Amsterdam day 2

I was definitely feeling a little lonely this morning... As I haven't had a lot of luck finding someone to buddy up with here.  There are a lot of great people, no doubt, it just seems like everyone has their own agenda.   I am loving the independence of traveling on my own, but also missing having the stability of someone I know along with me. But it's certainly forcing me to be more outgoing! The hostel settings make it easy to strike up conversations with other travelers... It's just taking some getting used to!

Anyway, this morning I decided to go the more "touristy" route and go on a canal tour.  It was so much fun! :) The entire city is accessible by canal, so we basically got to see the whole city from the water. It was soooo beautiful! And it gave me a much better feel for the layout of the city as a whole.  

So after a few hours on the water I decided to walk the city.  There was a hop on hop off bus tour that you could take on the back of my map, so I decided to just walk it... And take detours as needed. The city has these beautiful cobblestone streets that are super narrow, and the houses follow suite. They are tall and skinny and smushed together.  Some of them look like they would be falling down if it wasn't for the houses next to them holding them up.  And you can't go more than a block or two without running into a canal.  But once I got the basic idea of the city it wasn't hard to navigate at all.

The bike system in Amsterdam is incredible!  Rows and rows of mountains of bikes are parked everywhere... And that doesn't include the tons of people in the streets riding them.  Everyone, rain or shine rides those bikes everywhere!  In fact, I discovered that it was often much more difficult to find walking paths than bike paths as I wandered.  

Somewhere along the way I dropped my map... And after a moment of panic, I realized that this was something I should have been doing all along... And I allowed myself to get a little lost. That's when i really started to look at the roses... Oh! They were so so so spectacular. All different colors and sizes... And they were EVERYWHERE.  They call Amsterdam the tulip city... But from what I saw that should be changed to roses.  So amazingly beautiful.  I got to entirely redefine the phrase "stop and smell the roses".

I walked that city to death... Saw museums and churches and monuments galore. My favorite find however, was vondel park.  This HUGE park had statues and ponds and biking/walking paths, and trees, and birds.... It was an absolute paradise. The city sounds seem to melt away as soon as you go in... In fact, it felt a little like central park, but even more peaceful.  

When my feet wouldn't carry me anymore, I stopped for a gelato and just people watched.  I got the energy to get back to central station and take the metro back to the hostel.  When I got back it was still light out... But after 10pm!! I had forgotten how late it has to be to be dark here in the summer time... What a weird feeling.

Exhausting day. My feet hurt, and my shoes are falling apart already... But so worth it!