Enter Amsterdam
Hello! It's me again, this time from the Netherlands. Or Holland. Or both. Honestly I'm still a little confused on how that works. Anyway, I spent last weekend exploring the beautiful city of Amsterdam!
Cutest waiter in all of Amsterdam
I spent about 3 and a half days in this city, but that was enough to fall completely in love. I loved the slanty buildings, the dutch pancakes, how nice the people were and the fascinating (sometimes weird) history that surrounded Amsterdam. It was also nice to be around English again. In the Netherlands, the people speak Dutch and English. I didn't have to pull up google translate every thirty seconds.
We (me + some other girls studying in Rome) landed in Amsterdam late Thursday night. My first hostel experience was, interesting, to say the least.
On the first day we decided to take a tour of Amsterdam, to get a feel and see what we wanted to do. Sandeman's New Europe Tours (the same company from my Berlin trip!) had another free walking tour around the city. Love Sanedmans! Our tour guide, Kendra, was incredible. She's an American (from Alaska), that had moved to Denmark for her masters, and had just never gone home. I aspire to be Kendra.
Kendra showed us the old church, part of the red light district, the infamous bulldog coffee shop, the university and the outside of the Anne Frank house. Always take the free walking tour.
Kendra was also the first person to point out that some of the buildings were slanted. Some of them were on purpose, to help avoid carrying items up the long narrow staircases. They tax each house by their width, which is why each of the houses are long and skinny. The staircases inside are narrow and steep. The building slanted forward have a hook at the very top, for a rope to pull whatever they needed up to the top floors. The buildings that slant towards the sides have a much simpler reason, they were built on swamp ground and the foundations are failing. We didn't notice the buildings until they were pointed out to us.
Sandeman's is good about promoting their other tours. When you go on their free walking tour, they will usually give you a discount for their other tours. And, sometimes even a student discount on top of that. That night, after the free walking tour, we went on their red light district tour.
The red light district in Amsterdam is everything you've heard. One of my companions and I had gotten lost during the free walking tour earlier that day in a part of the red light district. It was only a little traumatizing, but we knew what to expect after that. The tour was very informative and I highly recommend it. Also, I want to give props to our tour guide, who was constantly reminding us that these were strong, working women and we should treat them with respect. He also informed us that the Dutch have made a hangover cure! We didn't get a chance to test it out, but it is something to think about if you're ever in Amsterdam.
The rest of the trip was (dam) amazing (hee hee). We did more planned touristy things, like the Anne Frank house, Van Gogh museum and the Heineken Experience. Whatever you've heard, the Anne Frank house is worth it, definitely go. Just buy your tickets in advance. The Van Gogh museum was probably my favorite part of the trip and the Heineken Experience was basically a beer amusement park. All worth your time and money if you're ever in Amsterdam.
Fault in Our Stars Bench
We also did unplanned, spontaneous things. One day we did a wine and cheese tasting at a cheese shop Kendra recommended to us. Side note: don't ever ask a cheesemaker from Holland if they have Cheddar. They get a little irked. We found the bench from the Fault in our Stars movie. Well the replacement, apparently the real bench was stolen and is still missing. But don't worry! You can still go take the picture with the fake bench, though you might have to fight off the crowd of teenage girls that seem to live there.
That's about it. Amsterdam was one of my favorite trips so far this semester. The bicyclists are a bit dangerous, but just remember to look both ways before crossing a bike lane (this is not a joke they will hit you). I hope to go back one day. As for the other thing that Amsterdam is known for, just ask a local or your tour guide for their favorite coffee shop.
Vaarwel!
