Amsterdam

I arrived in Amsterdam in the afternoon after a refreshingly short journey from Brussels. Once my and my travel companion had checked in to the rather lovely (and more importantly cheap) Student Hotel we dumped our luggage and set out to explore the city.

Amsterdam is a wonderfully picturesque city if you can tear yourself away from its more hedonistic pursuits, home as it is to a multitude of canals that criss cross the city, beautiful architecture and a wealth of art and culture to explore.

We started our exploration of this side of the city at Anne Frank's House. The modern, crisp exterior gave way to an emotive insight into the life and mindset of an average teenage girl growing up in the most extraordinary and tragic circumstances as her and her family hid from Nazi persecution. One of Anne's wishes was that one day she would grow up to become a famous novelist by giving an account of these life experiences. It was both heart breaking and inspiring that her wish came true in the worst way possible.

And though she died believing she was all alone in the world, her words will echo throughout time as a voice of hope for her people, long after the words of the cruel tyrant that tried to silence them will tarnish and fade.

Afterwards we wandered the streets of the city before finding an absolutely delicious chinese restaurant to eat at. The food was tasty and the portions were extremely generous and by the time we left we were both suffering from a serious case of food baby.

We had decided that a trip to Amsterdam wouldn't be complete without enjoying one of the city's famous cafes. So we headed to the famous Benny's Cafe, the place was by a haze of weed and packed to high heaven so we took one look before turning tail and heading to the much more civilised Benny's bar across the way. There we purchased one of their 'special' cakes which I washed down with a beer. The music was superb and the place had a great atmosphere and afterwards I was throughly ready for a night out.

Unfortunately this was not to be the case as I made it through one drink before the cake took effect. Through my stoned haze I decided that this was probably not a wise plan and through happy accident managed to get the metro service back to my hotel before collapsing into bed.

We decided to take a relaxed approach to getting up the next day but still made it out the hotel in good enough time to explore the world famous Rjjks Museum. Home to a world renowned collection of art and historic pieces. We took most of the day browsing everything from chinese statues, 18th, 19th and 20th century art and pieces by artists such as Van Gogh and (rather famously) an entire section filled devoted to the works of Rembrandt including the absolutely stunning Nightwatch painting.

It was a great way to finish off my trip and after some food and drinks at our hotel we decided to call it an early night. I spent a long day on the Megabus home the next day and arrived back tired but glad. It had all been totally worth the effort.