Amsterdam: not the city you think it is

So I've gone a couple days without blogging and I have guilt about it, but I have to get over it and move on. It's a work in progress.

BK and I ventured off to Amsterdam last weekend for a long weekend. A four day weekend in most places seems to be the perfect amount of time for us as we visit new cities for the first time. We're making the most of living in Europe and are pretty much traveling to a new country or place every three weeks or so. I'm really excited about our next trip because it's with BK's sister and brother-in-law.

Amsterdam was probably our favorite city we've traveled to so far. I feel like we say that about every new place we visit; maybe that's because we're settling in to traveling so much? Amsterdam was great- extremely walkable, beautiful architecture, and lots of stuff to do.

We started our weekend out with, what else, but a tour. We did a tour of the Red Light District Friday night when we arrived in Amsterdam. This was a great way to hear about the history of the city and kind of get the lay of the land upon arriving. The tour was good, and I found the whole Red Light District very interesting. The Red Light District is a very small part of Amsterdam, but it's probably not what you picture. The girls are all behind windows and if you want to go in, they have a bed and sink in the window area. Kind of weird. We heard that it's about 50 Euros for 15 minutes. After we did our tour BK and I staked out a place at a local bar and did some good people watching.

Red Light District

The next morning we headed out on a "Cheese, Clogs and Windmills" bike tour. We biked around Amsterdam, then headed out of the city to view some of the old levies, house boats and Dutch farmland. We also stopped at a great little family-run farm that makes Gouda cheese and clogs. It was a bit touristy, but the cheese was really good, and we bought a pair of clogs as a keepsake. The only downside was that it rained the entire time, but luckily the bike company had rain gear for every one on the tour.

House boats on our bike tour

Aging Gouda cheese

After our tour we went for a massage, then had a great dinner on a canal cruise. I'm always a little unsure about set dinners, but this tour was really good. When we placed our dinner order they placed it at a local restaurant then stopped by when it was ready, and we got it directly from the restaurant. The cruise lasted around three hours, during which we saw many of the canals and various parts of the city. It gets dark around 10:30 or 11:00, so there was plenty to see, including a very pretty sunset.

Canals of Amsterdam

Saturday seemed to be the day that I had scheduled everything, so Sunday and Monday were more laid back. We did a lot of wandering around the city, shopping and seeing random sites around the city.

The one thing I did have planned on Sunday was a visit to the Anne Frank Museum. I would highly recommend this museum. There's not that much to it, but it's a bit surreal to be in the place where the Frank Family was actually in hiding. I only say that there's not much to it because the house is actually empty. After the family was discovered and sent to concentration camps everything in the house was taken by the Nazis. When the house became a museum, Otto Frank's wish was that it remain empty to signify the void that was left by what was taken from the family (including everyone's life). It's a powerful statement and one that definitely has an impact. The museum also displays the original diary and a number of writings from that time. The one piece of advice I have for this museum is to buy tickets ahead of time. If not, you will wait in at least an hour long line; whereas I had purchased tickets before, and BK and I walked right in.

Like I mentioned, Sunday and Monday were much more laid back. We did some shopping in the 9 Streets, which has great boutiques and shops. We also did a lot of just wandering around enjoying the sights and sounds of the city. I captured this picture one afternoon, which I felt like got a lot of Amsterdam- bikes, bridges, a canal and houseboats.

Bikes, bridges, canals and house boats

I have no doubt we'll go back to Amsterdam before we leave Europe, and probably even after that. We would love to ride bikes more around the city, and there are also a number of great museums to go to as well- we didn't see any of those. I honestly feel like we just scratched the surface on this one, but at just an hour plane ride away, I'm sure we'll have more time to explore here.