Amsterdam

I went to Amsterdam with some preconceived ideas about all it would entail. Some ideas turned out to be right and some surprisingly not :) We had a train to catch at 9:01 so a group of us in Smaragdlaan left at 8 to get there in time.. that shows you how desperately I need a bike ha! We took the train to Amsterdam and were welcomed by a swarm of people. Right off I could sense that it was nothing like Leiden. We walked out of the train station and were surrounded by yet again breath taking buildings. We headed to the nearest canal and got on a boat that took us through numerous canals and gave us a different perspective of the city. On the boat we saw Anne Franks house, numerous churches, beautiful houses, and hundreds of houseboats! After the tour we went into the Red Light District, which being as naive as I am scared me to pieces haha! On our way there we stopped at Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder meaning Our Lord in the Attic.  It is a 17th century town house with a church in the attic that was used as a secret place for Catholics to worship during the Protestant revolts. After that we went continued our journey through the Red Light District. It was not as awful as I thought it would be so that was a blessing! We ate lunch at Amsterdam University and then finished up at another museum. However this time we were challenged to find our way back to the train station.. good thing there are other people who can read maps :) After some confusion of where and when our train was we finally boarded and headed back to Leiden. I was glad to get back! A group of us attended a church service tonight with students from Tawain and Leiden. It was so neat to be able to worship with people from all over. I am excited to get plugged in with it this church :)  It was a very eventful day to say the least.. Tomorrow I am planning to get my bike and go to the market!