The next stop on our trip after Bruges, Belgium, was Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

I don’t know what I expected…but it wasn’t quite what I found. Amsterdam was a big city, but not that big. It was small enough to nearly walk around the whole thing in a day. I didn’t really take any pictures of the touristy, crowded, city-like areas – instead more of the pretty canals and quiet areas.

We went on a walking tour of Amsterdam where we learned a lot about the history and culture of the city. (Seriously, if you’re in Europe, check out the free New Sandeman tours!) Our guide told us about some of the politics around what the city is known for – namely drugs and its red light district.  He said that the new government wants to make it so you have to be a Dutch citizen to purchase from the “coffeeshops”, which would have radical implications on its tourism, from which everyone in the city benefits.  Interesting changes happening!

We went to the Van Gogh Museum, which was cool.  There were a lot of other museums we wanted to go to (for instance, the Anne Frank Museum or a museum of artwork with cats in it), but Amsterdam was really expensive, so unfortunately we didn’t go everywhere.

Food I will never forget – pancakes (which is what they call crepes)! Yumm. I got this enormous ham and cheese one… twice.

Finally, we took a day trip to Keukenhof Gardens.  It was a landscaped park that showed off probably hundreds of different types of flowers that are grown in the Netherlands. Surrounding the huge park were fields of tulips also. It was really pretty!

Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands