Mars Landing: I AMSTERDAM

this past weekend i went to amsterdam and had the most amazing time! we arrived on thursday afternoon and i was immediately SUPER happy, just as I was when Joe and I landed in Spain. I felt at ease right away and couldn't stop exclaiming how excited i was to be there. i'm sure it has something to do with mom's dutch love affair... anyway, when we got there me, elle, lauren and kristin went to the anne frank house which totally and completely blew me away. we went in the late afternoon, about an hour and a half before closing and there was absolutely no line so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. this definitely helped enhance the experience. out of all the museums and historical sites i've visited on my trip, the anne frank house was definitely the most powerful. we all had a really difficult time holding back the tears. i can't imagine what it's going to be like when i visit concentration camps in the next couple weeks! after the anne frank house we wandered around the jordan and eventually found a great burger restaurant. the next morning we woke up early to have a yummy breakfast and then take a free walking tour of the city. isaac had told me that him and his brother did the free new europe tours in a lot of the cities they visited last summer, but i'd never checked them out until amsterdam. it was such a great tour though! i wish i'd done them in other cities. it really helps when you can put all the sites into historical and cultural significance. after the tour ended we were super cold and hungry and headed to mom's favorite soup place Soup En Zo for delicious soup and bread. With happy tummies we visited the Van Gogh museum. i wasn't really too impressed with it. It probably had something to do with the fact that it was super crowded, but I also didn't really think it was organized too well (especially in comparison to the Anne Frank House or Barcelona's Picasso museum). After that we found the "I AMSTERDAM" sing and took way too many photographs. That night we found amaazzzing (and cheap!) falafel and stuffed ourselves to the brim. The next morning we woke up and had dutch pancakes and then met up with Ginger who took us all around the city! it was awesome. we went to the new public library which is for sure one of the coolest buildings i've seen. highly recommended. that night, the boys who joe and i met in barcelona took a train in from the hague and showed us americans a great time. it was sooo wonderful to see them all again! our night ended at the wee hour of 5am, so, needless to say, sunday we just woke up and headed to the airport.

overall, amsterdam was AWESOME and i will be moving to holland in a few years :) here are pictures!