Amsterdam

Amsterdam.

Population: 800,000

Bicycle population: 880,000

Wait. What???

If those numbers do not give you an indication on the traffic type in the city, let me tell you; THERE ARE A LOT OF BICYCLES. During our four day duration in the city, I tried and tried and tried to get a really good picture of bikes. Believe me, after I failed, I tried some more. The best picture I could come up with was this one: 

So we stayed in the city for four days. It was an easy drive (2 hours) from their house. After we parked the car in a garage, we took a tram to our hotel.Amsterdam has a really good tram system, with cards that you HAVE to beep when you get on and when you get off. This really helps prevent free riders.  It was always pretty uncomplicated to find where we were trying to go. 

Everyday, we always ended up one way or another in Dam Square, which is sort of like the Amsterdam Times Square. The Royal palace is here, as well as really good stores and Madame Tuddaud`s famous wax muesem. 

We managed to fit in as much culture as possible, visiting the Anne Frank House, The Rijks Muesem, The Van Gogh muesem, several churches, cozy city streets...

We also met up one day for lunch off of Dam Square (see, I told you we always landed there) to see a relative on my dad`s mother`s side. We ate a really good cafeteria-style lunch on the roof of a mall. 

Our hotel was pretty snazzy (well, our room at least), complete with a nice flat screen TV, and a fully functional jacuzzi. 

It`s hard to believe that my trip is more than halfway over, and we still have so much to do! I`m writing this post at the North Sea, on the Belgian Coast. We have been here for the past two days, and will also be here tomorrow. Then it is off to Paris for four days! 

Ahh, Paris.

Emily xx