Slanty Town

canals almost on every street!

crazy how many bikes there were!

So amsterdam has inspired me to write a children's book titled "Slanty Town" (watch out for it in 10 years ahaha). Why slanty town? Well, because amsterdam is built on a canal, the foundation isn't really flat, so in order for the buildings to stay up, they are all slightly angled (or so I think, I very well might have just made that up). But not only are the buildings completely skewed, so are the perceptions of amsterdam. When people hear amsterdam, they automatically think weed and hookers, and maybe Anne Frank, but it's so much more than that. It's being in this quaint little town with an intricate system of canals, a place where there are bikes of all shapes and sizes (portable fold-up ones, ones with carriages for kids, ones with carriages for dogs, sidecars, and ones with seats on the handles for your kids--I'm sorry, but in what world is this safe?), a place filled with cute bagel shops, nice people, tall people (for a change), Indian food!, Van Gogh, and so much more)

We're not supposed to take pictures in the museum, but.. technically, this is outside

I'll make my voice heard. I'll go out into the world and work for mankind!- Anne Frank

I must say though, the Anne Frank museum was probably my favorite. I don't know why, but I imagined her house to be different from the others, to stand out because, wow, it's Anne Frank's house. But no, if it weren't for the line outside, I would have never guessed it was her house. Anyways, from the moment I went in to the moment I left, I was just overwhelmed with a mezcla of sorrow, awe, hope. It was crazy. You learn so much about her in history, about the Holocaust. But to actually be in the house of someone who's suffered so much, to be able to see physically their living conditions, to walk the steps they've walked, and to look out the windows they've looked out from, is just an indescribable experience. It was almost as if her spirit was really there. 

This is the church that Anne write about in her diary. How the church bells are evidence to her of the outside world. To be able to witness this, to hear the very exact bells she heard, wow. 

This is how they construct their roads

The market!

caramel wafer thingies. yum yum in my tum tum

buttons and things

Almost died while bike riding, seriously

Rode our bikes to this beautiful park

playing on the playground

soo crooked!

giant shoee!

red light district, for some reason, there were a bunch of swans there. I'd like to think it's some sort of symbolism.

the house where Rembrant lived and died in

example of bike with kiddie carriage

so funny because in amsterdam, instead of Santa Claus, they have a Cintra claus (sp?) with Black Pete. So I don't know what exactly cintra claus does, but black pete's the one giving out the gifts. He's cintra claus's helper, in reality, he was his slave. But Dutch parents don't tell their kids that, they just say he's black because of all the chimney chutes he's been down. AHA

Anyways, that's just a little bit of what I did in amsterdam. It usually takes me a week or more to process every single trip. We also went to the Van Gogh museum and the red light district. More of amsterdam to come!

By the way, in a moment of desperation, I stole these pictures from the internet. I'm so behind on uploading pictures just because my computer has absolutely no more space AH!