I AM AMSTERDAM!

Amsterdam was an indescribably spectacular trip (unfortunately I am not going to get into all the gruesome details but if you so care, please ask me in person when you see me next and I will give you all of them; furthermore, while I will post some photos here, I would recommend you looking at the photos on facebook as there are many great ones there). Having not left Spain in 6 or 7 weeks, it was nice to get out and explore another country. I barely made my flight with my friends after meeting the Mayor but once on the plane, I quickly passed out for the short flight to the city of Amsterdam. After landing in Schipol, we exited and took the train to the central station. We decided against taking the tram to our apartment (since we were going to be 6 people, we decided to rent an apartment instead of trying out luck at a hostel, this turned out to be one of the best decisions we made) and began our walk. We stepped out of the station and were immediately confronted with thousands of bikes, a trademark of the city. It was also much cooler (in the 50s) than we had experienced in Barca and we were definitely refreshed by the cold breeze coming off the water. We walked along the Amstel river before turning down one of the main streets. After arriving, we checked in and relaxed in the room for a bit before deciding to wander around. We stopped at Kandinsky coffee shop and enjoyed some tea and typical Amsterdam treats before wandering around to find dinner (where I ate the most delicious and grand shwarma meal of my life). Thus began my food journey in Amsterdam. It was late and we were exhausted so we headed back to the apartment where I laid down and later passed out for the evening.

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to this pancake shop that had been recommended to me. It was incredibly delicious. I started out with a pancake covered in blueberries, powdered sugar, caramel, and bananas. I wish I had ordered two of them they were so good (but don’t worry I made it back to this place numerous times). After we hit up the tulip museum which described the way that tulips came to Holland and why they were so famous. Afterwards, some of my friends went to the sex museum but I decided since we were so close to the Vincent Van Gogh museum that I would head there instead. On our way there we stopped in Vandel park and climbed around on the IAMAMSTERDAM sign (which I had forgotten was there until I saw it). We cruised around the park for a while and then got in line for the museum. We wandered around staring at the paintings for roughly 3-4 hours before deciding that we should explore some more before the sun set for the day. In the park was an elephant exhibit of elephants that artists from around the world had decorated. We played on the elephants and again on the sign before trying to decide what to do for dinner. I had a craving for Indonesian food as I had heard it was marvelous in Amsterdam (since Indonesia had been a Dutch colony for many years). Unfortunately my friends didn’t quite agree so after some short arguments, my friend Matt and I indulged in some delicious Indonesian. I promised my friend Laura we would get pancakes and waffles at Sara’s pancakes again since she didn’t get to go for Indonesian. We indulged ourselves at Sara’s and I had a giant nutella and banana pancake as well as a waffle covered in cherries and a chocolate milk. It was amazing. I hadn’t eaten this well in a long time as I had had a hard time finding good food in Barca. Next we all met up back at the apartment and reconvened before wandering down to the famed red-light district. We wandered around before Laura and I decided to share a window for a quick peep show. I can for sure say that that moment was the beginning of our friendship. The sex show was definitely sleezy and not something I would do again but when in Amsterdam you must at least try it out. Life is all about those experiences right? We stopped in a coffee shop for some dessert before continuing our journey through the surprisingly classy prostitution district. Even the prostitutes were surprisingly attractive. At one point, we passed a covered door and as we walked by it opened and a well groomed man in his 60s walked out. Looking at him awkwardly he told us that “she was a good one, I would recommend her” before scurrying off. We couldn’t stop laughing as it was the first person we had seen walk out of one of the doors. We poked our heads in a typical sex shop before walking back to the apartment and passing out.

We were up early again Sunday and made our way to the Anne Frank Huis in an attempt to beat the long line we had seen there the day before. We waited in line for a short while before entering into what would be a very moving experience. We took the tour of the house and stopped in all the rooms to ponder what really happened in this historic building and to try to comprehend what it must have been like to live there during the terror of the war. Eventually we decided we couldn’t handle much more and moved on to indulge ourselves once again in Sara’s waffles and pancakes (again I got one of each). Afterwards, we headed back to the apartment to regroup and picked up some traditional Amsterdam brews (blueberry and brisket to be exact) on the way. Matt, Hank, Laura and I went to rent bikes and began our cruising around the city. Riding bikes through the canal areas and on the main roads was a definite highlight of this amazing trip. It felt like we were flying as the bikes were so smooth and the city is so biker friendly. We biked to the park outside the Van Gogh museum and indulged ourselves in numerous waffles before walking around and taking more pictures with the elephants. On our bike back we stopped and picked up more Indonesian food which we gorged ourselves on in the apartment. After our dinner, Matt and Laura departed for the airport while the rest of us went out to explore again. Fixing for a milkshake the entire weekend, I finally got an amazing one at ben and jerry’s. After another long day we headed back to the apartment, watched tv and crashed since we had to be up at the crack of dawn for our flight back to Barca. All in all, it was indeed a completely brilliant weekend.