Amsterdam

Our first morning in Amsterdam!

Hello! Sorry it's taken a while to report on my trip to Amsterdam last weekend, but I haven't had much downtime this week between schoolwork, adventuring in London, and of course hanging out with the Ellison crowd who I missed last weekend.

So here's the down and dirty on my trip to the capital of the Netherlands. The Parisian day-by-day blow seemed to work decently well, so I'll do the same here.








Day one:
Also known as the longest day ever. As we are poor college study abroad students, we opted for the cheapest flights that allowed me to only skip one class. That meant a Friday flight at 6 a.m., which meant a bus from Finchley Road that left at 3:52. Thank goodness Bria was there for me with a piece of toast that early in the morning.

YOLO, right?

Our hostel in the Jordaan neighborhood

So of course we miss the last Night Bus down Finchley, so we trekked all the way and hopped on the bus without a problem. A sleepy 45-minute ride (not too bad for a London airport), and we were at Luton, a pretty small airport to the North of London. Security was a bit odd but relatively lax, and at 5:30 IN THE MORNING (still dark) we headed out to the runway and had an Obama moment climbing the stairs directly to the plane. It was seemingly filled with excited drunk guys (Amsterdam for the win) and after 45 minutes—the same amount of time it takes to get from Minneapolis to Chicago—we were in the Netherlands. Crazy.

We arrived in the Centraal Station and headed straight to our hostel in the Jordaan neighborhood, about a 20 minute walk. It was a little unnerving at how deserted central Amsterdam seemed to be, but apparently it was just too early at 8am.  Anyways, we made it to our hostel, in the middle of an authentic, young neighborhood on the edge of Amsterdam, checked in, dropped our bags, and headed straight to the Anne Frank Huis (only about 5 minutes from our hostel), a museum in what was the warehouse that Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis during World War II.

We bought tickets online the night before to avoid the 2 hour plus line and arrived a bit early, so we bought bagels and coffee and spent some time  exploring the streets and canals of Amsterdam.

Outside of the Anne Frank Huis—no pictures inside allowed!

The Anne Frank House was really an incredible experience. Though Otto Frank decreed that there could be nothing but empty rooms throughout the house (in honor of those lost in the Holocaust), there were miniature dioramas of what each room looked like when the Frank family was hiding there, along with testimonies of friends of the family who helped hide them and who survived concentration camps themselves.

We also saw the real pictures that Anne herself had pasted onto the walls of her room to liven it up, that were still there decades later. We also saw the window she looked out of each day, wishing nothing more but to feel fresh air and see the sun again. On display was a photo of Anne's Kindergarten class (with death dates and survival methods for each child) as well as her original diary. The whole experience was very profound and completely unreal. A necessary reminder of the evils and good in this world and how each day is to be cherished.

After we finished at the museum, we headed back to Central Amsterdam to take a bus tour of the city that came free with the Holland Passes we bought. Traveling through the entire city, we listened to a guided tour and stopped at Gassan Diamonds to get a tour of their diamond factory. They even took out some of their most impressive jewels to show us. Too bad I didn't have an extra 9,000 euro in my pocket. Sigh.




Apparently Amsterdam is known as "The City of Diamonds," which shows how little I knew about Amsterdam before we arrived. It's an incredibly city with a very different vibe than either London or Paris. Canals weave throughout the entirety of Amsterdam and there are more bikes than people within the city limits. Throughout the weekend, we saw bikes, bikes, and more bikes. Young people on bikes. Old people on bikes. People texting, holding their children, and reading books on their bikes. It was pretty impressive—I wish more cities in the states were as bike friendly as Amsterdam.

Yep, that centerpiece is a new testament Bible.

Continuing, we got some lunch from Cafe Hefer, a cafe that has been around since the 17th century. Wowza! After grabbing some food, we headed back to the Hostel to crash for a bit. We even picked up some authentic Dutch chocolate sprinkles (trying to seek refuge from the hailing winds and rain), which apparently you eat on bread with butter and microwave. We didn't know about the latter part so we ate it taco-style. Still delicious, but we definitely got a few weird looks from our Hostel Mates. SPEAKING OF WHICH, were quite entertaining. As we booked our trip about four days ahead of time, the only hostel we could book was a Christian Hostel. Which was fine, but pretty entertaining at times (especially when we got back into our room early in the morning on Sunday from going to bars). They had bible study and church services, and sometimes broke into prayer in the cafe. Good times.

