Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is a living city. It's unassumingly lovely, chock full of intriguing nooks and watering holes for the artistically-minded. I wouldn't have guessed it before going, but it was definitely my favorite city on the trip. I mentioned this in some previous posts, but while a lot of cities we visited are postcard pretty, they feel almost unreal in their touristy glamour. Amsterdam is not like that; real people are going about their day, and if you get in the way while ogling some attraction, you'll get hit by a bike. It's refreshing and very real. And since it was my favorite place, I have a lot to say about it. Settle in for a long one.

FOOD

I ate a lot of pretty things in Amsterdam. My standard joke became that even though I was presented with such increased legality, my drug of choice was still cheese.

48 Hours in Bruges.

I hated the movie. Let's just get that out in the open. I didn't think it was funny, and I did the the violence was gratuitous and weird. Granted, I was a sophomore in high school when I watched it so maybe my feelings would change if I watched it again, but I was not going to Bruges with the mind to trace Colin Farrell's footsteps.

I mentioned before how I think walking tours are great. Nerdy and touristy, but also really helpful to kind of shake hands with a city and get oriented before you start wandering around blindly on your own. So when K and I arrived for our 48 hours in Bruges after another overnight bus, and it was raining and cold, we still decided to brave it out and take the tour. OH MAN. What a simultaneously great and terrible idea. We were frozen and crabby by the halfway mark, and skipped out on the end, but we also got the most comedic mileage out of this tour guide than from anything else on the trip. This guy was a character. A Real Character. (Eh?) His style was basically swearing, sex jokes, talking about the movie, and lies about architecture that he then followed up by a "Just kidding!" and moved on to the next location. But he did tell us about the place to get the best chocolate in town, so kudos there. At the time, we didn't feel too bad not giving him a tip, but then we proceeded to run into him a couple more times before we left. Bruges is small, you guys.