Amster-dam good weekend.

So, the weekend started bright and early with a 6:45am flight. Beata and I decided to just stay up all night and head straight to the airport--even after many wise folks told us not to do this. Adventure prevailed though, and Thursday night we met up with some friends at L'Ovella Negra, a favorite Barcelona bar with delicious sangria pitchers, and spent the evening with great conversation and of course, some of our favorite fruity beverage. We headed back to the Mar, an affectionate name for our dorm, Mestral Mar, and finished up some last minute packing before heading out to El Prat. We literally passed out on the flight, and woke up as the plane was landing in Amsterdam.

After a nice chat with our cab driver, who was originally from Suriname, we made it to our hostel, Hotel Orfeo. It was in a great location, close to lots of restaurants and a short walk from Leidseplein Square, which is the heart of Amsterdam's nightlife. I won't lie, after a delicious breakfast at a nearby restaurant (with the most delicious, and expensive, glass of fresh squeezed orange juice I have ever experienced) and getting all situated in our room, we slept for a good 3 hours. It was a refreshing nap, and since we got there so early in the morning, we still had all afternoon for sightseeing! It started with a walk down the street next to the canal, and even on this gloomy Friday afternoon, it was a charming sight.

We headed first to the Anne Frank house, which I was very excited to see. Besides the book being a virtual staple in the United States middle school English classroom, I have always been really interested in WWII/Holocaust history. The tour of the house was incredible, and seeing the bookshelf leading to the hiding place was surreal. At one point, while standing in what used to be Anne Frank's room, I just had a somber moment and thought about how she had stood in that exact spot at some point. Later that evening, we were able to see the Van Gogh museum. My mom insisted I splurge on the audio tour headset, so I ventured to the first floor, ready to get some good commentary. There was a lovely jazz band playing in the atrium of the museum; however, said jazz band was not conducive to me being able to hear anything being said on my headset. So after some frustration, I went ahead and returned the headphones and got a refund. However, I was still able to enjoy the artwork, but left wishing there had been more Van Gogh and not so much other artwork. I don't know if the name deceived me, but I loved all the Van Gogh stuff. We spent the evening literally wandering the city streets, with no real plan. We experienced the infamous red light district, which was something else.

Saturday, we explored the Rijksmuseum, which is dedicated to Dutch history and art. It's housed in a beautiful building that was unfortunately under construction, so didn't really take too many pictures. After searching for a place to eat lunch, we were corralled in to an Italian place by a very persistent waiter who promised to give us either a) 10% off our meal, or b) free garlic bread (we chose option b). It was a decent meal, but as we walked a little further down the street afterwards, we ran into two other Italian places with cheaper food! That guy was really effective in intercepting unknowing tourists... We made our way to the Heineken brewery after lunch, which turned out to be a lot of fun. Compared to the only other brewery I've been to (Coors in Golden, Colorado), I'd say this tour was better. They had a lot of interactive stuff inside, and the tour ended with two good-sized Heinekens.

I discovered my new favorite fast food this past weekend-- Wok to Walk. I mean, it's a pretty standard Chinese takeout, but I fell in love with it. Amsterdam had wayyy too many good restaurants, and we barely even made a dent.

I had a lot of fun on my first out-of-country trip, and I'm looking forward to the weekends ahead! I think Amsterdam would be gorgeous in the summer, and next time (who knows when that may be...), I would love to see the famous tulips in full bloom, and one of those iconic Holland windmills. Hopefully someday I'll get the chance to go back.