Ahh, The Smell of Amsterdam

Yesterday was my first visit to Amsterdam in many years.  While it was overcast and sometimes rainy, it was a lot warmer than Milwaukee.  We walked to old parts of the city, visited the Jewish Quarter, the Anne Frank House, Dam Straat, and the Red Light District.  It’s an amazing city with coffee shops, a small China Town, and score of bars and restaurants.  It was a lot of walking but you could tell when a 'coffee house' was nearby.  There was a Starbucks in the station at Amsterdam Centraal but I quickly realized that the European coffee I’ve been drinking is so much better.  

Amsterdam is so much more an international city than Utrecht.  I heard more english spoken there in one afternoon than I’ve heard since arriving nearly a week ago.  People are friendly, cool and hip and it was a great first visit.  We’ll be back for sure.