Girl Meets World: juin 2012

What a pleasant, unexpected surprise! Amsterdam (which is in both the Netherlands and Holland.. Holland is a province?) surpassed any image or expectation I had by at least 10 mounds of mayo covered French fries (their specialty). This was the first place I've visited in Europe that I wasn't eager to leave and go back to Paris.. It was simply just too short of a trip! The stew of friendly people, laid back atmosphere, canals, bridges, bikers, English, and overall vibe, minus the beach, I couldn't help but feel like I was back home in San Diego.

As soon as Leslie and I arrived on Friday night and stepped outside to the 70 degree May night, we were in heaven. Jean shorts, rainbow sandals, dragging our luggage across the tram tracks in Leidseplein square, we make our way to the Stay Okay hostel, which in our books was better than just "okay." With actual hot breakfast and dinners included and a spacious all girls room where we actually were able to sleep uninterrupted, it was unanimous that it was the best hostel we've seen to date.. And the British men's soccer team staying the floor below us wasn't anything to complain about either :)

Once checked into our rooms, we bee-lined it back to Leidseplein square... The place was popping! A big stage had been set up that had live music playing around the clock all weekend. There were also tons of pubs and bars along the perimeters with packed outdoor seating that was busy all night long. Leslie and I decided tonight would be best to just bar hop around and just walk around, seeing what Amsterdam was all about. And for any of you that have the same image of your mind that I did of red light district, half naked girls in windows, dirty, grimy, carry-mase-with-you-at-all-times sort of place, how mistaken you'd be. Not only was it the most safe place I've felt besides here in Paris, the streets were clean, we couldn't even tell when we were in the red light district, and not to mention how beautiful the city is lit up at night.

Saturday we woke up bright and early and had 2 main attractions on the agenda- Anne Frank House and Van Gogh museum. Making our way over to Anne Frank, we stumbled upon the famous Iamsterdam sign which was fun as we climbed up the huge letters and took a few pictures. The sign is located in a beautiful park that we both agreed we could lay around all day. Once at the Anne Frank house, it was such a cool experience walking around the actual hide out house that Anne Frank and 7 others lived for 2 years before being anonymously called out and captured by the Nazis. I used the word "lived" loosely as I cannot fathom day in and day out having to sit in darkness and silence, barely being able to whisper to each other. You can forget about flushing a toilet. Since only Otto Frank (Anne's father) survived, he has dedicated his life to publishing Anne's diaries and turning the hide out into the popular attraction is it today. You can't help but feel inspired after leaving the Anne Frank house after witnessing this girl that was beyond her years and so brave, courageous, and a dreamer.

After lunch and first of several Starbucks breaks, we went to the Van Gogh museum. I like museums but am the first to admit it's not my ultimate sense of enjoyment. Ask me if I'd rather go shopping and see how fast I jump. Nonetheless, this museum was absolutely great and definitely on my "must see" list of Amsterdam. We decided to splurge the extra 5 euros on the audio head sets which I highly recommend. Your personal British tour guide tells you all about different paintings and what a freak show 'ole Vincey boy was. Between hearing about how he essentially woke up one morning and decided to be a painter with no experience or background in it, to his repeated failures, to cutting off his own ear, to checking himself into a mental institution, to eventually killing himself... I was entertained. No pictures were allowed but my gosh, the man was absolutely brilliant. Mad, but brilliant.

Saturday night we decided to partake in a quiet, mellow, very mature and classy, pub crawl. 5 bars, 1 night club, a free drink at each stop.. We're in! The night was a blast and we met people from literally all over the world- Australia, England, Ireland, Germany, you name it. If someone had told me it was a world Olympic drinking event, I'd have bought it. Unlike Barcelona, one huge plus Leslie and I liked was that nights in Amsterdam start early. We were "late" arriving to the pub crawl at 9:15 and we were at the 6th and final stop by 2am then it's up to you how late you want to stay. Not being out until 7am made our mornings not feel like absolute death and manageable to get a solid day of sight seeing in.

Of course Sunday morning presented itself with a fine, well deserved hangover but being the troopers we are, we fueled up at breakfast and sketched our plan of attack: canal tour and Heiniken brewery- although at 9 in the morning the mere thought of beer was enough to send us rushing to the toilet.

