"bikers and bitter-ballen"

That's all you need in Amsterdam - but if you're a tourist, I'd recommend not cycling through the streets of this small city. Life in Amsterdam is so very different than to anywhere I've ever been to before. The people are real nice and tolerate tourists - especially when you're looking for a café and cannot make up your mind about what you'd like to try next (if you know what I mean.) My family spent 4 days in this cobbled stone town, and it was a great way to start off our five week trip in Europe/UK.

You'll find that everywhere looks similar. I definitely felt like I was going in circles at one point as every road was attached to a canal. The upscaled food was scarce but we managed to find a couple intriguing restaurants such as the Five Flies and Le Garage, where we had memorable suppers.

Get to Amsterdam before that law is in place! The poor tourists are no longer going to be able to purchase the "good stuff" for long! Guess it's a good thing? Then again, you're in Amsterdam... what else are you going to do? Oh right... the red light district. THAT was definitely a once in a lifetime "moment."

And whoever came up with them deep fried, meat balls?! Ingenious!! I spent a couple days searching when all I had to do was walk into a bar and look at the menu - only to find the one and only bitter-ballen! Oooh were they delicious. I then made sure that I would have a bitter-ballen or two before leaving the city. Luckily our hotel made extra delicious ones - ballen with fish! Stick to the meat, that's the best.

Amsterdam proved to be a fun city - there was much to see: the house of Anne Frank, the Picasso museum, the Heineken factory and much more. If you're in Europe and are looking for a weekend getaway, Amsterdam is the place to go.

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