Back to Paris!!!!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
A Perfect Day in Amsterdam!
Man, it's a little after midnight, and when I think back on this perfect day, it's hard to remember everything we did! Resting off our long walk from yesterday, we woke up around noon. We watched some soccer, ate cheese and crackers, and finally got out of the hotel room. We probably wouldn't stay in so long, but the room is so nice, it's easy to be very comfortable.
We had heard about this "secret" free canal tour, which is operated very informally by a group of guys with boats. One of the guys has a brother who has a bar, and in this bar is the sign up sheet. After searching for the bar, we finally found the sign up sheet. The only spot left was on the waiting list for the three o'clock trip, and we checked the time and it was three exactly! We ran out into the square to find the group, and we were the last 2 on a boat that can hold 12. Perfect! The tour was low key and relaxing, just cruising around in the canals of Amsterdam. We saw an old school windmill, ducked down for the lowest bridge in Amsterdam, and took loads of pictures.
Then, we finally figured out how to work our phone card! I've been very frustrated with that, so it was a significant personal victory.
We wandered down through flower-lined streets to the lovely Vondelpark, where we relaxed in the sun watching ducks in a pond and people of all kinds on bikes: men in suits, old women, pregnant women, bikes loaded up with kids like a minivan, people texting on bikes, women in tall heels, you name it. Everybody in Amsterdam rides bikes. There are supposedly two bikes per person in Amsterdam. We ate snacks and had a delightful time.
Then, after a good dinner at the American Hotel in the busy Liedseplien Square (pronounced Led Zeppelin), we walked over to the Anne Frank museum. In the middle of the day, it's an hour's wait, packed with jillions of tourists. But at nine pm, it is a very quiet, reverent experience, and CheyAnn and I were the only people in many of the rooms. It was quite a sobering experience for us to put our Amsterdam escapades on hold for a moment while we reflected on the suffering of Anne Frank, her family, and millions of others, a seemingly unthinkable tragedy that occurred only so recently.
After the museum, we walked around for a bit and took some more pictures. We had some tasty dessert at a small dive where a smiley Syrian dude cooked from a very homey kitchen. CheyAnn finally got her requisite Amsterdam waffle--covered in milk chocolate, chocolate ice cream, and chocolate sauce! Mmmm, waffles!
And that was the cap to a perfect day. Made even more perfect by the fact that we discovered the continuous shooting function on our camera. Just hold down the trigger, like a machine gun. Click, click, click, click, click. On such a perfect day like this, in a beautiful city with the one you love, you could take 500 pictures. We were a little short of that--we took 489.
The boat tour
The canals are beautiful here
One of 3 working windmills in Amsterdam
The phone finally works!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Insights in Amsterdam
We had a wonderful day in Amsterdam yesterday, highlighted by a free four hour walking tour of the old downtown. We saw all kinds of things: canals, boats, beautiful old buildings, art, prostitutes, and coffeeshops, where you can smoke marijuana. It was four hours packed with sights. The center of Amsterdam is very beautiful, with so many old buildings packed between canals. Amsterdam is unique because it seems to have resisted modernization--it looks just like we would imagine it a couple hundred years ago. No giant billboards, no Ferraris, and not a lot of glamour.
It does have a lot of rain though! In our four hour walk, it probably rained ten times, off and on, lasting the entire day. It's very chilly for July, and we were both talking about how the hot Paris weather sounds good again.
On our tour, we learned why Amsterdam has a such a laid-back, friendly vibe. After Holland was liberated from the Nazis, there was a strong left-wing backlash, and the city became very tolerant of all cultures and behaviors. We were informed that the Golden Rule of Amsterdam is that you can "Do whatever you want, as long as it 1) doesn't harm anyone, 2) is discreet, and 3) makes money.
Which brings us to prostitutes, who in a small section of the town, really do stand inside windowed areas trying to attract customers. It's not what we expected though--most were much older than we expected, and a lot of them were fairly chunky, well they were just plain fat. Just chilling in the window...
We were also surprised to find out that smoking marijuana actually is illegal in Amsterdam, technically. It's just one of those laws no one cares about and isn't enforced. We learned that the best weed in the world is grown in Holland. Makes sense. They even have a marijuana museum here.
We also checked out the flower market, the bloomenmarkt, in Dutch, which had more tulip bulbs that you've ever wanted to see.
We spent last night washing all of our clothes in the sink and bath tub. It was really fun. We had a ton of clothes spread out everywhere all over our hotel room to air dry. It was quite a sight. The hotel has a "laundry service" but it is over 5 euros per item. No thanks.
Today is our last full day in Amsterdam. We're going to catch a canal tour and check out the Anne Frank house, no matter how long the line is, then party the night away in Amsterdam!
De Bakkerswinkel was a great place for breakfast, which we discovered through a local tip. Very low key and non-touristy. I loved the design, very different! The food was great!
The start of our four hour walking tour. It rained all day.
Inside a lovely, secret courtyard.
Inside a courtyard with Amsterdam's oldest wooden building, a church.
Beautiful tree-lined canal, a frequent sight here.
We bought some cannabis starter kits for our patio. We thought they would look great.
The flower market
The flowers were gorgeous!
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