Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM!

We took a train to Amsterdam after we landed in Edinburgh. Coming out of the train station, there were people and trams everywhere. We couldn't find a map...and we were all so lost and confused. Eventually we found our hostel and dropped our things off. We walked around our area and found a place that had bagel sandwiches that were pretty tasty.

The rest of the day we spent wandering around the tulip markets and souvenir shops. Then we went back for an afternoon nap and woke up to go to dinner. Michael had told me and Peter about this place he ate in London like 15 years ago called Wagamama. It was really close to our hotel so we went there. It was really delicious! I had not had any asian fusion food in a really long time and it hit the spot. Afterwards, it got late and we went to bed.

(Amazing invention! It was like a fast food vending machine.)

(Lots and lots of bulbs in Amsterdam.)

Saturday, we wake up....raining raining raining. It did nothing but rain the entire time we were in Amsterdam. Thank goodness I had the rainboots my mom got me in Paris! They were so cute. Anyway, we walked to another bagel place for breakfast and hung out awhile because there wasn't anywhere to go in the rain. Once the rain calmed for awhile, we walked around again and came across the most amazing discovery ever....an American food store! Peter and I went in there and just stood in awe of all the great food.....Fruit by the Foot, A&W root beer, Hershey's kisses, and even more! It was amazing to see. My best accomplishment....not buying anything. I figured....it will be that much better when I have it in the states. Plus....it was obviously WAY OVERPRICED because tourists like me are willing to pay for it. The man who owns the store tells us that people from all over Europe will go there every 3 or 4 months to buy American food because there are hardly any stores like it.

(The American food store....yummmm!)

Saturday evening, it was still raining and we were getting pretty bored of souvenir shops, so Peter and I decided to go see a movie...Alice in Wonderland. So nice to see a movie! We had popcorn and everything. And it was in English...always a bonus! That night, we met up with Michael and Steve to go to this dinner place where there are unlimited ribs for 12 euros or something. Well I am not a huge rib gal, but they REALLY enjoyed them. I had some pretty good chicken and a great 1/2 liter of white wine. That night, we walked to the Red Light District. This place was literally my hell. It was gross and loud and dirty....dirty in multiple senses. It just kinda made me sad, so I don't want to comment too much on it. We decided to hop into a cab to go back to our place and it started at 20 euros!! I immeadiately scream "NO NO NO!" and I made everyone get out of the cab. So yes, we had to walk like 40 minutes. Whoops. But at least we saved money and didn't let that stupid cab driver take advantage of us!

(Pete and me at the Amsterdam sign.)

Sunday morning, we did more walking around. Lots and lots of walking. We went to a pancake place for breakfast which was really tasty. Sushi for lunch. And we also did the Heineken Brewery tour. That was definitely my highlight of the trip. I thought the entire tour was so fascinating and really well done. Confession: I have never done the AB tour in St. Louis...so that is definitely on my list this summer. It took awhile to go through but was a lot of fun. I even got a super cool Heineken sweatshirt. Then we were getting hungry for dinner, so we caved and went to the Hard Rock. Since it was a pretty poppin place, we had to wait about an hour to get in. While we waited, we went to a pub to watch some soccer game...cannot even remember which one. Dinner at the Hard Rock....amazing. I should bite my tongue to say this....but it was ALMOST the best meal I have had in Europe. Pathetic. Yep.

(Michael brewing beer or something.)

(At the Heineken Factory.)

Peter and I had a flight in 6 in the morning, so we didn't book a hostel for the night so we could just sleep at the airport. But we didn't want to be at the airport all night. With not much to do, we went to another movie. Pathetic again. This time...Shutter Island. If you are anything like me...do not see this film. I was not a fan. Then we eventually made our way to the airport...which took a lot more time than we thought since we missed the last night bus there. So we had to figure out how to get to the train station, find a train that got there for our flight, wait for the train, get to the airport, and slept there.

(Me walking on water....not really. Photography courtesy of Michael Z!)

When we got back to Barcelona Monday morning, we just slept all day recovering from a crazy 10 days of Spring Break and not much sleep. It was a great time though. And I had a great visitor to greet me back in Barca....LINDZO!

(Me and my amazing roomie!)

Monday night, we took Lindsey and her friends to Loco Lunes...which was definitely loco. We had a great time! I really like meeting Lindsey's friends and it was so nice to see such a good friend over here. Lindsey stayed until Wednesday morning, so we had tons of time to hang out and catch up. Such fun memories! And even a delicious Pim Pam date.