Amsterdam

Goedemiddag friends! That means "good afternoon" in Dutch, a word that I learned after a fabulous weekend in Amsterdam. I have a ton of interesting and amusing stories, so this is going to be a long, and hopefully entertaining, entry.

When we left off, I was getting ready to head into the center of Florence to wait for our 3:30 am bus to Pisa. Andrea and I took our last bus #23 at 11:45 pm, planning to go and sit in Mac Donald's for a few hours, since that was the only place open so late. We didn't get off to the best start because as soon as we boarded the bus and turned the corner, I started talking about the time Kathryn almost forgot her passport for our London trip. That quickly made Andrea realize that she had forgotten her passport. Great. She immediately called up Maria Pia, who was most likely sleeping in her comfy chair, as she does every night. She immediately responded and said that she was not able to move her car, but would come in Gianna's car with Andrea's passport. About 20 minutes after Andrea and I arrived downtown, Maria Pia and Gianna were there, with passport. Seriously, she's a gem that Maria Pia. She'd really do anything for us. So, around 12:30, the crisis had been averted and Andrea and I went to Mac Donald's to sit down. I felt obligated to buy something so that we were allowed to sit, so I got a little milkshake. Around 1am, Kevin showed up and ordered himself a full meal (chicken nuggets, fries and a soda). I really envy boys in that respect because late night Mac Donald's would very quickly turn me into a cow.

Unfortunately, we got kicked out of Mac Donald's at 2 am because they needed to close. So Kevin, Andrea and I walked over to Piazza Santa Maria Novella and sat on a bench. It was pretty freezing, especially because there wasn't much between my butt and the cold marble bench. We distracted ourselves by watching the drunk, under-dressed Americans stumble by and chatting while listening to music. Maggie Rossi showed up soon after we got to the Piazza, and we sat there shivering until about 3:00 am. At that point, we decided to walk over to where the bus was scheduled to arrive, just to ensure that we didn't miss it. There were a ton of homeless people sleeping under the station's awning, so we avoided that area and waited further away so that we could keep watch on the happenings of late-night Florence. The bus arrived on schedule at 3:30 am and we had no problems getting tickets, thank goodness. There were a lot of other kids there that had already ordered tickets, so we were a little nervous until we made it on the bus. Most of the kids were either going to Amsterdam as well, or Morocco. Pretty cool!

As soon as I sat in my seat, I passed out. I guess Kevin, Maggie and Andrea had a little more trouble sleeping because some idiotic American spent the whole 1 hour, 15 min bus ride calling people- at 3:30 in the morning! Maggie was pretty pissed about that. When we arrived at the airport in Pisa, we had to wait about a half hour before check in began. Everything went smoothly through our boarding at 6:30 am, and we slept again on the 1 hour, 30 min plane ride. We landed in Eindhoven, The Netherlands around 9 am and hopped on a shuttle from the airport to get to the train station. At the train station, we got situated on a train heading into Amsterdam, with a little help from some kind Dutch people that conveniently spoke perfect English (I suppose just about all of them are bilingual). The train ride lasted a little under 2 hours and we arrived in Amsterdam around 11--- finally. We got our hands on a map and decided to walk to our hostel because it didn't look like it was very far away. While admiring the unique scenery (canals, quaint buildings, etc), we got a little turned around and had some trouble getting to the hostel. From the beginning, Amsterdam was pretty hard to navigate because it is built around the canals, and they don't have much of a pattern. It's certainly no New York grid. To make matters worse, all of the street names were about 12+ letters long, and varying only very slightly. Here's what I mean; Our hostel was located on OUDEZIJDS ACHTERBURGWAL, while other streets were named OUDEZIJDS VOORBURGWAL and NIEUWEZIJDS VOORBURGWAL. Forget trying to pronounce them, let alone find them.

