Ahhh where to begin with Amsterdam? Well firstly, to be honest, Amsterdam is definitely not what I was expecting. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting but I guess I was just expecting….more? I don’t know, I guess I just prefer the vibe of my town Haarlem. Amsterdam is so touristy and doesn’t have half the historical magicness of Haarlem. Not sure if I could ever live in Amsterdam but I much preferred the beauty of Den Haag, The Hague (now THAT’S what I call an amazing city but more on that later). That being said, Amsterdam is still a great city as there’s always so much on. Lololol Amsterdam reminds me a little bit of Melbourne minus the gigantic evil penguins with the addition of ten billion more pigeons (the pigeons here are more brownish and their feet are more pink but they still have that evil “IM GONNA MAKE YOU WEAR A DRESS AND HURT YOU REAL BAD” look in their eyes.) 

The day I snapped these pics was my first time into the city where I checked out The 9 Streets with Winona, our neighbours daughter (who’s actually 14 but looks and seems like she’s the same age as me. In my opinion, Dutch teens are way more mature than Aussie teens). At first the city was daunting, and as Winona doesn’t come into the city that often, we got lost a few times and went round a circle until I asked some friendly Dutch ladies for directions. In my adventures I’ve been lost so many times, but it’s never a problem as people are always willing to point you in the right direction (haha unless you’re trying to pronounce the Dutch name of the place you’re trying to get to and the Dutch people cant understand your terrible pronunciation – try saying ‘houtplein’, ‘wagenweg’, ‘bakje’, ‘kruidvat’ and ‘grote markt’. Haha I get a lot of laughs from people I ask for directions thanks to my mastery of the Dutch language :P

As it’s summer, every weekend there seems to be a free festival in Amsterdam. I’ve already been to the Canal Festival last week, where there was a floating stage on the canals that we got to sit on and this weekend there’s a huge free cultural festival that I’m going to. Will report back!

  

  

 Destroyed feet after Amsterdam. The skin is actually peeling off my feet as i type this. Sidestepping those bikes and them cobblestones is nasty.

 

Ps. Suggestions for places for me to travel to on my 2 weeks off? Probably wont do somewhere close ie. Paris/London/Antwerp that I could do in a weekend. Somewhere farther afoot? At the mo’ I’m keen on Sweden, Spain, Greece, Prague… perhaps Budapest? Suggestions please!
 

Pps. Sorry I fixed up the comment thing so now anyone can comment and you don’t need a google account to comment so leave me comment love peeps :)