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Personally I think Amsterdam is really overrated. There are much nicer places to visit in the Netherlands where you're less likely to get your pocket picked. Haarlem is a great place to stay, and if you do want to visit Amsterdam, it's 15 minutes away by train. The beach is also 15 minutes away in the other direction. There are all sorts of smaller towns in the Netherlands that are cool to visit, too, and the Dutch all speak English for the most part--no matter where you are. And they love to practice speaking it, so be prepared to answer a lot of questions about who you are and where you're from.
I also really liked Paris, especially the Latin Quarter. We spent a lot of time in dusty bookstores there. Paris is just the kind of city you could spend a whole week wandering around in and still feel like you've barely scratched the surface. Parisians are much nicer than people give them credit for. We didn't have any problems, though I would recommend having a basic grasp of French before visiting. People there will speak English to you, provided you make the effort in French first.
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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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