Anyway, after a few wrong turns, we found ourselves in the Red Light District, which appeared much more tame than we had expected. Yes, there was a store dedicated to selling only condoms, and sex shops and peep shows lining the streets, but it really wasn't that bad. I saw the windows where I imagined the girls would appear later in the day, and then marveled at the hundreds of white swans in the canals. Turns out we didn't lead ourselves in too wrong of a direction because we quickly found our hostel, called The Heart of Amsterdam, smack in the middle of the busiest street of the Red Light District. Oops. From the information online, we had no way of understanding its actual location. I just laughed it off, saying that it would be a great way to get a full, Amsterdam experience. Maggie was a little nervous, but I think that subsided once we got settled in.

The hostel was pretty nice. It was designed in a movie theater layout, so the front desk was the "ticket booth" and all the walls were black and red, with movie posters and paintings all over. It was pretty cool. The stairs up to the third floor (where we were staying) were treacherous, but pretty entertaining to climb at the same time. If memory serves me correctly, our room was called "Fight Club." It was an 8-bed room and at the start, we had a quiet Asian boy, two middle-Eastern boys, and a boy from Brussels to share our space with. The room was cozy and all black, perfect for good slumber. We also had a great view from our window of some lovely naked women across the street. We were intrigued watching men shadily sneak in and out of the different doors.

Once we got settled in, we found a pub and got some lunch. I had a burger, which I hadn't had since the summer. It was great. We also all ordered Heineken's in honor of being in Amsterdam. After lunch, we headed over to the Van Gogh Museum, despite being completely exhausted. We knew we had to get at least one activity in for the day if we were to finish everything that we had planned for the weekend.

I really liked the Van Gogh Museum. It was very well laid out and though kind of big, it was not overwhelming. I loved all of his paintings. It was very interesting to see how much his style changed over the years, based on different influences. Previously, I had really only known him by his style in his famous works, but there were a lot of other very interesting subjects that he painted throughout his life. I really appreciated them all. Maggie and I finished viewing last, after Andrea and Kevin had already parked it in the lounge. We found Kevin sleeping and Andrea just about to do the same. So, we headed back to the hostel for a nap (around 4:30 pm).

When we awoke, it had already gotten dark, so I think it was somewhere around 7pm. We had an intense craving for Asian food, which is very popular in Amsterdam, so we found a nice little place for dinner. After dinner, we snooped around the Red Light District for a while and did some people watching. For the record, the Red Light District did not feel at all dangerous. There were lots of people walking around and generally minding their own businesses. Not everyone hangs in the area to get prostitutes. There's just a lot of activity there at night because there are so many bars and coffeeshops (the places where weed is sold) in the area. Also, the prostitution is pretty controlled. None of them walk the streets or anything like that. Instead, they all stand behind glass doors, usually wearing a teeny tiny bra and underwear set and dancing under red neon lighting (hence the name of the area). These doors can be either ground level or one story up, sometimes both within the same building. The most desirable prostitutes get the best windows on the main drag, while the pregnant, overweight and old prostitutes get the smaller alley-ways. Those buildings that don't display the prostitutes are usually sex shops or theaters for peep and porno shows. Oh yea, and there were also hostels, like mine.

We poked our heads into a few weed-infested coffee shops to see what was going on and then wound up at a nice pub. We got some Heineken's and a few Coke's and watched some hilarious 90s music videos on TV. At one point, a really drunk man turned around and started talking to us, asking to buy us drinks. We refused about 5 times before he got the message, and when he complimented Kevin on his choice in women, Kevin fooled him into thinking that he and Maggie were married. It was entertaining. We left the bar, got some incredible Dutch pastries and then called it in early night.

The next day, we woke up completely refreshed and headed off to the train station to pick up a free, 3-hour tour that we had read about. Our tour guide, Mason picked up those interested and we all walked to Dam Square, the original heart of the city with the Queen's Palace, etc. From there, he divided everyone up and we began our tour. I am not kidding when I say that it was one of the best tours that I had ever taken. 3 hours was most certainly a really long time but Mason had the most interesting and hilarious stories to share about the city. He was 25 and from New Zealand. He moved to Amsterdam a year ago, when he fell in love with the city and explained that he chose to be a part of this tour company because he liked their ideals: everyone should be able to learn about the history of a city, regardless of how much they can afford. As a college student, I'm in full agreement. We covered all parts of the city, including, The Old Church, The Red Light District, The Jewish Quarter, The Royal Palace, The Anne Frank House, The Jordaan District, The Begijnhof Convent, Hidden Catholic churches, Dutch Art, Multatuli's Giant Head, The Hash, Marihuana and Hemp Museum, Widest Bridge and smallest house, leaning buildings, The Dutch East India Company, and more stuff that I probably don't remember.

