Listen to this song, if you don't get the reference :)
We got back from Amsterdam last night, after spending a few glorious days in the enthralling city. It was an absolute blast! We caught the 2:40 train out of Hauptbahnhof, and got to Amsterdam by about 9. The train ride went by so quickly, possibly because I was researching and outlining my term paper for film (which was due today). Packing sammiches was definitely a good idea because we were on the train straight through dinner. Once we got to the hostel, we dropped off our stuff and began exploring the city! M had already been to the city about 3 times before, so we just let him lead us around for a bit. We stumbled across the "I Amsterdam" sign, and then headed out to a pancake house/ sports bar (strange combination, I know). It was pretty fun, but the music was incredibly loud, so I couldn't really talk to anyone. After that we just strolled around. M got us lost, but then found us again. And we found out that the Heineken factory/brewery/museum/whatever you want to call it, was only a couple blocks away from the hostel! As was the Van Gogh Museum, and a couple of other museums.
The next day, J woke up at 8:40 to get the hostel's free breakfast. The rest of us stayed in bed until 11:30 when she finally got annoyed at us enough to kick our butts in gear! We grabbed some bagels at a cafe down the street (it was weird, they toasted the bagels, but just to the point where they were warm, not toasted, and therefore tasted kind of stale), and then headed over to the Anne Frank house. This was absolutely amazing! When we read her diary in 6th grade, I think I probably read it about six more times because it just fascinated me (apparently my interest in this realm of history has existed for longer than I thought)! It was incredible to actually be in the annex, and see where they lived, and the real conditions they lived in. Each room had a few quotes from the book, and with each quote a flood of memories came back from the rest of the book. A-mazing!
After the Anne Frank house, we headed to Dam Sqaure, the center of the city, to meet up with K and explore around some more. We found a hilarious condom store - apparently there are 96 different sizes of condoms! haha After some more exploring, we found our way to dinner, and then headed back to the hostel to change. While we were exploring, we got some flyers about a pub crawl happening that started at K's hostel, s we had to get changed before going to that. We explored around the Red Light District for a while - that was quite the experience. Not as attractive as you'd think they'd be, though there were some attractive ones. The pub crawl took us through the red light district, and it was just a complete blast. With all of the drinks included in the overall price of the crawl, there really was no need to buy our own drinks (or at least, not for me), so it was definitely a good decision. I've always wanted to do a pub crawl!
The next morning, we slept in again. haha... waking up for class at 9 every day is really starting to take a toll on everyone! I only have class at 9 two days a week, and it's still killing me! We headed out to grab some breakfast, and I got the most delicious hot chocolate. Well, the hot chocolate was alright, but the whipped cream was just amazing! It was so dense and tasted like it was relatively real, and not from a can. We met up with B, who had been in the city but with other friends, and when everyone else went to the Van Gogh Museum, we explored - meaning got lost - around the city. I didn't want to go to the Van Gogh museum because I don't really like that kind of art, and it was a 14 euro fee... Nein, danke!
We walked around for quite a while, just strolling and peering into random stores we came across. He wanted to go to Dam, and I don't think he realized that it was an area of the city, not just once specific place. He's not quite the person to go on adventures with - tends to get a little stressed out, then repeatedly tell you that he's not stressed out, but constantly check the time and wonder aloud as to where we are. I personally love getting lost in cities. As long as you don't end up in a sketchy part of town, it's such a great adventure. I think I probably would have preferred to explore alone, but oh well. We just have different ideas of what exploring is! Once we found our way back and met up with the rest of the group, I broke off and joined Kw, D and M to do a tour of the Heineken factory/museum/brewery/thingy. They were already there, and I got completely lost trying to find it...
Fortunately, after being followed by a creeper for about 10 minutes, I found it! The boys had already started the tour (my frustration from being lost on a time crunch got to me, and I told them to just start without me), and had my ticket. At the point of the tour they were in, they couldn't come back down to get me in. Thank God M had his "who's your dj?" shirt on. I told the ticket guy that I was with the guy in that shirt, and he laughed and let me through :) The first half of the museum was alright... history of the company and that kind of stuff. Then we got to the ride portion - I had no idea there was going to be a ride! - where I finally caught up to the boys, and got my ticket and wristband, which got me two free beers :) The ride was one of those interactive platform things, and it took us through the process of making beer... pretty sweet! Then we moved to the next room, and got a surprise free beer! The rest of the tour was really cool. Lots of random Heineken stuff, like commercials from the '80's, and a giant foosball table. And then the bar where we got our final two beers :) Yum!
After the brewery/factory/museum/doo-hickey, we went to grab some dinner and then meet up with people. It got a little complicated with meeting up, but we finally found each other, and spent the rest of the night exploring around the city. Br, J and I, of course, decided to stay at this one cafe while everyone else went out to a bar (I'd just ordered a hot chocolate when everyone else decided to leave, terrible timing!). Then we grabbed some ice cream and other tasty treats and headed home. We wanted to go to bed early because we had to get up early for our train, but people kept streaming back into the room until about 1 a.m. When we woke up it was time to head for the train station. I made sure to get some delicious Stroopwafels before we left - they're amazing, but I honestly cannot describe them - and spent the first 2 hours of the train ride writing 7 pages of my term paper. Then my battery died :( Fortunately I had enough time to finish it up after we got home! So, that's about it for Amsterdam - next week Prague!
Oh, one more thing to say about Amsterdam: If the Dutch are so tall, why do they make their stairs so short, in both height and length. Seriously! My feet barely fit on the steps!
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