Amsterdam!

            Mostly due to Sara’s convincing, I went to Amsterdam this weekend. I had no idea what to expect before going, it is hard to imagine Holland much past windmills and clogs, while Amsterdam had always just seemed like a town of partying backwash to me. But I went, and it turns out, I love Holland and even better, everyone there looks just like me!

            We arrived around seven on Thursday night after flying our first reputable airlines since arriving, reputable as in its theme colors weren’t neon and they actually had snacks and leg room. We meet up with a friend of ours from SACI and her friend from home for drinks in downtown and to orient ourselves. Walking from the bar to the bus stop we found our first red-lighted window, complete with a prostitute on display. At the time it was very exciting, but much like the bison in yellow stone phenomenon, by the end we would see so many it was almost obnoxious.

            Our hostel was a 30 minute bus ride to the suburbs, it was part hotel, part hostel, you could easily tell which patrons would be sleeping in the dorm rooms by the giant backpacks and/or bloodshot eyes. Our room slept six people, complete with a very very loud snorer, but it was clean and had a good free breakfast so no complaints there.

            Friday we wandered the red light district and were surprised to find that not only do prostitutes start work at 8:30 am in the morning, but also that they come in all shapes and ages, and I mean all. We saw some churches, including St. Nicholas’s, the patron saint of sailors, found the oldest pedestrian-draw bridge, admired the canals, charming row houses, and quaint feel of it all. Dutch Pancakes made up our lunch before we hit the Van Gogh museum and wandered around the 9’s district (there version of

Newberry street

or SoH0).  It was sunny but cold, probably -7 Celsius, so about every two hours we had to go inside somewhere and warm up or else suffer frostbite.

The most shocking thing about Amsterdam is the coziness of it. Everything is very well maintained and seems to be straight out of a Vermeer or Rembrandt painting. The canals with houseboats and stone bridges lead to numerous parks and every house is adorable. This charm is throughout the city, which makes the red light district so shocking, one moment you are admiring architecture, and the next moment you realize there are prostitutes in the windows and pot on the menu. Outside of the central canal though things are very calm, no prostitutes and not many coffee houses.

Saturday we woke up to a few inches of snow and trudged through it to the Anne Frank house. From there Sara went to the Rjiks museum while I found some more monuments and window shopped. Afterwards we stumbled across a Christmarket and indulged in some glue wine and morsels and are too good to describe and way to difficult to even attempt to spell.

Sunday, despite the freezing cold, we rented bikes and pretend to be local for a bit. Everyone rides bikes around, instead of burlies, they have carts in the front, like a cross between a wheelbarrow and a bike. We saw everything being transported in these carts from up to five children to a week’s worth of groceries. We rode around all the canals, Vondelpark, and managed to never be hit by a car or fellow biker. It was then time to head to the airport and hope back on a plane to Florence.