I learned sooooo much. For one, Amsterdam is very liberal, if you haven't figured that one out already. Mason explained that prostitution has been around and legal since Amsterdam first came to be. With all the canals, it was predominantly a sea-trading town, with lots of sailors coming in from long journeys on the ocean. This easily explains the presence of the girls back then, when sailors, just paid, were looking to have a little fun before going back out to sea. I found it funny that the main church in town was right next to the Red Light District. Turns out it was purposely placed there, so that sailors could come to repent their sins of the nights. The church benefited from charging a fee to all confessors, so business worked out just fine. Nowadays, the girls are all self-employed and there are no pimps involved in the prostitution. They usually do pretty well in the business, as they charge 50 euro for 15 minutes, and additional costs for anything "out of the ordinary," like pretending to actually like the customer. It's a very regulated business, as Mason explained that all the men must take showers when they arrive before even being able to touch a prostitute. I also know that they are regularly checked for STDs. The oldest prostitute in Amsterdam is 73 (I'm pretty sure we found her accidentally.. ew), but doesn't get very many customers. I think she should consider retiring. Anyway, Mason sadly informed us that the prostitutes are starting to get a lot of trouble from the government and are slowly starting to disappear. He thinks that there won't be much left for the business in about 10 years. I thought that was kind of sad considering Amsterdam's unique reputation based off prostitution and decriminalized marijuana.

Mason also explained how literal the Dutch people are when it comes to naming things, hence "The Old Church," "The New Church," "The National Monument," and "The Royal Palace." I guess they didn't want mess around with names (like they did with their streets!). I also learned that there are more bikes than people in Amsterdam, and that Amsterdammer's will run you right over if you are in their bike lane. I had a few close calls. I learned that marijuana is not actually legal, but decriminalized. According to Mason, the Dutch believe that the things one does on his/her own time, are his/her personal business. So, if you run up to an Amsterdam police men claiming that a man is selling marijuana behind the counter of a coffee shop, he will look at you and tell you that they are only selling coffee, tea and lattes, and that they are very tasty. I thought this was funny.

I was also very intrigued by the extent to which Amsterdam government went to control public urination. All over the city, there are actually "pee deflectors" designed to keep men from peeing in public corners. They look like metal shields that are flat, and form a triangle with the corner of a building. They have little flaps on the surface so that if a man tries to pee, everything ends up on his pants. Way back when, they were equipped with electrical currents running through them, but that got nixed when some mischief-makers got into the circuit box and turned up the voltage. There are also standing urinals all over the city. I was pretty amused to see that the government actually spent a lot of time worrying about accommodating drunk people who felt the need to pee in the street. Like I said, very liberal.

Anyway, there was a lot more that I learned on the tour, but that stuff really stuck with me because it was so unique and Mason told the stories so well. At the end of the tour, he invited those who wanted to hang around to join him for a traditional Dutch lunch, called Stamppot. We happily accepted because being on his tour got us a free beer and unlimited servings of this dish for only 7 euro. The Stamppot was delicious and included a Dutch sausage and 3 scoops of mashed potatoes, mixed in with shredded vegetables, bacon and gravy. It was delicious. During lunch, we met this Turkish girl who had also been on the tour. Her name was something that we couldn't understand, so she told us to call her "Moon." Seriously. Anyway, she was 20 years old and taking a vacation by herself in Amsterdam. She was a little shy, but sweet and completely out of her element within this culture. We also found ourselves next to two Americans that were also studying in Florence. What a coincidence. Their names were Andrew and Dan and both go to Georgetown back in the States. Turns out one of them went to high school with Matt Harper, one of my good friends back at Holy Cross.

