So you are back…couldn’t keep you away, could I? Well, I am honored that you chose to come back for a few more moments of silliness. Here we go again for another installment of “Clueless: The Travel Adventures of an American College Student in Europe”…man, no wonder I’ve never been picked up by the networks…my title is too long.

I won’t go into every detail from our trip…that is too tedious and I am not a tedious person. So I will only touch on the highlights. After Lauren and I settled into our hostel, we set out to explore the city. We had a map, a guidebook, money, and a sparkle in our eyes that was just inviting adventure. I must interject here that both Lauren and I are self-proclaimed directionally challenged people…you know, those people who get lost in their own neighborhood …or house, depending on the severity of this incurable ailment…but it didn’t stop us…this characteristic is essential to my story. We were unstoppable. We grabbed a panini and Coke Light (not to be confused with Diet Coke…the American version) for nourishment. Amsterdam was ours…we stepped out into the city with our maps, guidebook, money, and a sparkle in our eyes that was just inviting adventure to wrap its arms around us…basically what I am trying to say is that no matter what we did and no matter where we wanted to go, we got lost. When we knew we had to head left, we were always wrong. When we knew we had gone too far, we hadn’t gone far enough. I won’t even begin to try to calculate how many extra minutes and miles we walked and walked and walked. I especially won’t try to explain how we got where ever we ended up…we were a mess. However…being the eternal optimist that I am…there is always a bright side to everything…don’t you hate those people…I totally do. However, there were so many cute little boutiques oozing with luscious leather boots and warm wool sweaters and tastefully trendy handbags and all manner of material diversions to catch our eyes. We were both so overwhelmed with the beauty of it all. On top of that, there were wonderful little cafés just calling us to have another pan au chocolat and cappuccino! I mean what more could two girls ask for…we had shoes and food…well, a tour guide would have been nice I guess.

So here is a list of things we did and things that we saw:
We took a canal cruise in the evening. It was so beautiful…and of course none of my pictures really turned out. Oh well. Oh, funny story…we saw a man get arrested… interesting thing was that he was posing as our boat driver for the canal cruise. It was pretty intense…he was totally fighting with the policemen and at one point tried to go into a little café but someone pushed him out…then, this was totally like a movie…the café owner locked the police out...we couldn’t figure out why. Then one of the officers tried to kick down the door! I tried to get a picture but it didn’t turn out…it was all very crazy.

We went to the Vincent van Gogh museum…of course we got lost on our way. But he is a truly amazing artist…if you ever get a chance, you should read some of the letters that he wrote to his brother…you will be touched and inspired and surprised. I bought a cute little print that is not well known…I think those can be the best things in life…unknown treasures. And of course we got lost going back into the city center.

We spent some time walking around Dam square…did some souvenir shopping. Got lost some more…this recurring theme is getting kind of old…imagine how we felt!
Oh, we went into the Red Light District…during the daytime of course. My heart hurt for those women. I won’t dwell on this because it is making me sad recalling what I saw. We didn’t stay long…as women, Lauren and I didn’t feel comfortable being there.

We went to a “coffee shop”…and I really did get a coffee…sans the “special” ingredient…if you know what I mean, wink, wink! We didn’t stay there long either, but it was kinda funny to watch all of the stoned people…old and young.

Oh, then we found this really cute little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that served fondue…it was INCREDIBLE! This has a funny but scary story to go along with it. Neither of us had enough cash to pay the bill so Lauren went to the ATM right next door. She came back and said that there was a homeless man and a crazy woman asking her for money so she came back a little shaken up. I told her I would go, but wanted her to watch me from the door of the restaurant. Well, sure enough, as soon as I stepped up to the ATM, the crazy lady literally ran up to me and stood right next to the ATM. From the restaurant door, Lauren was yelling at the woman to get away from me…the woman started yelling at Lauren that she was going to burn in hell and in the same breath asked me for money. When I didn’t pay attention to her she started yelling at me…I was shaking like a leaf…but I glared at her. She didn’t like that very much…I grabbed my money and pretty much ran back into the restaurant wondering if all that had really happened. Ya, it was scary…but we made it out.

The next morning we went to a market…but of course we got lost getting there. It wasn’t a very interesting market, but it was fun…lots of good people watching. Lots of smells…body odor, marijuana, egg rolls, cheese, mothballs, musky perfume…a feast for the nostrils.

We stopped by the Anne Frank house…didn’t go in because we both decided it would be way too depressing. But, by this time, we had figured out the maps somewhat…so we actually got to it without getting lost…yes! On our last day we finally figured it out…we did a little victory cheer…hi-fives and all…people probably thought we had spent too much time at the “coffee shops.”

Those were the main highlights of our short trip. Having seen what we wanted and being lost more times than we could keep track of, we decided to get on the train back to Brussels.
Well, again, I have written a largish amount of words. I apologize for the diminishing interesting-ness of this blog…in the middle of it I lost what I wrote. My computer lost my words so I lost heart but decided to press on…for you, my loyal readers…all three of you. I will have to conclude the trip in my next blog…it will be shorter, I promise. So, please tune in again…I’ll appreciate the company.