Friday night, we had plans to do something that as a music major, was very high on Bria's list: we headed down to the museum district to get student rush tickets to the Concertgebouw! For those who don't know (I certainly didn't), the Concertgebouw is one of the premiere orchestras in all of Europe, and the world. And for only 12.50 euro, we got great seats in the middle of the house aaaaand FREE UNLIMITED DRINKS:) Including Heineken of course and cappuccino, both perfect for displaced Londoners who had been up since 3 in the morning.

For those wondering (and more cultured than I), the symphony played a selection of Strauss (with opera), a new-age-edgy piece by someone who is still living, and Death & Transfiguration. The last piece was just amazing. I couldn't believe I was seeing my first symphony at one of the best in the world!

Outside the Concertgebouw!

After being incredibly sophisticated travelers, Bria and I decided to give up the act and head to McDonald's, which I can tell you is very expensive in the middle of Amsterdam and apparently they don't have ranch sauce (I was laughed out of Mickey D's when I asked for some for my chicken nuggets. Who knew).

Our tour boat!

 

Day Two:
Our original plan for Saturday was to act like real Amsterdaam-ers and rent bikes for the day and explore, but alas, it was raining just as much as the day before. Neither of us brought much rain gear, so that meant a change of plans. We began the day with the best way to see the city—a canal tour from Central Amsterdam that gave us more of an insight to the history of the city and the canals that were used throughout the centuries for defense and transportation. Whoever thought of building a huge city on land below sea level must have been pretty ambitious.

The famous view of all 7 bridges in Amsterdam.

After the tour, we we did some souvenir shopping and realized we were starving. We ducked into a Dutch restaurant, and, after lunch, we decided we were STILL starving and went to get some of the famous Holland fries—from a stand voted the best in Amsterdam! Om nom nom nom nom. They were HUGE and absolutely delicious, topped with ketchup and mayonnaise just like the Dutch like it. I'll post a picture later, as it was my duty to hold the fries, the picture is currently on Bria's camera.

As it was STILL raining (seriously, it never stopped. miserable) we decided it would be a good afternoon to go hit up the Van Gogh museum, which we had also pre-bought tickets for (look at us being organized and well-prepared). The Van Gogh museum is currently being housed at the Hermitage museum, so we headed down one of the main canals, stopping at a canal-side street market along the way which was great fun! We also meandered through the infamous red light district on the way to the museum.

The "dancing houses" of Amsterdam—so called because they seem to sway side to side, a method used by rich old Amsterdaam-ers to make their houses appear bigger (and sometimes due to rotting stakes).

After waiting in line for a bit, we entered the museum and saw many of Van Gogh's most famous works: Irises, Sunflowers, Cherry Blossoms, Olive Grove, and many of his self portraits. Pretty cool! We also explored the Hermitage's Impressionist exhibit while we were there.

Back to the hostel to chill (and nap) for a bit, and then Bria and I took it upon ourselves to explore some of Jordaan's night life and went to four different bars, tasting the different Dutch beers we had never heard of before—and Heineken for good measure. At the fifth bar we went to, we actually met a girl from La Crosse, Wisconsin, who went to Madison and was currently studying her post-grad in Manchester....small world! She was visiting her boyfriend in Amsterdam, who was also at the bar with his Dutch football team. We ended up hanging out with them for a bit before heading back to our hotel pretty early in the morning. This is what study abroad is all about, my friends!

Day Three:

 Sunday! The day that was supposed to be as sunny as it's name sounds, at least according to the Weather Channel App. Alas, when we woke up however, it was raining. No, pouring. Day three of horrible weather commences.

Given the weather conditions, we realized fairly quickly that biking was not going to be an option, which was kind of disappointing, but what can you do.

So we headed back down towards the museum district and the neighborhood of de Pijp to look around and snap some photos with the Iamsterdam sign, any tourist must.

"R" for Rachel, of course!

You've never pancaked like this!

 As it was now raining with the ferocity of a small hurricane, Bria and I ducked into a nearby restaurant to partake in some traditional Dutch pancakes! Bacon & cheese, absolutely delicious. With a quick trip to the Heineken brand store, we headed back to Jordaan to grab our stuff and headed back to the train station. Of course, as we made our last trip through central Amsterdam, the sun began to pass through the clouds FOR THE FIRST TIME ALL WEEKEND. When we were leaving. Of course. As we were trekking with our heavy bags, it actually became hot. Of course. It was like Amsterdam was willing us to actually come back again, apologizing for the monsoon all weekend.

It may not have been a twinkling Eiffel Tower, but it was still a special way to leave Amsterdam in its own right: seeing the sun for the first time in three days. At this point, Bria and I were absolutely knackered (to use a proper British term), but somehow we made it back to Shipol airport, Luton, and Hampstead.