Weekend Adventure Take Two: Amsterdam

No seats left on the train (in second class at least)!

The adventure this weekend was a group trip to Amsterdam.  We left Tilburg around 10 on Friday and returned at 2 on Sunday.  What a weekend.  Friday was spent wandering around the city.  I did a lot of following, and have decided that the free maps of Amsterdam are not that helpful..and also I wasn't great at reading the maps.  So, Friday was centered around Dam Square, Red Light District, and general wandering about the city center.  On Friday, I met up with a Hendrix friend's friend from Holland (did you follow that?) which was wonderful - a translator for our group!  I also got a "beautiful" dutch phone.

In the Red Light District, alleys are interesting places. They are not really shortcuts to the next road over.  It was an interesting liberal area to walk through - full of many idiosyncrasies, like a scarf shop between a coffeeshop and a sex shop.  Always an exciting walk through...felt similar to Bourbon St. 

Palace at Dam Square

Friday was really rainy, but we walked around anyway.  I was very thankful for my raincoat!  Luckily, it wasn't too cold on Friday.  When we got the chance, we took refuge inside.  We found a really great bakery, where I ordered a slice of warm chocolate mud cake.  Perfect!

Group photo - there were lots of us!

The city at night!

Saturday morning, I woke up and headed to Dam Square on the tram.  There, I met my camp friend Katherine who was in town with college orchestra.  We wandered around Amsterdam the whole day - it was so surreal!  Our first stop was Amsterdam's largest outdoor market.  There, we bought fresh fruit smoothies, a hot stroopwaffle (think two flat ice cream cones with hot caramel in the middle), fancy bread, and a small block of cheese.  I also bought a new scarf - it was really cold and windy!

After the market, we started walking to the Hermitage, which is where the Van Gogh exhibit is currently located.  On the way though, we stopped in a small cafe to warm up with hot chocomel (basically the same as hot chocolate).  Then, we headed off to the museum!  I enjoyed the museum, but I'm not sure it was worth the 15 euros.  After that, I met up with my fellow international friends at the Anne Frank museum.  Now, that was worth the price of 9 euros.  I didn't take any pictures there..it just didn't seem right.  Great great museum.  

After the Anne Frank museum, I went off with a smaller group in search of some dinner.  We ended up in an Italian/Argentinian restaurant which was nice.  Then, I went to Katherine's orchestra concert...that was an adventure.  I made it there eventually, but my direction following skills paired with multiple wrong directions from others resulted in a big adventure of walking about Amsterdam.  No fears though, I am alive!

On Sunday, some of the group stayed behind to explore the city more, but I was ready to go home.  Also I stayed up to watch half of the super bowl last night.  Well done, Beyonce.