Amsterdam

After 3+ days in Amsterdam, I am thoroughly disillusioned. I had this romantic notion of the canals, and cafe culture, and how it all blended together in this seamless fabric of a quirky European city. I am sad to say, this is the first European city that has not lived up to my expectations. The city was quite dirty, albeit I arrived on the last day of a garbage strike. Also quite to my surprise, the cafe culture has been effected due to the legality of certain substances. I had expected these legalities to only minimally affect the city culture, but in my summation, it has very much taken over the sentiment here. Although I was able to visit Ann Frank's house, which was very impacting, as well as the Van Gough Museum, which was quite inspiring, my trip to Amsterdam really left me disappointed. I was able to say goodbye to friends from Denmark, and continue on my way, which was nice, but I really wish for some changes to this little city. That is at least this one traveler's opinion.

I was able to attend my second futbol game in Amsterdam which was a blast. The people of Europe certainly go nuts over this game, and it makes me wonder what is wrong with Americans and the way the support their favorite sports...we have nothing on the Europeans.