Dutch Treat: Amster Amster Dam Dam Dam

My, oh my, time does fly when you are having fun!
I haven't had much time to update you all because I have been so busy traveling to Amsterdam, meeting friends from DU, studying for finals, and traveling to Prague, Czech Republic!!
Two weeks ago, my friend Jack from DU, who is studying abroad in Perugia, Italy went on a big European backpacking trip with some friends and my town of Maastricht was their first stop!
It was so fun to see them in Europe and to share our adventures with each other! It was definitely a treasure to have some of my closest friends with me in Europe.
Showing my friends around gave me an excuse to explore some more of Maastricht. We got coffee and relaxed by the river, a spot where I don't typically hang out, but it turned out to be one of the calmest places I have experienced in the city!
Following Jack and his travel group, my friend Jillian and I headed up to Amsterdam for the weekend. It was actually my first trip to Amsterdam, and what a trip it was!
We arrived, settled into our hotel, and hit the town! The first sight we saw was actually a more modern phenomenon...Occupy Amsterdam! Police on horseback were monitoring the scene, and people peaceably protested. We passed by the carnival that was posted up in the main square and after passing countless canals, we arrived at the Heineken Brewery. The experience was much more than your average brewery tour with 4-D Brew rides, Clydesdale horses, and of course lessons on tasting beer.

The beautiful Amsterdam Centraal.

On the way to the Heineken Brewery!

We explored the city some more and met up with some more friends for dinner at a delicious Indian restaurant. It was definitely a sight to see the Red Light District all light up at night, but it was not the area where I would like to spend a lot of my time. We took a quick stroll through the glowing alleys and decided it was time to go. We really made the most of the second day, since our train was leaving at 10pm. We started out at Madame Tussaudes Wax Museum only to be surprised by a really scary haunted pirate maze at the beginning of the walking tour. Talk about a wake up call! I had never been to a wax museum before, but I had always wanted to, so it was fun to be in Amsterdam for that experience!


Some pretty cool guys.

On Daniel Craig's arm. Life is good!

We had reservations for the Anne Frank House tour in the late afternoon, so to kill some time, we went on a canal tour and had a nice lunch. The weather was gorgeous and gave Amsterdam a beautiful touch. The moment we stepped into Anne Frank's secret annex, I could feel a sense of sorrow, fear, but also humbleness. It was incredible to walk through the doorway that was hidden by the movable bookshelf and enter the world that she and her family spent two years living inside. Inside Anne's room, pictures of magazines and postcards that she pasted on the wall were still hanging there. That was certainly one of the most moving parts of the museum. It is just so incredible that her and her family lived in the secret annex for two years; never running outside, never shouting, never being able to take a breath of fresh air. It was a very eye opening experience.