This is the ever-so-late Amsterdam post. I am only going to write what we did during the trip, so it may not be the most interesting post. But to start I will say Amsterdam is an amazing laid back city. I didn't see a SINGLE Starbucks. And, there are 750,000 people in the city and 600,000 bikes. Thus, Amsterdam is the closest city to Utopia.
Thursday:
We had a pleasant journey from
Heathrow and landed in Amsterdam around 10 pm. The train from the airport to central Amsterdam was only 15 min. long and only 4 Euros. That is, unless you are
Tino, who decided he would get the discounted ticket, eligible only for children. This didn't bode well with the ticket attendant, but
Tino played the perfect ignorant tourist and talked himself out of a 50 Euro fine. Job well done.
After settling into our rooms, we ate a
disgusting falafel meal at the
disgusting Leicester Square-
esque area in town and then called it a night.*
Friday:
Richard didn't set his alarm properly and we met
Tino and Ashley in
Vondel Park, which was next to our hostel, about a half hour late. The hostel was as bare-bones as you could get. The room was a standard sized motel room, but had four bunk beds... a tight squeeze!
The Van Gogh Museum was first on our list. I learned that he only actually painted for ten years and went through many different styles, not just the brightly colored gobs of paint on canvas you usually see. Then we headed to a mother-daughter owned cafe, a colorful coffee-house decorated with a mural of Van
Gogh smoking a joint.
We had dinner at an Indonesian place with menu descriptions as specific as "
Goble-
de-gook Plate: Decadent and lovely." Who needs an
ingredient list? (As it turns out none of us, because the surprise dishes were as tasty as can be!). The punchy waitress informed us that the background music was performed by the Dutch equivalent to Frank Sinatra. He had died the day before and they were playing it as a tribute. It was awful. Between the four of us we couldn't decide if we were happy he died because he would no longer make any more music, or if we were sad he died because we were currently being forced to listen to it.
After this we did some Amsterdam shopping and walked around
Vondel Park until late late late in the evening.
Saturday:
Dick still hadn't figured out the time change and AGAIN set his alarm for an hour off Amsterdam time. He decided to buy my forgiveness by offering to treat me to a bagel and coffee. It turned out that two bagels and two coffees go for exactly $16.50 in Amsterdam. This gave me a lot of quiet glee!
We met
Tino and Ashley in
Vondel Park and then enjoyed a pancake breakfast. (I mentioned above this post is for record keeping, not for entertainment.)
After this we rented bikes. This has so far been the best money I have ever spent in Europe. And, apparently, I am considered a little person, and was given a little person bike. Ashley kept warning us that she hadn't ridden a bike since her childhood and she inevitably fell off the bike about 2 blocks into our ride.** What did the nearest onlooker do? Laugh. And not an ordinary chuckle- he screamed, pointed, and had a
deeeeep belly laugh.
We rode our bikes to Rembrandt's house. I want to say it was an awesome filled with his paintings, but it actually used to be his house. It contained zero artwork and zero insight into the life of this man. I only suggest going to see this museum if you have an incredible interest into his daily
routine, or if you have written a
Ph.D. dissertation on the type of crap he liked to collect (stuffed dead animals, weapons, etc).
Okay, now the good stuff!
We rode our bikes to the Red Light District. I was aware that there would be prostitutes in windows, but it was really shocking to actually see them! The girls (some looked like supermodels, some looked like Rosanne Barr) would open a door and you could just walk into their room (!).
The boys went to the hemp museum. Ashley and I were uninterested and we decided to meet back up with them later. We were in the middle of the Red Light District and had no idea what to do. We passed a place that had a PEEP SHOW sign, and we thought, "Well, when in Rome..."
It was 2 Euro for 2 minutes. There were frosted windows that magically cleared after you put your coins in the slot, this revealed a girl stripping on a bed... make that a rotating bed. Ashley and I were bored after about 30 seconds, but it is worth the story, not to mention the look on the boys' faces when they asked us what we got up to!
After this we ate a fondue dinner. I learned that Ashley has a tendancy to be right 99% of the time. Cheese fondue is not at all yummy. After I left I realized my dinner consisted of bread with cheese, and french fries with cheese. Then we headed to the theatre to see a visual explosion of [insert euphemism and change subject].
After the show I got Richard back for not setting the alarm correctly by demanding at 12:30 am that we needed to go out and find a proper dinner. This was NOT an easy task. I again got a great amount of glee in this. I don't consider this vindictive.
Anyway, Sunday: We did it all on Sunday!
We rode our bikes to an area called Jordaan. We went to the houseboat museum, apparently only to color in coloring books, but it was fun!*** (****). Then it was off to the Tulip Museum and finally the Rijik Museum, where we saw Rembrandt's famous Night Watch painting.
After our museum splurge we enjoyed the last few hours with our bikes and rode to a park that started with an O (anyone remember?). We made an honest attempt at lunch and then headed back to town to return our bikes. It was a sad goodbye.
Then it was nap-time! We had a surprisingly amazing dinner at a place that looked like it could've been a Brazil, Indiana truck stop. Ooooh the dessert! Anyway, we enjoyed our last evening in the city at a smoky jazz club.
Monday:
The boys headed back to London early in the morning to catch their 10am class, but Ashley and I stuck around to go to the Anne Frank house. This is the canal-house where she spent her time in hiding during WWII. I remembered reading the book when I was a kid, but this gave it a whole new perspective. I bought the book at the airport so I could get the full affect.
After our Munich debacle (missing our flight and spending 10.5 hours stranded in the airport in order to catch the next flight) we headed to the airport about 5 hours early and caught up with some reading.
Somehow customs in London only took 10 minutes and we were home by midnight. Perfecto!
THE END
*Ashley left her purse at this
falafel joint, but luckily the waitress ran after her to return it.
**During this bike ride Ashley dropped her gloves. A kind citizen picked them up and rode them back to Ashley.
***Ashley left her scarf here. After the Tulip Museum we had to go back to get it.
**** This is when it really sunk in to me that Ashley can be absent-minded. (Personal note to Ashley: Thank you for reminding me where I hid all my important documents that I hadn't seen for months. .... ummm yeah.)
