Welcome to Amsterdam! I took the Thalys train from Paris. It was a quick, beautiful ride and there was free WiFi on the train, which I used to video chat with my parents as the weather outside went from nice and sunny to gloomy to torrential rain.
I went with my cousin, Tanguy from Paris and we stayed with other cousins in Amsterdam. The weekend consisted of a lot of eating (obviously), catching up, hanging out with great aunts and uncles and exploring the weird and wonderful shops of the city. I probably had pickled herring about 8 times, which works out to about 2-3 times a day. We also visited the poffertjes stand a few times. Poffertjes are like little mini pancakes slathered in butter and powdered sugar. They are pronounced poferchers and they are incredible. I love the language because it sounds like an alien language. Luckily, almost everyone I needed to talk to spoke English perfectly.