Amsterdamalicious

Hello All -

Because I am completely inable to write concise descriptions (like Shelley), here is Part I or a 3-part series (just to make it fun).

So, I should probably tell all about Amsterdam. First off...I want to live there. Forever. And ever and ever. (Amen.) What a fantastic city. It has all these fabulous tall houses along the canals, and everyone rides bikes and sits out on their stoops and is amazingly relaxed. I need an EU visa (potential suitors, take note).

We almost missed our 6am flight after Malinda's bag broke right as she was leaving the house, but thanks to a helpful cabbie got to the station on time for our train to the airport. Our EasyJet flight was considerably less crunchy (see Seville) than Ryanair, and the Amsterdam airport was really nice, clean, and suitably Dutch. It was weird...everyone spoke English, but they were all taller and blonder than English people. I mean TALLER. I felt like a midget. More than usual.

We took the train to Amsterdam and headed off to find our hotel, which was this ridiculously cute little canal house with frighteningly steep stairs, all-day breakfast (mmm), and 2 fluffy, friendly cats. After a well-needed nap, we went off to explore, and could barely keep ourselves from cooing with delight and taking pictures of every. single. intersection. It's a cute city, what can I say?

After developing a newfound respect for Van Gogh at the (you guessed it) Van Gogh museum, and checking out a street of designer stores (I love you, Chanel!) we began the endless search for a cheap place for dinner. Cafes? Everywhere. Coffeehouses (where you don't actually drink coffee)? Even more of them. Affordable dinner? Nope. We finally found an Ethiopian place, where the food was incredible - I had this chicken-curry-like dish, and it came with spongy bread and all sorts of salad-like sides. Yummy.

More bits soon!

= :)