Emily and Cody's Eurotrip: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Thursday-Saturday- 6/9-11/11- Amsterdam

Mom and Dad, Today was primarily a travel day. We left London for Amsterdam around12:00 because that was the first train we could get out. We took a high speed train to Brussels, and from there we took a train with our Eurail pass to Amsterdam. This was our first experience navigating travel in a language other than English. We lost an hour because of time change, but we made it here to Amsterdam around 8:00, which is apparently still early. Amsterdam is every bit and more as crazy as I thought it would be. We are currently sitting in the hotel bar getting contact high ;) Chill Mom, that just means everyone around us is smoking weed. Haha. Our hostel is really neat, but crazy. It is pretty much in the center of the Red Light District. Speaking of The Red Light District, WOW naked women and LIVE porn EVERYWHERE! Despite all of the weirdness, Amsterdam is beautiful! The streets and canals are so old and interesting and have so much history and character. We had more fun walking around the streets tonight. We ate at some little cafe; I think we ate some sort of turkey and French fries with mayonnaise, which is apparently a local fave :) We will be going to bed soon, again, don't tell anyone ;) It's pretty early for Amsterdam, but we have a big day tomorrow. We plan on seeing The Anne Frank House, The Van Gogh Museum, and taking a Canal Cruise. We leave for Paris at 11:00 on Saturday, and will get there around 2:30. This is seriously the experience of a lifetime. We are seeing and learning SO much! Thank you for watching our baby dogs and for playing fetch with them :) Please keep us updated about your new house. We are SO pumped about it. Love you! PS Please forward this to Mason and Jordan :)

Love, Us

Mom and Dad,

Today has been long, mostly because last night was long, but today was amazing too. Sleeping among incredibly stoned individuals can make for a rough night. We woke up early and went to the Anne Frank House. This was the house she and her family hid in before being discovered and transported to the concentration camps. It was sobering, and sad, to stand where she was forced to be so careful and quiet for years, and where she wrote in her journals. We are both really glad we went. After that, we took a walking tour of the city. It lasted three hours! It was very informative and gave us a better understanding of the history and culture of Amsterdam. We saw much more marijuana and many more naked ladies. Ha! When our tour came to an end, we made a stop at a huge flee market that was pretty interesting. We then walked even further to the Van Gogh Museum. They had many of his most famous paintings, and we learned about the tragedy of his life. We did this at a pretty quick pace though because by this time our bodies were tired. Ha! On our way back to our side of town, The Red Light District, we ran across the world's largest floating flower market. They sale all kinds of flowers, seeds, and bulbs. It was pretty neat. The canals and the building here are really what make this town special. It has been a great experience, and the answer to the question I know you want to ask is, "No," we did not sample the local cannabis. We thought it might prevent us from recovering and experiencing Paris like we should. :) We love and miss ya'll! We will call soon!

Love,
Emily and Cody