I Amsterdam

I arrived in Amsterdam at around 9 pm. It was quite a site to see all of the bikes outside of the train station. They even have separate lanes all over the city just for bikes. I then made my way to my hotel. It was kind of far away, but the walk was absolutely amazing. The houses with the canals were absolutely breathtaking. I was fascinated by them. I don’t think I had seen anything this cool ever. I made it to my hotel. It was amazing how steep the stairs were. It was a small room with shared facilities. That just completed the whole European experience for me. I went straight to bed because I was really exhausted.



I got up early the next morning, showered, and had breakfast. I had to go back to the train station to pick up my I Amsterdam card which got me into the museums as well as a transportation pass for twenty-four hours. I then headed to the museum district to visit some of the museums there. I went to the Van Gogh museum first. That was pretty awesome. His paintings are amazing. Unfortunately, cameras aren’t allowed at many of the museums in Amsterdam. It was really cool to see all of those. Then I went to the Dutch history museum. That was really cool as well. They had a bunch of items from the 1600s, as well as a lot of paintings from Rembrandt. A really nice museum that is definitely worth visiting. Then I went on a cruise of the canals. That was amazing as well. It’s just amazing how they constructed that city. The houseboats were neat to. We went out into the harbor as well which was way cool. I got to see Anne Frank’s house as well. Really a nice tour. After that I went to the Tulip Market. That was a cool site to see all the flowers and tulip bulbs. It reminded me about how we have bulbs planted in the front of our house that we planted upside down! Anyway…then I had a quick lunch and got back to site seeing. I went to the Rembrandt house to see where he lived and worked. That was really neat. Then I went to the Old Church. That was crazy because it is right on the outskirts of the red light district so there are prostitutes working right outside. It was also like seven euros to get in, but with my pass it was free. After that, I did some souvenir shopping. I got an orange Holland jacket that I was pretty excited about. After some other sight-seeing I got dinner at a Greek restaurant. I am such a sucker for Greek food, that it is not even funny. Then I went back to the hotel room for a little rest.

After my rest, I went and walked around the red-light district. It was an experience. It was kind of sad to see really. I think the nice thing about it is that you can avoid it and have a really enjoyable experience. Overall, I was really impressed with Amsterdam. It is really a beautiful city.

After I went back to the hotel, I packed up my bag so I would be ready to go in the morning. My flight didn’t leave until 9:55am, but I was planning on leaving for the airport pretty early. So I went to bed pretty early. Needless to say, I overslept. I woke up at 7:44. I hurried up and got dressed and out the door. I caught a tram to the train station and bought a ticket for the airport. Luckily it came pretty quickly and got there quickly as well. I got there about 8:50 so I thought I would have plenty of time, but then I saw the passport check line. It was crazy long. Luckily I made it. The way the airport works there is they have a waiting area and forty minutes before your flight they announce your gate and then you go through security while headed to your concourse. It really made security a breeze. There were a bunch of annoying Indians on my flight that were so loud and obnoxious. I flew to Manchester first. I had a three hour layover there. I made my traditional airport stop at Burger King. I mostly ate there because I didn’t have any pounds on me and they are probably only the place that would take credit cards. Anyway, I had a nice flight back to Hungary.