June 29^th, 2012

Day 41: Hamburg, Germany & Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Happy birthday Kimi!!! So sorry I couldn’t be there to celebrate with you. Love you chica <3

(That's me having a drink for you.. virtually.)

After a late night and a way too early morning, Stephen and I made it (barely) to our train that was headed for Amsterdam! The train left at quarter to 8 and got us into Amsterdam Centraal around 1:30p. We spent most of the train rides trying to sleep and getting some rest on and off so that we could capitalize on our first afternoon in Amsterdam.

Now, I was extremely excited to go back to this city. It won me over the first time I visited with its laid back, liberal atmosphere and charming people.  The city is pretty and so unique compared to any other city I’ve spent some time in. It was definitely a good time 2 years ago so I couldn’t wait to be back!

Amsterdam did not disappoint at all- we were welcomed to the city by 72 degree weather, sunshine, and a relatively easy path to our hostel! It was a pretty sweet place, kind of expensive for one night, but very centrally located (in the Red Light District), nicely decorated, and with free breakfast!

After settling into our hostel for a while, Stephen and I then ventured out to explore some parts of the city. We went over to Neiumarkt first to grab something to eat, and then walked through the narrow streets, over canals, and made our way to Dam Square. It was a pretty laid back afternoon overall, and after a little while we went back to the hostel for a short nap- train sleeping in the morning just didn’t cut it!

After our nap, we started chatting with one of our roommates, Phil from Germany, and decided to go out and grab a beer somewhere. We wandered the streets for a while and ended up at a place called the International Café. While we were sitting on the benches outside people watching (Amsterdam is most certainly #1 for this pastime), we started talking to 2 Dutch girls who lived in Amsterdam and their friend from Australia. They invited us to join them as they left this café to go to another, and we joined them for a few more beers! It was nice to get a personal ‘tour’ of the area from residents, especially to hear about the trends in terms of nightlife, the Red Light District, places to eat, drink, etc.

After a bit more wandering in the area, we called it a night and went back to the hostel! A nice ending to the night was skyping with all of my frienda back home! They’d been celebrating Kimi’s birthday and mourning Annese’s departure, but it was great to see everyone, even if it was electronically!

Favorite part of the day: Meeting the locals. There’s no better way to be introduced to a city!