Amsterdam

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Amsterdam! How cliché is it to say that Amsterdam is my favorite city in Europe? Probably as cliché as posing in front of the I Amsterdam sign and that didn’t stop me so what the hell: Amsterdam is my FAVORITE city in Europe! It’s not just the weed and prostitute thing either, (although who doesn’t love a prostitute in a store window?) Its soooo many other parts to the city that make it such a fun place to be!

We took an overnight train from Lugano to Amsterdam Friday night. To save money we decided to forgo the bed and just sleep in chairs. Seemed like a much better idea when booking it but when we were actually on the train I think we were all cursing ourselves for not loosening the purse strings a little. Although, those 3 blankets you sent to me the other week really came in handy! I actually slept fine (thanks to those blankets, that hook pillow you sent and a bottle of wine and some advil PM… yum)

Regardless of how we slept we arrived in Amsterdam at 9 in the morning. The first thing I noticed about Amsterdam are the bikes. Honestly there were more bikes parked than I had ever seen in my life. The bikes were old looking too, with big baskets or baby seats in the back- they weren’t just for fun they were like modes of transportations. Ironically I never saw a bike shop…curious. We stumbled over to our hotel which was located in Rembrandt square above a coffee shop called Smokey’s which seemed to be crowded at all times of day. We dropped off our stuff (even for just a weekend my backpack was enormous) and then headed out to find breakfast and explore the city. The architecture in Amsterdam is gorgeous. Every block I found myself thinking that this must have been the famous street I see in postcards but every single street was just as beautiful as the last. Right near our hotel was the flower market, which is easily one my favorite parts of the city. There were so many types of flowers! Amaryllis bulbs the size of my head! We were there early so the vendors were cleaning out there stalls and throwing away orchids and dahlias that I would have kept in my room for months. I thought about dumpster diving but what was I really going to do with 50 potted plants even if they were perfectly good and free so I just kept on going. And they had rows and rows of tulips and Venus flytraps… Ryan would have loved it, a horticulturist’s dream!

We wandered around and moseyed into our first Amsterdam coffee shop. We were all pretty giggly and nervous so we just sat down and actually ordered coffee. I mean it was only 10 after all. The coffee shop we found ourselves in was decked out with Ocean’s 12 memorabilia and then after a minute we realized that we were in the coffee shop that was in the movie! How cool, we are practically famous!! We sat in the coffee shop for what felt like a really long time but actually I don’t think it was because when we left we still had a lot of time to walk around before going back to our hotel. We decided we were all too tired to do any strenuous site seeing so we spent the day walking around popping in and out of stores, exploring a few more coffee shops and snacking at all of the wonderful French fries vendors that we just don’t have enough of in the US. I spent most of the day basking in the beautifulness of the city and contemplating deep intellectual topics like what color bike I would ride if I moved to Amsterdam and whether I should buy one of those hot pink felt purses that I was so fond of (luckily I decided against).

Amsterdam felt like all the pretty parts of NYC but with wider streets and canals. Like NYC you can often hear the hustle and bustle of the busier streets but for some reason one block away it can seem quite enough to hear a pin drop. Walking one block away from the Red Light District was like Times Square versus Greenwich village (on crack). The Red Light District seemed so surreal to me. In a weird way though I found the Red Light District a little refreshing. When you enter a big city (or even small ones for that matter) you know that things like drug use, prostitution, sex shows all exist, but at least in Amsterdam it is out in the open. When things aren’t so taboo and secretive they are a little more manageable. At the same time I don’t think I’ll ever feel comfortable walking down a street and seeing half naked women in the windows like they are the blue plate special; but at least its contained and not on every corner. Plus I’m pretty sure we were in the cracked out big girl district or something because some of those women needed to be censored and full-length mirror. Prostitution may be legal but spandex is still a privilege and not a right!

We went back to our hotel later and showered the train and red light district grime off and got ready for our night. We ended up going to the improv comedy show Boom Chicago that was recommended by our teacher at Usi. Before the show we went out for dinner and found a Spanish restaurant where we got Tapas and two pitchers of sangria. We were early so we went to another coffee shop and then found some of those fries we just couldn’t get enough of. Boom Chicago had funny parts but I wasn’t in stitches or anything. I laughed harder when I tripped accidentally on my way in. It was fun to go to a comedy club though because I’ve never been to one before. We walked around a little after the show but since it didn’t get out till about 12 we were too tired to really do much else. We went back and passed out early so that we could get in a full day Sunday.

We went to the Ann Frank House first thing Sunday morning. I love getting to museums early because they are so much better when you aren’t super packed and rushed by the crowds of people. The Ann Frank house was really cool to see because I remember reading her diary as a little girl. I can’t imagine how scared she must have been all the time! Her room was just as she had left it with magazine clippings pasted on the walls and things. It was really moving to see. It is still so amazing to me that all of the holocaust happened so recently! And to think that there are still Ann Frank’s all over the world. ‘If I really let myself think about it I think it might just be too much to bear.’ I think that’s the quote she wrote, of course in reference to the suffering of the Jews but it could really be applied to a lot of things in life. It was a moving site to see, definitely worth getting up early for!

After the Ann Frank House we got coffee and went to the Van Gogh museum. I like Van Gogh but I feel like I’ve seen a million Van Gogh exhibits in my life. I was personally rooting for the Rijks museum, which I think has more of a variety of art but of course Van Gogh is beautiful and so it can never be terrible. By that time though it was close to noon and so it was pretty crowded but still worth seeing. I just put in my iPod and had a grand time with good ole Vincent.

After the museum we walked through the park and continued soaking up the beautifulness of the city. I took a zillion and one pictures and promised myself I would come back and live there one day. I don’t know what it was but so much of Amsterdam appealed to me. I just thought that the city and architecture was beautiful and there was so much color everywhere- the flowers, bikes and people- I just think it would be such a fun city to spend more time than any vacation would allow and still have things to do and see.

We were all a little paranoid about missing our train so we made it back to the hotel a little early and hung out at Smokey’s for a bit and then grabbed some fries for the train before heading home to Lugano. We upgraded to a bed (thank goodness) and had the best time giggling and napping all the way home.

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Photos

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i was really in to him

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where we stayed!

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view from room