I amsterdam...

We just returned from the Italian portion of our summer vacation... What a fabulous time it was!! Lots of sunshine, sightseeing, rock climbing, klettersteigen, hiking, camping, and spending time with friends...We definitely enjoyed ourselves! :) We're now home for two days so that we can unpack, do laundry, and repack... And then we're headed off to Paris for four days... Yay! :)

So, in between loads of laundry, I figured I'd try to get our pictures of Amsterdam posted for you... And, I'm also hoping to get the Italy pictures posted before we head off to Paris... I've been slacking in the blogging world lately, so I'm rather eager to get caught up! :) So, without further delay, here's a little peak into our recent weekend in Amsterdam...

We stayed at this cute little Bed & Breakfast called the Posthoorn... Our room was the one on the bottom floor... We had our own private entry, our breakfast was delivered to us every morning at 9 a.m., and we were located in one of the trendiest neighborhoods in Amsterdam... It was such a great place to stay!! If you're ever in Amsterdam, we would definitely recommend staying here! :)

Our morning breakfast...The room had a little breakfast bar by the window, so we had a great view of the city while we ate. :)

I love the houses in Amsterdam!! The shutters are the best part! :)

One of the many thousands of bikes to be found around the city... Notice how this bike is parked directly under the "No Bike Parking" sign in the window? :)

The infamous canal houses of Amsterdam...

One of the prettier house boats along the canal... And, yes, people really do live in them!

And more house boats...

A bicycle super highway... Craziness!! Believe me, with the amount of bikers in this city, you need to be extra cautious when walking!!

The canals were so picturesque!

And, of course, we had to take a self-portrait in front of the canals! :)

The infamous "I amsterdam" sign...

Yes, Brian and I are truly dorks! :) Can you see us in the "M"??

Notice how crooked this building is?! :)

The Anne Frank Memorial...

The Anne Frank House...

The Anne Frank House... This is the only picture we have of the house, as we weren't allowed to take any pictures inside... It was quite an interesting/haunting experience to actually walk through the rooms where Anne Frank lived for those two years... So sad. :(

And, again, I love all of the shutters!

Holy Bicycles!!

These were just a portion of the bikes we saw outside of the train station... Besides this parking lot, they had an entire parking structure specifically for bikes... It was crazy the amount of bikes that were there! I've never seen so many bikes in one place in my entire life! :)

More bikes inside the parking structure...

A couple of Amsterdam's infamous "Coffee Shops"...

We stopped by the Bloemenmarkt one day to see all of the tulips... So pretty!

Look at all of the tulips!

And, of course, the wooden shoes were there too! :)

We rented bikes one day and tried our luck at riding around the city with all of the other "Amsterdamers"... Let's just say it was quite an experience! :) Between the other bikers, tourists, cars, horse and carriages, and the many bridges and canals, it was a little hair raising!! At one point I was keeping pace with a horse... Lovely! But, it was definitely worth it! It was such a great way to explore the city!

Doesn't Brian look like a natural on his rental bike? :)

Me with my bike...

After maneuvering through the city streets, we took our bikes to Vondelpark and rode through there... It was such a beautiful park! While we rode through, we came across a flock of parrots flying through the park... Literally! :) Apparently, some parrot found it's way into the park at some point, and started breeding, and now there's an entire flock living there! :) It's not every day that you see a flock of parrots flying through a city park!

Vondel Park...

Mmmm... Heineken! Real Dutch beer! :)

Amsterdam at night...

The bridges lit up at night...

The famous Red Light District...

Now, we read in our guide book, as well as we were told by the owner of the B&B we stayed at, that you're not supposed to take pictures of the Red Light District. We were told that you could run the risk of having your camera thrown into a canal if you were found taking pictures in that area... And, we all know how attached Brian is to his camera, so we decided not to ruin his vacation by having his camera taken from him! :) But, before we put the camera away, we couldn't resist taking these two shots of the district... Ooops! :) I told Brian that it was "necessary blog material"! :)

The Red Light District...

I was actually surprised as we walked through... I was expecting ALOT worse! It actually reminded me of walking down Bourbon Street in New Orleans during Mardi Gras... It was that kind of "party-like" atmosphere... Granted, seeing all the girls in the windows was quite strange and then practically getting a second hand high after walking by all of the "coffee shops" added a slight bizarreness (is that even a word?!) to the whole experience as well! :) Either way, it was definitely something worth seeing!

The weather was quite chilly while we were there, so we were quite happy when the sun came out one day... We ran right over to the nearest cafe to soak up the sun, drink some coffee, and people watch! :)

Brian and I on our canal cruise...

Going under one of the bridges during our "cruise"...

We passed this barge during our cruise... It's actually no longer in service. In fact, it has now been turned into an additional parking lot for bikes!! Too funny! :)

Our guide book told us that we should check out an Old Dutch Tavern and try out the Grolsch beer... So, we figured, why not! :)

And, the beer was actually quite tasty! :)

Great sign! :)

These vending machines could be found throughout the city... They had warm fried food in them and you just had to put in the money, open one of the little doors, and you'd have a piping hot snack ready for eating... I decided to give one of them a try... Needless to say, I'll probably never do that again! :)

During our trip, we noticed the huge piles of garbage lying around the city... At first we thought that the garbage was there for trash pick up the following day... But, as the days went by, and the piles grew, we realized that something else was going on. Apparently, the garbage workers are on strike and the trash hadn't been picked up in over a week... Eeeww! By the end of our trip, some of the piles were getting quite large and rather disgusting! We're hoping that the strike is over by the next time we get to Amsterdam!

Overall, our trip was pretty amazing! We really fell in love with Amsterdam... The city is beautiful, the people were friendly, and there's so much to see and do! We're already planning another trip back before our time in Europe is over! :)