Good Girls go to Heaven, Bad Girls go to Amsterdam

Thursday afternoon we took a trip to Amsterdam. This has to be one of my favorite cities I've ever visited in all of my travels. Amsterdam has this image of being this crazy city with no rules. Which it can be that way to a degree, if you're looking for those things. Of course you probably don't want to walk into a coffee shop if you're looking for a nice cup of coffee. But if you're looking for a nice day to walk around and see some amazing architecture and beautiful canals, this is definitely the city to satisfy those needs.

However, Amsterdam can be very dangerous, mainly for Americans. It seems like there are a thousand bikers on every road, and if you're not paying strict attention, you will get run over. But this trip I managed to be quite alert and didn't even have any close encounters with crazy bikers.

Sadly, my first trip to an automatiek (which is kind of like a vending machine but with hot food like hamburgers and krokets) was in Amsterdam, my last full day in Holland. When we walked into the walk-up fast food restaurant, FEBO, there were not many people in there. However, when I decided I would purchase a kroket, hundreds of other people decided it was a good time to invade the restaurant and make me incredibly nervous. The kroket cost E1.40 and it must be exact change. They have change machines in the restaurant so if you do not have exact change it can give you the correct coins you need. After I got my change, I went over to the wall where the food is and I successfully received my kroket. I don't really like the franchise of FEBO's krokets, but they are definitely still worthy of being eaten.

After my successful automatiek purchase, we continued to walk though the city. We stopped for some drinks, did some souvenir shopping, and took pictures. It was a very relaxing day in Amsterdam, and as I said before, this is one of my favorite cities ever. Last year when we went to Amsterdam we did all the tourist musts, like going through the Anne Frank house, going on the canal boat tour, and going to the center. So this year we walked around different parts of the city as there was really no need to do those tourist things again. Walking through the city you will pass many coffee shops and get strong whiffs of marijuana, but this shouldn't turn people away from going there because unless you're looking for the liberal things like pot and hookers, you don't really run into them. Especially since the hookers stay inside their little windows and the pot stays in the coffee shops.

When we got home we relaxed in the nice weather outside, and I was convinced to ride Isabel's bike. As I told myself I would never ride a bike again in Holland because I almost died doing so last year, for the sake of photos I gave in. However, it seems as though I still can't get the hang of the damn things, as I ended up in the middle of the street. Like I said before, for the sake of photos, I'll do pretty much anything.

My time in Holland was absolutely fantastic, and as I'm now currently sitting in my family room typing this up, I miss it tremendously. I am not sure when the next time it is that I will be making a trip back there, so it was very hard for me to leave this time. My family I stayed with was better than great to me, and I am truly thankful for all that they did to make my vacation as relaxing and wonderful as they did. I do have one more little post that may entertain some of you, but specifically my dad. It's a little surprise the Olijerhoek's worked out for me. So if you're interested, sit tight and you will find it in the coming days.

But now, it's back to reality, back to stress, back to the heat. I'm home Arizona.