AMSTERDAM!

Whoooops I've neglected this blog for over a month.

This is a long post because it was a long weekend

Before I get into this weekend, I would like to say a couple things about Amsterdam: I love the city, everyone is so friendly and chill about everything; it is the city of tolerance. I really want to live there and marry a tall blond Dutch boy and have Dutch babies. The end.

So the strike that I spoke of before turned into one super long strike and is pretty much just now winding down. So that means all of my travel plans were ruined. (Grèvistes = egoists means strikers are selfish)

BUT I still made it to Amsterdam! I went with my friend Kimmi who I had traveled with to Strasbourg last weekend. We were supposed to go Friday night and meet up with a bunch of other kids that Kimmi and our friend Sophia (who I met in Strasbourg) knew from Sophia’s internship program in Europe.

Our original train leaving Friday was cancelled so we took one a couple hours later and it was so packed with people that they had to slow down the speed for “security reasons.” Well, of course we missed our connection. And mind you this wasn’t the original connection, but the back-up connection also meaning that it was the last train leaving Paris to go to Amsterdam that evening.

So, we decided to hop on a train to Brussels instead because one of the employees at the station informed us that it was very likely we might not make it out of Paris the next day due to a manifestation. At first it seemed like a good idea to go to Brussels since we’d be closer to Amsterdam and away from the strikes but we quickly realized we had nowhere to stay in Brussels.

Panicked, we started frantically calling any and everyone who we knew had friends/family/any sort of connection in Brussels (surprisingly we knew a handful of people but none turned out successful). Throughout the hour train ride, I’m sure we disturbed the entire train by our state of hysteria and random outbursts of extremities whilst trying to find accommodations for the night.

We finally came to the conclusion that if we couldn’t find a place to stay we would just lock our stuff up at the train station and go to a bar or club until the early morning and head back to the train station (it was a better/safer option that waiting around in the train station with the weirdo townies and drunkards). Overhearing our no-so-subtle panic, the two women who were sitting across the aisle from us (who we didn’t realize were American until this point) asked if we were really going to sleep in the train station (of course not….). Turns out they were a mother/daughter pair hailing from Chesapeake, Virginia and the daughter was on a business trip with NATO. They were quite concerned about our tentative sleep arrangements and offered us a spot on their floor in their hotel room in Brussels.

Since our other options fell through and there were no more trains or buses leaving Brussels to Amsterdam that night, we ended up taking them up on their offer (which I’m not sure they entirely thought we were going to do). Kimmi, having her mother bear instincts on her, was a bit worried about this situation but I told her to shut it because they were from Virginia and they were a mother and a daughter on a business trip from quite a respectable company. And it beat out the train station idea.

And it did end up being fine. We went and played bingo with them at a “casino” nearby and was quite fun except for the fact that I was the only one who didn’t win anything. Then we tried to buy them McDo’s for letting us sleep in their room (everything else was closed and we are poor college kids) but they refused. We ended up getting only a couple hours’ sleep but it was nice being in a warm hotel room.

We got up early to get to the train station to catch the first train out to Amsterdam at 6:20 am. FINALLY! On a train to Amsterdaaaam!

Nope. The ticket checker kicked us off two stops later in Antwerp because it was a different ticket company than our original tickets. Sorry bout it.

Not to fear though, there was a train leaving an hour later to Amst (I’m tired of spelling it out each time) on the correct train line so we chilled in Starbucks for a while and had some good old American coffee. But this was not the Starbucks I knew; they had no free wifi…or bathrooms come to think of it.

*Note: you will most likely have to pay to use any public bathroom in Europe, especially at train stations. But it’s usually like 40-70 cents so it’s not too ridiculous.

FINALLY! On the train to Amst—and we didn’t get kicked off this time, it was the right train. We arrived around 10 am and headed towards the city centre to do a free walking tour at 1.

It was a really good tour especially considering that it was free. The company is called Sandeman’s New Europe and they have free walking tours in Amst, Dublin, London, Berlin, Munich, Prague, Hamburg, Edinburgh and Paris, along with bike tours (those you have to pay for). So if you’re ever in those cities make sure to do the tour (free PR.. you’re welcome).

We started off at Dam Square, which is in the main part of town, and it is so called because there used to be a dam in that spot. I did not know that Amst’s name derived from the fact that the early Dutch settlers dammed up the river Amstel to create the city. Also where Amstel Light comes from.

Anyway, then we took off through the Red Light District, which was quite interesting. I didn’t realize that the hookers had actual windows that they stood in, I just kind of figured they stood on street corners. But it’s more complicated than that. A security company rents out the windows to them, which works out in their favor in case there is a sleaze that hits them or something, the girl can hit a panic button and the security team arrives. They take their time getting there though because they want to let all the other prostitutes beat up the guy first and then when they get there they proceed to beat him up. We weren’t really allowed to take pictures though because if the girls see you do that they get pretty pissed and throw some sort of disgusting liquid on you. I got a couple pictures of the area though.

I like the architecture of the houses a lot because they are all tall and narrow and sort of lean to the side. That also means that their foundation is messed up though. Some of them lean forward because the earlier residents would tip them to make it easier to hoist heavy/large items up into their houses.

Everyone rides bikes in this city. I’ve never seen so many bikes in one place. It is ridiculous and cool. Our tour guide told us a couple things to watch out for about bikes: the locals like to hit tourists while riding their bikes. They have a point system where you get a certain amount for just hitting a tourist, hitting one looking at a map, or hitting one on a walking tour. So she advised us: “If you hear the bell, run like hell.” Secondly, locals with bikes need to watch out because people love to throw bikes in the canals. They will search until they find one that is not locked up and whoever makes the biggest splash wins. Supposedly, the first 5 meters of the bottom of the canals are just bikes. And then the city comes through, fishes them out, refurbishes them and resells them.

Smallest house in Amsterdam (across from the widest bridge)

clogs

Anyway, I’m continuing this post weeks later (actually now its Nov 23 so its been about 5 weeks hah) and specific details are becoming hazy, but basically Amsterdam is one of my favorite places. Everyone is so friendly and chill—it’s the city of tolerance so pretty much anything goes.

After the free walking tour we headed over to the Heineken Experience and met up with some friends there. It was cool because you went through the museum at your own pace and it wasn’t a guided tour. We did the little beer ride, got mini tastings, learned why foam is added (yes added) to beer: to help keep the oxygen in so the beer doesn’t go flat; and then had a happy hour at the Heineken bar where I met my future Dutch husband, Bob (who by the way, studied in Montpellier as well-- great start to our relationship).

Then after that we did a pub crawl! It was awesome. We did one on the Leidesplein instead of the Red Light District because this one was clubs and also the Red Light District can be a bit shady at night. It was a whole lot of fun. It was me Kimmi, Sophia, and the other kids from the internship program in Germany. We didn’t make it to the last couple places—there were six in total and we thought it was like 3 a.m. Turns out it was only 1 when we got back to the hostel though haha.

Sunday we went to a couple museums, Van Gogh included which was really cool because it had all his artwork laid out chronologically. We also got to play on the giant I Amsterdam blocks.

All in all it was a really good weekend. We didn’t have time to do a couple things like see the Anne Frank house or go on a biking tour or see the windmills but that just means I need to go back.

We had a bit of trouble with transportation on the way back, as our train arrived late into Gare du Nord in Paris so we literally had to BOOK IT to Gare du Lyon only to find out the train had been cancelled. Note to self: running through train stations in heeled boots isn’t the best idea. Anyway, we ended up staying the night in Paris and luckily Kimmi has a friend living there and she was nice enough to let us crash for the night.

I want to go back. Now.