Travelling with Emma: Amsterdam

This will be my last travel post for a while (unless you want to hear about my travels to Niagara-on-the-lake or Burlington), since I’m coming home in less than a week!!
Day One

There really is only one day because when I booked my “wonderful Amsterdam mini-cruise” I didn’t read the fine print. I only got 5.5 hours in the city, which sucked but i still got stuff done.
When the coach arrived in the city, I was pretty impressed. It was like a larger, more industrial Bruges. As I walked down the busiest street, the faint, delicate smell of Kush filled the air. As many of you already know, you can smoke weed freely in Amsterdam, mostly in “coffee shops”(which don’t actually sell a whole lot of coffee). Regardless, walking along side the canals was really neat. It was a breezy, sunny day. However, I still lived in fear; the fear that I would die by getting hit by a bicycle.

Holy crap, the bikes were aggressive. Every where you turned there were hoards of bike riders ready to run you over without hesitation. You really have to be extra diligent, or you will literally die.
Van Gogh Museum

I only cried a little bit in here. It was amazing to be in a museum dedicated solely to my favourite artist. It was interesting to be in such a modern museum, since all of the others I’ve been in have been like, really, really old. There were a lot of hipsters there, so I felt a little uncool. However, I felt better when one of them (Canadian or American idk) was asking a member of staff where “Starry Night” was. I wanted to scream “IT’S IN THE MOMA YOU POSER” but I refrained. Anyways, it was so worth the 9 hour wait in line. Also, like always, the gift shop was fire.
Anne Frank House

A somber, but unforgettable experience. It was very crowded, but definitely worth it. I would recommend it to anyone visiting Amsterdam. It was surreal being inside the house that one of the most powerful diaries in the world was written in.
Overall thoughts

To be perfectly honest, I think I hyped Amsterdam up a little too much. It could be the fact that I barely got a day there, or I’m so obsessed with Bruges that I can’t like another canal city. Nevertheless, waking across the bridges and seeing the houseboats and flowers was lovely. The shopping (and cheese) was fantastic and I found the people there quite friendly. Hopefully I’ll get to visit again to experience what Amsterdam is really like (especially the Red Light District!).
One last thing
Are you travelling alone?
You don’t understand how many times I heard that during my trip. Yes, I was travelling alone. I wanted to treat myself, it was cheap and I wanted to go to Amsterdam. Why is it so weird to people that a woman is travelling alone? I was pretty pissed whenever someone asked me this (which was every 5 mins), but I tried to inhale the weed in the air to calm me down (idk if it worked, but does anyone have any Cheetos I could eat?).
See you in Canada,
Emma
