Amsterdam, Paris and home

I'm currently sitting in my house in Indianapolis at 7 a.m. In Paris, it is midnight. In London, 1 a.m. Obviously, we are home finally, after a grueling last stretch of the trip.

Amsterdam
Amsterdam was great! I wish we could have stayed longer than we did.
Our hostel was not that good, mostly because we had five obnoxious German 17-year-olds, who were doped up on the good ole Amsterdam MJ, in our room.
We went on another free tour in this city too. The tour guide was not as good as our first one, but the tour was worth while. We learned about the liberal history of the city and its focus on business. They tolerate because it is good for business. If they regulate the drugs, their feeling is that less people will use harder drugs. And, in the country only 9 percent of the people actually use drugs at all. Much less than here in the United States. Also, the regulation puts a social standard out there for people, so they are less likely to go overboard when using certain things.
But outside of drugs and prostitutes who rent out windows in the Red Light District, Amsterdam has an amazing history of tolerance for other cultures. We visited areas where Catholics would "secretly" worship and where Jews would gather. The government knew that these groups were worshipping, but they said to the cultures, "We just don't want to see it," and so they would worship in houses during that time period. Kicking people out of the area is not good for business, and that policy helped the city become one of the most widely visited capitals in the world.
We did go see Anne Frank's house, but we didn't go inside because the line was too long, and because you don't actually go into the house. You go into a museum that is located two houses down from the house.
We had planned to do a lot in Amsterdam (i.e. the Heinekin Experience, Cannibis College and such), but it just didn't happen. We chose to just kind of hang out and enjoy the city's cultural side, which was just what we needed for this day trip.

Paris
We took a train to Paris for a two-night stay in the cultural capital of Europe. Our hostel was just plain gross. I swear there is some kind of mold growing in the shower that could eat you alive if you were in there long enough.
Anyway, we started early in the morning for a trip to the Louvre. We didn't wait in line at all to get into the house of Mona Lisa. We went through the metro entrance, rather than the main entrance, and that plan worked out for the best. The Mona Lisa was obviously our biggest pull to the art museum, but we also saw great works that ranged from Egyptian artifacts to The Coronation of Napolean.
After we left the Louvre, we walked around a bit in the city, taking in all the sites. We visited Notre Dame and the Palace of Justice and other enormous, elaborate buildings throughout the city.
We took a cruise of the Seine that night and saw the Eiffel Tower light up the entire city. We also went to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower that night.

Back home
We left Paris thinking we would have about three hours in London to look around and go sightseeing. The plane was delayed, the train to London was long, and all time was pushed around until we were given an hour in London. So, we went back to the boardwalk area to look at everything in the daylight, but we didn't even have the time to go on the London Eye. Oh well... next time, right?
We left for Dublin that night, and headed to the airport in the morning, leading me to where I am right now: sitting in my parent's house early in the morning, suffering from jet lag and waiting for my clothes to dry so I have something to wear today.

Overall, I loved the trip. There were some obvious problems with the way things are run, but I would undo any of it. The experience was completely worth it. Next time, I'll know where I want to spend more time and really take in the culture. I know I want to go back to London and Berlin. I also want to go to Naples and the islands in Greece. But those trips are for another time, and maybe another life.