Amsterdam... my future home.

Our arrival at The Flying Pig, our hostel, our home while we stayed in Amsterdam.  Five floors, with a bar/lounge/ library on the bottom floor, it was the place to be in downtown amsterdam.  For 18 euros a night it was a dry and warm place to sleep, with a large kitchen and free breakfasts.  More than we could have hoped for.

Every time Craig and i walked past the expensive restaurants and hotels we would day dream about where we would be staying if we were rich.  Once walking by outside of MOMO a large luxurious hotel, we saw a man stepping into his limo get delivered a huge package, all wrapped in maroon paper with gold ribbon, delivered by the hotel butler, who was in a full suit with gloves and boots.  This trip was very humbling for both Craig and I, who are going broke, but we are happy to say we probably had more fun than anyone staying in the MOMO anyway.  Like my dad always tells me, "you bring your own fun with you".

Our hostel! Yes there are marijuana leaves painted on the walls.  It was here we met two australian girls who we ended up becoming pretty good friends with, they were super nice and also broke!  They eventually moved on to paris, they ended up getting a bus ticket for pretty cheap and are staying with at a home they found through couchsurfer.com... a site where people basically offer their couches or guest rooms for travelers who are looking for a place to stay, for a minimum or no fee.  Ive heard good things about the program from people who have used it, even though it sounds sketchy sketchy.

This is either the Rijk museum (home to works of amazing dutch artists like Rembrandt, and yes i did go there) or the train station.  They both look very similiar...

A rich persons house on a canal. ahhh... one day i will be wealthy and live in a house just like this, in the spring i will have vases on vases of tulips and i will ride my bicycle year round just like all the locals do.  Oh and isnt the boat darling.  Italy calls Amsterdam "the venice of the north" because of all the canals, however on our tour we found that amsterdam actually has more canals than venice and refers to venice as "the amsterdam of the south."  Amsterdamers are great.  The best part? EVERYONE SPEAKS ENGLISH. its their national language (or one of them... they have like 13, but english is the most common and all the restaurants and streets have menus and signs in english.)

One of the few cars among the many bikes.

Usually by november the trees have all shed their leaves this far north, however this year we were lucky and the golden  yellow leaves were hanging on, making everything more beautiful.

The food in Amsterdam? way better than italian food. Don't tell the italians. 

dear parents... traveling the world was all it took. i can now successfully read a map! I can get wherever i'm going all by myself no help at all now. Its really a great skill to have.  In addition i can now (drumroll) tell time on a watch and cross streets effectively.  Basic math is still causing issues though.

We are smiling because we are in our favorite city in the world!

AMAZING street performing scene.  These particular guys were so-so, but we saw some amazing singers, guitar players, dancers, accordion players (although berlin had more accordion players), comedians... really anything you could think of. Dam square especially had just tons and tons of stuff going on at all hours.  

another canal, although i don't know which, they all have names, like streets.  Look at those leaves and tell me this doesn't make your heart flutter.

pretending to shop. we had no money. haha. but boy did they have great shops in amsterdam!! Antique pottery, old jewelry, photographs, cook books, pipes, leather briefcases, fountain pens, original poster prints. swoon. "ah if only we were rich." was the phrase that popped up often, but not often enough to get us down.

One of the stalls in the bountiful flower markets.  The volcano in iceland earlier this year left amsterdam with an overflow of tulips that they couldn't ship out, so this past spring tulips were sold in bunches of one hundred for five euros.  Can you imagine? Locals say the air smelled strongly of flowers.  I may or may not have picked out a few bulbs for my mom and mama and popop.  heres to hoping they make it back to the US safely.  Oh and btw... amsterdams flower market floats on one of their canals. you can't get more romantic than that. you can't.