Amsterdam

So before I get into Amsterdam, a bit about the week before. Went to a chocolate bar in Trastevere, which was awesome. They give you a chocolate shot glass, and the shots are topped with whipped cream, and then you just eat the whole thing. Cool little place tucked in a corner on a tiny Italian street! But Thursday we just kind of hung out and watched The Big Lebowski since we knew we had to be up early Friday to catch our flight. We left at 6:30 AM from here at the Rome center, got to the airport around 7:45, and we were on our plane by 10. The flight went smoothly. Ryanair is pretty funny. They play a little trumpet at the end of the flight to celebrate "another successful Ryanair flight" and everyone cheered. Once we got on the ground in Eindhoven (about an hour and a half from Amsterdam), we went outside to catch the bus to Amsterdam. If I thought coming to Europe meant avoiding the winter weather, I was sadly mistaken. It snowed all of Friday in Amsterdam, and the bus ride ended up taking 3 and a half hours as a result. We got to Amsterdam around 5, checked in at the hostel, and went out for dinner. The hostel was a lot nicer than I expected. At 20 euro a night, I thought it would be flea-infested and sketchy, but it was nice. There were 20 people in the dorm, and the four of us guys (me, Mike, Jim, Andrew) had beds right by each other. The majority of the other inhabitants were college students from around the world. We had clean sheets, felt safe the whole time, and got breakfast each morning. After dinner on Friday, we basically just went from bar to bar until about midnight, when we all hit a wall from the long day of travel and went back to the hostel to crash. Saturday morning we were up at 9, and then started out our day at the Anne Frank Huis (House). I think this was my favorite part of the trip. I hadn't read The Diary Of Anne Frank since about 5th grade, but it quickly came back to me. The house was fascinating and moving. I am currently half way through rereading the diary, and I suggest it as a read! After that, we went to the Van Gogh Museum, which was also very cool. Got to see a lot of famous painting that I had seen or heard about in the past, and learn a little bit about his life. Then we grabbed some lunch, and went on the Heineken brewery tour, which was a lot of fun. We got free beer at the bar inside after and hung out there for a while, then took a free canal tour from there to right by our hostel. We got Chinese food for dinner, and then went to a nearby bar. We went back to the hostel after this to drop off souvenirs from the day, and then went out to a bar to watch some live music. Sometime during the music, I realized I didn't have my camera, and I never found it, so that was really the only downside to the trip. I'll have to go buy a new camera sometime this week. Bummer. Regardless, had a blast. The flight today was delayed about 4 hours because it snowed a few inches in Rome, which basically puts the whole city in a standstill. I talked to the guy who works in the cafeteria Lorenzo, who is a really nice local fellow, and he said that it snows in Rome only every 25-30 years or so. There are trees down everywhere, fallen on cars, in the street, and thus far no effort has been made to do any cleanup. The bad winter would come when I get here right? Next weekend is Brussels. Ought to be fun! I'll try to collect pictures from others for a look at the Amsterdam trip. Arrivederci, people.