Amsterdam!

Two weekends ago our little group decided to go to Amsterdam! Unfortunately it rained the entire time we were there but it was still so much fun and we saw some amazing stuff. Here are some pictures from our adventure!

"In" Amsterdam...clever we know. ;-)
This is a TERRIBLE picture taken from the bus, but you really just can't blog about Holland without a windmill picture. So here it is in all it's glory...


Most of the building in this city are from the late 1800's-early 1900's. Back in the day they painted the buildings black for protection against the weather. Which as you can tell from my picture is always warm and sunny. ;-)


this picture illustrates the awesome weather perfectly.


I loved all the old architecture. Our buildings are not this cute in AZ!

Ironically there are more bikes on Amsterdam's streets than people who actually live in the city. EVERYONE was riding bikes!!


More bikes!


Kelly, Kayli, Julie, Emma, and me in front of the Heineken Brewery. We didn't want to pay and take the actual tour, but the gift shop did get a visit from us. ;-)

In the town square!! This picture is really dark but it was absolutely gorgeous there.


Anne Frank's house where she spent the 2 years documented in her diary hiding with her family beofre their arrest.


Standing on one of MANY canals. We were shocked and awed to learn that Amsterdam has more canals than Venice!! Who knew?




A cute view of the park we took a little walk in. :-)


After our walk in the park, we visited the Tulip Museum. It was pretty small but so cute!!!



After the tulip museum girlishness, we stopped by the vodka "museum." Which was really just an unbelievably expensive bar with some old vodka memorabilia in the basement.

An Amsterdam street sign letting everyone know that while you cannot drink alcohol on the streets, smoking weed in public is A-Okay.

There are in the neighborhood of 200,00 houseboats in Amsterdam! So many, that the government won't allow anymore to be put into the canals. While we were taking a canal cruise through the city (yes, it was JUST as amazing as it sounds!!) we got to see so many of these cute little houses! Inside, all of them looked like show rooms for Ikea. Cute as they were, I still like my own house. On land. ;-)
Canal cruise pic with Kelly, Kayli, Alan, and me.
We planned the cruise perfectly and got to see some really pretty sights of Amsterdam at night. After our canal cruise, we walked through the Red Light District. Walking down this infamous section of the city was definitely an experience. Here is the same street during the day...
...and at night. It was so strange to see all of this in the midst of such a quaint little European town!
This next picture was a little piece of what can only be described as food heaven. It's a chocolate covered waffle, topped with custard, strawberries, bananas, and whip cream. So delicious!!!

One final picture showing some Apple love...

My first time in Europe was amazing! I can't wait to go back for Spring Break in just three short weeks when we're taking the Euro Rail through Italy, Austria, and Germany!!!

Check back tomorrow for my blog on Lauren's visit. We had a blast!!! :-)