Anywho, let's talk about the most recent of my European excursions to Amsterdam, The Netherlands. I just learned that Amsterdam is still referred to as in the country of Holland, not many people call it Holland anymore which is weird and I assume because the Netherlands include Belgium as well.
It was a relatively short trip but we did SO much. We left at around 1:15 thursday afternoon, there were 6 girls total. The perfect sized group, and everyone worked SO well together. We split two cabs, headed to the airport and checked into our swiss flight. We got to Amsterdam around 8pm that night and managed to find our way to the train to take us to the "Centrum" of Amsterdam, also known to us Amurricans as the downtown or central part of the city.
Our hostel was called the "flying pig" it's a very well known hostel in Europe! It was definitely to go along with the name, very cool vibe and people from all over. There was a bar, a smoke room, and a house cat. You can't go wrong with any of those things can you? I was in a room with 3 other people who I didn't know because I booked later, but it was fine. The beds were nice, and honestly the only time I spent in my room was to sleep or to find something that I didn't have.
So the first night we got there, and put all of our stuff in our room. Then we ventured out to the city. It's a very cool city by night it has canals everywhere, and there are people out and about. There are smokeshops everywhere, which are referred to as "coffeeshops" in Amsterdam. It's legal to buy pot here, and they all have menus that have different kinds of weed on them. It's weird for pot to be accepted by the police, it's not a legal drug, but the police just over look it! So of course, we went to a coffee shop after getting a muffin because we were famished. The flight, Swiss, provided us with AMAZING sandwhiches with cheese (even better than Californian cheese) and chocolate but we were still hungry.
The name of the coffeeshop was "Barney's" a little out of the way, but we got to wander the city and see the canals by night and start to become aquainted with our new surroundings! We even managed to find a coffee shop called the bull dog.. which of course I took pictures of. I guess we're followed around by our mascot no matter where we go! The coffee shop was very quaint, we ordered some pot called .... something desire? I am not sure what it was called but we got a gram full. It was a lot for 6 people. We sat in the coffee shop, smoked, and just enjoyed the atmosphere. Amsterdam is all about the atmosphere, it's a very calming and chill place and everyone is on such a different level. No one is stressed, every one is very friendly, and people just take time out of their day to enjoy going out with friends even just to sit and talk. It's the European vibe, set to a scandanavian background.
After that we headed to one of the best burger places I have ever ever been to... perfect food. They had angus beef, and made everything fresh in front of you! It was SO delicious, it even came with a heaping of fries and special sause. I was in food heaven, such a nice change from pasta that I couldn't even bring words to describe it. Pasta is amazing, but burgers are definitely needed once in a while!
We headed home, and I went up to bed with my new roommates. I luckily got one of the former vikings, a large hairy hairy man who slept on the bunk above me and whose snores shook the entire building. He had really long blonde hair and grunted quite loudly. What a CHARMER! The other two were quiet girls who were feeling the same way I was about the house being rocked by our new best friend. Oh well, it was still a bed!
The next morning we really got going. We got up had breakfast at 8:30, and were out of the door by around 8:45. We had bought tickets already to the Anne Frank house and headed there. Of course we got lost, but somehow managed to find it. The Anne Frank house is where she hid for two years before the Nazi's found her. Her entire family was living in the "Secret" Anex on top of a wharehouse, only 2 or 3 people knew they were they so they could bring them food and necessities. The entrance is up these very steep stair cases and then you have to open a book shelf to get into the rooms. The bookshelf was placed there by her hiders so that they wouldn't be easily found. It was intense to be able to go through the entrance that I had read about in her journal. She was only 13 or so when she began to live in Amsterdam, she was originally from Germany but her family had to flee to Amsterdam to hide there. We then got to see the entire layout of the anex. The rooms appeared large, but when thinking that 2-3 people lived in each and all of the worldly posessions they all had and how dark and lonely it was suddenly it didn't seem so spacious.
We went into Anne Frank's room whom she shared with another one of the hiders. Her room still contains the cutouts on the wall that she posted when she first moved in. She said that this was to make it less dreary and seem like a home. For a 13 year old, it must have been one of the most scary and humbling experiences of her life. Her father turned the house into a museum to try and demonstrate what hate and prejudice for no reason do to people. Along all of the walls were quotes from her journal relating the rooms and the visitors to what she felt at the time. One of the most moving quotes was in the kitchen where is said "Sometimes, I just want to walk through the front door, be a kid, laugh and dance. But I cannot." Her family was contained in the walls of the annex so that she would survive and not be caught and sent to a concentration camp. The hardships that this young girl faced were some of the most movings words I've read. I think it affected me more than the concentration camp because I could relate to her in a way that I can't even explain.
