Adventures in Amsterdam

Shortly before Thanksgiving we were looking around at places to go for a quick weekend trip and realized the Amsterdam Light Festival was going to be going on and would be neat to check out! Both Brian and I had been there on our trip in high school and remembered it being an interesting city so we figured it would be even more so to experience as an adult!  There are a couple of ways to get to Amsterdam from London, either the Eurostar train or flying.  We found flights to be quite cheap so decided to go that route! Also it was nice to be flying from the Heathrow terminal which is easier to get to then Gatwick which we had been flying from on previous trips.  Shortly before the trip our friends David and Amy mentioned they were looking at going the same weekend although they were hesitant about "crashing our vacation."  We definitely did not feel that was the case and were very excited to take our first trip with another couple! Brian and David work together here at PwC and David and his fiance Amy moved here about 2 months after we did from North Carolina.  

We landed about 5:00pm Friday Dec. 13th.  The flight was only 45 minutes which was great compared to the 4 hour flight a couple weeks earlier from Tenerife! For this trip we had taken advice on a place to stay from a friend that I had met through the American Women's Club which turned out to be wonderful! It was a bed and breakfast located in a canal house right along one of Amsterdam's pretty canals which was a much more unique experience then just staying in a hotel.  The accommodations were very nice and the breakfast was wonderful, complete with pretty plates and tea sets.  If you take a look at the picture below we were located in the black house that the boat is in front of...

My favorite part about Amsterdam is the canals and the canal houses. They are just so cute and unique and give the city so much character.  You never see two that look alike! In the picture below you will see a skinny red house (red car in front of it) which is the narrowest house in Amsterdam. In the window there is a laptop computer and the size of the screen take up 1/3 of the width of the house!  So tiny! 

Another canal view

We met up with David and Amy at the b&b (their flight arrived earlier in the day), got changed and ready to find a place for a drink.  We found ourselves at a pub not far away and I will just say a very interesting man named Yanni decided to make himself at home at our table.  He proceeded to say some very interesting things and at first we weren't sure exactly what his motive was. However it quickly became quite clear and then just flat out weird and hilarious at the same time.  Needless to say we moved on to the next place in a hurry and Yanni became the running joke for the rest of the trip! Here is us having a drink before we were seated at the dutch restaurant we ate at.  

After dinner we decided to walk a short distance to experience walking through Amsterdam's red light district at night.  For those of you who may be unaware Amsterdam is one of few places in which prostitution is legal, along with legalized use of marijuana which is smelled all around the city.  The red light district is where the prostitutes literally are standing in windows along the streets and you will witness men buying their services.  It is certainly an eye opening cultural experience to see.  We didn't stay in the area long and so many questions were flooding our brains.  

The next morning we took a very short walk from our bed and breakfast to tour the Anne Frank house.  We actually went behind the bookcase and into the secret annex where Anne and her family were in hiding for a little over 2 years from 1942-1944.  It is a depressing feeling in the attic seeing how they had to live with black out curtains up at all times and never letting any light in. The picture below is the house itself, the secret annex was located on the top level but toward the very back of the building. Out in front of the house it was also very crazy to think about the Nazi's patrolling up and down those very same streets rounding up the Jews.  Unimaginable...    

Couple quick canal shots before moving on...

After the tour we decided to lighten the mood a bit and head to a brewery we had heard about.  After taking a bit of the wrong way there on the bus we eventually made it! The brewery also has an old traditional dutch windmill there too which was fun to see.  We enjoyed some beer flights and then had lunch at a restaurant next door. 

    

The rest of the afternoon we spent wandering the city... 

That evening we took a canal cruise to see the lights for the Light Festival.  Turns out we were slightly disappointed as there were not as many buildings/sculptures lit up as we had expected. Seemed like parts of the cruise we went for awhile without seeing anything.  There was a walking portion we could have done too but we kind of felt like we saw most of what there was to see on the canal.  I did though really enjoy seeing the canal houses lit up at night and being about to see right into them.  Also fun to see lots of christmas trees in the windows!

Our last day Sunday Dec 15th we walked through the flower market, visited the Van Gogh museum, and capped off a great trip with a large piece of dutch apple pie! Amy and I had to laugh because in the pic below you will see how the guys were normally seen on this trip (most of them actually)... with their "man bags" or "murse" aka camera bags! Yes the guy in the yellow pants is quite interesting too! Just noticed that now! :) We all really enjoyed Amsterdam!