Fall Break: Amsterdam

While planning our trip, we knew we wanted to go to Amsterdam, the only question we had was how long should we stay. We had heard of some worthwhile museums there, and that was of course our singular reason for traveling to Amsterdam and nothing else influenced our decision at all.

Once we arrived we wandered around awhile and finally found our hostel, which turned out to be the most unique one of the trip. I wouldn't normally spend much time discussing a hostel, but this one had a movie theme; each room was decorated as a different movie, and ours was James bond:




After checking in, we again went exploring and looked for a place to eat. Amsterdam has a huge mixture of cuisines; we saw Indian, Japanese, Middle Eastern, and lots of American, but we settled on middle eastern and had kebobs. Wandering around in search of food really gave me a true sense of how quaint of a city Amsterdam is. It's very small, very walkable, and it's not loud and rambunctious at all. The architecture is very unique with a mixture of new and old, and its very pretty, especially by the canals. Check it out:



While it is quaint at times, we were staying in the red light district, and if you've ever heard any rumors about Amsterdam, the red light district is likely where they originated. There are brothels everywhere, most with creepy men and ads for live sex shows right out front. If that wasn't enough, there are girls who literally stand in the window of the brothels and tap on the glass as you walk by. Sometimes, men enter the brothel, and you can see the shades of the window close, and everyone knows what time it is. We could see this from the window of our hostel and it was eerie and kind of sad at the same time.

Anyway, we chose not to indulge in some of Amsterdam's more underground offerings, and after eating, we found our way to a coffee shop recommended to us by our friends. Amsterdam is known for it's coffee shops, as they have really excellent coffee and pastries. My coffee was good, but I am studying in Rome, and they're pretty good at coffee there too. They had other things for sale at this coffee shop as well, and it was somewhat of a surreal experience to see certain things on the menu. After hanging out in the coffee shop, we decided to go exploring. We wanted to try some more unique cuisines, so of course, we had Mcflurry's from McDonalds. I figured I had enough unique cuisines at that point in the trip and I wanted to indulge in a Mcflurry.

The next day we decided that one visit to a coffee shop in Amsterdam wasnt enough, so I again had coffee. Since we were rested, caffeinated, and had a full day to explore, we decided to see some sights.

First, we went to the Heineken factory, which offers a very expensive tour, dubbed, "The Heineken Experience." It was fairly interesting; we learned the history of the brand, from it's roots in Amsterdam, to it's transformation to a national brand that has a standard look and taste worldwide. I enjoyed it, but you really can't beat the Sam Adams brewery tour in Boston; it's free, and the beer is better. After the tour I went to the Van Gogh Museum to make my grandparents proud. Well, I actually really wanted to check it out as it's supposed to be one of the better ones. I enjoyed it, but I was surprised that a large portion of the museum was dedicated to artists who influenced van Gogh. Still, I learned a lot about Van Gogh, and so it was worth the price.

Finally, we went to the "I Amsterdam" sign for some touristy pictures. It's basically the Hollywood sign of Amsterdam, but it's at ground level so people climb all over it and take crazy pictures. Here's me:

That was our last sight before we headed to the train station for an overnight train to Berlin. Overall, Amsterdam was an incredible experience. I didn't take advantage of all it has to offer, but I'm not sure I would have wanted to. There's a whole lot more to the city than just prostitutes and illegal drugs, and I'm glad we got to experience those other things. It's a really beautiful city where almost everyone rides bikes, and everyone is genuinely friendly, (for any number of reasons). Its very relaxed and people don't seem to be in a hurry all the time like we are in the States. I guess it is a bit like a fairy tale land, but I don't thing it would be so bad if more of the world was like a fairy tale.