Halloween weekend in Amsterdam!

Amsterdam may have been my favorite weekend abroad so far! The first night we got there I made the horrible decision of taking a taxi. The fare started at 7.50 and ended up being 40 some euro plus tip. (Which we don't do in Spain) While we were driving to the hostel we saw the first "prostitute store" it was across the channel but it was still funny. Seriously, whenever I walked by one of those things I laughed. Well we ended up staying really close to Leidseplein square which was really popular with lots of little pubs and shops and hotels. So we went and walked around there for a while. We had this great Asian food from "Wok to Walk" and ended up having it every night we were there.

The second day, first thing, we went to the Anne Frank house. There was a really long line to get in but there was a cafe right around the corner where you could make reservations so we did that and there just so happened to be a slot in 15 minutes so we got right in front of the long line and went in.  It was so amazing! I couldn't take pictures inside so I bought 2 post cards just to have some sort of keep sake. After that we went to another little cafe next door and had some lunch. After that we went and walked around some more and decided to take a canal tour. We saw some beautiful buildings and lots of interesting house boats. Later we went to Dam's square and walked around there. It was all lit up for Christmas which was really exciting! There was this place called Manneken Pis that just sold french fries and everyone was walking around eating them. There was a sign that said that they were like the best fries or something so we decided to try them. Well they really just tasted like normal french fries to me. Although everyone was eating them with mayonnaise and we ate them with ketchup so it might have been better with mayo but that just sounds disgusting!

Later that night we went to a place called the Torture Museum. Sounds really weird but we thought it would be something cool for Halloween. Well, it wasn't really that cool. There was no one there and we just basically walked through the building by our selves (no tour). I mean it was pretty interesting to see how people used to be punished, gross too, but interesting. After that we went to dinner at Wagamama which is a modern Japanese restaurant. There are like pic-nic style tables set up so you can just sit next to strangers and eat. It was kind of weird but fun, really good food too! Then we decided to go out for some drinks. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe first and I had the best drink! It was called Tickled Pink and it was a piña colada with some raspberry and PINK cherries!! It was great! Then we went to an Irish pub because it was all decorated for Halloween and there was a live band playing. It was kind of an older crowd for a while but once the band left there was newer music playing and some younger people started coming. We ended up dancing a bit and had a lot of fun! The next day I was so excited to celebrate Halloween! We went to the Rijks Museum which is a Dutch art museum. It really made me appreciate paintings of landscapes. After we went to the "Amsterdam Dungeon" It was basically like a dutch style haunted house. The theme was like medieval times and the sentences, and the plague and all that stuff. It was set up by rooms and each group would be let into the room one at a time. There was an actor in every room putting on the scene. It was great and then there was a roller coaster at the end (inside in the dark). It was really fun.

After the Dungeon, we had to go straight to the hostel to get ready for our Halloween pub crawl. It was such a great deal 20 euro for 6 bars, a drink at every bar, unlimited mixed shots for the first hour, and a free shirt! It was so much fun! I dressed up as Sookie Stackhouse from True Blood and my friend dressed up as a pirate. I decided to cut the crawl short though at the 4th bar. We went back to Leidseplein square and had Walk to Wok again and then headed home.

The last day we went to the Heineken brewery before our flight back. It was really fun! There was like a simulation ride like you were being brewed. You were standing up and watched a screen with a guy explaining every step to you. When there were bubbles they had a bubble fan in the room, when you were being cooked there were heat lamps that turned on, when you fell into the pot there was a splash of water. It was really cute. We actually met a couple people from Chicago too that we stayed on the tour with. At the end you could turn in your 2 buckles on your wristband for 2 beers. It was a great time. After that we had some dinner and headed to the airport, on a train this time! Overall, I really loved Amsterdam and would definitely go back again!