Amsterdam was the biggest surprise to me personally on this trip thus far. The moment we got out of the train station, we were embraced by an electricity of a big city much like Bombay or London I suppose..
Lots of people, lots of colour and lots of charm all around.
The funniest thing was that the city made famous for making prostitution legal accepts it like it were just antother profession. People go about their day passing by the red light district like it were just another quarter of the city!
Amsterdam surprised us by all the variety of things it had to offer from being the host of international documentary film festivals to plethora of Indonesian restaurants (not sure why??) and of course incredibly beautiful canals and architecture. We also saw lovely art and artifacts at three of amstrerdams largest museums. We took a beautiful canal cruise around the city by the night. All the houses with large french wondows showed off gorgeously neat and artistic homes behind them. While we were oohing and aaahing over the pretty Dutch houses, our guide on the cruise pointed out the the houses along the canals in Amsterdam were very narrow and extending quite deep. Supposedly it is regular practice to decorate the front room of ones house in a spectacular fashion with large bookcases filled with books one never reads and colourful lamps and such - just for onlookers to see of course. How interesting - I had never seen window displays for houses before:-) Oh and Brad Pitt has a home on a canal in Amsterdam. We couldnt quite get the cruise guide drunk enough to tell us the address!
Another thing we discovered was that Netherlands is one of the few countries in the world where gay and lesbian marriages are legal! It was quite exhillarating to experience this beautiful city with a very very broad mind.
Most people understood and spoke English in Amsterdam so we had no problems getting around. Oh and did I mention? Our hotels name was 'Hotel ABBA' and the guy at the reception looked like a punk:-)
After 3 days and a few total blasts, we are off to Berlin. Who knows what Germany has in store for us. Our adventure continues...........
Link to our photos from Amsterdam and Brussels:
http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=35mf8y.cpxykm7f&x=0&y=-b33eer
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