Amsterdam

There is a red light district and you can smoke marijuana in public, but there is a whole lot more to Amsterdam than just that. The city is bustling with creative young people, mostly riding around on bikes. The neighborhoods are filled with canals and riverboats. Some of the houses were at a slight tilt, its hard to see in the pictures. We had an incredible lunch on a patio just off a canal at a restaurant called Singel 404. My favorite item was grilled chicken salad with a basil yogurt spread. There was way too much to see in just one afternoon, and its on my list of places to go the next time I'm back in Europe.

Amsterdam is also where Anne Frank's annex is located. This is where she hid with her family for over two years. You see so much history in Europe and its always incredibly moving to see how WWII effected people. Reading about it in school is nothing compared to seeing what lengths people had to go to try to escape death. Seeing the pictures from magazines that she posted up on her bedroom wall and her height chart was really hard. She was just like any other young teenage girl. No pictures were allowed there, and I think you have to visit to experience it for yourself.