Amsterdam/Brussels

Last Sunday, a group of us set off for Amsterdam in which we were going to stay from Sunday-Tuesday. We had to run in the airport to make our flight and we barely made it in time (we were literally the last people to get on the plane). The flight was only forty minutes long give or take so we got into Amsterdam with plenty of daylight left. We didn't do much during the day Sunday other than walk around through the city center. However, that night we did walk through the Red Light District. We had a general idea of what to expect but it was still an eye opening experience. I won't go into much graphic detail, but basically it was like we were in a shopping mall, and instead of there being clothes and mannequins in the windows there were prostitutes trying to get your attention.  The sickest part about it was people all around the area were either immune to it or enjoying it.  We didn't spend much time there and while it was an awful place to be, I'm thankful I got to walk through it just so I can be more aware and educated about what is allowed in certain parts of the world. Monday we got on a bus and went to Brussels, Belgium for the day. It was only a three hour bus ride so we thought why not go ahead and see another country? I liked Brussels more than Amsterdam within about an hour of being there and maybe it was because not every store was trying to sell me weed and sex products like Amsterdam. We all got one or two of their famous waffles, mine having Nutella and bananas on it, which was great. We also saw the famous Manneken Pis statue which was a lot smaller than I imagined. The only problem we had in Brussels was that none of the ATM's were working for us, and after about our sixth ATM we finally got one to work. After about eight hours in Brussels we got back on the bus and went back to Amsterdam where we were going to spend one more day before we were scheduled to fly back. On Tuesday, we went to the Anne Frank house. The Anne Frank house was by far my favorite thing in Amsterdam. Everything looked like I imagined it would in the hideout, granted it has been several years since I've read it. I still enjoyed being retold the story by walking through the house and seeing the hideout with my own eyes. Overall, I enjoyed both cities and glad I got to experience two new cultures. Until next time.