When we got into town, it was pretty late in the evening on Friday night so we checked into our hotel, The Bulldog, which is a pretty popular hotel in the red light district of Amsterdam. Upon check-in we noticed a pretty hilarious sign as you can see below.
The Bulldog hotel and coffeshop 
No cigarettes but pot is OK!!We decided to wander around for a while in the area around our hotel. We hadn't eaten much since we were on the train for 3 hours on the way from Paris, so we looked for something to eat. We found a small place that had some pizza etc. so I got a slice of vegetarian pizza while Cole got the hot dog smothered in cheese with peperoni on top! Looked like quite the delicacy. After eating we walked around and took note of all the craziness but didn't partake just yet.
Me and Cole on the canals in the red light district
Me and Cole on the canals in the red light district On Saturday we got up pretty early to hit one of our main attractions for the weekend-- the Anne Frank house. Being a pretty small museum in a city of many attractions, we had to get there early in the AM (around 9 am ) to beat the lines. We only had to wait 10 or so minutes to get into the house. It was an extremely powerful experience and I'm really happy we had a chance to see it. It was basically a tour through the house and the secret annex that Anne Frank and her family lived in during WWII and the Holocaust. Even though she was just a little girl (I think she wrote in her diary from around 8-13 or 14 years old) she had some pretty profound things to say about what was going on around her. We didn't get any good pictures of the actually house (because we weren't allowed) but we got some cool pictures of some nearby attractions!
Tulip museum
Tulip museum After the morning museum tour we decided to do some shopping (well, I decided to do some shopping while Cole followed along). We found a street with some cute shops on it and I bought a pretty necklace there. We also went to the main department store in Amsterdam, DeBijenkorf, and hung out there for a while. There was lots of stuff on sale (yayyyyy!!!) so we spend some time there, and I ended up buying a nice skirt. It was pretty exciting for me at least. Cole was pretty ready for some food.
We made our way back to the red light district around our hotel and perused the area for something good to eat, but not until after we stopped at the Bulldog bar for some Heinekens! Then we stumbled upon a little place called Wok to Walk which was a noodle takeout restaurant. Basically like HuHot but better... you could choose your type of noodle, veggies, meat, and sauce, and they cooked it all up and put it in a chinese takeout carton. DELICIOUS! We grabbed our Woks and sat by the canal to eat it. We ended up eating Wok to Walk a couple times that weekend, and I'm pretty sure I speak for Cole as well when I say that it was one of my favorite restaurants of all time!!!!! Definitely at the top of the fast restaurant list.
At night on the Canal Cruise
Sunday morning we woke up (not quite as early... closer to noon this time) and once again got our favorite Wok to Walk for lunch!!! We still had a few major sites to hit up before we left that night. First, after eating some wok we walked to the other side of town to the museum area. That also happened to be there area near the "Museumplein" which is a big field/park area where they were playing the world cup games on a giant screen. Since that night was the world cup final and Holland was in it, it was definitely pretty crazy over there. However since we couldn't stay that night we didn't really partake in any of the world cup party festivities :(
Our first stop Sunday was the Van Gogh museum. The tickets were very expensive (14 euros each!!!) and we also got the audio tours for the trip. This might have been one of my favorite museums in Europe of all the ones I've been to this summer. There were lots of works by Van Gogh and all the other artists that influenced him/ that were influenced by him. One of the coolest parts of the museum was the way they showed the progression of his art from the point in time when he started (making very dark paintings at first) to his most famous period (when he used very vibrant colors, i.e. Starry Night and the many self-portraits we saw). I bought a print of his "Almond Blossom" painting and I'm pretty excited about it!!
After the Van Gogh museum we had some lunch at a little sandwich shop and then decided to head to our last tourist destination, the Heineken museum.
We loved the Heineken museum! It was a very innovative museum based on the way they presented their product and the process of making the beer. We saw the mash tuns and even got to taste the "wort", or the liquid that is made of water and barley and is the beginning of the beer making process before they add the hops for taste. It was very sweet and definitely tasted a lot different than the end product!
One of the coolest parts of the museum was a video/ride called "BrewYouRide" where you stood in a room and watched the brewing process from a first-person point of view. In other words, we were the beer. The floors moved and shook to give you the feeling that you were really being brewed! We both thought this was a pretty hilarious and also genius part of the tour.
