Amsterdam

Hello everyone! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS! I miss you all so much and skyping was awesome... if any of you have skype on your computers at home i'd love to get your names so we can keep in touch like that, it's the easiest/cheapest way for me!

This past weekend (January 21-23) we journeyed to Amsterdam. The bus ride was not bad at all, just over three hours from Brussels, and we slept most of the way. The first thing we quickly learned was that EVERYBODY in Amsterdam rides bikes. There is an entire bicycle lane throughout the city...and let me tell you, these bicycle people are not nice and do not stop or swerve out of the way if you step into their little lane. Fun Fact: there are more bicycles than people in Amsterdam!
So the first day we went on a walking tour of Amsterdam.. the city is actually really interesting and historic. We saw the historic Jewish quarter and Anne Frank's house as well as New Town and Old Town Amsterdam, of course the Red Light District and then we took a walk down one of the canals. It's actually a really pretty city and not as crazy as it's made out to be. The funniest part of the trip was when we were lost at one point looking for a place to eat dinner and we asked a woman how to get to the restaurant... she responded, "Take your next left, it's down past the street with prostitutes.. it's a really nice area though, don't worry." That made us laugh, the people there are so accepting of the prostitution and our tourguide said they call them "business women" and that they don't really view them in a negative light as we do.