Amsterdam, Holland Part 1

Well lately the days have been looking up.  The overnight train was better than expected even though I came away from it with a sore neck and caffeine headache.  The train was delayed overnight because of mechanical issue.  That put us 80 minutes behind schedule, and ruined all chances of me getting food or coffee in the morning.  We immediately began a bus tour of Amsterdam, which I did not mind at all because the city is pretty awesome, and I got to see a lot of it without doing any work.  The tour lasted about 2 hours, and by then I was officially starving!  We got to our hotel at about 2:00 in the afternoon, but we had to walk a good 20 minutes just to find a restaurant.  We ate at a local Italian pizzeria that was delicious!

With a full evening ahead, Dan, Jacob, and I found our way to the famous Heineken brewery.  Dan loves Heineken so he just wanted to go to buy a shirt at the gift shop.  Well we ended up doing that, but only after we toured the whole Heineken experience.  We had not planned on going inside, but I am glad we did.  I had such a great time because it was something different than I have done on the trip so far; plus it had nothing to do with architecture.  It was a great way to get away from everything on this trip and just enjoy myself.  I need a day like this once every week!

I am actually excited for our walking tour tomorrow.  Rod and Les will lead, which means we will be focused on the design of the city, and not just tourist traps.  I am aware of several semi-famous buildings in Amsterdam, mostly because the modern architecture here is exactly the style that I love!  I am hoping to draw some major inspiration from our tour tomorrow because I am in great need of some for my studio project!