The Grand Tour Part III: Amsterdam

So last I left off, Andy and I were departing from Berlin to go to Amsterdam. I was super excited to go to Amsterdam because I had always heard how pretty it is and how much fun a person can have there. I'd also heard that the hostel we were staying in, The Flying Pig, was amazing. I don't know what all of my friends that have been to Amsterdam were on when they told me this, but I honestly did not enjoy the city. This may have been because 1) it was 40 degrees and raining the whole time we were there 2) our hostel was super ghetto, loud, and reeked of pot (I know, should have realized this would be true in Amsterdam) 3) it is super expensive. When we arrived, it was 6 in the morning and Andy and I passed out in our room until about 10 minutes before we were supposed to go on our tour. We rushed down to breakfast, where everything was already eaten, and started the miserably cold walk to Dam square to meet our guide. Since our group was so large, we were split between 2 guides, and Andy and I were unfortunate enough to be with all the Jersey Shore reject guidos and a pissy Swede tour guide. Amsterdam's history was as strange as the city. We started in the red light district, where we saw a church that was surrounded by hookers in windows, a coffee shop, and a kindergarten. Our guide explained that this is normal in Amsterdam because everything here is considered okay as long as it brings in money. This may be another reason why I was so turned off by the city. We saw a few cool things on the tour, like this street where homeless people can live and not be kicked out, a one room wide house, and the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company. After the tour, a large group of our new friends decided to explore the "coffee shops," which was a cluster because no one could figure out where they wanted to go, etc. We finally ended up going to the Vincent Van Gogh Museum, which was really cool, since Van Gogh is one of my favorite artists, but was not worth the 14 euro entrance fee. Andy and I ended up going home and just chilling at the hostel so we could stay warm.
Day 2 I overslept and Andy and I just decided to go off and do things on our own, which was much better than trying to organize a giant group of people. We wandered around the canals and went into some really cool stores, like a store full of items such as a "Food Face" plate and cooking drumsticks, as well as the coolest vintage store ever. We ended up eating lunch at some overpriced Argentinian restaurant because Dutch food sucks, then waited in the freezing cold rain to go to the Anne Frank House. I really enjoyed touring the rooms where the Frank family hid, as well as the final exhibit where you can vote on current freedom of speech and civil rights issues. We decided to call it quits after the museum and again just spent the night chilling at our hostel. After Amsterdam, I was truly ready to head on to Paris!