Amsterdam: Where Prostitutes Meet Politics

Just like all of our other trips, we flew into Amsterdam late Friday afternoon after class got out. When we got to our hostel, we still had a few hours of daylight left, so we walked around the streets of Amsterdam taking in our new surroundings. A few things instantly set Amsterdam apart from all the other places I've been.

1. Canals are everywhere. Amsterdam is nicknamed the "Venice of the North" for a reason. The entire downtown area is built around a massive network of circular canals. Amsterdam really is a beautiful city. Old buildings known as "Canal Ring Houses" line all of the canals, and hundreds of arched bridges connect one side with the other. My love for architecture and interior design made it hard for me to contain my excitement this weekend. Most of the Canal Houses were really tall and skinny, and they had these large, luxurious windows in front overlooking the water. Some houses were left as the raw brick, and others were painted and ornately decorated. My favorite were the brick houses that were painted black with bold, white trim. Some of the houses were even tilting, and I couldn't help but wonder if the floors inside were crooked as well. This would drive me insane. None of my pictures would hang square with the floor and ceiling. Out of all the cities we've visited, Amsterdam's architecture was definitely my favorite.
2. Bicycles are everywhere. And by everywhere, I literally mean everywhere. There is row after row after row of bikes all over the city. Riding a bike is such a big part of the culture, that the main streets even have parallel streets just for cyclists. You really have to be on your toes in Amsterdam. Otherwise, you will get run over by a bike. And, chances are, they probably won't stop to make sure you're still alive. Vespas are also allowed to ride in the bike lane, and they go really freaking fast! Considering how many tourists are walking around, it amazes me that more people don't die in bike/vespa/pedestrian accidents.
3. Pot is everywhere. Smoking weed is legal in the Netherlands, and it's sold in "Coffee Shops." You'll just be walking along on the street, and then all of a sudden you'll be blown away by the smell of weed coming from a nearby Coffee Shop. You can also legally smoke pot on the street and in bars, so the smell just follows you everywhere. Even though I did not partake in the Amsterdam ritual of smoking weed, I'm pretty sure I still got a secondary high from being in close proximity to it all weekend. Gross.

Amsterdam architecture

One of the Amsterdam's many canals.

View of another canal

When we started looking for a place to eat on Friday night, we began to notice that a lot of the restaurants were Argentinean. We asked our waiter about this, and he said that the crowned prince of the Netherlands was married to an Argentinean woman. I guess their marriage brought a lot of Argentinean culture to the Netherlands. After dinner, we paid a visit to Amsterdam's Red Light District. You always hear about the crazy partying and social life in Amsterdam, so we wanted to see if the city could live up to its name. It was pretty obvious after about 20 minutes that it did not live up to all the hype. Sure, we saw a lot of prostitutes making flirty eyes with passer byers, but that was really about it. The bars were super tame, and the streets were fairly quiet. The one thing I do have to say about the prostitutes is that there really is someone for everyone. I even saw a pregnant prostitute. I had to do a double take of her because I just couldn't believe what I had seen. Every prostitutes was behind a glass door that was illuminated with red florescent lights from above. This caused all the alleyway to light up in a dim red glow. I guess I now know why it's called the "Red Light District."

We ended up hanging out with another Bachelor Party on Friday night - this one contained 23 people. I honestly cannot think of 23 people that I could invite to my Bachelorette Party. I mean, really, who needs 23 people? We all ended up going to Rembrant Square where a bunch of upscale clubs are located. This one club wanted to charge us a 16 Euro per person cover charge - what a ripoff. The only interesting thing that happened Friday night was that I had an entire drink spilled down my back by the bartender. I was standing with my back to the bar, and all of a sudden I just got super cold and super wet. I think the bartender was trying to pass a drink to the waitress and failed miserably. So, it went off the edge of the counter and down my back instead. He then got super defensive when I asked for a towel - apparently, that was an outrageous request on my part. We ended the night by eating pizza at 2am when Kaitlyn got the munchies super bad. It was quite possibly the most disgusting, and yet most fulfilling, pizza I've ever had. These two random guy at the pizza place, who claimed to be from the US, kept bitching to me about the Red Sox and Yankees. They couldn't tell me why they were bitching though, so I think they were just hatin' to hate. 

On Saturday, we continued to walk up and down the canals and take in the rich history of the city. There aren't a ton of tourst attractions in Amsterdam, but we were sure to hit up the few important ones. My favorites were Dam Square and The Begijnhof. Dam Square is located the heart of the city, and it contains the Royal Palace, a monument in memory of WWII, and some random statues of lions. Apparently it is also a famous place to feed the pigeons? There was a small protest going on in the square about internet censorship. The protesters were standing on blocks dressed as superheros and horror film characters. The Begijnhof is a historic courtyard that is surrounded by large, old fashioned houses. Beguines, or pious catholic single women, have lived in these houses since 1346. The courtyard has its roots in a rich religious history. Today, much of the religious meaning behind the courtyard is gone, but it is still a rule that only single woman can reside in the buildings surrounding the courtyard. We also visited a few flower markets in Amsterdam since the city is famous for tulips. In the spring, all the hills around Amsterdam fill up with tulips and dredge the countryside in color.

Dam Square : The statue in the front is the memorial in memory
of WWII. The large building towards the back of the square
 is the Royal Palace.

