Oh Amsterdam...

Our weekend at Amsterdam was a great time.  Although it got a little hectic since all 85 of us attended and we walked around in large groups sometimes, all in all it was a ton of fun.  The city is filled with canals and crooked architecture.  The city ranges from a centralized portion from the middle ages and has expanded to three more canals in the Golden Age of the 17th century, and obviously more canals and expansion since then.  

However all of the houses/apartment building are very thin and deep due to taxes on the width of the house, and some are even slanted forward to move boxes into the top floors without hitting the outside walls.  So, as you can imagine everything is just a little off... which adds this great charm to the city.

  

And of course when the sun went down... most of the city did not go to sleep, and the atmosphere was lively, exciting and ridiculous!!  Some of the museums we went to were the Rijks Museum, which houses many Rembrandt paintings and other more historically based works; the Anne Frank Huis, which was extremely well-done and very powerful; the Jewish Historical Museum, which was surprisingly very interesting and taught me a lot about a religion that I know very little; and my favorite, the Van Gogh Museum.  Seeing some of my favorite paintings actually look as if they are in motion from his specific brush strokes was compelling, and extremely different than any print or poster I have ever seen.  We ate at a great Indonesian Restaurant with the whole group, and the second night some friends and I went to a well-renowned restaurant called The Pancake Bakery.  

They were THE BEST PANCAKES I HAVE EVER EATEN!  Cate and I shared a PIZZA-sized pancake with pear halves, ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce... We were all crawling as we left the restaurant!  And of course, as Amsterdam is known for we all enjoyed the interesting night life and a walk through the Red Light District where the Emersonians decided to partake in a show at the Moulin Rouge Club... we'll just say it was an experience and fulfilled my quota of seeing any type of Burlesque show in the future!  

All in all the trip was great.  My favorite artists, pictures at the "I AMsterdam" statue, and many delicious treats.  Cannot wait for Dublin next week, where we will be in a smaller group and on our own!!

... as the wacky experiences continue.