Ah, Amsterdam. I can’t even tell you how many people let me know how great this city is before I visited. I’m pretty sure the main things they enjoyed about it were not the same things I liked, though. Let’s just say the only coffee shops I have any interest in visiting are ones that sell actual coffee :) Even though I wasn’t into the whole liberal-imbibing thing, I found myself rather captivated by all the canals. Amsterdam is pretty!

And, uh, it has an OBSCENE amount of bikes. I LOVE me some biking, so I can appreciate a biking society. But good lord, there were just too many bikes. They were parked all over the place, to the point where sometimes you had to walk around the sidewalk just to get past them. They even have multi-floor parking lots FOR BIKES!! Absurd, yet oh-so-wonderful that so many people have embraced such a healthy and eco-friendly way to get around the city.

When I was in Amsterdam, I reunited with a very good friend of mine from the Netherlands who I met while living in Sydney in 2006. So I didn’t go too camera-crazy because we were busy catching up. We did a ton of walking, toured the Anne Frank house, and visited the Van Gogh museum. And! – we found the Cat Boat! That’s right, there’s a boat in one of the canals that’s full of cats! It’s somewhat of a tourist attraction now, but they do try to find homes for the kitties. And right about now, you’re thinking ‘who the heck goes to Amsterdam and looks for a cat boat?’… right? Well, it’s just the ridiculous sort of thing I would do :D

Overall, Amsterdam gets a thumbs up from me. I totally could have spent more than two days there. So until next time… here are some shots I snapped while wandering around: