Hello
all. I apologize for going off the grid recently. The minute we got
back from Amsterdam I had to get ready for classes as uni started
back up that Monday. I also had four scholarships to apply for, at
the same time, and a bunch of other not fun things going on that made
it so I was either too busy or too tired to write. Now
I am back and very behind on posting,
so I thought I would update you from where we left off leaving
Munich. This may get lengthy (as you know I do), but I will do my
best to convey my thoughts as succinctly as possible. I don't know why
I even warn you anymore. We all know I'm just going to write to my
little heart's content. Guess I'm just trying to be polite. :D
That
night on the train from Munich to Amsterdam was better than our last
train ride. We were in the exact same style of compartment, but this
time we had the bottom bunks. This gave us a whopping 5cm more space!
I'm just kidding, I have no idea what the difference is between the
bottom and upper two bunk sizes, but there is a
difference.
This allowed Cyrus to sleep better, since the last bed was too short
for him and he couldn't get a proper sleep. They
also came by and served us coffee in the morning, so I was happy.
Finally, we were at my last destination. Cyrus still had London to
look forward to. The minute we stepped out of the station, and after
I got over the fact that the people around us were no longer speaking
ANY language we recognized, I was suddenly hit with a potent first
impression. (And
the next two... the city isn't that big, you kinda see it all at
once).
First
several
impressions
of Amsterdam: The unmistakable
smell of weed EVERYWHERE. I don't know what I was expecting. After
all this was Amsterdam. I guess my imagination never incorporated
smells into my expectations. It didn't help that, as I would later
find, the
station was
directly next to the Red Light District (RLD).
The soft
breeze from the coast was just enough to surround us in the lingering
smog of last night's festivities, but not enough to blow it away yet.
The
very next thing I noticed was how undeniably beautiful Amsterdam was.
Coming in by train we also got to see a lot of the country side.
Stereotypical
Dutch houses spotted the green fields, only changing in proximity to
one another as we got closer to the city. By the time we were at the
heart they were so smooshed up to each other that I was sure a
conversation could be heard between the walls of each separate house.
That is not to say, however, that there was no green space.
My
last first impression was of how “green” the city was (literally
and figuratively... and ironically...). There were
massive parks and plots of land devoted to grass. The one closest to
our
hostel
even slopped upwards to make the roof of the entrance to one of the
supermarkets (which was underground to conserve the green area). It
was almost as if each back yard had been redistributed into several
huge ones scattered throughout the city. Now,
on
a more literal sense
of “green”,
hardly anyone drove cars. There were cars, but most of the people
relied on bicycles or trams or just plain walking (once again, not a
big city). By
far and large, bikes dominated this area, and you better not get in
their way. They had their own (large) bike lanes with the traffic
that almost melded into the side walk, and God help you if you happen
to cross the solid white line dividing the two. As for the ironic
sense of “green”... well, I'll get to the more
deviant side of this cultural mecca later.
(Fun
fact: Weed is not actually legal in Amsterdam... it's just extremely
tolerated- so much so that cops look the other way).
Needless
to say, Cyrus and I were quite out of our elements. Germany had been,
mostly, the same wherever we went. Once we figured out one area and
how to get around, we did pretty well with the others. It helped
that, at least to some degree, we knew important phrases to
translate signs
and could speak enough to fill language gaps. Now,
in the heart of Holland, we weren't as prepared. While some things
were in English and everyone (supposedly)
spoke it, interacting and figuring out the ropes was still
challenging. Just getting to the hostel was an adventure as we knew
which tram to take, but had no idea how tickets worked. We ended up
jumping on the next tram headed in the right direction with no ticket
hoping that the transport police were as terrible at their jobs here
as they were in Germany. Soon, we learned where most things were and
decided that walking everywhere was the best option (as soon as we
got rid of our bags of course). Our
hostel was pretty nice too. It was smaller than the previous ones
which I think makes the world of a difference. The manager man was
also very welcoming and on top of his job making sure the kitchen was
clean and the people were being respectful. Here is where we also
learned a very unexpected fact about Amsterdam...
Next
impression of Amsterdam: The stairs are VERY steep. It's almost like
climbing a ladder. Every house or shop we went into where
we had to climb up stairs had the same narrow staircase and virtually
cliff-like incline. The hostel was no different. It was almost as
though the founders of Amsterdam realized they didn't have much
space, so they stacked everything on top of each other in as tight an
area they could manage- hence climbing Everest to get to the
bathroom.
Anyways,
Cyrus and I, after a long train ride filled with gummy bears, were
feeling the need for a run again. We settled into our bunks and
turned around and went out for a morning run through a park close to
the hostel. It was very beautiful and we were both impressed with how
genuinely happy everyone seemed. There were plenty of runners and
parents with children or people with dogs frolicking about this
expansive park. We received smiles and nods as we passed, a gesture
unknown to the rest of Europe. We ran for almost an hour before going
back and resting. The rest of the first day was full of figuring out
the local grocery store and where things were. The next day was also
not extremely eventful as Cyrus and I were really feeling the
draining power of traveling so much at this point. However, I was
determined to see things and make the most of our time here. So, we
went to the Van Gogh Museum (conveniently located a block away from
the hostel). I have always appreciated Van Gogh and have recently
become more interested in his work. Therefore, I loved the museum and
seeing works of beautiful color that I had never seen before by the
genius painter. Cyrus, while appreciating the culture of the outing,
was not impressed by the painter, but it's ok... we can't all be
right. ;D
Later
that night we decided to go out into Amsterdam and walk along the
canals where a Festival of Lights was going on. Basically, every
hundred meters or so along a few of the canals there was a sculpture
by some obscure artist lit up with dramatic colors against the
night's background. The two or so that we saw were beautiful...
