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Published: March 9th 2007
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The land of tulips
Unfortunately the tulip fields were bare due to the fact that it's winter so pictures of bouquets were the closest thing I could get! I know I’m a bit of a princess traveller. The closest I’ve ever come to backpacking is taking a backpack full of toiletries to the shower! So far I’ve always managed to find a friend or a long lost family member’s couch to sleep on every time I’ve travelled and have, up until last week, managed to avoid sleeping in a hostel. But this poor student has no relatives in Amsterdam so last week when Laura (the seasoned hosteller) and I went to Amsterdam for a little mid-semester break, she showed me how to travel hostel-style.
We had a bit of difficulty finding a place to stay - apparently Amsterdam is popular in the uni break. Any guesses as to why? So we had to split our stay over 2 different hostels, the Flying Pig for the first night, and then the Meeting Point for the next 3 nights. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I admit I was a little apprehensive.
As it turns out - not so bad the hostel life! Although we stayed in a 16 person room the first night and a 32 person room for the following three, I had four very
Pretty
One of the nicer canals in Amsterdam decent night’s sleep on some very clean beds. Nowhere near as bad as I’d thought. And the Flying Pig was especially good because their bar area was set up to enable everyone to meet and hang out.
On our first night we bumped into about 6 other Australians and strangely enough they made me feel very homesick. It’s one thing to have our regular Aussies here in Strasbourg to hang out with, but to hear Aussie guys joking and paying each other out in that way that only Aussie guys can was like a breath of fresh air. We had a really good laugh and ended up making a new friend, Adrian, who was travelling alone and hung out with us for the next couple of days exploring Amsterdam with us.
Ahh yes, Amsterdam. The land of tulips and wooden shoes. The land of legal sex and drugs. All the clichés are true but I have to say, a bit of a let down. Of course we went there knowing about the red light district and the “coffee shops”, and of course we went there intending to visit both of those, but we also went with the intention
of experiencing all the G-rated fun Amsterdam has to offer and I’m so glad we did because I found those R-rated attractions that make Amsterdam so famous completely overrated.
Yes, we went to a coffee shop and (Mum, shut your eyes!!) smoked a joint. Blah! Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. I don’t know why I thought it would be any less boring in Amsterdam. Yes, we went to the Red Light District and ok, this was slightly more interesting. There’s a lot of life and colour there and of course the big feature of the Red Light District is that there are prostitutes standing in windows on display for all the world to see. At first it’s like, oh wow, there are hooker window-displays, but after a couple of laps it’s hard to miss the bored look in their eyes - often they’re standing there with a mobile in hand texting a friend and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them.
However, Amsterdam has a lot more to offer than sleaze and dirty streets (and by dirty I mean massive piles of garbage hanging out on the pavement). I experienced one of the most profound
Flower markets
Us trying to pretend we were in the middle of a tulip field! things in my life there - the Anne Frank museum. It is absolutely mind blowing. And sad. I really should’ve realised how sad it would be, but we were so caught up in the holiday vibe we really didn’t prepare ourselves for such an emotional experience. It’s the actual house Anne Frank and her family hid in during World War II and it’s been turned into a kind of memorial museum. At first you go through the front of the house that was the business front, but after that you go through the secret bookcase and into the back of the house where the family hid for years.
The emotion that was running through me was almost unstoppable. I felt sick to the stomach and wanted to cry all at the same time, but held back tears because it was so crowded. The original markings of all the children’s heights as they were growing up were still there on the wall. In Anne Frank’s room, a tiny little room with the window blackened, it still had the pictures she’d pasted on the wall to try to cheer herself up. It was the most horrific and moving thing I’ve ever
Vondelpark
Such a beautiful park. We took a walk around half of it, unfortunately the other half was... under construction?? experienced. To actually stand in the space where such an important piece of history took place is like nothing I’ve ever known. After we left, Laura and I couldn’t talk to each other for about an hour, we were just in shock. It’s an experience I would definitely recommend, but I’d advise to prepare a little better than we had.
There were many other great things in Amsterdam too; the Van Gogh museum, the Rembrandt House, Vondelpark, the Waterlooplein markets, amazing clothing stores, and just generally walking around the canals in the nice, clean areas of the city. And there’s nothing like listening to someone speaking that musical Dutch language to put a smile on your face (luckily for us they also spoke English)! But I have to say, coming back to Strasbourg was a bigger relief than I could’ve imagined. I now know how lucky I am to live here. I could never live in Amsterdam, it’s too dirty, too sleazy, too unoriginal. And Strasbourg is clean, it has amazing architecture, and most importantly, they speak French! Hearing French again everywhere I go is like heaven. I love it!
I do love the fact that the rest
Bird feeder in Vondelpark
When this guy rocked up on a bike it was like all the birds within a 50km radius flew out of the trees towards him. They knew he had the goods! of Europe is so close that I can explore other cities so easily from here this year, but I really do love this little city I’m calling home and I'm so glad to be back!!
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nicers
non-member comment
thats awesome
id love to see inside Anne franks house i will so have to do that one day, it was the first B&W movie i saw and loved and to see the real thing would be amazing. your pictures are great i especially love the lamps as thats something i would take a photo of, and the man with the birds was great, even photographers from my work say that they are really good. you should be a journalist!