Winter Winds

Amsterdam bound.  I slept most of the train ride right through Belgium.  Exhaustion is slowly catching up. Unlike London or Paris, there was snow in Amsterdam making it feel even colder.  We received wrong directions to our hotel.  Took an unnecessary tram and walked blocks, when in reality our hotel was adjacent to the train station we started at.  To put it in the simplest way, we didn't have the best start in Amsterdam.  Have I described my luggage?  I definitely overpacked, and its extremely heavy.  Eddie has nicknamed it 'The Bulldozer'.  I'll learn for next time though.  I had to lug the damn thing everywhere through the slosh.

Our hotel was amazing again. I haven't had a single complaint about any of the places I booked for the entire trip. Got extremely lucky with that. After getting a bite to eat, we headed towards the Anne Frank House. This is somewhere I only dreamed of going when I was in elementary. World War II has always been my favorite subject in history, and her story always amazed me. Being able to go to the house meant a lot to me. This half of the city also amazed me. It gave off such an artsy vibe. EVERYONE rides bikes and vespas, regardless of how cold it is. Every apartment building and canal on this half of the city was so cute. Some of the buildings seemed like they were leaning. I can only imagine how long they've been there. I'd definitely like to visit at a warmer time and spend time exploring the little shops and art around the city.

I saw a million dessert shops around the area.  Had the best Eclair I've ever had.  Although, I'm sure I could get a better one in France.  I'll have to get one when we go back.  I'm such a sucker for sweets.

We headed to the Red Light District after that.  Definitely more grungy than the other part of town we were in... which was expected.  Yes, I saw all of the coffee shops you can smoke weed in.  Yes, I saw all of the hookers in the windows strutting their stuff.  It's sad that the most talked about things in this city aren't even the best it has to offer.  Its hilarious to see everything in the RLD, but honestly... once is enough.  My favorite part of RLD were the swans in the middle of the canals.  It reminded me of the scene from The Notebook with all of the swans.  Amazing!  Walking around there feels like a weird dream.  The cold got to a point where the only thing that sounded appealing was to sit in our hotel room, so we did.  Got few hours of sleep again.