As we were purchasing our canal boat tour tickets, we ended up getting upgraded to the more "intimate" tour. Hopping onto the 20 person boat instead of the 50 seater, we had no clue what was in store. However, it turned out to be a total blessing in disguise because it was way more personal, loaded with fun facts about the city, and our boat could go through canals the bigger boat could not. But hands down the best part of the tour was Ned. We had the most entertaining tour guide of all time. I could go on for days about how big a cuke this 67 year old Amsterdam native was but he had Leslie and I cracking up the entire time.

I have to mention a few of the facts Ned threw at us, pretty interesting: There's 750,000 people living in Amsterdam and of that number, there are 650,000 bikes. Bikes are EVERYWHERE! They even have the right of way over pedestrians. Ned also told us that it's very common for people to steal bikes, ride them to where ever, then throw them into the canal. Why? No one knows. There are an expected 65,000 bikes in the canal and boat motors often get stuck on them because the water it pretty shallow. Also, Amsterdam is made up of 92 islands. How many bridges?? Only 1,300. WOW! Also, if you're looking to move here, you better learn Dutch. After your year visa is up, if you can't pass their national language test, you're outta there. And lastly, my personal favorite, guard rails were installed only 10 years ago to prevent cars from going into the canals. Before these were installed, hundreds drove nose first into the canal every year. Now, about 7 cars still manage to cannon ball a year.

Overall, the canal tour was the one thing that wasn't on our initial itinerary but was absolutely my favorite thing we did.. If you ever go to Amsterdam, fork out the few extra euros and do the smaller boat tour.. And ask for Ned!

Getting off the boat 2 hours later, our hunger had turned our attitudes from happy and joyful to utter cranky pants. Knowing European service is anything but a jiff didn't help either. Back in Leidseplein square we played eenie-meenie-minnie-moe over which cafe/pub to sit outside, since none of which did the waiters seem to work in any hasty fashion. The corn flake breaded chicken burger was definitely worth the wait and afterwards we were fueled up and able to start entertaining the idea of drinking a beer (since we knew that's how the brewery tour would end).

The Heinken Brewery was a joke in itself as we couldn't help but notice the permanent ear to ear smiles the men carried around as the women passively looked on. The "Heineken Experience" was definitely one of a kind. Starting with the flowery painted history of the brand, learning how the beer is made, walking through the actual brewery, going on a virtual ride where "you" are being brewed, and taste testing... Every corner you turned it was like a giant commercial/advertisement: "Heineken is the best." Then there were the pointless movie cinama-like rooms and arcade-like rooms (see below). It possibly could have been our exhaustion from the sun (partying) or the disgusting amount of marketing throughout or the fact that we are girls but we were less than impressed with our Heineken Experience. Although meeting some American guys later that night we found out they had gone there too... it was comical to see their eyes light up and be so giddy telling us that it was theeee BEST! Men really are from Mars.

Dragging our feet back to Safe (More Than) Okay hostel, we were finally able to nap then get ready for the night. Since we had so much fun the night before, we thought "why not" do it again? After all, that is our motto everywhere we go and hasn't steered us wrong yet! What a good choice it was, leaving bar #1 we met 2 awesome Irish girls we ended up befriending the rest of the night. By bar #2 Leslie and I were now a party of 8- us 2, the 2 Irish girls, and 4 American guys that had all just graduated from Air Force. One of them was even from Orange County and we had a bunch of mutual friends. It's almost an oxymoron as I'm expanding my world through this whole experience, only coming to realize what a small world it actually is. The rest of the night went off without a hitch and neither Leslie nor I wanted the night to end.

Waking up Monday morning knowing we had our flight to catch, a true contemplation entered my mind to stay a few more days. Amsterdam was so much more than I could have imagined, it completely blew me away. No place I've visited has come close to the love I have for Paris. It still is the front runner, although, if I were to have chose Amsterdam over Paris, I hardly think I'd be having a bad time. Living in Paris, I am blissfully aware of how spoiled I am on a daily basis. When someone asked me if I'd ever visit the same place twice, although every city I've been has their own special things to offer, Amsterdam is the first place I could see myself excited to return to.