Amsterdam

From Bruges, we went to an almost unknown town called Amsterdam in the Netherlands. We stayed quite busy during our three day stay in the city. Our first night there, we explored some of the side streets and canals running close to our hostel. We also got a little taste of home with a double scoop cone of Ben and Jerrys. The next day, we rented a paddle boat and explored the many canals. 

And I do mean many, because we kept getting lost. There were no signs and everything looked the same. But sometimes getting lost pays off. After finding ourselves at a dead end, we came upon tons of cool house boats. Apparently, the house boats were introduced when overcrowding in the city became a huge problem. We finally made our way back to the port and a couple of hours later, did a bike tour of the city. It was a very active day.

Oh and one thing to mention about Amsterdam, if you ever plan on visiting, PACK LIGHT! They build up so most of the stairs, especially the higher up you go, are almost vertical. Walking up 8 flights of stairs with two larger bags was not fun. Callie definitely got in a good workout walking all the way to the bottom. From Amsterdam we took a train to Heerlen, where we would stay one night before we headed off to Italy! Super exciting!