The trip started on Thursday evening with a bus ride from Swansea lasting approximately five hours. That was followed by a ferry ride of an hour and a half to France, followed by another five hour bus ride up to Amsterdam. Needless to say, it was quite a lot of sitting. I went on the trip with another student from the University of Iowa, Jess, so we were able to make the trip a bit more enjoyable!
We arrived on Friday morning and the two of us decided to just walk around and check things out. While wondering, we found a shop to buy tickets for various things at discounted prices (of course all college students love this) so we purchased our tickets to a Van Gogh museum, the Heineken Experience, and a canal tour. That afternoon we walked over to the Heineken Brewery and they showed us the entire brewing process for the beer. It was a very neat experience!
Jess and I decided it would be best to have an early night so we could get up early and beat the crowd to the Anne Frank House. We ended up getting there about an hour after it opened and there was no line. It worked out perfectly! When we were finished, the line was extremely long. The Anne Frank House was really interesting and I would definitely recommend it to everyone. There is a story to every room and the way the exhibit is laid out really makes it flow. They take you through the entire house and the entire area where the family hid during WWII. The original diary of Anne Frank is inside along with videos and pictures from the time and events. I'm so glad I went. It was a great learning experience and something I will never forget.
After the Anne Frank House, Jess and I headed towards our canal tour! It was very fun to see the city of Amsterdam from its waterways and there were plenty of opportunities for great photos! One thing I would have changed about the canal tour would be to do it in the evening when the city was lit up with lights. The next time I am there (next week) I plan on making that change! The Van Gogh museum followed the canal tour. We had the choice between seeing the museum with all of his original paintings or seeing the museum with new versions of his paintings with more vibrant colors, a lot more paintings, and multiple 3D animated paintings. Of course we chose the museum with vibrant colors and paintings in 3D. It was very cool! I have to admit that my experience in art museums is very minimal, but I'm happy to add this one to the list! There was also a story of Van Gogh's life on the walls and it was related to all of his paintings and the themes you could find within the art at certain times of his life. Very neat!
On Saturday night, we met up with one of Jess's friends from the University of Iowa who is studying in Spain. She just happened to be in Amsterdam the same weekend we were! We followed them to the red light district to experience the atmosphere. I'd have to say that it was an eye opening experience, and definitely not what I was expecting.
On Sunday, we made the same long journey back to Swansea. I have to admit that I'm very excited to be flying next time, rather than taking a bus and ferry all the way there. The next trip will be Amsterdam for the Lumineers concert and Emily's birthday! Plans for Easter break are still in the making as well, but we have a better idea of the places we will be going. The tentative plans include parts of northern Wales, Venice, Rome, Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, the city of Prague in the Czech Republic, the city of Vienna in Austria, Paris, and end in London. More information will be coming soon!
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