Amsterdam and Back Again

Day 24: Sorry there will be no pictures with this blog because I have limited Internet use and I don't have the time to put them up! Right now I am back in Paris after a great weekend in Amsterdam. It started on Saturday morning when Helen and I missed our train. We were supposed to be able to use our cards to get our tickets from an electronic kiosk. Of course just our luck, the kisok wouldn't read our cards. It was ok though. The man at the ticket desk was very helpful (probably should have just gone to him in the first place) and the next train to Amsterdam was just an hour later. We all know what Amsterdam is best known for but when we arrived there I was surprised at how pretty it is. After being in Paris, it was very quaint and peaceful. The first day we just walked around. We went to Vondelpark which is a huge park in Amsterdam (they say the man who designed Central Park had Vondelpark in mind) and we were so tired we ended up falling asleep in the grass! It was really great to be able to do that. We took it easy Saturday night too because clearly we were exhausted. On Sunday, we woke up and went on a bike tour on my sister's recommendation. We went with Mike's Bike Tours through the Amsterdam countryside. It was so much fun. We rode by the Amstel River to a cheese and wooden shoe shop and also through parks and other pretty places. I loved it. After that we went to the Van Gogh museum but there was a long line and kind of expensive. We didn't want to pay it considering neither of us are very artsy anyway. So we just ended up walking around the Red Light District. It was really surreal/kind of sad to see all the girls in the windows. We went back to the hostel to meet up with my UTK friends for dinner. After dinner, we all met up with some of Helen's UGA friends. They were staying at a hotel in the Red Light District! They were a group of guys so I guess it makes sense but I would have been frightened to stay there. This morning Helen and I woke up to check out of our hostel but we still had a couple of hours before our train left so we went to the Anne Frank house. It is hard to describe it but I was really moved. It was very sad but beautiful. After that we hopped on a train and now we are back in Paris! Coming back felt a little bit like coming home. Not sure what we are going to do tonight but I may show Helen around some of my favorite places. Tomorrow we are going to Versailles and then I go home on Wednesday!! So excited. Until tomorrow, Au Revoir!