Amsterdaaaaaaaam

One place I HAD to visit on my Eurotrip was Amsterdam - of course. How many people can say they've been to Holland twice without visiting the most popular city of the country? My third time was the charm. A few weeks ago I met a bunch of Carolien's friends at her graduation party. One of them, Aukje, told me to send her a message whenever I made my way up there and she would be my tour guide. I spoke with her a few times over the past few weeks and everything worked out for her to show me around this weekend.

I took off from work a bit early on Friday and took a train north. My train pass gives me unlimited trips in Belgium, but otherwise I had to buy a ticket. Antwerp is the major train station in northern Belgium, so I got off there and bought a €30 ticket to Amsterdam (about a 2.5 hour ride). During the entire ride, the train attendants (or whatever you call them) never came by to stamp my ticket. I could have ridden for free. More on this in the bottom of the post...

The further north I got, the more it rained. Great. I was hoping I wouldn't go through another sightseeing trip in the rain. I made it into Amsterdam around 6 pm and found Aukje waiting for me with relative ease. I was surprised since the train station was pretty big. She had a present waiting for me - stroopwafels. They were invented in Holland and are a typical snack or coffee accompaniment. I had never seen or heard of them, but I'm hoping to bring a bunch home with me!

I checked into the nearby Marriott Renaissance Hotel (thank you, rewards points!) and we hung out for a little bit since we had only met once and talked online a few times. She figured out what I wanted to see and we planned our Saturday. Later we made our way through the rain and went to dinner at a trendy little restaurant called Brix. They only served appetizers, so we got a few and shared them. There wasn't much sense in walking around in the cold rain. After looking at the map of all of the things we planned I realized how much walking we were going to do. We called it a night and got ready for a day of walking all over the city.

The first thing you notice about Amsterdam as you walk through the city is the canals. Many streets look the same and it would be very easy to get lost. A lot of people were wizzing around on bicycles which surprised me since it was so cold. Three to four story apartment buildings/houses are jammed together, each with a frontal view of the canal. Streets are one way on each side of the canal, with bridges crossing every now and then to connect them. There were a few churches and larger buildings spread throughout the city, but for the most part it was architecturally more boring than other cities I've seen. The picture here shows Sint Nicolaaskerk (Church of St. Nicholas) along one of the canals, with shops and houses along the banks.

For the most part, our morning was just spent walking through open air markets and shopping districts. I didn't go into any stores other than a few souvenir shops. I didn't end up buying anything because I didn't want to carry it around all day, but I did try on some wooden clogs (about as uncomfortable as they sound). We passed plenty of "coffee shops" which are the infamous smoke shops. Before you ask, I didn't go into one. After moving south through Noordermarkt, Westerstraat, Jordaan, De, Negen, Straatjes and Leidsestraat, we took a break in the Vondelpark, Amsterdam's biggest park.

I wanted a break because what I already knew was going to be my favorite part of the weekend was coming up: The Van Gogh Museum. For all you gringos, it's not pronounced "Van Goe" although the true "gh" pronounciation is hard to explain. I would call it a soft throat clearing sound, something like "Van Gohk". The Dutch use that sound a LOT and I can't seem to get it right. Anyway, I bought a museum pass for €40 since I was planning to visit other attractions over the next few days.

I saw a traveling exhibit of Van Gogh at Atlanta's High Museum way back in 2005, but none of those were included in this permanent exhibit. Of course there were no cameras allowed inside, so here are a few links to the highlights:
The Potato Eaters
Wheatfield with Crows
Sunflowers (one of the series)
A few self-portraits
Skull with Burning Cigarette
Irises
Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun

I was really in awe. I have spent most of my life admiring Van Gogh's work - imitating it in art class and reading about his life. It was one thing to read about it and another thing to see it. There were exhibits of artists that inspired the artist and others of his contemporaries - you could see the influence they had on each other.

Sadly, we had to move on but I seriously considered returning on Sunday (my museum card gave me unlimited access). We took a few touristy pictures near the famous 'I AMsterdam' sign. Then it was off to the Red Light District for some old fashioned gawking at hookers. The RLD is much like the layout of any other street in Amsterdam, except there are scantily-clad women standing in the windows. I had heard or read that they don't like their pictures to be taken, so I tried to be discreet and snap one from far away.

