Holland, The Hague and Amsterdam

Hi everyone, we are just getting back and settled in from our trip to Holland I thought I would update you on our travels. Pictures will be up soon.

We left on Thursday night for Holland and got in in basically just in time to go to dinner and check in to our hostel. Joel's school had organized the trip so we were in a hostel but had our own room and it was much a like a bad motel, which was fine for one night.

The next day we got up early and went touring around all of the different courts in the Hague with the school. It was interesting but VERY tiring as I was in the process of coming down with a cold. Once we were done there we took a train into Amsterdam and had dinner as well as walked around the red light district. The red light district is unreal, you can buy pot and pot brownies from coffee shops, and get coffee from cafes, so you had to be aware of where you are going. Needless to say we stayed away from the coffee shops. Also there are all these windows lit by red lights with the prostitutes dancing around in bikinis selling themselves! I could not believe my eyes. There are gorgeous girls, fat girls, young and old.

So we left the red light district and headed to our hostel. We were sharing a room with 8 other pepperdine friends, which I guess better than sharing with 8 random people but the hostel was disgusting and I will never do it again. On Saturday we went to the Anne Frank museum which was amazing, the museum is actually the house she hid in and we saw her real diary!!! From there we did a walking tour of the city and grabbed some food. That night was Halloween so everyone got ready and we went out. We had a dinner of dutch pancakes and ice cream, and watched as our friends did a pub crawl. Everyone had a great time. Joel and some friends found a cigar place that sold cubans so they relaxed with a cappuccino and a cigar.

Sunday we went to breakfast for more dutch pancakes and then to the Van Gogh museum. His art was just amazing. He did over 800 paintings in just 10 years before killing himself. To see his original work was breath taking. It was rainy in Amsterdam so we got to the train station and ate and did one more walk around the red light district before heading home. Heading home is a process. We took a train to the airport. A bus to the other side of the airport, a plane into Gatwick, a bus from the plane to the terminal, another bus to the opposite side of the airport, a train to a tube station and a tube to a stop about 4 blocks from our flat. All said we left at 6pm and didnt get home until midnight! It was a long day.

We missed everyone and hope we get to talk soon. Joel and I will again be traveling this week to Paris, which I am really looking forward to!