Amsterdam is a city divided by canals with lots and lots of bike traffic. When you cross the street you not only have to look out for cars and trams, but also a team of bikers who usually seem to have the right of way. Chris made the comment after seeing someone riding caddy on the back luggage rack if that was their form of DDD “Designated Dutch Driver.” It was surprisingly cold and overcast, but 73 degrees felt amazing compared with what the weather was like in Florida. Mostly everyone was running around in jackets and scarves and hats, but Chris and I just donned jeans and a t-shirt. Chris is convinced that Europeans don’t have sweat glands.
While Amsterdam seems to be known for the sex and drugs, most of the Dutch living there are very conservative. After all, who wants to be confused with a prostitute? And the royal symbol XXX is not because of Amsterdam’s notorious background, but because of how their King whom was executed chose to be crucified sideways so as not to replicate Christ. Another note, Amsterdam is not so original with the names. For example, there are two main churches….the Old Church and the New Church. The square that lies over the dam is called Dam Square. I’m sure you can guess how they named that. Even the city itself is named after the dam that is blocking the Amstel River. Amstel van der Dam, The Amstel Dam as it were, was later shortened to just Amsterdam
During our stay in Amsterdam, Holland was playing in the FIFA World Cup and we encountered many fans sporting the team and national color of Orange. Gator Nation would be proud. As most sports fans do, we encountered some pretty ridiculous outfits including, but not limited to bright orange hats, orange feather boas, and fuzzy orange leg warmers worn by men and women alike. We also ran into some Lady Gaga look-a-likes, but somehow I have a feeling that this was not sports related.
While out, we visited the Anne Frank House. Chris had asked me if I knew what it looked like from the outside because all I had was the street name. I said no, but it will be the one with the line and I was right! The line stretched from the front of the house to around the corner and down the street! It was about a 30 min wait, but we got lucky as there was some quality street entertainment (a guitarist playing everything from Scooby Doo to the Beatles) and a guy handing out a humorous brochure to read about the different attractions of Amsterdam.
As with most museums around here, no pictures were allowed once inside the building. And I did not try to break this rule because there are video cameras in every room of the house. The entire house is vacated per Otto Frank’s wish. There is a model of what the annex looked like when they were in hiding and Anne’s bedroom still has her pictures of movie stars and cinema films pasted on the wall. Downstairs they had videos narrations by Otto Frank and Miep Giles which gave some history towards what happened before and after the occupation period and World War II. Overall, definitely an amazing experience and worth the admission ticket.
After the Anne Frank House, we stopped at an Irish Pub for a late lunch/early dinner. We honestly did ask about Amsterdam cuisine and after our only responses being “potatoes” we went for one of the multiple Irish bars/eateries that exist in our general area. The beer was awesome and there came a lot of food for a good price. Also, another great source of people watching and an ideal place to chill all day and drink beer without feeling rushed. That seemed to be the general idea of the place as the plaza was filled with tables for different restaurants labeled by the chairs where people sat and drank and watched the FIFA World Cup games all day long. By the time we did check into our hotel and get settled in we crashed. It wasn’t until Monday that we really started exploring the city and hitting the rest of the planned stops on our itinerary.
We started the day early, and stopped by a little bakery for breakfast sandwiches, what else? We decided to catch a few museums and do a walking tour of our own before our Mike’s Bike city bike tour at 4:00pm. We went and visited Vondelpark which just happened to be very close to the Van Gough Museum we also wanted to see. Vondelpark was very pretty and open with lots of fountains, bikers (of course), dog-walkers, and the smell of marijuana. Nothing too unfamiliar. After some more roaming, people-watching, and second-hand smoke inhaling, we headed over to the Van Gogh museum which houses a huge collection of Van Gogh paintings from his time and Paris and Provence as well as a huge study collection and various drawings. My favorites were as follows:
Pieta (after Delacroix)
Sunflowers
Vincent’s Bedroom in Arles
Wheatfield with Crows
The museum housed other artists’ work including a painting by Picasso of his wife Olga.
We took our time heading back to the Leidseplein, and on the way Chris decided to stop for lunch at a Chinese eat-in/take-out called Wok In Wok Out. I had my doubts as it was blasting ‘Beautiful Girl’ and nobody appeared to be in there, but we decided to give it a shot. This was one of the best meals we had in Amsterdam. It was similar to Bento Bowl in Gainesville. It was a 3-step create your own meal, choosing your own type of noodles/rice, meat, and sauce. After you ordered, the chef would take out a giant orange rubber mallet and slam it down on the counter or on your head. We both went for coconut curry and were not disappointed. The servings were huge, I didn’t even come close to finishing, and the whole time we were entertained by Eminem and “techno music you can clog to.”
Later on in the day, four to be exact we did our Mike’s Bike Tour. Our tour guide Petra (pronounced Pay-tra) was a very laid-back woman with dreadlocks that knew all of her history on Amsterdam and the Netherlands in general, and made lots of funny remarks about the Dutch way of life. The only rules we seemed to have for our bike ride through the city were to be confident and don’t get hit by a metro tram. Other then that, bikes seemed to have the right of way for everything. As Petra put it, a bike could come flying out of a bush into a car and it would still be the car’s fault. Works for me. Pedestrians too had to make sure they were clear of bikes, or else they would be at risk of hearing our bells that were adjusted to the handlebar of the bike which were allowed to use as we pleased. Lastly, as far as who has the right of way where other bikes are concerned, Petra said it goes to the most confident cyclist which can sometimes turn into a game of chicken. Needless to say, it made for a very fun tour of the city.
We toured all the different squares and plazas, the last one being the infamous Red Light District. It was kind of a cross between Halloween Horror Nights and Girls Gone Wild. Some windows were just scary, and other houses and girls peering out of doors in lingerie and then shutting them as you passed- kind of spooky. We found that most of the best looking/dressed women were in fact men, and that most of the women were in fact ugly. One of the touristy things they offered that was PG was to have your picture taken in your own Red Light window! Chris and I opted out. And Chris would like me to mention that of the three times total I ran my bike into his foot they all occurred in the Red Light district.
With our bike tour ending and our evening almost coming to a close we decided to spend it the best way we knew how…drinking. We went to a great Mexican restaurant recommended by our tour guide called Los Pilones. I had an excellent margarita and some Mexican cuisine and Chris had his standard Negro Modelo. Afterwards, we caught up on the FIFA Cup games and had some beer and wine in the hotel bar before retiring for the night. Tomorrow Cologne!
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