Amsterdam or Rome

Miakal

Yeah, I'd love to see the Vatican too (not to be confused with The Vatican II) even though I'm not really Catholic anymore.

The Vatican alone seems more interesting than Amsterdam. Then again, I don't know what's really in Amsterdam.

Tyler Durden

Amsterdam, in it's defence, is a pretty awesome city for a good weekend but no longer. The Van Gogh museum is excellent and you can see "Sunflowers" there, you can visit Anne Frank house and see how she lived with her family in retreat from the Nazi's that had occupied the city, the tram system is cool and you can just move from the top to the bottom of the city by hopping on and off all day. You can go round the whole city on it's canal which is a nice way to recover from a hangover!

Last, but not least, the evenings are brilliant, you can smoke to your hearts content in bars and cafes, which is a little weird if you're not used to smoking pot in front of so many people, but it does strangely make for an excellent atmosphere. At the other end of things, you can take a walk down the red light district. It always seems as though 99% of the people are just there to look rather than use the services. I've been there four times and whenever a woman is with you they are the worst for wanting to go and look at this area. It's not really all that seedy looking which is a surprise!! Mainly it's all people wandering in and out of the pubs at either side and having a good ogle at the girls in the windows! You also have to see the Sex Museum if you go there, it is one bizarre place tracing the roots of porn over the last couple of hundred years with some real strange ancient pics (though I was a little put off in the "animals" section!!).

I wouldn't go there any longer than a weekend because once you've seen all the above you're pretty much done. Another reason for me going there is that I find the attitude and personality of more northern Europeans far more akin to British people than the latin types of Italy who just rub me up the wrong way after too much exposure.

To be honest, trains are pretty cheap travelling across Europe and it wouldn't be that expensive to just base in Rome and travel up to Amsterdam for the weekend or something. Given the choice, I would go to Rome simply because I've never been there before, but it would seem a shame to travel so far and see just one city.

Dr. Giganto

Hookers and weed...go Amsterdam

On a side note, my girlfriend asked me to go to Italy with her in November. One of her good friends is from Torino (his parents still live there) and that's where the Olympics are going to be in February. So, a couple of people from her program are planning to go out there, and she wants me to come too.

I want to go, but it's kinda expensive, plus I have my friend's bachelor party to pay for next spring...

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

Bullgod makes a good case for Amsterdam, but I'm kinda leaning towards Rome. I still have a couple weeks before I decide which place to go. I'll bring back pics.

Disco Raheem

How long are you going for?

I've honestly never heard of someone going over to Europe then just seeing one city in one country. Go backpacking for a few months and actually see a few countries, really get a chance to experience their culture.