I-Amsterdam

How does one talk about Amsterdam? I've been wrestling this one for days as I prepared for this entry. On the one hand I want to tell you all about it: Everything we saw, did and experienced but on the other hand Amsterdam is like the Las Vegas of Europe, you already know what we did because you know the reputation of the city.

Amsterdam is a contradictory city. In one sense it is the modern day Sodom and Gomorrah most exemplified by a walk through its famous red light district. On the other hand it is a staggeringly beautiful and clean city with tons of green space, quaint canals, and unique and colorful architecture. People ride bikes everywhere, the above-ground tram is fast and efficient and everyone speaks English as if it were the official language. But let me start from the beginning lest I lose my train of thought and go off on a tangent.

Looking out over a canal

We arrived in Amsterdam and our excitement to see the city made us forget to buy train tickets to our next stop in Berlin (this would come back to screw us 2 days later.) We hopped on the tram and, like Brussels, we could not figure out how to pay so we decided to take our chances and just ride it out. We got off at the "Museumsplein" stop and met our friend Ethan who had left Brussels a little earlier than us. He brought us to our hostel where we met my friend Jonathan Zuckerbrod who would be joining us for the rest of the trip.

Our three nights at the Inner Amsterdam Hostel were easily the most expensive for what was clearly the worst hostel of the entire trip. I guess it goes to show the popularity of the city. Our room consisted of three bunk beds with less than a person's width of floor space and a bathroom where the shower was not separated from the sink or toilet. As Jon pointed out, "You could easily take a shower while sitting on the toilet."

We threw our bags down and within 10 minutes of arriving we were out the door, led by Ethan who was eager to show us the places he had discovered in those few hours by himself. A 20-minute walk ended with our arrival in "Leidesplein" square, which, if you ever go to Amsterdam, is a super-touristy area that marks the "beginning" of the city.

Leidesplein Square with urinals in the middle

ASIDE: Amsterdam is shaped like a fan with ever expanding tiers starting at the Central Train Station and moving outwards. the next tier consists of the red light district and beyond that the coffee shops and shopping districts until you pass Leidesplein square and all the way to Vondel Park, where our hostel was located.

Our first stop was obviously the coffee shops but I was a little disappointed with the whole scene there. I had envisioned small and quiet cafes with ample seating where one could have a conversation in peace but this was not the case. Most places we went to were loud and noisy bars with little room to accommodate our group comfortably. The one exception was Barneys which I'll get to later.

The coolest part about most of the places was actually buying the marijuana or hash. Each shop would have its own menu with at least eight different strains to purchase varying in price depending on their strength. Certain shops would have even have descriptions like, "full bodied high, giggly and introspective." But let's face it, when you're getting that stoned none of the descriptions matter. Other places sold pre-rolled joints, space cakes, and offered its customers use of bongs and vaporizers to enjoy their purchases. We tried it all, but I left the city feeling like I hadn't experienced an authentic coffee shop. Maybe I had over-hyped it in my mind but the whole seen was very gimmicky and rushed. Not for me.

After our first coffee shop, the Bulldog Palace in Leidesplein square, we emerged from the sunken bar hungry, red-eyed and maladjusted to the bright sun outside. We decided to find some food and, speaking for our entire group here, Amsterdam did not disappoint. They had everything from pizza to shwarma, fast-food, automats, restaurants like the Pancake Corner and, our favorite, Wok to Walk. This amazing Chinese food restaurant (though a little overpriced as everything was in Amsterdam) became our go- to meal maybe two or three times during our few days there. I loved it so much I have since been back to their newest one in Lisbon and plan on going to one they have in downtown NYC this summer.

The group eating Walk to Wok (From right to left: Ethan, Evelyn, Jon, Brandon (with head turned), Amanda, Mark)

After eating and strolling around the city for a few hours (as well as a few more stops in various coffee shops) we found ourselves in the red light district. The red light district is a crazy crazy place filled with too many drunken British tourists, bars, coffee shops, peep and sex shows (yes, there is a difference), and various erotic museums. The craziest part of all is the prostitutes who stand in bikinis within see-through glass doors that look out on all the action outside. As you pass these doors, the prostitutes will try to make eye-contact with you and lure you inside. Snapping a picture of this madness is usually very difficult as the prostitutes will jump behind a curtain and give you the finger if they see you with your camera out. This happened to us many, many times.

The red light district at night

We wanted to see a "show" but the price was too high for something we knew we would lose interest in after 10 or so minutes. Instead we got more food and walked around some more because, despite its seediness, the red light district is beautiful at night, lit up by garish neon lights on both sides of a narrow canal.

Our 2nd day in Amsterdam was spent enjoying the beautiful Vondel Park for a few hours in the early afternoon before we moved on to the Van Gogh Museum. I can say with confidence I have never enjoyed looking at art more in my life. We were there until the museum closed, moving very slowly from piece to piece including one stop where (I kid you not) Mark, Amanda and I looked at a painting titled "In the Woods for a full 12 minutes . If there was one attraction I would recommend in Amsterdam it is that museum.

After the museum we attacked the famous "Iamsterdam" sign and got some great pictures of us climbing on the massive letters. The highlight though was the moment Ethan had climbed the lowercase "a" and couldn't figure out how to get down. Realizing the impending hilarity of the moment, Mark filmed a great video of Ethan attempting to get down, but instead falling and rolling to the floor. If he lets me, I will try to post the video here.

Evelyn, Mark, Brandon, Ethan, and Bruce on the I Amsterdam sign

The next day's highlight was going to breakfast at Barneys. Barneys is a coffee shop well known in Amsterdam for not only its high-quality product, but its partner restaurant called Barney's Uptown right across the street. At the behest of Ethan, we went to the coffee shop after waking up, bought a few joints between the group, and went for the most amazing (yet again overly expensive) breakfast I have eaten in my four months in Europe. By the time the waitress came to take our orders, we could have eaten anything and it would've tasted good, but my scrambled eggs wrapped in a Dutch pancake were nothing short of divine. By the time we paid our check, it was 3:00 pm. After breakfast we went to the train station to buy tickets to Berlin and were shocked to find they cost over 100 euro a piece compared to the 25 or so we spent getting to Amsterdam from Brussels. That was our punishment for not buying the tickets as soon as we arrived.

After the low-light of getting train tickets (and realizing we had all spent way too much money in this city) we went to the Heineken factory which, in my opinion, was a complete waste of time and money. My dad and I did the Guinness factory tour in Dublin last summer and it was so much better than Heineken it nearly ruined the experience for me. Obviously it was fun to drink at the end but the tour was a waste. The coolest part was looking at the antique Heineken posters.

And that, dear readers, is a summary of all the major highlight from Amsterdam. Obviously there were more trips to the red light district, more coffee shops, and more eating but you get the picture. Amsterdam is beautiful and fun but in many ways it's too much of a good thing. Three days there was nearly more than enough and while I'm glad I made the trip I don't think I'll ever be going back.

The last morning we hopped on a 20-minute train to Hilversum, Netherlands before switching to another six-hour train to Berlin, where the real craziness of Spring Break began… I'm sorry it took so long for me to write this blog, but with the weather as nice as its been and the minimal class I've been having, the last thing I've wanted to do is sit inside on my computer. Trust me I will be better about writing in the near future as I still have to tell you about Berlin, Prague, and most recently Lisbon. Adios todos.

-Corey

Spanish phrase of the day:

Que sea lo que dios quiera- I've done all that I can do