Euro Trip Day 8: The Whole Eight Yards Into Germany

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Day 008, Saturday June 25

This is a big one, covering a lot of time, so try and keep up 😊 I write this on the 5 hour train ride from Cologne to Berlin, we have been going non stop! It literally feels like we’ve done a weeks worth in mere days.

The crowds don’t end, like London and Bruges, Amsterdam and Cologne are insane tourist hubs, I think I should start expecting massive crowds in almost every city we go to, then I’ll stop being shocked each time I step put of the main train station to find myself overwhelmed by the massive amounts of people occupying the main city center.

We arrived in Amsterdam late Thursday night, we immediately went grocery shopping, which included uncooked pasta noodles, and tomato sauce, first thing we did was cook us up a HUGE plate of pasta with some grapes for desert, our first time cooking on this trip, it was all Alyssa and she did incredibly well, although we wanted a change from water and thought we were buying orange juice but it was some sort of orange yogurt drink, and we bought the 1.5 Litre box, giving us lot's to drink of a horrid liquid. We then asked the very helpful guy at the desk which place he thinks is the safest and best place to go in order to partake in the local smoking traditions in the evening, before heading off to sleep. It was very funny seeing the menus listing coffee on one side and various iterations of a certain hand wrapped plant on the other. We had a very helpful and knowledgeable “waiter” (though he was more like a bartender ... pot-tender?)

We slept very well that night.

Then, the next morning (Friday the 24th) we got up early and immediately started sightseeing and the sheer amount of people in Amsterdam was staggering. Everywhere people swarmed in streets as disorganised as London and equally lacking in street signs. The city is bustling and so I don’t feel the same concern about the safety of our personal belongings, particularly my new camera (as well as the laptop and money of course), as I was in Brussels. Brussels was pretty sketchy, with every possible place to sit on the street and sidewalk covered with young locals getting drunk (legally) in the middle of the street. My initial assumption on the train into Amsterdam was to expect the same thing but worse considering prostitution and drugs are decriminalised. Yet you instantly feel comfortable in the city as you can tell it’s very rich, there is a lot of money flowing through the city. But you can still see the thin alleyways that hold the sketchier part of town, rife with the appropriately sketchy neon signs, yet heavy traffic of tourist, young and old, alleviate concerns for your safety and wellbeing, everyone is walking around having a good time, taking pictures, and in no way abusing the freedoms they enjoy (during the day at least). What’s highly interesting about Amsterdam is that there are bike lanes along side easily 90% of the roads, and people riding bikes actually have the right of way over people on foot. Many close encounters ensued.

By far the best attraction of the trip so far has been, the Van Gogh museum which we saw as the first stop of our sightseeing in Amsterdam on Friday morning. I’ve always admired his work, the icon used for my profile is his work, titled “Starry Night on the Rheine” was not among the 200 paintings they displayed at the museum, but many other notable works were, and the museum’s layout, taking you through the different periods of his 10 years of creative output in chronological order. There were also large text displays for reading, taking you through his journey of creativity with him, describing where he lived, what he was doing, and his influences, additionally there were sections devoted to said influences for comparisons, in particular I enjoyed the Toulouse pieces, another artist whose work I admire.

After that we found the Anne Frank museum, it is the house her and 7 others (of which included her father, mother, and sister) hid during Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. It was very moving, almost bringing me to tears on more than one occasion, I know the story of Anne Frank as much as anyone with vague recollections of the academy award winning film, and through general cultural osmosis, but effects of World War 2 did not have as heavy an effect on a non Jewish Canadian, not to say human suffering is only applicable to the sufferers, but as much as I deplore the events of, for instance, 9/11 I don’t necessarily feel the emotional impact as those affected as my self and my family were nowhere near a part of the event, for which I am always thankful to be living in such a great country as Canada. Basically, the museum did a fantastic job of bringing the story of this girl and her whole family close to home, I didn’t know she died in a concentration camp mere weeks before it’s liberation and didn’t know her father was still alive, as the rest of her family had died and she was separated from her father. Nor did I even know that her father survived, and returned home after his camp was liberated, trying desperately to learn any information about the ultimate fate of his family. There was a short video recording of Otto Frank (Anne’s father) speaking about this, it’s exceptionally moving, he goes into when he finally read Anne’s diary and his thoughts on it. All this emotional material, like quotes on the wall from the diary that related to the areas of the house you were in, was made even more so just knowing you were in the same rooms as she and her family, and the quotes themselves, just so fascinatingly insightful for a young girl.


We left Amsterdam for Cologne Friday evening, and it was no different, the minute you exit the train station you are assaulted with very particular stores of the highest end, Pretty much catering to the super rich, it’s actually ridiculous, every brand name has their own store. But even before that you are attacked with the sight of the largest cathedral we’ve seen yet, it’s presence is intense and I fear we will be climbing its highest tower tomorrow. We planned to see it as well as 2 smaller yet very old churches, and the Ludwig Museum on the next morning (this morning, Saturday 25th), we listened to some Beethoven on the train ride and was looking forward to it very much.

We arrived in Cologne in the evening, and as per our usual routine now, we got some food, maps, and just chilled to plan our sightseeing day, the next day. We started with the Ludwig museum this morning ... and found it had nothing to do with the great classical music composer we thought it did, but rather that was simply the name of the museum which held 4 floors of artwork. It was very interesting, a wide range of works including expressionist pieces and avant garde works which Alyssa was particularly having a hard time accepting as art (and honestly so was I) The best part was an extensive section devoted to Picasso, which was naturally inspiring, and they even had a single piece by Dali, one of personal inspirers.

Then the largest cathedral, the Dom, with over 600 steps, a climb I’m amazed doesn’t claim lives on a daily basis. It was the busiest cathedral so far, and by far the most impressive spires and towers I’ve ever seen, unfortunately every wall and pillar anyone can reach their hand too was marked with graffiti, a very sad sight to see something so beautiful defaced and treated with such a lack of respect.

Another church we saw today, which only held 3 occupants who were praying, and a small choir practicing their Latin singing. The church dated all the way back to the tenth century, built in 957. That’s no typo ... I know I was impressed.

Anyway, it’s time to get some sleep, busy day tomorrow, sightseeing and clubbing in Berlin, and some time soon after, Poland, Auschwitz, ... yeah, that’s gonna be tough, but I look forward to learning more, as I find I do, every day.

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Photos

Chillin in Amsterdam.
Everyone is chilling and having a good time.

The House of Anne Frank.
Third floor, middle window, the room where she and 7 others hid.

The Statue of Anne Frank.
A small, but very tasteful memorial for her, around the corner of her house.

Jesus' Blood.
The tabernacle holding the blood of Jesus, had to pull a frame from a ninjad video as photography was not allowed.