I AmSterdam, youAmsterdam, we all Amsterdam!

To kick off our Spring Break, Mike, Amy, Jason and I spent four days in Amsterdam. 

Here's how it all went down.  

We started out our first day we started off with a walking tour of the city. First, we stopped off at Bloemenmarkt- a huge flower market, especially famous for its tulips.

Right near the market was an amazing cheese shop, with shelves loaded with cheese. They were giving away tons of delicious free samples. 

 We stopped many times along our walk to soak in the beautiful canals. Apparently, Amsterdam actually has more canals than Venice!

 We also stopped at Rembrandtplein, a park dedicated to one of my favorite artists. 

 We also so Magere Bridge, literally "skinny" bridge. It had a really cool mechanism that allowed it to raise in the middle to let boats through from the canal below. Myth has it that if you kiss your sweetheart on Magere bridge, you will be together forever. 

We also went through a very cool outdoor antique and vintage market. 

Finally, we made it to Rembrandt's House! 

My favorite part by far was seeing his amazing studio and knowing that so many incredible works of art had been made right there.  

We stopped for lunch and had Van Doben, traditional fried beef and potato croquettes on a bun. They didn't look that appealing, but boy were they delicious!

 After lunch, we headed over to the Rijkmuseum, pretty much the reason I wanted to come to Amsterdam. 

 There, we saw some breathtaking works by some of my favorite artists including Milkmaid, one of the all time favorites paintings by my all time favorite artist, Vermeer.

 We also saw Rembrandt's iconic Nightwatch!

We finished off our first day with the Heineken Experience,  a museum explaining the history and production of the famous beer, a native of Amsterdam. 

There, they assimilated us, and turned us into borgs.  

Just kidding! These were actually cool seats with tv's attached showing  Heiniken commercials from throughout history.

 After the experience, they offer a free boat tour of the canals to take you to the giftshop, about 15 minutes away.

 The tour was actually very informative. One of the things we learned was that the three X's on the Amsterdam flag represent the three perils that Amsterdam faced when it was founded. Water, because it's below sea level, fire, because most of the houses were wooden, and plague. The tourguide joked that most people think that cyclists and cab drivers are the third danger today. 

A pretty grim flag, but it does look pretty cool.

While we're on the subject of facts on Amsterdam, I have to mention that Amsterdam loves its bikes! There are bikers everywhere! Apparently, bikers outnumber drivers 2 to 1! 

Just illustrate my point, here's a bike parking lot we saw.

Pretty terrifying, huh?

Overall a very successful first day. Wouldn't you agree Jason?

 On our second day we started off with the Amsterdam Museum. While there we went through a very cool interactive exhibit on Amsterdam's history. 
We also learned that Vassar is everywhere!

 My favorite part of the museum I came upon completely by accident. On my way out, I spotted Rembrandt's famous Anatomy Lesson! I had to get a picture with it since I wrote a whole paper on the thing. 

After that, we made our way to Nieuwe Kerk, or, the New Cathedral. Today, the church functions as museum. 

 Oddly enough, they were currently holding an exhibition on Jewish history in Amsterdam. 

This was my favorite thing in the gift shop.

City Hall, or the Royal Palace, was pretty incredible too.

In the main square, outside the palace, there were tons of street performers. In Darth Vader showed up! 

After that, we headed to the Anne Frank house, the house where the Frank's lived in hiding for two years before they were finally captured by the Nazis.  Pictures weren't allowed inside, but the exhibit was incredibly powerful and well put together. I especially appreciated that Anne Frank's father, who survived the Holocaust, helped organize it, and they really made it according to his vision. 

We ended the day at this incredible windmill. There was a fantastic restaurant right underneath where we stayed for hours, eating and enjoying the scenery. It was especially cool because they served beers that were milled and made right across the street. 

On our last day in Amsterdam, we weren't actually in Amsterdam at all! We took a day trip to Harrlem, just 15 minutes away by train. 

Once there, we walked through the town, which was very airy and beautiful. We checked out an outdoor market and then wound up at a restaurant called Jacobus Pieck. The food was amazing! 

 After lunch, we went over to the Frans Hals Museum, the main reason we came to Haarlem. 

 The museum is actually the converted almshouse, whose inhabitants and staff Hals so famously painted. 

No pictures inside, but it was just a delightful museum, I could have stayed forever. 

The next day, we made our way to the impressive Amsterdam Centraal Station to leave Amsterdam. 

Bye Amsterdam, hello Bruges!