Amsterdam has easily become one of my favorite cities in the world. I love its brick buildings, open skyline, rich history, and relaxed, easy going attitude towards life.

CANALS







Amsterdam is a city tied to the water – it grew around its canals and the taming of the Amstel River. All told, there are 165 of them, with a combined length of 60 miles. They surround the city in concentric belts and connect to each other. The canals of Amsterdam are incredibly beautiful. I immediately fell in love with the architecture and my jaw didn’t stop hitting the floor for the rest of the trip.

VONDELPARK








Amsterdam’s largest and most popular park is a great place to walk, bike, people-watch, or relax, especially after a visit to a local coffee shop!

RED LIGHT DISTRICT






The Red Light District manages to balance sex and seediness with being a major tourist attraction. During the day, it’s a quiet place. If it wasn’t for the red lights and sex signs everywhere, it would look like any other part of the city. But, at night, the area becomes awash with drunk, gawking tourists moving slowly down the street as they stare at the girls in the window while going from bar to bar and coffeeshop to coffeeshop.

BICYCLES




The city loves bikes, and there are supposedly more bikes than people in Amsterdam. In fact, forget about keeping a lookout for cars — it’s the bikes that will run you over!

I amsterdam SIGN




This large sign lies in front of the Rijksmuseum and has become an iconic symbol of the city. You will also find many people sitting in or on the letters and getting their photo taken (like I did). Sure, it’s clichéd at this stage, but when in Rome…