Amsterdam...It Wasn't Love At First Sight.

Far from it, actually. Amsterdam has always been on my list but it was on the "fit it in" list as I never thought Amsterdam itself warranted a flight across the country and pond. At last, I had the opportunity to fit it in on this leg. I arrived in Amsterdam in the early afternoon and spent it walking myself lost in circles which is normal for me for my first day in a city. Everywhere I walked, there were massive crowds of people. I thought to myself, "I've never been to Europe in the summer, this must be what it's like." I was not very impressed with day 0.5 in Amsterdam. 

The next day, I got an early start and took myself on one of Rick Steve's self walking tours and once that was over, I went on a walking escapade through Amsterdam's canal belts. It was here that I found Amsterdam's appeal. The city center is crazy busy and quite chaotic but once I got out to the side streets and neighborhoods, I was in awe and the inspired photog in me came through. The west end and the Jordaan area of this city is beautiful with its calmer quaint streets lining the less boat filled canals. The shops cross between familiar and interestingly different. It's in this quaintness that I was able to take in the architecture of this city. One thing I did notice about the houses here is that, every top floor window has a little captain's hook. I thought it was historically decorative at first but only to find that it's actually functional in use: that's how people transport large items up to the top floor. Go figure. One of the more powerful experiences was passing by the Anne Frank house. I didn't go in for the tour as you had to get reservations months in advance to wait in line or you can wait in the line for hours after 3pm for the same day option. It was enough for me to know that the significance of this building exists and that it's here. Around the corner of the Anne Frank house is the statue of Anne Frank. Just take a moment, stand in from it, the statue portrayal of this little girl is pretty powerful. One other area that I especially enjoyed was known as Begijnhof. It's a quiet courtyard of a housing community lived by nuns who hadn't taking the vow to lead monastic lives. The history in Europe never ceases to amaze me. It took a few hours walking the streets in the morning before I was comfortable finding my way without referencing a map. I had referenced it so much previously that it was picturesquely ingrained in my mind. 

For a small city, Amsterdam packs in a lot of landmarks, it was easy for me to navigate which street directionally I wanted to head towards based on which landmark I was near.  It was also on Day 2 that my photog eye found it's inspiration here! I'll leave you with these observations of Amsterdam: it probably has the most diverse cuisine offering I've ever seen in one town! Every local here cycles, that's how they get around yet not one wears a helmet, not even the babies. Everyone here seems to follows the traffic laws and rules to a science where drivers and cyclists can coexist without incident! Of course it helps that, infrastructurely, they seem to have been able to incorporate bike lanes that can take you from one end of the country to the other!