After lunch, we did a little souvenir shopping and then headed back to the hostel to shower and rest. When we arrived back, in place of the Asian boy on the top bunk was a girl who I thought was a boy until she stood up. She confirmed our suspicions of her sexual orientation when she invited the other newbies (that replaced the middle-Eastern boys) to a gay bar that night. Those other newbies were two girls from Canada who were a part of the circus. I couldn't believe it at first, but while talking to one of the girls, I realized that she was actually serious. She was a contortionist! When I asked her how she got involved with the circus, she said "I was born that way." I think she misunderstood my question, but I'm not sure if she meant that she's been able to bend her body for her whole life, or that she's actually been in the circus for her whole life. Either way, these girls were an interesting and very noisy addition to the room.

At 8, we met at a bar to join a pub crawl that Mason had suggested. We were the first to arrive, so we got first pick of the free t-shirts, and free unlimited shots of vodka and juice. We weren't in the bar very long when we witnessed a naked, middle-aged man run through the bar, right past me who was standing in his way, up the stairs, and out into the street. I guess he lost a bet? Kevin also found a random mullet wig on the ground, so he tried that one for size while we were hanging out. Next thing we knew, Moon showed up! I'm not sure if she knew we were coming or not, but she latched right on to us. She was a little awkward and Kevin couldn't stand her, but Andrea and I enjoyed chatting with her for a little while. Those boys Andrew and Dan also showed up because they saw a crowd. What a small world. Our second stop on the pub crawl was a bar where we were given free Jager shots and beer at a discounted price. At this place, we met a British girl named Robyn, who was insanely underdressed for the cold weather and had a ridiculous amount of mascara on. She was great company though and very fun. Our third bar was at St. Christopher's Hostel, and it was packed. We also got free Jager shots there. Moon was already very drunk and made a bit of a scene with the pub crawl leaders. She tried to take more shots than she was permitted, and had a hard time understanding what the leaders were saying since English was her second language. She was pretty ridiculous, but it cracked us up. At the fourth bar, we got more free Jager shots and discounted beers. We got to chatting with one of the pub crawl leaders and found out that she was from New York, so that was pretty cool. There was supposed to be a fifth and final stop on the pub crawl, but Andrea, Maggie, Kevin and myself decided to skip out. We were tired, hungry (we hadn't had time for dinner), and were ready to get away from Moon. So, we thanked the pub crawl leaders and found this amazing "Wok to Go" restaurant and got a late dinner. We got back to the hostel around 1 am.

Yesterday, we got up early and walked for about 40 minutes, trying to find Mike's Bike Tours. Needless to say, we got a little lost, but finally found it. Mike's Bike Tours is the same company that we used to tour Munich when we went in October. We had really enjoyed it, so that's why we decided to use the same company. When we arrived, there were two other Holy Cross students already there. We had run into them on Saturday while we were on the free tour, and decided to get together for the bike tour. Since it was a little chilly yesterday, the only people on the tour were the 6 of us, so it was great. We road all the way out to the countryside of Amsterdam and saw the classic windmill. We also stopped at a farm and got a cheese-making demonstration and tasting, and also watched the owner make the traditional wooden clogs. It was really cool and we took a few pictures with some cows, too. On our ride back into the city, our tour guide took us through Vondelpark and showed us a statue made by Picasso. He also told us that the park originally used to be private and was reserved for use by rich people only. When the owner passed away, she left the park to the city of Amsterdam, provided that dogs were allowed to go unleashed. Then, he told us a funny story about the park in the summer time. During the sixties, lots of people came to the park to sunbathe naked. At a certain point, a more conservative group of people moved into the city and complained about the public nudity. So, the city forbade nude sunbathing. Soon after though, the gay population got upset that nudity wasn't allowed because they used to go to the park at night to, uh "make love," and wouldn't be able to with this law. So, the government changed the law to say that nudity was not allowed, but sex was as long as the people had clothes on. I don't get it, but again, that's the liberalism that runs rampant through Amsterdam!

