Friday, 2.14.2014:
How was I going to spend the most romantic day of the year? By going to the city of pot and prostitution. Although I've joked around with my friends about this I was really excited to go see Amsterdam because I had heard the city was absolutely gorgeous and that it was a really fun European city to visit. I woke up early to shower and finish packing for the trip. Once Catie and I were all ready to go we made out way to the airport. This consisted of a 15 minute walk in the rain and a 45 minute bus ride to the airport. We were cutting it a little close time wise - mom would probably have a mini panic attack if she were here. Once we got to the airport we went through security and met our friend Joel. The three of us then went to the gate and got on our flight to Amsterdam. The flight was very rough and that didn't help Catie who was already a nervous flyer. In between listening to Catie's mini gasps I spent the flight journaling. We landed and immediately looked for the tourist office so we could find a way to Bobs Youth Hostel. Thankfully the Dutch are really friendly and helped us find the right train to take. On the train the three of us were mistaken for locals by another traveler. I don't know about you, but I find it to be a great compliment when people think I am from the city even if I just a visitor myself. It makes me feel like I look like I know what I doing. Once at the train station we played a guessing game as to where our hostel was. After walking 10 minutes, in the rain, in the wrong direction, we decided that we had guessed wrong and it was time to map out the directions on one of our phones. After finally getting the right directions we made it to Bobs Youth Hostel. We were really concerned that this place was going to be incredibly trashy based on it's HostelWorld reviews but thankfully it wasn't as bad as we were imagining. One thing that was really bad about Bobs was the fact that wifi was down. To college kids who basically depend on wifi on a day to day basis, this would cause a lot of problems. The hostel thought offering up a complimentary beer would make up for the lack of wifi. Although the three of us were grateful the beer it didn't even remotely make up for the lack of wifi. We walked up to our room and dropped off our bags before heading out to finally find some dinner. We had met a Canadian in the lobby when checking in and he had offered to show us a cheap Italian dinner. We all ate our delicious food while we got to get to know the Canadian. His name is Ryan and he is an actor studying in Toronto.
On the walk back to the hostel it started to pour so our new friend let us borrow his umbrella. At the hostel we meet up with all the other Illinois students who had already been in Amsterdam. All of us walked over to the Dam Square to go on the Red Light District Tour. This was a very....ummm...interesting tour. I don't think I would ever need to do this tour again, but I will say it was an experience. The tour guide took as all around the Red Light District and told us about the history of the district, sex and prostitution. On top of the tour being being on the bizarre side, it was down pouring the whole time. Walking around the red light district in the pouring rain is not how I thought I would be spending my Valentines Day, but it will be a Valentines day to remember. After the tour all of us wanted to get some warm food and a couple of drinks. We wound up getting some Mexican food as a big group. Although we weren't exactly get cultured with our food choice it ended up being a pretty good meal. Once we were all full, we went to find a pub to relax for the night. What pub did we end up picking?! An Irish Pub...called the Blarney Stone....again clearly we are getting very cultured. After spending time at the Irish Pub we decided to call it a night.
Cheers,
Jenny
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