Apr 30th.  Trip to Amsterdam on “drumrollll” QUEEN’s DAY! And it wasn’t even a deliberate decision. That’s why things are sometimes best when they are unintentional 🙂 Those days at Netherlands had some of the best weather I have ever seen in Europe. Everyday infinite blue sky and huge white clouds no matter where you look. 🙂

Queen’s day is the biggest thing for the Dutch every year and we had the luck to witness the parties, the wastes on the floor, the orange, and the horrifying smell of piss -_- (because they love Beer, Heineken, and after beer -> they go to the “public toilets” which are practically just mailbox size pissing stands with no doors -_-)

We had these tiny pancakes which were just super cute. Also based on inductive logic we thought this stall must have the best ones 😉

The weather was so great along with the Queen’s day vibe. A couple even moved their sofa OUT on their foyer for a sunbath!

Spring finally came along and flowers were blooming everywhere. Although it was really dirty during Queen’s day, the next morning the roads were swept clean again like nothing has happened!

This is Anne Frank’s house. I never thought I would be able to get behind the ACTUAL bookshelf secret chamber. This exchange to Europe has fulfilled way beyond my dreams, and I’m not even 20 yet! 🙂

We also went to this slick library in Amsterdam which really made the Central Library in Hong Kong a midget. The Netherlands is so homo friendly that there are dedicated bookshelves of books related to homosexual topics 🙂 and they are in pink.

There were too many fluffy sofas and comfy chairs everywhere.

And this, the adorable child section. Everyone shrunk back to a kid in this zone.

    

Imagine studying in this library, I would never want to leave.

Who can miss the beautiful Tulips when visiting Holland! Keukenhof was the flower “Theme park.”

Name any color and you probably can see it there.

  

I never knew Miffy was from the Netherlands. Within Keukenhof, there was a cutie miffy playground and there was this little girl stuck, yelling “MOM I can’t get out of here” in English, probably a tourist. I was going to help her but I was afraid she might scream” Mom someone’s kidnapping me”.

After the flowers, the red light district come into mind! And oh my, of course the red light district is huge. Out of respect, and also fear of being spilled pee, I dare not take any photos of the workers. It was kind of eye-opening for me because I actually saw people asking for prices and going in. 50 euros for 15 mins. Imagine that.

Wonderful mornings mean magical evenings. This was a super decadent trip. But the food in Netherlands was not particularly remarkable. The coffee was better in Italy, apple strudel better in Vienna, and well the waffles was just as good as Belgian ones.

But I would still think it is the best Europe country for me to live in if I ever have to pick one. It’s food is decent, living standard normal (better than Swiss and UK) but people can speak English so well! (better than Spain,France,Italy) and the weather seemed great. (If it was just trying to fool me, it succeeded)

WE did climb up the statue! Risking our lives, no exaggeration. But the only photo with the whole word was without us

That on the left is an anti-pee device. Apparently it will splash right back at you when you pee at that corner xD (obviously I didn’t/couldn’t try) They said back in the days it was hooked to electricity :O.

Another outstanding observation: the houses in Amsterdam looked awfully tilted and when I thought I was either hallucinating (not that I did any weed 😉 or the architects were drunk; it’s neither of those reasons! You see pulleys at the top of the buildings and buildings are usually tilted outwards so when things gets moved up back in the days (no elevators, and stairs too narrow), it won’t bang into the window!

As an ending to Amsterdam, we visited this hmm, I’m not sure what these are called. Let’s say it’s a dormitory for single woman over 30. Seems like a legit place to stay really, safe and sound.