After our cold and long, but very exciting bike ride through Amsterdam's countryside, we split with the other Holy Cross students and got "Wok to Walk" for lunch. It was delicious. I had wheat Asian noodles with shrimp and peanut sauce. After lunch, we walked over to the Anne Frank Museum and got inside very quickly. I was so impressed with the way the exhibit had been set up. It was incredibly informative, but very touching and real at the same time. We got to see the rooms of "The Secret Annex" as they had been left after the Frank family was taken to the concentration camps. All of Anne's personal photos and interests were affixed to the walls of her room, just as she had left them. Anyone who visits Amsterdam CANNOT miss the Anne Frank museum. I liked it so much that I'm going to read her diary as soon as I can find it for a cheap price here in Italy.

After the museum, we scooted back over to the area of the Van Gogh Museum and took some pictures in front of the I amsterdam sign. That was a must-do for tourists. After that, we realized that we were in the area in which our bike tour guide had described the location of a Taco Bell. Kevin's favorite fast food restaurant is Taco Bell, so we had to go. Turns out this "Taco Bell" wasn't a Taco Bell at all, but a "Taco Mundo." Kevin carried his disappointment back towards the direction in which we had come when we stumbled upon a Dominoes Pizza, Kevin's second favorite fast food place! So, we stopped there and he got his America fix. After that, we ran up to the train station and got our information squared away for our journey home, and then went back to rest before dinner.

We chose to eat dinner at "The Pancake Corner" because we had heard that we couldn't leave Amsterdam without having tried Dutch pancakes. So, we shared a pitcher of Heineken and each got our own pancake. They were HUGE and I could not even think about finishing mine. I included tomatoes, mushrooms, cheese and onions in mine and it was delicious. After dinner, the other Holy Cross students met us at this restaurant to watch the Superbowl together. We got bored pretty quickly because they didn't turn the sound on, so we couldn't enjoy the commercials. So, we left soon after the game had started and just hung out for a little while before going back.

This morning, we woke up at 3:50 am and left the hostel at 4:30. Walking through the Red Light District at that time was a little weird, but not too bad. We got to the train station and hopped on the 5:00 am bus to Eindhoven. We had a very difficult time getting tickets for this bus, not because it was full, but because the driver sounded like he had a terrible speech impediment on top of his inability to speak English. I know that the tickets were supposed to be 23 euro, and I gave him 25. It sounded like he was trying to get another euro from me and I told him that I knew it was 23, so then he just shooed me away, without my change. Whatever, at 5 am, I just wanted to get moving. The entire 2 hour bus ride was absolutely freezing and since no one could communicate with this crazy bus driver, we suffered for a good while. We were so thankful to arrive at the heat of the airport. Everything went fine and I slept the entire flight. When we arrived in Pisa, it was sunny! The entire time in Amsterdam had been gloomy and foggy, with occasional mist. I think that's common for the area during this time of year, but it was really nice to get back to the sunshine. We missed the 10:30 bus back to Florence by 10 minutes, so we waited around until noon to get the next bus in. We ended up being the only 4 people on it, so that was nice. Maria Pia had lunch waiting for us when we got home. Oh man, did I miss her. And as a side note, as soon as I opened my Facebook back home, I discovered that Moon had found me—already!? She didn’t even know my last name. Oh boy.

Anyway, we had an absolutely wonderful time. Amsterdam is such a unique city and I would recommend everyone to go. It has more canals than Venice and some great little bridges. The houses are very quaint and leaning with time. It's definitely a city with lots of character. I guess I would most closely pair the style of the houses in Amsterdam to that of the houses in Old Town Alexandria, VA. Not exactly the same, but similar in their simplicity. Also, the people are just gorgeous! All tall, blonde and thin. I hope that I get to go back some day in the future. There's still more I want to see.

As a side note, Ryanair (the airline that we used) sucks. Sure, the flights are cheap; but, the schedules are almost impossible to work with and they never fly into the convenient airports. So, what you don't pay for in the flight, you pay for in transportation to and from the flight. We'll see if we can find another option next time.

I just spent 3 hours writing this entry, so I have to go and do some other things. I'll update later this week.

Ciao!