amsterdam

after berlin, our cruise ship made it back to copenhagen where it was time for me to say goodbye to the security of being with my family and go off on my own. wanting to leave my journey a little up in the air, i looked at my list of cities i would like to someday go to, and bought a one way ticket to amsterdam.

canals of amsterdam.

had to.

i'd say i didn't know what i was in for arriving in this city, but i'm pretty sure everyone has a preconceived notion of what amsterdam is like that is pretty accurate. the red light district, coffeeshops, bikes, canals, and in your face liberalism pretty much sums it up. though i do tend to lean a bit more conservative (in life - i'm so not interested in talking politics on here...), i have to say i really felt at home here.

clogs. one of the many reasons i "felt at home." kidding.

tulips ever-y-where.

first of all, i'll give points to any city that doesn't require that you have a car. amsterdam not only has a great public transportation system, but the city is also considerably small which makes it really easy (and cheap!) to get everywhere on foot. of course there is also always the option to rent a bike but you better be an expert to manage the streets here.

i stayed in the city for four days (two nights in a hostel that i LOVED - ask me for the name if you're headed there - and two nights with my first couch surfing host), and it was enough to see almost everything i wanted to see tourism wise. of course a couple different snarky tourists in my hostel assured me it's definitely a "48 hour city," but i wasn't so convinced. sure, you can get the top 5 or maybe even 10 done in that time, but this city has staying power beyond a couple of days for sure.

if only i was able to come up with enough uses for this to make room for it in my tiny back pack.