Amsterdamned.

It is the strangest thing arriving 'home' and realizing that you are still in a foreign country. That was the only thought flooding my mind as I stepped into my room in Liverpool after a three night trip to Amsterdam.

The trip was a great time, and one that completely wiped out any preconceived notions I had regarding the city. Amsterdam is less of a mecca of debauchery as portrayed in movies, and more of a center of culture, beauty and history fostered by a community of friendly, laid back people. Sure, there are the coffee shops that act as chimneys pumping marijuana smoke into the streets and there are the windowsill prostitutes who line the alleys of the red-light district. However, even in the 'shadier' areas, the people were friendly and everything felt completely safe. Above and beyond these places, there are the canals, museums and architecture that make Amsterdam great.

Brock and I flew out of John Lennon airport on Thursday evening. We met a nice girl from Liverpool who was meeting a friend who gave us a ride from the airport to the Amsterdam city center. We made our way to our hostel, which was the cheapest one in the city for good reason. Within a couple of hours, I was approached and asked whether I 'needed any Charlie Parker'. Assuming that either meant heroin or was a sexual proposition, I decided to pass.

We went out to a bar, where we watched Everton (a soccer club from Liverpool) play a match against a Dutch team. After that, we met a band who gave us a free ticket to a concert. The show was advertised as 'gypsy-ska' and turned out to be a blast.

On Saturday we explored the city and checked out the Rijksmusuem. This museum had a bunch of masterpieces from Dutch painters. Prominently, they had about a dozen Rembrandts, including the hugely famous 'The Night Watch'. It was incredible to see firsthand. We had a nice dinner and hung out in some more bars the rest of the night.


We began Sunday by checking out the Van Gogh museum. It was insane being in the same building as over 200 original Van Gogh paintings. We saw a few by Monet as well. After the museum, we took a canal tour through the city and stopped at a flea market. There were so many friendly Dutch people selling cool little things. I even saw a Wham! 45 for sale.

We made our way to the Anne Frank house, which was the one thing in Amsterdam I was most excited to see. Unfortunately, due to Yom Kippur, the house was closed all day. That's what I get for not being familiar with Jewish holidays.

Next we went to check out the red light district, since we were too afraid to be there at night time. It was rather unsettling to see the prostitutes, but interesting, nonetheless. We found a bar that was playing the Liverpool match, so we had a few Heinekens while watching the team struggle again. It was such a cool feeling being able to support a British football club that plays a few miles away from my current home.

We attempted to stay up all night, since our flight home was early Sunday morning, but after several bars I was ready for a two hour nap. At 7am, half-asleep and fully-exhausted, Brock and I made our way to the airport to catch our short flight back 'home' to Liverpool.

More pictures will be up once I upload everything to Flickr. Until then, just use your imagination.