Quick Trip to Holland

This weekend, most of my roommates and a couple other friends ventured on a quick weekend trip to Amsterdam! We had a sightseeing-packed weekend and I had an especially great time due to a very special added bonus: my parents are living there for the month. (My friends thought this was a bonus as well. Parents living in an apartment in the city = no hostel or hotel payments) Some of my roommates landed in Amsterdam on Thursday night while the rest of us got in on Friday in the late afternoon. My dad picked four of my friends and me up at the airport, we went to the apartment, and quickly headed out one of my parents' favorite Italian restaurants. We met up with three of my friends from Vandy that are studying abroad in Barcelona and their roommate, which made the night even more special!

Walt and 14 ladies...Lookin' good

The next morning we got up early and ready to pack most of our Amsterdam sightseeing into one day. We somehow all made it out the door at 8 AM (impressive, right?) and headed to one place that we have all missed an unhealthily large amount: Starbucks. (The only Starbucks is in the Copenhagen airport...Not helpful at all.)

 

Fifteen drinks and a whole lot of happy girls later, we started our day. First stop: Anne Frank House. I didn't take any pictures here because it's not the picture-taking kind of museum, but it truly was incredible to see. We got there early because the line gets longer during the rest of the day and we were there the minute it opened. Waited in line for a total of ten minutes. Success. Next stop: Our Lord in the Attic. When Catholicism was prohibited in Amsterdam this church was built in an attic of a canal house. Truly incredible! There were so many levels, twists, and turns it was so cool to see.

After having lunch at THE most amazing lunch place with all the fresh fruits, vegetables, bread, soup, smoothies, etc. that you could ever imagine we headed for the Van Gogh museum. We made a short stop at the "I AMsterdam" sign and took a million pictures. Typical tourists. We were in the museum for twenty minutes and got bored... The sun outside was just too tempting. So naturally, being the vitamin D deficient Copenhagen students we are, we went and laid (not sure if this is the right word) in the grass. After this we went on a canal tour and got to see the entire city, which was great! 

On Saturday night, I had dinner with just my parents. SO nice to have time with just the two of them and get to catch up on the past two months. The girls that got to Amsterdam on Thursday left Sunday morning and the rest of us went on a biking tour of the city because we didn't leave until Sunday night. Amsterdam, much like Copenhagen, is full of bikers so it was fun to see the city from a biker's perspective. After lunch at the same place as the day before (we loved it that much), we said our goodbyes to my parents and headed for the airport. Quick trip, but so worth it. Amsterdam is beautiful and I had so much fun exploring with both my new and old friends!