Amsterdam: "Todo, We're not in Vegas anymore!"

Having fun with Steven! 

Anne Frank house! Very cool!

Street performer from Canada!

Amsterdam, People told us it was like Vegas...not exactly. Amsterdam is way more beautiful, the prostitutes are self employed business woman and the gambling is replaced by "coffee shops" and cheese museums! Now Amsterdam and Vegas do have their similarities, the city is laden with British bachelor parties ( dressed as babies, fairies and smurfs), Asian tourists trying to snap photos of the girls in the windows like they are on a safari, and of course the thousands and thousands of tourists! A great place to people watch!! ;)

We arrived in Amsterdam around 11am and after settling into our 20 person bunk room (a little like a frat house) we decided to go out and explore! Awesomely enough, we stumbled upon a 3 hour, free walking tour. Our guide was funny and very informative! We learned history of the city, the quirkyness of the Dutch and we even got to meet the two most famous twin prostitutes, THEY ARE 72 YEARS OLD!!! 

We felt safe in the city after the tour and were excited to go walk around at night! Our hostel was in the red light district which is the most highly monitored and safest part of the city! 

We met another black fleeced American on our tour, so naturally we invited her to hang out with us! She was a student from Arizona studying abroad in Prague! 

After eating a traditional Dutch dish Strompot (mashed potatoes with a meatball) and Kirdy tasting her first Dutch beer (best beer in Europe so far), we walked around checking out the canals, cheese shops and leaning buildings. 

That night we journeyed out not having any plan but just to walk around and people watch! What a great night! It feels like we did about 10 laps of the city! So many people out and about, people old and young (but mostly around our age).  This city really is like nothing either of us had ever seen! Yes, prostitution is legal. Yes, the streets smell like weed from all the legal smoking. Yes, pretty much all things are accepted and legalized. But, it's really not anything like the "sin city" of the states! Our tour guide taught us that the Dutch are business people, and if your not hurting anyone and its good for business why not make it legal and tax the crap out of it! Prostitutes pay taxes and have the right to refuse business from whoever they want, and the cannabis exchange is highly taxed and regulated. 

Our next day in Amsterdam, we met up with Steven (Kelsey's boyfriend Marcus's cousin) who showed us around the city and took us to the the Anne Frank house. What an amazing place to see in person. They have managed to save the wallpaper from their hiding spot that has the pictures the family put up and the girls various height measurements throughout their time there. It's very sad to walk through and be reminded how the Jewish people were treated but it is very important to remember our history, so we can change the future. 

It was great to learn the history of this great city and not just know it for its infamous party scenes! 

That night we made dinner with Steven (spaghetti of course)! Steven lives across the bay, in the cutest refurbished shipping crate! We forgot to take a picture but pretty much they paint these crates bright blue, red and green and then stack them on each other! Each one has its own bathroom and kitchen (like a studio). Mostly just students live in them, so they are like ultimate dorms! 

Steven's friend Glen joined us after dinner! It was time to go out and dance on the city. So as apparently Dutch people do, the boys rode their bikes while us two girls sat on the little flat part on the back! We rode to the ferry and then all over downtown Amsterdam! What fun it was and a great an workout to balance on the bike back! 

The night was so fun and we are so thankful to have been able to hang out with Steven! He was a great host for the night and just fun to be around in general!!!! Thanks Steven you made Amsterdam rock!