Begijnhoff : A historic courtyard that has its roots in the
protection of religious freedom during times of religious
persecution.

One of the many flower markets. Tulip bulbs were everywhere!

Amsterdam is apparently a world leader in diamond cutting
and trading. This building houses Gassan Diamonds, which
is a large diamond company in Amsterdam.  

On Saturday evening, we visited Anne Frank's annex. Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who lived with her family in Frankfurt, Germany until Hitler came to power. Her family fled to Amsterdam, where they lived for a few years before Hilter took control of the Netherlands. Shortly after the persecution of Jews began in the Netherlands, Anne and her family went into hiding in a small apartment located in the center of Amsterdam. Their story was made famous after the publication of the diary Anne kept while living in secret. Her family was betrayed two years after going into hiding, and they were all sent off to concentration camps. Only the father survived the war. The Anne Frank Museum leads you through the annex where Anne and her family lived. The furniture was removed shortly after the annex was raided, and it was Anne's father's wish that replica furniture not be placed in the space. Instead, they had small scale models of each room so you could see what it once looked like. Even though the rooms were unfurnished, walking through the small rooms, up the steep staircases, and through the tiny kitchen left me unsettled. Just knowing that eight people hid in such a small space for two years, completely hidden from sunlight and the real world, was intimidating to think about. Although the annex was ransacked, some of the original history was maintained. In one room, you could see where Mr. Frank kept track of how tall Anne and her sister Margot were. Each month, he would mark off their height on the wall. The pictures that Anne hung in her bedroom to bring life to the room were also still there. I thought the museum did a nice job preserving the somber feel of the annex while still including informative videos and quotes on the walls. I left the Annex humbled and saddened by the realities of our past.

We were not allowed to take pictures inside the Annex, so I
settled for a picture of the sign.

The next story of Amsterdam has to do with Saturday night. When we booked our flight, it was 100 Euro cheaper to fly out at 6:50am Sunday morning then it was to fly out in the afternoon. So, we all decided that in order to save money we would take the early flight out. We also agreed that it didn't make sense to go to bed Saturday night, since we would just feel awful trying to wake up after only one or two hours of sleep. We made a pact that we would stay up all night Saturday, catch our 6:50am flight, then crash once we got back to Hamburg. Before we headed out for the night, we packed our bags, checked the train schedule, and made a plan to leave for our hostel at 4:15am. This would allow us to make the 5:05am train, giving us more then enough time to make our flight. It was a great plan in theory, but here's what actually happened: 

• We started the night at a gay bar. We didn't mean to be in a gay bar; we were just looking for a place where Daniela and I could drink and Kaitlyn could smoke. We saw the rainbow flag outside, but we thought it was for the gay cinema next door. Oh well. Later in the night, we got sucked into another Bachelor Party. But, I have to give this party mad props. The guys were super sweet, and you could tell they were just there to have a good time. A lot of them were wearing t-shirts with silly nicknames on the back. The Best Man and I ended up talking for a really long time about American Politics - I really enjoyed having a meaningful conversation in a bar with a complete stranger. Plus, our views on Obama and Bush were fairly compatible, so it was a pretty calm debate. One of the other guys, The Jolly Green Giant, started buying us shots halfway through the night - I'm pretty sure one of the shots contained Rumple Mintz, my alcohol nemesis. In hindsight, doing shots definitely wasn't the smartest idea, but looking back it makes for a funny story.

• Skipping ahead a few hours, we miraculously made it back to our hostel, checked out, got to central train station, bought our train tickets, then...ut oh. Language Barrier Problem #1000. We misread the Dutch train timetable, and the next train to the airport wasn't until 5:45am. The train ride to the airport was about 15 minutes long, meaning that once we got to the airport we would have exactly 10 minutes to find the booth and check into our flight before the airline gave our tickets away. That would leave us with 30 minutes to navigate security, find our gate, and board the plane before the gate closed. What could go wrong? Well, first off, we bought the wrong train tickets. Apparently discout fairs only apply to students living in Amsterdam. So, we had to return the old tickets and get new tickets. Then we decided that taking the train would be cutting it too close, so we returned the new tickets and went to hail a taxi. The taxi drivers said they'd charge us 50 Euro to go to the airport. Forget that! So we went back inside and repurchased train tickets (the discounted fare - shhh don't tell anyone).

• We got to the airport around 6am, and Kaitlyn gave me this look that said "Just go! Leave me! Get our tickets!" So I took off. Well, I didn't make it very far because when I reached the top of the stairs, I literally had no idea where to go. So, I just stood there in awe. I heard Kaitlyn coming up behind me, and she grumbled something about why hadn't I left yet. So, I told her I didn't know where to go and then took off again in the direction that we had arrived on Friday (I desperately hoped that arrivals and departures were located in the same place). Thankfully, my intuition was right, and we got our tickets with about one minute to spare. Next up, security. For some reason, the underwire of my bra always sets the European metal detectors off - Amsterdam was no exception. This time, I had a lady who was a little too frisky and personal with her hands. In the middle of my feel up she goes: "So, you look tired. Long night? Still drunk?" Kaitlyn's camera also set the detectors off. 10 minutes later, we finally made it through security. It's at this point that we realize our gate is still a 15 minute walk from where we are. With about 1 minute to spare, we make it to our gate. Then, after all of that, we sit on the tarmac for about 20 minutes because they forgot to fuel the plane. Awesome. 

Tschüss!