A lot of the girls were beautiful... well, kind of. We used to call it 'Frankfort Sexy' growing up (think Jamie Presley's character 'Joy' from My Name is Earl). Another description would be 'Trailor Sexy' - not the kind of girl you'd bring home to meet mom (based on personality, not looks before you get offended). I think you get the idea. There were quite a few with tattoos, fake breasts, dyed hair and lots of makeup. If you made eye contact with them, they would tap on the window or open the door. I can't imagine they get much business - it seemed like everyone on the streets was there for the tourist attraction of the place, not to get any action. I would imagine it to be awkward to try to make a transaction with all of the on-lookers.

Aukje and I had dinner at a little Thai place and then she had to go home to Utrecht. I was left to fend for myself for the rest of the night. I went back to my hotel room for a while and then went to Rembrandtplein, an area recommended by the consierge for nightlife. Unfortunately I didn't make any new friends. It was really the first time I felt like I missed out by traveling alone. I've made a lot of new friends and had fun nights, but not this night. I had a few depressing solo drinks at a bar and then went home. It was ok though, since I had quite a few more museums to see on Sunday.

I got up relatively early and checked out of the hotel. They let me leave my backpack and laptop bag with the consierge so I didn't have to carry them around all day. That was crucial I started the morning at the Anne Frank House (pictured). I was hoping to beat the crowd, but when I got there it was already around the block. After a little over an hour of waiting, I got inside. I read Anne Frank's Diary in 5th grade, but I didn't remember most of the details. It was a pretty powerful place. The house was lacking furniture for the most part, and just had quotes and very few artifacts to display. Some of the rooms had TV screens and short video clips that showed interviews and exerpts. I definitely recommend seeing this.

Ten minutes walk away brought me to the Amsterdam History Museum. It showed how the city has changed over the years. People first dammed the Amstel river in the 1100s... hence the name. I never made the connection before. There were a lot of old paintings that showed many of the churches and buildings I had seen around town, along with portraits of important people throughout the city's history. I didn't linger too long since there were other things to see. I wouldn't put this museum on the 'must see list'.

The Rijks Museum is the major museum of the city. A large portion of the museum is going under restoration so there was a limited display. That was OK with me because the major works were the only ones that I wanted to see. I was getting to the point of museum overload and I had a train to catch later in the afternoon.

Rembrandt is the major artist of the museum as he is the most influential Dutch artist (sorry, Van Gogh) in history. Syndics of the Drapers Guild and The Night Watch are probably the most recognized of his paintings. Other famous artists in the exhibition include Johannes Vermeer, Frans Hals (who may have painted a portrait of one of my ancestors - more on that later), and Jan Steen. Enough with the art history lessons though, just put this on your list of places to see in Amsterdam.

I had a little bit of time to waste so I grabbed a hot dog and walked a few hundred meters back to the Van Gogh Museum. I skipped through to all of my favorite pieces, savoring them one last time. I took a tram back to the hotel to grab my bag and then hopped a train back to Brussels. Since they didn't stamp my ticket on the way there, I decided to take a chance and not buy a ticket. I had seen the train attendants finding people without tickets on previous trips. It didn't seem like a big deal - he just swiped your credit card on his mobile machine and printed your ticket. A coworker had told me it only cost a few extra euros, so I thought it was worth the risk. I made it back without incident with a free trip.

Once again, another weekend in Holland exceeded the times I have had in Belgium (this is a pic of me trying on clogs - too bad none fit my big feet). I'm definitely going to have to come back to Amsterdam with friends one day so I can have a little more fun at night. There are also more attractions that I didn't get to, like the Heineken House, Rembrandt House Museum, the sex museum, a canal tour, and I would really like to ride a bike around the city (as the Dutch do)... I love Holland!

I told my train trip part of the story to a Dutch coworker today and he said I was lucky... Apparently the few euros is for trips within Belgium. International trains charge ~€90, triple the cost of the ticket. I feel lucky now, and definitely wouldn't have taken the chance had I known that!