Amsterdam 14-19th August

So we have visited this so called city of sin and well, it really isn't that sinful. On our first day we went on a walking tour (we do love them) and the guide told us so much about the history of the city that it made us realise there is more to it than just drugs and sex! However in saying this, we did manage to visit the Red Light District on a Saturday night...was definately an eye opener but no where near as seedy or dodgy as I thought it would be. There are just lots of bars and coffee houses mixed with restuarants and of course, lots of glass doorways with business women waiting for clients. They definately cater to a wide variety of clients...some were very interesting in deed! We also saw the highest point in Amsterdam which is walking bridge, and as most of the city is below sea level this bridge one of the only things above it! The skinny house was another favourtie of ours, this house is only 1.8m wide and 1 man lives there. It is skinny as way back people were taxed on how wide their houses were and I guess the person who built this was not very wealthy!

On the Friday night we went on a Pub Crawl and there we met some of the people we've been travelling on the buses with and managed to get drunk and dance the night away. Was super fun even if the clubs were a bit dodgy. We also managed to waste a good few hours one day in a park just enjoying the sunshine and the ability to do nothing. I visited the Van Gogh Museum whilst Liz explored the city. Art is really not her thing so we decided to go our separate ways on this morning. I really enjoyed it and found it quite interesting...he has such cool paintings! There were a few markets around which we went and visited, mostly just junk but nice to wander through.

On our last day there we thought we would be energetic and hire bikes and go for a ride outside of the city. It had been raining that morning but we tried to stay positive and waited til it had stopped for an hour before hiring them. So we were about 30mins out of the city when it started to pour...our executive decision, since we had no rain coats and no idea what would be at the end of the map, was to turn around and dry out somewhere with food and coffee. Which we did. There are so many bikes in this city it's just crazy, if you hear a bell you have to get out of the way fast or you hear dutch being yelled at you as they ride past. And you don't want to mess with them as they're huge!!

We also visited Rembrandt's statue in Rembrandt Park (original I know) which was a really cool part of the city. And just around the corner was Leidseplein where there were always street performers in the square which I liked to watch. I drank Heineken here but unfortunately the brewery was closed, so no beer making for me. And I think that's it for Amsterdam.