeous and I
regret having only a day there!
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| waterways |
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| view from our hostel |
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| on the canal |
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| almost like Eugene! |
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| train station |
The main
thing that I wanted to see during our abbreviated stay was the Anne Frank
House. Because we hadn’t planned our
trip in advance, we ended up standing in line for about an hour, but the wait
was entirely worth it. The attic annex where
the Frank family lived in hiding during WWII is the bulk of the museum. You enter through a museum façade, but the
rest of the tour is through the original rooms of the annex. The tiny staircases and low doorways are all
intact, giving a small window into the horrors that the Frank family and their
annex-mates faced. The experience was
extremely powerful, and I recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in
Amsterdam.
We
also made a stop at the somewhat obligatory IAMSTERDAM sign, which was a good
stop for some photo-ops.
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| everyone is Amsterdam, apparently |
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| family photo! |
I WAS pleased! It was awesome!
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