Amsterdam

Amsterdam, Holland’s capital, is a historic center with a network of canals, bridges and venerable town houses. Many people think of Amsterdam as a place to smoke hash legally and licensed prostitution (red light district). However, it is much more than that. It is a city with a long history of tolerance and understanding of different lifestyles, religions and ethnicities.. The people in Amsterdam live by 3 main rules. Rule 1: Be discreet; Rule 2: Be goodfor business and Rule 3: Don't hurt anyone. They do not like it if you break any of these 3 rules. For example, the people in Amsterdam were the only ones to lead an all city boycott against the Nazi regime when they saw the cruel treatment of Jews in the area.

The main highlights of Amsterdam were Anne Frank's house and the Van Goh Museum. Anne Frank's house was unbelievable and truly a surreal experience. It brought the book, The Diary of Anne Frank, to life and made her experience in hiding more tangible for the visitor. Thus, it touches you on a very deep level. The Van Goh museum was interesting and provided information about his start and life in painting. He was a tormented artist that was on the cutting edge of mixing and developing various bright colors, which he applied on his canvass. As an artist, he is inspiring because he painted for the love and passion of art, which he desired to share with others. The paintings were amazing and inspiring. We also walked around Amsterdam’s well known and beautiful Vogel Park. This is where Joh kicked the butt of an Aussie fellow that we befriended in a friendly sprint match up.

The fun part of traveling is meeting people from different countries and areas in life. We met and hung out with many people, who were not Americans, during our trip in Amsterdam. We actually hung out with many Australlians and a Candian. It’s funny because in every city that we’ve visited so far we’ve met someone from Austrailia. Australians love to travel, where they take as little as 5-6 weeks off or as much as 7-10 months from work or school to travel.

Warning: Do not travel Amsterdam by car because it is the city for cyclists. Cyclists have the right of way over pedestrians and cars. If a cyclist accidentally hits a car, it is the cars fault not the cyclist. There are specific and separate marked areas just for cyclists, where the cyclist always has the right of way. I (Joyce) almost got run over by a cyclist…they are no joke around here and they will run you over if you don’t pay attention. They also fish about 25,000 bikes out of their canals, due to drunk people throwing them into the canal as an amusing sport.