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Published: August 17th 2010
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Like usual, we thought that the train to Amsterdam from Antwerp would be more simple than it turned out being. We had gone to the train station the day before purposefully to find out if we needed a “reservation” for this train or not. The man said No, you just show up and hop on the train. Trains from Antwerp to Amsterdam run on 5 till’ ever hour.
We woke up, and found out that the ONLY day the trains weren’t running on this schedule was the ONE day we wanted to go. At first we thought we might not be able to go, but then Carolyn managed to find some round about way that would just take “a little longer”.
We ended up having a 3 hour trip there and 3 hour trip on the way back :/
It was pouring rain the entire train ride through Belgium and Holland, but once we got to Amsterdam it was only lightly raining. We met this nice guy who sat with us on the train who had just graduated from the university in Amsterdam and is now job searching. He gave us some tips and even walked off the
train with us and showed us where we could find maps. We had hoped to rent bikes because everyone had said that it is a biking town and you can see much more on a bike, but when we arrived and it was raining, we decided sitting on wet bike seats may not be much fun. We stayed sheltered in one of their Coffee shops…or should I say “coffee shops”. If anyone reading this doesn’t know what a Coffee shop in Amsterdam is, I suggest you google it. I was pleased to find that they do indeed actually serve coffee as well as other “goodies” people enjoy buying in the Netherlands. We sat in the 420 Coffee Shop and sipped on really good lattes.
After our first coffee shop experience, we wondered through the city to find some lunch. We ate at a cute little restaurant and each had “pancakes” which were Holland’s version of a crepe. We each ordered lunch crepes (not sweet), but they were all just drenched in oil because there was so much cheese!!! Literally the toppings were floating in cheese…The pancake itself was good, and I don’t consider myself a picky eater at all, but
there was way, way too much cheese on these.
Our trip has consisted of eating, walking, and wandering map-less. I’d say that this trip to Amsterdam fit into this mold as well. We never found a map, but think it’s more fun that way. We kept turning down random, small cobblestone streets and eventually found new areas of Amsterdam off the beaten path. The main road was just packed with tourists, and we feel like we’re pretty much local everywhere we go, so we’ve got to stick with the locals. At one point we were in the very nice area of Amsterdam.
Canals and bridges are everywhere! Houseboats with colorful flowers and small little canoes line all the waterways. In the nicer part of town we noticed a drastic age group difference…Suddenly we went from walking down a street filled with 18-25 year olds, and then we were wandering with the 50+ crowd. There were horse drawn carriages and small boutiques with very, very expensive clothing hanging in the window displays.
The only side of town I would never want to be stuck in alone, was the Red Light District. We were interested to see it, just
because obviously Amsterdam is known for having this part of town…But it was just sad, so, so sad. Especially us being three privileged girls. We are lucky enough to have parents that support all we do, even support a trip to Europe and studying in a foreign country, but these girls…these girls never had that opportunity. I don’t even like thinking about what we saw. It was really sad when we saw girls our own age. There were quite a few that looked about 18 years old…
We escaped those streets quite quickly. We had seen enough.
But the real Amsterdam turned out to be something completely different than the Amsterdam I pictured in my mind. It was so beautiful! Disregarding the “bad” side of town, Mariel and I were talking about how we could see ourselves living in Amsterdam for a year or so. It just feels like a quaint little city. There are flower stands on bridges over the canals, bakeries, boutiques, mopeds, and a LOT of young people. I think it may have been my favorite location thus far on our trip!
We decided it may be a good idea to grab a bite to
eat before our long train ride. We sat down at this cute Irish Pub/Restaurant. We knew that we could NOT be late for our train at 7:55pm—It was the very last train leaving Amsterdam…We ate our dinners, and suddebly realized that it was 7:40. We rushed to stuff ourselves with the rest of our food, and then it was 7:45, but we were pretty sure that the train station was close to where we were eating…Nope!
We walked outside, and the building we thought was Central Station was definitely a bank. In a panic, we spotted the train station probably a good 10 blocks away. With our stomachs full of dinner and drinks, we started RUNNING toward the station. We dodged the crowds, ran in the bike lane, weaved in and out of the streets, and with 5 minutes to spare we approached the front of Central station, sprinted to the train and hopped on ☺ Europe is so much easier to travel in—no need to get there 2 hours early, Mom! Only need 2 minutes!
We were warmly welcomed home after our 3 hour train ride. Carolyn graciously picked us up at the train station at 11:30pm,
and even fed us our fourth meal of the day. She heated up some home made soup she had made for us, laid out fresh bread and rolls, along with Belgian ham and cheese. We were stuffed by the time we crawled in bed!
We really didn’t do anything touristy while in Amsterdam…we originally planned to go to the Van Gough museum, but we passed by it and saw the huge line that went around the corner…Anne Franke’s house was another one we wanted to visit, but tickes were sold out :/ We were perfectly content with exploring and giving ourselves our own tours for free! Next time we can be tourists
Another successful day of sightseeing, traveling and eating!
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Poppy & Mamoo
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