Amsterdam

Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Before leaving for Brussels we had to go to the bank to retrieve Mike’s ATM card because the machine had ate it the night before. We caught the 7pm train and arrived in Brussels around 10pm. Because Brussels is the connecting point between Metz and Amsterdam, we decided to spend the night at a hostel. After having trouble finding our way around, we ran into some Americans (from USC) who were also looking for a hostel. The locals were really nice about helping us find our way around. They spoke English really well and spent a lot of time making sure that we ended up going in the right direction. Fortunately the hostel had some openings and we checked in around 11:30pm.

An alley with several apartment buildings.

Amsterdam is famous for its beautiful canals.

We took the train from Brussels to Amsterdam and arrived early afternoon. My first impression was not very good. Parts of the city are really dirty and hundreds of people wonder the streets high on drugs. It was difficult finding a place to stay. We finally walked into a crappy hotel where some guy let us know about an opening that he had in his hotel down the street. We arrived a La Canna a few minutes later and checked in. The building was half hotel and half drugs. The front desk sold numerous types of drugs. The area we were in was very close to the infamous Red Light District. It was everything I had imagined it to be. Groups of people were singing as they walked through the streets high on drugs and alcohol. Fortunately not all of Amsterdam was this dirty. We walked around and explored some of the most amazing architecture and canals that I had ever seen. We went into the Van Gogh museum. The building was not that impressive, but the paintings were amazing. There were countless numbers of Van Gogh paintings and each one was incredible. The other paintings in the museum were mainly dedicated to the artists that had inspired Van Gogh.