Emily & Molly Take on Europe - Part 1

Alright so -- gotta do this past weekend in 2 parts, because otherwise I will be sitting at the computer for hours. We had a holiday in Spain, so Molly and I hit up 2 cities, Amsterdam and Munich! First stop was Amsterdam.

We left Thursday afternoon, but had an overnight layover in London since that was the cheapest option, and that was quite the adventure. We didn't want to pay for another night in a hostel and so our only option was the airport floor. Let me tell you, it was absolutely freezing, we were surrounded by obnoxious drunk people, and we maybe got 1 hour of sleep. not very pleasant. but then we caught our early morning flight and arrived in Amsterdam!

First stop was the Anne Frank house where we wanted to grab lunch and then tour the house. We found this cute little cafe right next door that had bagels and cream cheese!!! ahhh it was sooooo delicious! haha. Then we took the tour of the house, and I had no idea I would be affected the way I was. It was extremely interesting with so much information about the family and their time hiding there, and at one point I actually got emotional about it. It was when I had to walk through the bookcase to get to the annex. After reading the book, studying it in school, it was such a strange sensation to be walking into the place where they hid in such fear for so many years. In the annex they had lots more information and some videos from people she knew and even her father, Otto Frank, who was the only member of the family to make it out alive. It was an extremely touch and heart wrenching story to experience first hand, and I am very glad I experienced it.

After the house, we decided to head to the Red light district to wander around. We were there right when the sun was setting, so all the creeps were coming out. Haha I guess I didn't really know what to expect, but needless to say I was very surprised when all of a sudden the streets were lined with prostitutes standing in their underwear in these little doors. Also funny story - don't take a picture of them.... Haha. I was taking pics of the canals with the lights all lit up and such, and decided to try to get a picture of all the windows. I was across the canal, and so I tried to sneak a pic without the flash on. Somehow one of the prostitutes saw me, yelled at me, got a cop who then rode his motorcycle over the bridge to talk to me, and then i was lectured for a little about the prostitutes and he made sure I didn't have the pic on my camera. It was actually quite funny. So you can stand in red tinted windows in front of thousands of locals and tourists every day but you can't have a picture taken of you? oh well... makes for a good story!

After wandering around the red light district we were pretty hungry and exhausted, so headed back towards our hotel, grabbed a yummy dinner at this irish pub, and headed to bed pretty early.

The next morning we made sure to get up at a decent hour since we had to leave for Munich later that afternoon. First stop was the Van Gogh museum. It was pretty cool, but I'm not gonna lie, Molly and I don't do too well in museums. We probably spent only 45 minutes there and then decided to move on.

We went to the Heineken Brewery next, which was probably my favorite stop on the trip. They did an excellent job with the set up. You walk in and the first stuff you see is some history about the beer. Then you get to do a little tasting. Then they take you on a 'ride' of how the beer is made (definitely the funniest part). Then there is a room where you can video yourself singing traditional dutch songs and have a background of a canal or something -- absolutely hilarious. And then finally is the bar, where you get 2 free beers at the end of the tour. It was a lot of fun so I would definitely recommend it!

After the Brewery we walked around Vondelpark for a while. It's a beautiful big park right next to where our hostel was. We probably spent about an hour or so in there but then the sun started to set and we were worried about getting lost so we decided to head back to the hostel, grab our stuff, and head to the train.

We booked an overnight train from Amsterdam to Munich and it was so sweet! It seriously looked exactly like the Hogwarts Express. ha. Long skinny hallways with rooms on the side that had 2 benches and shelves above them. If only I would have known, I would have brought my wand and invisibility cloak!! We didn't sleep great on the train, but it was enough. Around 9am we arrived in Munich and began the second half of our adventure! Overall had a blast in Amsterdam, but it wasn't one of my favorite cities I have been to.

I will probably post again tomorrow about Munich! Hasta Luego :-)