Amsterdam

Last weekend was our trip to Amsterdam organized by the student government of ESCP. We took an overnight bus to get there, from 11:00 to about 7:00 am. It was miserable, alternately too hot and too cold the entire trip. Plus, there was very little leg room.

But, we finally arrived, and checked into our hotel/hostel. Well, I suppose it's still called that if it's a barge. Yes, we slept on a barge. It was a nice barge, although the rooms were really small. It was cool though, and breakfast was included!

We took a little nap when we got there (hey, it was really early). When we woke up, we got right down to exploring the quirky little city. We browsed a street market that had the most random assortment of hats and coats, musical instruments, crafts, and drug paraphenalia. We continued down the street and stopped at a pub to eat lunch. Outside, there was a stall selling flowers. It had a really beautiful, colorful assortment.

Amsterdam is blessed with a series of concentric semi-circular canals that radiate from the center of the city. The floating fallen leaves and occasional boat make these really nice-looking. They also serve as pretty good landmarks for finding your way around the city. We walked everywhere we went.

All we did was explore the city on foot. We walked through the Red-Light District, which is...terrifying. There are prostitutes. They stand in the windows and beckon you inside! And unfortunately for everyone, many of them are...bigger. I think the dutch people like that. Strange.

Speaking of Dutch people, they're pretty nice, and they speak really good English, since Dutch is even closer to English than German is. It's kind of a hybrid between German and the Nordic languages. The owners of our barge were especially helpful.

As far as eating, the food was pretty international, and the barge lady was frank enough to tell us that, "Dutch cuisine is not exactly...exquisite." She explained that they ate Herring, fries, and pea soup. That was about all they contributed to gastronomy. She recommended the Asian restaurants. We also drank a lot of Heineken, since the beer hails from Amsterdam.

The next day we went to search for Anne Franks's house. We found it, but the line was really long, and I guess we were easily discouraged. It didn't look all that interesting anyway. So our experience in Amsterdam was a little different than all of our previous trips, because we saw very few real attractions, and we mostly walked around and took in the city. I think this was a good change though, because it made for a very relaxed visit. We took full advantage of what the city had to offer.

We did see cool stuff though. There were some very nice churches with really high towers. They look cool at night when they're all lit up. To put it bluntly, although we went to one club, the nightlife in Amsterdam isn't nearly as good as Paris; it's better to just walk around at night and enjoy the city. Navigating it was kind of a joint effort between us and a few French kids from school.

I learned quite a bit about the Netherlands when I was there, too. They are famous for their wooden clogs, tulips, windmills, and painters like Rembrandt and Vermeer. It's also pretty cool that 27% of the country is below sea level. Much of this land has been systematically "reclaimed" from the sea. Pretty cool idea. Must be hard work though. This is probably why the word for the Netherlands in French is "Pays Bas," meaning "low country."

We only stayed one night on the barge. We had two full days there, however, since we got there early morning on Saturday and left sunday night around 10:00 for another overnight bus ride. The ride back was more comfortable, and I even got some good sleep. A lot of the drive is through Belgium. Although it was very dark, I saw some things out the window. I don't think I can safely say I've been there though. So, add one more country to the list. Netherlands, check.


This is a view from the top of the Nemo, a science learning center/museum near our barge. It's a neat perspective of the city through the masts of a tall ship.


Here's me, all bundled up (it was probably our coldest trip yet). The distant church is Saint Nicholas church.


Our sleeping quarters aboard the barge. Cozy, but neat. My window was about 2 inches above the water.
This is a pretty representative view of one of the canals in the city. It really is very beautiful, and although it was cold, the sky was clear for us.