kristigoestoeurope!: I amsterdam

Went to Amsterdam this past weekend and since they don't speak French there and I'm falling behind with this, I'm only going to write in English! Sorry, didn't pick up any Dutch, maybe next time. Amsterdam was amazing, the city is beautiful with all of the canals that run through it and I really liked the architecture of the buildings. We walked everywhere this past weekend, all over the city and I feel like I know that place better than I do Brussels.

dusk in the city

supposedly this place ^^ was known as the "party area" by the guy at our hostel

One of the biggest street markets

at the flower market

I amsterdam

recognize this? I think it's in that Amstel beer commercial

Speaking of beer, one of the highlights of the trip, or at least where I took the most pictures was at the Heineken factory. It was better than I expected but probably because I heard that it really wasn't worth going to. We walked halfway across town to get there so we figured we'd go and to my surprise, I really enjoyed it. The factory is huge and you get to walk through the process of how the beer is made from beginning to end. Also included in the price is three glasses of beer, one smaller one for beer tasting, and two large ones at the end. The two big ones at the end are strategically placed right outside of the gift shop so that you get happy and spend lots of money buying stupid souvenirs that you will probably regret buying later. The way they regulate the number of beers you can have is two little buttons on a rubber band that they give you at the entrance, so if the people you're with don't really enjoy beer, you can have more than just two.

outside the heineken factory

photo opp inside!

at the beer tasting where I learned that apparently the only good way to drink beer is by taking enormous gulps

E komo mai!

We ate lots of good food, as you'll see below but as a future reference if you plan to go there, the food was probably the most expensive part of this trip. I suppose Amsterdam is so touristy that it's just a big Waikiki, where all the food you can get is over priced, even for a slice of pizza or a sandwich, but it still tasted good.