Amsterdam: What lovely architecture!

Well, it's our last day in Amsterdam and the past few days have been pretty low-key. We spent Christmas Eve in Paris with Amelia and Rachel. It was really nice, actually. We drank nice wine and champagne, ate lots of cheese, and had pasta carbonara as a main course. It was the Quaint European Christmas I'd wanted since all this began. Parfait.

Christmas morning, Clariece, Chris, and I got up early and got to Gare du Nord in order to catch our train to Amsterdam. I already miss the familiar chatter of french around me, but that's another story. We arrived here around one and spent the majority of the day wandering around and orienting ourselves to the city. The layout of the city is actually pretty weird. Whereas Strasbourg feels sort of like a circle or loop, Amsterdam feels more like a grid. It's bizarre, but quite pretty. Many of the buildings are so old that they seem to be leaning inward or outward on each other. With the combination of the canals surrounding almost every block, it certainly is a unique place.

Maybe it's because I've been in a predominately Catholic country for the past four months, but Amsterdam still shocked me with its liberalness. I hadn't realized just how active and accepted the gay community is here or thought about the social implications of coffeeshops on every corner. Anyway, it's certainly different and makes me curious about the real culture here behind the advertisements for the best coffeeshop or Red Light District escort services.

Yesterday I found a small restaurant that felt incredibly like a Seattle cafe. I had a soy chai and pumpkin soup, which made me more excited to be back in the Northwest. Today I went to the Anne Frank House by myself, which was about as depressing as one would expect. I'm glad I braved the giant line, though, and actually went. It was worth it.

Tonight Clariece and I catch a 15-hour overnight bus to Prague, where we will spend New Year's and hang out with Mike from Kalamazoo. I have to admit that I'm more excited about Prague than any of our other destintations thus far. Hope everyone's enjoying their holidays.