Amsterdam

Amsterdam is one of those places that you've heard of your whole life.  I had this picture in my head of flowers, ornate houses, bridges and bicycles.  So it sounded like a good idea to go.  The reality though was much less exciting for me.  I know everyone's experience is different (and Geoff even had a much better time than I did), so I try to bear that in mind, but for me, I'll be frank, it was the biggest let down of all of my European travels.

Part of my disappointment likely came from the drive.  We (me, Geoff, and Caedmon) decided to do it as a day trip - our first mistake.  It was supposed to be a 4 hour 15 min long drive, and it ended up taking closer to 7.  As a result, we spent very little time in the actual city.  It was raining when we got there, and I found that the town kind of stunk.  Maybe it was the rain, or the dismal day, but it just didn't help things.

As we walked along, there was some very neat architecture to look at, and bikes and bridges are everywhere, just like you'd picture it.  We also some Dam Square, which was kind of cool

    

But... "coffee shops" (what they call shops selling weed) and "other wares" Amsterdam is known for (think red light district) are also everywhere.  I wasn't quite expecting that.  I wouldn't exactly call myself a prude, but I wasn't anticipating fully nude women in windows outside of the red light district.  The picture to the right pretty much sums it up: you have your food, your "coffee shop" and at the end of the street, your sex shop.

Our trip ended about as dismally as it begun.  Caedmon screamed for hours on the car ride home, but we were very very grateful to arrive home in Wiesbaden!