Amsterdam, Netherlands

Our time in Amsterdam was brief—just over twenty-four hours—so instead of frantically trying to see everything there was to see, we chose to focus our attention on visiting a few select attractions. (Not to mention leaving plenty of time to wander along the canals; because, if you haven't noticed already, we have a thing for wandering along water).  

I had a moment of being terribly disappointed when we reached Anne Frank's house only to discover that the waiting line was long enough that there was no way the people already at the end would be able to purchase a ticket before closing time. We settled into a cafe nearby, claiming a spot of sunshine as our own, and a few cups of tea later, I had a much better attitude. (In Paris, we discovered that there are some things not worth seeing if your only experience will be one crushed between the bodies of overzealous tourists and their blinding iPad flashes; for the sake of resisting the temptation to be bitter when some plans fell through, we tried to keep this in mind).

Choosing not to spend our very few Amsterdam hours waiting in line, we instead moseyed through a pop-up flea market before visiting both the the oldest Synagoge and oldest Botanical Gardens in Europe. We ate hot sausages and stroopwafels on the street, and squeezed into the tiniest of restaurants in Chinatown for the best coconut curried soup. 

It was hard for Amsterdam to compete with Belgium, since we loved Bruges so dearly, but, as you can see, she was still lovely in her own way.

More photos of our time in Europe, here.