Another cool aspect of the tour was that we had a bottle of Heineken made with our names on it... not to mention the 2 free beers we each got at the end of the tour!! The museum shop was also awesome and I wish we could have bought some more souvenirs, but once again we don't have much room to bring souvenirs back! However, fortunately for us, the Heineken museum has a website and I know for sure that I will be buying the cooler backpack in the future!!!
Cole at the Heineken museum
Brewing some beers
Sadly, after our Heineken tour it was already almost evening and we had to grab our bags and head back to the train station for our train back to Paris :( :(
But overall it was an amazing, really fun and really interesting weekend and I LOVE AMSTERDAM!!! I will definitely be making a trip back in the future!
We made our way back to the red light district around our hotel and perused the area for something good to eat, but not until after we stopped at the Bulldog bar for some Heinekens! Then we stumbled upon a little place called Wok to Walk which was a noodle takeout restaurant. Basically like HuHot but better... you could choose your type of noodle, veggies, meat, and sauce, and they cooked it all up and put it in a chinese takeout carton. DELICIOUS! We grabbed our Woks and sat by the canal to eat it. We ended up eating Wok to Walk a couple times that weekend, and I'm pretty sure I speak for Cole as well when I say that it was one of my favorite restaurants of all time!!!!! Definitely at the top of the fast restaurant list.
Post WOK we wandered around the town for a while, hit up the bars and coffeeshops, and just hung out in the area near our hotel. Pretty soon it was time to get ready for our "wine and cheese candlelight canal cruise"!!! We spruced ourselves up a little and walked over to the meeting point for our cruise. It was definitely one of the best ideas I've had for a while. It was only 30 euros per person but we had some cheese and snack mix to snack on, plus 2 bottles of wine per table. SO that means that me and Cole shared a bottle of white and a bottle of red. There was plenty of wine to go around!
"Dancing houses"
Canal
But anyways, about 3/4 way through our tour it unfortunately started to rain, but we were fine since the boat was covered and we could still see all the sights through the windows. However, post tour, instead of being able to walk straight back to the hotel we (most "unfortunately") had to stay at the bar. There was basically a hurricane going on outside with monsoon type rain. So we stayed at the bar by the dock for a few drinks. Once it settled down, we braved the rain to head back to our hotel. Once we got to the Bulldog again we hung out around the area in the bar and coffee shop etc.
"Dancing houses" 
Canal
At night on the Canal Cruise Our first stop Sunday was the Van Gogh museum. The tickets were very expensive (14 euros each!!!) and we also got the audio tours for the trip. This might have been one of my favorite museums in Europe of all the ones I've been to this summer. There were lots of works by Van Gogh and all the other artists that influenced him/ that were influenced by him. One of the coolest parts of the museum was the way they showed the progression of his art from the point in time when he started (making very dark paintings at first) to his most famous period (when he used very vibrant colors, i.e. Starry Night and the many self-portraits we saw). I bought a print of his "Almond Blossom" painting and I'm pretty excited about it!!
After the Van Gogh museum we had some lunch at a little sandwich shop and then decided to head to our last tourist destination, the Heineken museum.
We loved the Heineken museum! It was a very innovative museum based on the way they presented their product and the process of making the beer. We saw the mash tuns and even got to taste the "wort", or the liquid that is made of water and barley and is the beginning of the beer making process before they add the hops for taste. It was very sweet and definitely tasted a lot different than the end product!
One of the coolest parts of the museum was a video/ride called "BrewYouRide" where you stood in a room and watched the brewing process from a first-person point of view. In other words, we were the beer. The floors moved and shook to give you the feeling that you were really being brewed! We both thought this was a pretty hilarious and also genius part of the tour.
Another cool aspect of the tour was that we had a bottle of Heineken made with our names on it... not to mention the 2 free beers we each got at the end of the tour!! The museum shop was also awesome and I wish we could have bought some more souvenirs, but once again we don't have much room to bring souvenirs back! However, fortunately for us, the Heineken museum has a website and I know for sure that I will be buying the cooler backpack in the future!!!
Cole at the Heineken museum
Brewing some beersBut overall it was an amazing, really fun and really interesting weekend and I LOVE AMSTERDAM!!! I will definitely be making a trip back in the future!
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