The Extended Weekend

We had an extended weekend that lasted from July 10th to the 13th.  A couple of us wanted to go to Amsterdam and see what it was all about.  We had about 13 people saying they wanted to go and we tried to rent a houseboat for the weekend, but things fell through and only 9 of us ended up going.  We left Thursday morning for Amsterdam which was a 6.5 hour train ride.  The ride wasn't that bad....it just felt like forever! Anyways, we got to Amsterdam and we tried to find our hotel...which ended up being this small little door inbetween two restaurants.  The buildings we very tall and narrow.  We checked in, settled down, and just walked around the city.  The city was very confusing-- very much like a maze.  All of the streets looked the same, and they all went around or over the canal.  We checked out the park and then explored the cafes.  We pretty much just explored the city during the weekend.  We went to the Van Gogh muesum one day and the Anne Frank house the next.  It was a very touristy town; not sure if I would go back again.  I also went to the Medieval Torture museum and went on two different canal boat tours.  If I were to go back to Amsterdam, I would definetly check out Holland with all of the tulips and wind mills! Overall, I am glad that I went, and I can mark Amsterdam off my bucket list.

On Sunday, we left Amsterdam at 10am.  Another long train ride with a delay, but we made our train on time.  We arrived in Berlin around 5, and the World cup finale was at 9.  People were already dressed and and heading to the fanmeile.  We quickly got back to our hotel and got ready for the game.  As we were heading downtown, it started to rain....then it started to pour! At the train station, a girl asked if she could follow us and we said of course.  It ended up being her and her eight Spanish girlfriends.  We walked down to the fanmeile but they had closed it since there were too many people inside.  We ended up going to West Berlin and found a pub and watched the game there.  I was invited to hang out with the girls after the game, but I had to decline since I was pretty tired from the Amsterdam trip.