As for the city of Amsterdam where I spent the majority of my time, I saw a lot of incredible things. Amsterdam itself happens to be one of my favorite cities in the world, for it has it's own unique and layed-back feeling and it's so libral. Everyone just takes it easy and normal things at a much slower pace than most of the other European peoples. The canals and waterways were a lot of fun to stroll next to and it's definantly worthwhile to catch a boat and sightsee from the water. Amsterdam is also full of some great museums and some of the ones that I visited were the Anne Frank Huis, the Rijksmuseum, and the Van Gogh Museum. If I had more time, I would of visited the Tropenmseum, which houses artifacts from the tropic Dutch colonies and the Amsterdam Sex Museum (The one in Prague, Czech Rep. is pretty good)! Amsterdam had some really great cafes and bars too. From what I remember, there are a very large number of international resturants. I myself ate Indonesian, Argentinian, and Ukrainian cuisine while staying there. And of course, Amsterdam has the infamous Red Light District and Coffieshops. On the first night there, I took a tram down there to check it out myself. I ended up having a lot of fun that night! Anyways, Amsterdam was a great place to visit and I hope other travelers looking at this site have the chance to visit there.

In addition to Amsterdam, I spent a little time in the country. I visited Aalsmere, which boasts the world's largest flower market and auction! It was amazing touring the complex and learning how things were sold overseas. I also had the chance to see the towns of Delft, Gouda, and Utrecht. Each of these towns were charming and fun to stroll around in. If you go, climb up to the top of the church steeples for some amazing panoramic views. Since the Netherlands are so flat and small, one is almost able to see across the entire country from the ocean to Germany or Belgium on an extreamly clear day! From my hotel room in Amsterdam, I was able to see a T.V. tower in Belgium! Some of the other things I enjoyed seeing were The Hague, the seaside town of Scheveningen, and the busy city of Rotterdam. Rotterdam was weird because I had never been to a European city with as many skyscrapers. I know London, Paris, and other cities i've been to have business centers, but Rotterdam was extreamly modern and new-looking. My mom was also interviewed here to by a local station and later broadcasted in the country! I saw it months later on the internet and was shocked! Another really cool thing that I visited was the miniture village which housed miniture buildings and churches that were located within the country. It reminded me of Legoland! The countryside was very pretty and I saw a few windmills. Unfortunantly, we weren't there during the flower blooming season, so I didn't see as many tulips as I wanted to see. Oh well. I still enjoyed the country very much though.

After I traveled throughout the Netherlands, I took the Thayles train to Brussels, Belgium. I hope you enjoyed reading about my experiences in Amsterdam and the Netherlands and hope you all travel there some day!