Amsterdam!

Before heading down south, we made a quick stop in The Netherlands! Ally and I got to the train station to find that everything was closed - typical for a Sunday in Europe. After walking around we stopped in a Ben & Jerrys shop that had wifi and found a place to stay. We took the tram to our hostel and met two other fellow travelers - Jono and Emma. We decided to go have dinner with them and ended up comparing many camp stories because they too worked at a summer camp, but in New York. After dinner we walked around a bit and hung out in the Leidse Plein area of town.

The next day, we went on the free walking tour of Amsterdam. Amsterdam is such a pretty city with tons of bridges and canals. The houses are very unique and tall and squished together and some even leaning forward and sideways. We got to see many things like the redlight district - dont take pictures here or else the ladies would throw a cup of pee on you, and then break your camera! We also so many churches, the Jewish Quarter where Rembrant lived, the hash, marijuana and hemp museum, and the womens prison.

Half way through, we stopped for a break at a market/restaurant deal. It was pretty cold, so Ally and I walked across the street to get some coffee... meanwhile, our group left! Oops! Luckly, the second group was there, so we joined them for the second half. The last part of the tour showed us the famous coffee shop (Dampkring) from Oceans 12, some more churches - including hidden catholic churches, some Dutch art, the town hall and lastly the Anne Frank house.

We finished the tour and had some lunch at a local bagel shop :) yum! Then walked around the city a bit more, even though it was raining! We walked around a flee market, and a mall and eventually made our way back to the hostel. We bought some food at a grocery store and cooked it at the hostel for dinner.

The next day we got our things together and went to Koeln for one last day in Germany!

On the tour, we actually learned alot about their drug policy.

Some interesting facts:

1. Selling weed is illegal but not punishable

2. Coffee Shops are legal as long as they dont advertise weed and must sell food and drinks - excluding alcohol

Basically, The Netherlands is very tolerant country when dealing with marijuana and the red light district. They have a special Dutch word that they use (we cant remember what is it) in the laws that basically says they dont want to know about whats going on, as long as its not harming anyone. Which is interesting, because some may argue that marijuana and prostitution is harming people... so take that as you wish. :)