Six Flying Piggies

We were going to begin this post by saying "hello" in Dutch, but realized we haven't gotten any more proficient at the language after 2.5 days here.

We found out about Michael Jackson's death (R.I.P.) on our last night in London and insisted that all the DJs play his music to commemorate him.

The crew landed after a pleasant hour long flight from London. To give you a visual image, we went straight from our favorite club to Katie's house to pick up the backpacks for the airport. Val was still wearing the shirt she went out in.

Once we landed in Amsterdam, we needed to navigate the train system. One minor distraction ensued... we met one of our favorite rap artists, Slug from Atmosphere. We were by the ticket dispensers, strapped into our packs, looking like hell when Val thought she spotted a vaguely familiar face. The two of us looked at each other in utter shock, and took off running. He was slippping away slowly, and we realized we couldn't casually approach him so Maddie yelped, "Slug?!". He turned around, looking displeased, and gave us a wave...we weren't satisfied. Val stuttered something along the lines of, "We're such big fans!" and he looked rather pissed, then walked away. We proceeded to reenact the chase for the rest of the day, and still do periodically. We thought it was very appropriate that Slug welcomed us to the awesome city of Amsterdam.

Once at our hostel, The Flying Pig, we realized the extra 5 euros we were paying per night were totally worth it. There is a bar and smoking lounge in the lobby, where we've made many new friends. The rooms are tidied daily, and we even have our own bathroom with a shower. The best part of our hostel is that people are congregated in the main areas 24 hours a day....literally. We will be out to a club until 5am and there will always be people to meet, play pool with, or have a drink with when we get back. Not to mention, the place is INFESTED with beautiful men. As is all of Amsterdam.

Okay, we need to gush. Walking through the streets is a painful, painful experience. We can't whip our heads around fast enough to take in all the attractiveness. We've had full blown conversations about how there could possibly be this many drool-worthy gems in this such a concentrated region. If any one can enlighten us, we'd love an explanation.

Moving on. We spend most of our walking time in pairs, linked at the elbow, ambling through crowds, taking in the architecture. On our first day in Amsterdam, we wandered around without a clue where we were going, grabbing cheap eats and coffee shop treats along the way. We had Asian fusion food for dinner, which was damn greasy. Every night before we go to the clubs, we take a 3 or 4 hour nap (all 6 of us in our bunks) and set an alarm to wake up around 8pm. The clubs here are a lot of fun, although there are some creepy ass old dudes...especially in the Red Light District. It breaks our hearts to see those girls dancing in the windows.

Yesterday, we didn't do much of anything but went barhopping then clubbing. Maddie and Kelsey opted to have a lowkey night at the hostel. It felt bizarre to have only a 4 person crew, although by other standards, that's still a large travel group.

Today everyone woke up around noon, much to Doobz's dismay, and trekked to the Van Gogh museum. And by trekked... we mean TREKKED. It took about an hour each way. The museum itself featured contemporary art nouveau by a slew of artists and late 19th century Van Gogh pieces. We all enjoyed the exhibit a lot, though we did not enjoy the $12.50 entrance fee.

On the way back, the two of us fell into a trap... a shoe sale. Maddie got some cool sneakers and Val got a pair of flats. Once we reprimanded ourselves and got on our way, we quickly realized that we were pleased with our purchases.

Now we're back at the hostel gearing up for our daily nap and night out.

Love and miss you all,
Val and Maddie