Despite its reputation as the home of the notorious Red Light District, Amsterdam is quite a romantic and charming city. Tourism officials often boast that Amsterdam has more canals than Venice and it is true that just about every street corner in the city center could serve as a postcard image.

We flew to Amsterdam from Dublin on May 19th and spent two days in the city. The highlight was the Anne Frank house, which provides a wonderful insight to what life was like for Jewish families in hiding during WWII. The museum also has a great temporary exhibit that encourages visitors to think about and weigh individual freedoms with the wishes of the majority in a society – the exhibit is called Free2Choose.

We spent the rest of our time wandering around the canals and sampling international cuisine found in this highly diverse and progressive city.