However, we got a bit distracted. As I said, this hub of culture and
history becomes
more eccentric
after dark. Furthermore,
it doesn't help that the RLD
is actually the majority of the city center, lit
with bright red Christmas lights strung across the streets.
We checked out some less-than-reputable looking alley ways and a few
atypical stores as we further explored the city. Not to say that it
was all R rated (or
XXX),
we also found the most glorious ice cream shop in the world...
nestled between a condom shop and dispensary (definitely a different
set of social norms rulled here). But the ice cream was amazing! And
they sold gluten free cake! We went back a few nights later. :D As we
were making our way around we also stumbled upon a Christmas market
that was still (surprisingly) up and running. Cyrus tried some
Belgian waffles while I had some glühwein.
However, to further illustrate the sharp disparity between “normal”
and “Amsterdam” I will tell you that along the same strip we also
found a sex museum... and curiosity got the better of us. It was
fascinating to say the least! (Sorry
for your heart-attack grandma, but when in Amsterdam... :D). That
night we realized just how complex
this place was and all there was to see and do. However,
we were tired from a long day
(and
slightly
buzzed from all the second-hand) and decided
that we would have come back to the RLD another night in order to see
it all.
Our
third day in and we only had one other day-time thing we really
wanted to do and that was see the Anne Frank house. On top of that,
we were both signed up to do Crossfit that evening, leaving plenty of
the day to try out a (REALLY good) gluten free bagel place and
explore all of the little shops the city had to offer. One
of our favorite stores was called something like “Old Man
Amsterdam” full of outdoor-type gear, hunting knives and (of
course) a wall of drug paraphernalia. There was even a vending machine
stocked with a variety of cannabis treats. We were quite entertained
by all of this.
On
a different note, the
Anne Frank house was a really cool experience for me. Growing up I
read Anne Frank's diary at least twice and the straight play in
class. Not to mention the bagillion other WWII and Holocaust-based
books I seemed to never run out of (I was really into WWII history).
I had always wondered what the annex actually looked like and what it
would be like to live there. I never thought I'd actually get to go
inside that very house. Being able to see the place where she lived
for that time, the moving book shelf, the tiny rooms, posters Anne
herself had glued to the walls of her room, the attic she was in love
with, was all so surreal. There were quotes from the book painted on
some of the walls in the part of the house that had been converted
into a museum and excerpts from her diary hung up on some of the
walls in the upstairs annex. I remembered those words as I walked
through the haunting rooms and the connection was almost enough to
make me cry. What strong people.
That
night we went to Crossfit Amsterdam. It was the best one of our trip,
even counting London, but (I'm told) no where near the intensity of
St. Petersburg. We also went the next night and bought shirts. I
didn't buy many souvenirs from our adventures, but I feel like this Crossfit shirt is my favorite item! The next day, our
last day, was
uneventful as we got lost in the city again (for such a small city,
it's VERY easy to get inexorably lost) before
going back to the ice cream shop from day two and then Crossfit. That
night, however, we had decided we would give RDL one more visit,
particularly to see “the girls.”
For
those of you who don't know, prostitution is not only legal in
Amsterdam, but flaunted. Besides all of the sex shops and Moulin
Rouge dance shows, there is a large part of the RLD where the girls
are literally on display, behind glass doors to their rooms, bathed
in red light. Dressed in the least amount of fabric manageable, they
stand there, swaying, tapping on the glass, trying to get guys and
girls alike to come in and hire them. It
is a fantastical sight. Walking down these alleys and canals
surrounded by life-sized barbie dolls of all shapes, sizes, races, ages on display whispering a promise of pleasure. I
didn't know what to think. Part of me found the whole demonstration
entirely fascinating (yup, the nerd at heart), while another part of
me was disgusted, and yet another part curious. I hated how
dehumanized the girls seemed, especially by how some of the guys were
treating them, laughing or rating them on some arbitrary scale, only
looking at them as glorified sex toys- but, I mean, isn't that what
they signed up for? The whole thing was overwhelming, but too
captivating to ignore. An experience I'm not soon to forget.
The
next morning, we checked out of our hostel and prepared for our first
day-time train ride on the Eurostar “chunnel” to London. That is
all of Amsterdam for you though. I will leave the very last ten days
of our time together in London for yet another blog (as it has taken
me three days between work to write this one). Only one more
installment of the winter adventure before you are all caught up
(nothing too exciting has happened since Cyrus left and classes
started back). Hope
my people in Iowa aren't freezing too badly under the winter apocalypse as I enjoy a comfortable 45ish degrees F here. Not to rub
it in or anything... :D Till next time!