On the way out, her journal is there and you can see her real handwriting. You have experienced what she did every day, the fear, the longing, the people who were everything, and finally you read that she didn't make it out. That was the hardest part all of their work, and fear to end up in something so sad. The museum offers to the viewer a place to really reflect, and think about a tradgic event from the perspective of a real person.
After we left the Anne Frank museum we were all pretty shaken. SO we went to a cafe (just a cafe) and some amazing cappucinos and apple cake. It was a nice break, and we walked a bit by the canals and continued to get a feeling for such a beautiful city. We then stopped by the Tulip Museum of Amsterdam, it's a beautiful building where they have all the tulip varities. I picked up some tulips for the Madre and friends from home (that are LEGAL to transport, SCORE!) and we just browsed. They were very friendly and very nice.
The tulip museum...
We then wandered around more and went to the Vondelpark, the largest park of Amsterdam. It's a beautiful park with lots of changing tree colors and a cafe in the middle. There are small pondish deals everywhere and bikes lining every row. It's very nice.
Playing in the park.. and the entrance.
After that we went to the Heinkeken museum for some cultural experience. It was the place Heineken started and the tour was AWESOME! You go in it's very interactive. Some parts even include becoming the beer, they take you in a room, and have chairs that move and you watch a video of you going through the process of becoming beer. It was awesome to see what you are drinking from the beginnning to the end! The most ridiculous part was our "commercial" trying to sing Dutch for the Heineken advertisement, we are definitely not going to be stars for Heineken anytime soon. We then got some free beers at the end of the tour, and got to see the inside workings of the factory! SUCCESS!
After that we were all famished and found a little expensive restaraunt. We then wandered to another coffeeshop and tried to finish our new found pleasure of smoking. After that, we decided we NEEDED to go to the red light district. This is one of the most famous, sex shops and brothel areas in Europe. The lights actually change to red on the top of the streets when you enter and there begins to be a lot of sex shops. The vibe totally changed.. it was very weird. We were expecting to see rooms as we walked down with redlights and prostitues inside, but we didn't at first. Then a man wolf-whistled, and we turned down an alley and there it WAS. The redlights. There were these rooms as you walked by with glass sliding doors and girls in bikinis or less standing inside by the beds trying to get your attention. The redlights were on top of the door meaning that they were a prostitute. There were men wandering around everywhere. We went down an alley that was solely these redlight rooms, each side had 15-20 rooms as we walked down and men wandering up them taking their pick of who they wanted for the night. Some of the doors were closed meaning that person was 'busy'. It was one of the weirdest places I have ever been, I can't even explain the feeling. It didn't feel real, but it definitely was. There were men talking to the women's whose doors were open about their price for the night or what they were willing to do. Once we left, the vibe completely changed. I can't say I will be going back there anytime soon.
basically what is looks like, without posting anything... really dirty. i got this off google you aren't suppose to take pictures there.
We then went home, exhausted from running around the city all day and FELL into our beds happily.
The next morning we got up had another APPETIZING breakfast of Coco puffs and wandered to the canal cruise. It was an hour long tour of the city by boat, pointing out the highlights. It was nice to see everything form the canal, most of the places we had already been by because we had walked a lot the previous day but it was nice. THe canals are absolutely beautiful, and the boat was very nice because it started to rain and we didn't want to get poured on. I love the city, all of buildings, the canals, the bikes EVERYWHERE, the lack of a rush and finally just the vibes. We then went for a quick little shopping strint, got on the train headed to the airport and enjoyed some good Swiss quality food on our way back to our home, Florence.
My roommate Sarah and I and our friends went to a bar last night for our friends 21st.. and then went dancing at a club. Our friend had a friend visiting from Morroco so we found a tiny little bar/club with a bunch of Italians and spent the rest of our night there attempting to dance. It was a good time. Today was lazy sunday of cheap sandwhiches, homework, studying, naps, and some social time after church.
What an amazing trip to Amsterdam and weekend! I am so so so lucky. (Thank you parents, so much.)
Cheers from Italy! :]
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