Mamsterfam

It was a unique experience to say the least. Upon arrival to Amsterdam, we were greeted with a very difficult public transportation system which consisted of multiple companies and therefore multiple ticket/bus pass options. After spending around 45 minutes at the tourist info center, we figured out the most economical way to travel to and from our hostel during our stay. We then headed out to find some food, and ended up at a Lebanese restaurant. The food was good, albeit expensive, and towards the end of our meal, a re-run of the Olympic opening ceremony came on the TV, and during the Netherlands segment, a bunch of people eating around us stood up and sang the.. anthem together.

After we ate, we went to the hostel to drop off all of our luggage and whatnot. It wasn't too hard to find the place which was nice, but it was a little disappointing compared to what the website made it out to be. Oh well, all we had to do was sleep there (although very little sleeping actually occurred). That night we wandered around the city and saw a fair amount of the night time activities that Amsterdam is so well known for. We all went to see what the red light district was like, and were pretty shocked to see that all the stories we had heard were true.

On Saturday we went to the Anne Frank house which was a very moving experience. There was a lot about the family and overall story that I had never learned before. If I can find time, perhaps this summer, I would like to read the diary itself. On Sunday we visited the Rijk museum. I'm not entirely sure what it was a museum of, because they had so many different things, but it was super cool. I'll try and throw some pictures up once I upload them. Toodles!