In Amsterdam I learned that not only are cafés bars, but coffeeshops aren’t even coffee shops! That being said, I was able to find good coffee frequently so I was willing to forgive the wild mislabeling.

I really like Amsterdam Centraal train station. 

Not only is it beautiful, but this is the view that meets you as you leave it.

The hostels were way too expensive, so we ended up finding a cheapish hotel. When we got there they somehow didn’t have room for us, gave a 30% refund, and drove us to an associated hotel. It ended up being the cheapest option after all, and we got our own room! We were south of the city centre, and either a 10 minute walk to the train to Centraal or a 40 minute walk into town.

I loved the canals in the city, and how they had their own distinct look from Venice or Bruges canals. 

We made sure to visit the Van Gogh museum while we were there. 

After the museum, we walked back to our hotel through Vondelpark.

For dinner we found an Ethiopian restaurant that was pretty good. The best part for me though, was coffee afterwards. I love Ethiopian coffee, and I’m so glad we found this place.

The cup and sugar came with incense, followed by the coffee itself. 

It was good enough to drink black though.

More wandering through Amsterdam brought us across more canals and eventually to the Anne Frank house. 

To get in we would have had to buy tickets months ago, but I appreciated seeing it anyways.

We did two side trips from Amsterdam, so the train station was easily our most visited site.

One day Luke suggested that we explore the north part of Amsterdam. We took the free ferry from the train station across the river, and within 5 minutes if walking were completely alone. There were accommodations built into a bunch of shipping crates, which looked pretty cool.

There was this place, which may not quite be the red light district, but was memorable nonetheless.

The walk ended up being a nice way to spend the evening.

We managed to explore the red light district one night, which was interesting. I know the question that everyone must have and the answer is yes, there are indeed red lights.