Amsterdam

My first impression of Amsterdam was "bikes, canals, and cute apartment buildings, oh my!" I adore the look of these apartment buildings - they are just too cute. The inside of the shops also seem super modern which I like, but it definitely gives a less historical feel to the city compared to other Europeans city I have visited. I was surprised to see though that some people have their apartments on the street level so people walking by can see right into their apartment. I don't think I would like that at all.

After arriving in the airport and making my way towards the train station that is basically in the airport, I bought tickets for the train and headed into the city center. This was by far the easiest place that I have been to to get into the city center! Upon by arrival in the city center, I wondered around the streets, specifically in the Haarlemmerstraat and Lindengracht Markt, before grabbing "lunch" at The Pancake Backery. I had Autumn Poffertjes which consisted of mini pancakes (poffertjes) with poached pears, cranberry compote, and cinnamon ice cream. Delicious. 

After the Pancake Backery, I went to Mass in Dutch at a church near by. After Mass I had about an hour before the Anne Frank house. I stopped and picked up some stroopwaffles and then went to Dam Square and Begijnhof. Dam Sqaure had way too many people for my liking so I left very quickly. Begijnhof was very cool. I took a picture of the text given so I didn't have to rewrite it all: 

I think my favorite part of this was how much you really did escape from the city busyness. I also walked into a free Cheese Museum for about 5 minutes because I had some spare time. The cheese that I sampled had incredible flavor. 

Finally, I arrived at the Anne Frank House, basically the main reason for my visit. I wasn't allowed to take pictures of anything in the house but I did snap one picture of four pictures of Anne at the exhibit at the end and I took a picture by the sign at the front of the house. It was incredible to see where she hid and have a better idea of what she experienced. It was bigger than I had realized but still small obviously, especially the bedrooms. I was impressed with how real it felt, like it didn't feel like this happened like 80 years ago. I was so glad that I was able to experience this and I will never forget what the Frank family and all other Jews during this time went through.

Also, I noticed this morning that NBC posted this article about how the Frank family was found (http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/new-study-casts-doubt-theory-anne-frank-was-betrayed-n697431). This was brought up to us at the Anne Frank House during the presentation at the beginning how it is unknown how they were found but I hadn't realized this was new information! How cool!

After taking a picture at the I Amsterdam sign, I walked around and looked at some of the light festival figures that were being showcased in December. At this point I was getting very hungry, so I found a burger place to eat. I then had about an hour to spare before catching a train back to the airport. I wondered around some more streets and used some of the Euros I had at a juice bar, which seem quite popular in Europe. Finally arriving back at the airport, I was greatly impressed by the security of this place compared to other European airports. First, they had the metal decorators that we have in the states. Secondly, they picked up on the metal on my bracelets (that's a first!). 

Overall, Amsterdam was a great city and I am so glad I made this short little visit. Through this experience of traveling alone, I realized while traveling alone can be quite relaxing, I also greatly missed having a travel and photography buddy. Now after a long day and short night's rest, I am on my way home. :)