Amsterdam is an interesting place to wander when you don't know where you are. As we were trying to find our hostel, we stumbled upon the Red Light District. Even at 9 in the morning, the street was alive. I reached the street first so I got to enjoy watching my friends slowly look up and realize what was around them. Outside of that street, Amsterdam is absolutely beautiful and full of historic charm. Almost every street is divided by a canal, making for gorgeous views at every turn.
We really wanted to tour Anne Frank's house but it was booked a month out. So if you are interested in touring the Anne Frank House, book early!
We rented bikes and rode around the town with sore butts and tired legs from riding in Amsterdam. We got to see a few buildings and parks done by Copenhagen's famous architect Bjarke Ingels which was really cool! We found a really cheap apartment which was in a great location in town. They always say plumbing in Europe is weird... and this held very true in our apartment. The bathroom was essentially split between three rooms. The toilet was located in the kitchen pantry, the shower was situated in the laundry room, and the sink was just the kitchen sink. It was an interesting little place but served us well in this amazing city!
I liked Prague so much, I plan to bring my family there for Christmas when they visit. It is supposed to be the best place in Europe to go for Christmas.
To start our trip off, we rented an adorable four person bike and explored Margaret Island. The bike was hilarious and also a struggle because one person had to steer and everyone had to pedal in sync.
At one in the morning, we went to a thermal bath that Budapest is known for. The baths are only open to women on Tuesdays and from midnight until 4am on Fridays and Saturdays. The baths were really interesting and relaxing but also something you would never see in The States. The next day, we visited the castle grounds which was absolutely gorgeous. Because it was Halloween, we decided to tour the prison/torture chamber that Dracula was weld in underneath the castle. We were randomly let in for free because of some power outage and were thoroughly creeped out the entire time. The labyrinth had disturbing wax figures set up to show how life was in the prison, and with the power out on Halloween, it was definitely eerie. To end a spooky Halloween night, we were about 2 minutes from being locked in the prison/torture chamber overnight. The one worker had closed it up and was getting ready to leave when he probably heard us talking in the labyrinth and came to let us out. Had he not heard us, we would have been locked in all night. Talk about a Halloween night to remember!