AMSTERDAM

Wooden shoes! Amsterdam, I made it!

Sorry that I haven't gotten to you guys sooner about my trip to Amsterdam.  I had an incredible time and if any of you get the chance to go, I highly recommend it.  


We left early Friday morning by bus and arrived in the city within 2 hours.  Even from the bus windows, we were all oohing and aahing at Amsterdam's beauty.  

 Some people call Amsterdam "the Venice of the north" due to all the canals. Also, nearly everyone in the city uses bicycles as their main form of transportation as you might be able to tell by a couple of the pictures.

To get a taste of the city, we started off with a walking tour lead by my art history professor Rob Duckers

Even though he kind of looks like a huge creeper... he's really not! He's very nice and knows pretty much everything about anything.  During the walking tour, as our hands and feet began to go numb from the biting cold, he was nice enough to take my entire group out for coffee and hot chocolates.


After we got a taste of the city, we visited the Rijk's museum http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/

and also got to see a Rembrandt painting being restored which was very cool.  On this trip I was not able to visit the Van Gogh museum which was a very big disappointment.  I absolutely plan on making another trip to Amsterdam to see it and the Keukenhof "tulip gardens."


The next day, my Intercultural Communications professor, Chester Lee, took us to the Prostitution Information Center where we had a question and answer session with an ex-prostitute and a tour of the Red Light District.  

This isn't the best picture, but the bald, little, man in the middle is Chester standing in front of Amsterdam's famous prostitution bell at the entrance of the Red Light District. I can't help but laugh a little when thinking about the fact that they have a famous prostitution bell.  Since about 10 years ago, window prostitutes have been allowed to legally work in the country.  Prostitutes in the Netherlands pay taxes, have access to health services, and medical care.  The government felt that rather than trying to push the industry "underground", they wanted to adopt a more realistic and pragmatic approach.  Here's some pictures from the inside of the Prostitution Center. 

Article 1 of the Dutch Constitution forbids discrimination based on a person's beliefs, race or sexual preferences making the Netherlands a very excepting and tolerant place.  Since most of the city came off as quite cute and whimsical, I was shocked to see the prostitutes hardly dressed in the windows and smell the occasional waft of marijuana.  What a peculiar yet AWESOME mix of cultures.  The overall best part of the prostitution info sesh though, was definitely having our professor there with us blushing and pretending not to look!

Here's the complete album of all the pictures I took from the trip:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2088498&id=1338210484&l=bfaf0eed8b



I'll be sure to write soon but for now, my next focus is on STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN!!!!  (which I also heard was the Venice of the North hah)  


As always.. lots and lots of love,
Amy