Disclaimer: This post will be short because you just need to go there to know there.

Since coming to teach in Abu Dhabi I’ve been able to travel a lot of places. I really enjoyed Kenya the most….until I came to Amsterdam. I will always go back to Africa, but I’m making Amsterdam a quarterly trip. My friends and I came to AMS (Amsterdam) via Megabus. Yes, they have megabus in Europe. We used a tour company called “Expat Explore.” Our flight didn’t land in time enough for us to meet with our group. We landed in London and took the Megabus to Amsterdam. We passed through France on the way there and way able to see the French countryside. BEAUTIFUL. I would have taken pictures but I was tired from traveling all day and there was enough weird things happening on the bus to be entertained by.

We arrived in AMS that night and that is when I fell in Love…

Architecture: The buildings are beautiful and modern. Most of the buildings on the outskirts of the city look like buildings out of modern architecture magazines. Very square and geometric. Parallel and perpendicular…..listen, I teach English. I’m just throwing out a bunch of math terms I remember lol. The buildings look nice dammit lol. Lots of them had glass walls and staircases that zigzagged. Think of Edward’s home on Twilight (you better not judge me). In the city there are lots of boathouses. If you ever get a chance to visit, rent a boathouse instead of a hotel. The city regulates channels and the waters don’t rise. These boathouses are fabulous. I want to rent one and live there for the summer, but I have more travelling to do!

Bikes: Everyone is riding bikes! The bike parking is insane. Their bike lane is massive and they take it serious. There is actually a light for the lane. The Dutch have no tolerance for visitors who don’t recognize the bike lane. To be fair, it looks like a walking path. Bayybee, “ching-ching” will be the last thing you hear before they run your ass down and keep biking on. I didn’t ride a bike this visit, but I’ll make sure to on my next one.

Museums: If you love culture you’ll love it here. I promise, no other city has as many museums as they do. Here are just a few:

Anne Frank’s House

Van Gogh Museum

Amsterdam Museum

Sex Museum

Diamond Museum

Weed Museum

Rijks Museum

Rembrant Museum

Bags and Purses Museum

Torture Museum

Heineken Museum

Tattoo Museum

Madame Tussaud’s

Amsterdam Dungeon….etc. I loved how the Amsterdam museum acknowledged their magnanimous role in the transatlantic slave trade in their history museum. Very noble of them. Excellent exhibit in their history museum.

The Red Light District: I freaking love this place. Everyone is just having fun. No one is uptight. The food is good. Stroopwafels everywhere (I freaking love those things). We got back with our tour group at night. When we got to Ceentral Station this is what we saw.

They planned for us to go to the Keukenhof (the worlds most beautiful spring garden). We were there all of 30 minutes. I saw the flowers, they are indeed beautiful.  We even stopped for photos.

I text the tour leader and was like “peace out, we’re going to the Red Light District. See you at the hotel later.” We didn’t see them again until the 3 day tour was over and it was time to leave. HA! I’m all about travel improvisation. This was the best decision I ever made. On to the Sex Museum! No words, just pictures .

Why they were walking down the streets of AMS like this, I’ll never know.

**********************GRAPHIC MATERIAL AHEAD***********************

This is a “madam” wax sculpture

Antique sex wind up toy

Coffee shops: Best. Place. On. Earth. I won’t go into too much detail, but just know. I freakin LOVE Café Resin. Cool vibes, cool workers, good music, very friendly.

Food: The waffles in the country are superb. Everything I tasted was amazing. Now it’s no match for Abu Dhabi which is clearly superior when it comes to cuisine, but they give them a run for their money with those stroopwafels!

I had the time of my life in this place. I would love to retire here. I Amsterdam.

P.S I did end up writing my postcards…..I had no idea the things I wrote.