Here's to the crazy ones. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do...
Chill out in Amsterdam
When I was a teenager, various successions of friends took the trip over to Amsterdam for some fun! They would all come back with epic and hilarious stories with typical recurring themes!
For some reason, I never quite made it over there, and had always felt like I had missed out on some seminal teenage activity. For a city that is only a 45 minute or so flight away, this would not do for much longer. I was also incredibly curious to experience Amsterdam life for myself. What was it like to wander round and for weed to be freely available? How seedy would the Red Light District be? How many bicycles could there actually be?
Turns out there are a LOT of bikes! And trams. Walking around Amsterdam is an exercise in the utmost concentration. There are fast moving objects approaching you from every which way, and as bikes and trams are quieter than usual vehicles, if you are not looking in the right direction (which, as tourists, we almost certainly were not) you have a fraction of reaction time to jump out of the path of the oncoming Dutch missile! I am incredibly surprised that not more tourists who have partaken in one too many brownies do not suffer serious injury!
We were very lucky and experienced absolutely stunning weather. We did a lot of walking around the city, which is easily navigable. What struck us quite vividly was the silence. Amsterdam is a very quiet city, and it was a very relaxing experience. Another awesome thing about Amsterdam was the friendliness of the Dutch people. Everywhere we went we were greeted with a smile and some lively conversation.
We hit up many of the main tourist spots - personal favourites were the Anne Frank museum (I was incredibly happy that this hadn't become too commercial, too touristy - and actually, it was a rather emotional experience), Amsterdam zoo, and the Red Light District (an incredible experiment, and a very weird experience to see girls parading round in shop windows with hordes of men 'shopping' for them!)
Amsterdam was a really really cool city, with an awesome chilled out vibe. It was also my birthday while we were there, which made it an extra special experience. I definitely fulfilled my objective of chilling out in Amsterdam - you can't help but to relax while you are there - the city seems completely geared towards making sure its citizens are completely chilled! I thoroughly recommend it both for people who want to experience a bit of *fun*, or if you just want to visit a cool European city. You can find a few more photos from my trip here!