Kari and I in Amsterdam

This past weekend Kari and I went on our first trip outside of England! We were both very excited to start seeing other parts of Europe. We went with a program called Outgoing that was part of her school, which makes it an easy way to travel as they do all the planning on how to get there. We left late at night and went on a ferry across the English Channel to France, then through Belgium and finally in Amsterdam at 9 o’clock in the morning.

The first day we went on a canal boat ride, which was very fun seeing parts of the city through the canals. We also visited Dam Square which is where there are street performers, and other things going on. We did a lot of walking throughout the city which allowed us to see a lot more of it. The architecture of the buildings was very cool, and there were people on bikes everywhere. One thing that I found fascinating was the crooked buildings. Also, you really had to be careful where you walked, because you had to watch out for bikes, cars and the above ground train. It almost took me out a few times as it runs right next to the sidewalk.

The second day we woke up early to try and get the most out of our two days there. We set off again by walking the city, we initially planned on going to the Anne Frank House, but the line was too long and we did not feel like standing in a line for most of the day. We went back to Dam Square and decided to go on a horse and buggy ride with Elvis the horse. It was another interesting way to see the city. We also, visited the Red Light District, which was very interesting as you can imagine. The Red Light District has been a controversial, but historic part of Amsterdam as it is a port city. It was very weird thinking that it was legal since it obviously is not anywhere else. Prostitution is also the oldest profession in Amsterdam, showing how much of an impact it has on the city. It was also weird seeing people walking around and smoking marijuana, as that is legal there as well. Later that night Kari and I went on a Pub Crawl with a group of people that was guided by tour guides taking us from pub to pub; we were given one free drink per pub. It was a good time, but there were too many people that were doing it making all the pubs very crowded. That pretty much wrapped up our weekend.

I almost forgot to mention the food! It was very interesting trying a few different things. I enjoyed a few Dutch pancakes. We also tried many of the bakeries that were scattered throughout the city. I cannot remember the names of the things we tried, but they were delicious. There were a few things that I wish that we went to, but just did not have time. I wanted to visit the Anne Frank House and also the Heineken museum.  We both enjoyed our trip and cannot wait to do a little more traveling. I only have about three weeks until I am done with classes and have the whole month of April off.