Weekend trip to Amsterdam

After months of saying that Amsterdam was the trip of the semester, (our last trip before finals--eek!--and the conclusion of the program) it finally arrived. My friends and I were perhaps most excited for this trip. A lot of planning went in to it and it was the first trip that we had all planned together, so it definitely represented something more than just hopping on a plane to another country.

Thursday, December 5

This was the first trip I’ve taken since being in Prague that required a trip to the airport. I’ve taken buses everywhere for the entire semester so I was oddly excited to be in an airport and fly somewhere. Navigating Prague’s airport is easy and they have a good public transportation system to get there, so we started off our trip without any bumps. The weather was a bit choppy so our flight was filled with turbulence and when we finally landed, everyone applauded and we were happy to be on solid ground. Holland is a wonderful country filled with such friendly people. It was surprisingly refreshing to be in a place where English is ubiquitous and therefore made navigation to our hostel fairly simple.

We arrived on the later side, so after putting our bags down at the hostel, we wandered around our neighborhood.

Our hostel was located right above a Crepes and Waffles store!

Another city, another Christmas market...

Our hostel was in the heart of the Red Light District. Before you become alarmed, you must know that Amsterdam as a city is very safe. In 2000, prostitution became officially legal. The Red Light District is, as the name implies, the center prostitution in Amsterdam, but also houses many tourist attractions besides that. To many Americans, Amsterdam is known for two things: pot and prostitution. Amsterdam is notorious for their “coffeeshops” (cafes that legally sell pot), but after a day, I became overwhelmed by the ubiquitous prevalence of these two things. My friends and I made an extra effort to explore Amsterdam off the beaten track and see parts of the city that aren’t notorious in the eyes of tourists. Generally this is how I like to travel (avoid all of the tourist traps), so it seemed only natural to take this approach in Amsterdam as well.

Friday, December 6

Of our entire trip, today was definitely the most planned. I’d heard that two of the must-see things in Amsterdam are the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh Museum, both of which get really crowded, so I decided to make reservations in advance. We started off our day at Winkel 43, a café that I learned about through my friend Hillary’s study abroad blog (read her post about the café here). Winkel is known for their apple pie, so we showed up bright and early (8:45!!) to chow down on some killer apple pie for breakfast. Winkel is right next to the Anne Frank House in a neighborhood called Jordaan. Our reservation for the museum was at 9:40, so Winkel was a perfect place to stop for breakfast.

Just look at it. How amazing does this pie look?!

Our Amsterdam trip was actually DJ's 21st birthday celebration so the waiter was kind enough to dress the pie up with a candle.

The Anne Frank House was a very well-planned and user-friendly museum. There were panels to read on the walls, but they were brief and interesting. Although I’d heard Anne Frank’s story countless times, I never connected that she was discovered in The Netherlands. Visiting her house and seeing the secret annex that she and her family hid in was very powerful.

Exterior of the Anne Frank House

Following the museum, we wandered around Jordaan (pronounced Yor-Don) a bit. Jordaan is definitely my favorite area of Amsterdam. It is incredibly enchanting, charming and quaint. It captures the Amsterdam that I envisioned before this trip and lacks the overwhelming crowds of the Red Light District and city center. 

The crew on a bridge of one of the many canals

The canals were amazing! Amsterdam is called "the Venice of the north"

Dani's photography skills caught us off guard

An example of what the exterior of a coffeeshop might look like

We found it entirely necessary to stop by the famous Cheese Museum where you can sample unlimited cheeses. The oddest flavor was definitely the wasabi cheese. The truffle and pesto cheeses were to die for, but I couldn’t bring myself to spend 20 euro on either. Because the cheese shop of also a “museum” we looked around downstairs at the history of Dutch cheese and had a chance to dress up as dairy farmers.

THE BEST CHEESE IN THE WORLD. If you don't believe me, go out and try Goat Truffle Cheese and then we can have a chat.

The pesto cheese was also killer.

Dani and Chelsea really got into it and dressed up as Dutch dairy farmers.

From Jordaan, we wandered into the museum district of Amsterdam in anticipation of our 3pm reservation at the Van Gogh museum. We took some pictures in front of the famous IAMSTERDAM sign and wandered around the beautiful park that is surrounded by the famous museums.

(Photo by: Chelsea VanOrden)

(Photo by: Chelsea VanOrden)

The Van Gogh Museum was an incredible, 4-story exhibition of the Dutch painter’s most famous works. The museum was brilliantly arranged, as it displayed Van Gogh’s works in a chronological manner so that the viewers could see the progression of his work. In general, I’m a fan of the work that he produced while in Arles, France, because it is colorful and full of life. His earlier works (The Potato Eaters, for example) are much darker. I feel like many people assume that the most famous artists were just born art prodigies and anything they drew or painted was an automatic masterpiece, but this museum allowed me to see that Van Gogh worked very hard at his craft. There was a clear evolution in his work and although he was obviously gifted, it was refreshing to see that he, too, had to work at perfecting his craft.

I usually hate when people take pictures of marvelous works of art because the photos have the ability to ruin the works with the glare and flash, but I included some photos that I took so that you could see some of the vast collection. They were really magnificent and I apologize that the photos don't do them justice:

Exterior of the museum

The layout of the museum was great

Holland is known for establishing colonies in other parts of the world. At one point, The Netherlands colonized Indonesia. Indonesian food is a must-have in Amsterdam, so we decided to try it out for dinner. It was absolutely delicious, and I’ll definitely be scoping out the Indonesian food scene in both LA and NOLA.

Saturday, December 7

For breakfast today, we decided to try out famous Dutch Pancakes at The Pancake Bakery (another recommendation from Hillary’s blog). We were again very pleased with our choice. We had a chance to wander around the Noordermarkt, a cool organic farmers market right next to the restaurant, before embarking on a guided walking tour of the city.

Such beautiful and colorful displays of incredibly fresh food

I LOVED seeing shellfish! The Czech Republic is entirely landlocked so it's been a while since I've seen seafood (fresh seafood, that is).

The walking tour was great and I learned so much about Amsterdam’s history. We walked through all of the famous areas and I was able to see more of the city than if I had just led myself on a walking tour. Our tour guide was a small, energetic Irishman who was very enthusiastic about the tour and loved including random, but interesting facts about the city. A long time ago, citizens were taxed based on the width of one's house, so people started building very narrow, but very tall houses here. The thinness of the houses provide a few obstacles: 1) The stairways are incredibly narrow and feel more like ladders than stairs, and 2) Moving large furniture or anything heavy becomes a problem. Wooden beams with hooks jut out of the tops of most of the buildings and act as a pully system for moving. It is not rare to see a fridge or sofa tied with ropes being pulled up the front of a building.

This is Amsterdam's thinnest house. The tenant is taller than the house is wide.

DJ and I

At one point, The Netherlands was the most powerful force in trade. Has anyone ever heard of the Dutch East India Trading Company? This company put The Netherlands on the map as one of the most powerful countries in trade. Its location on the water and its attitude towards modern capitalism allowed Holland to become one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Amsterdam is known for its tolerance of basically everything and after learning about how important capitalism and profit is for the city, it makes sense. Their policy is pretty much “if it’s not bothering anyone and it makes some kind of a profit, go for it.” This is why Holland was a safe-haven for Jews during the persecution and why Amsterdam has become known for legalized pot and prostitution. Actually, pot is not technically legal in Amsterdam, but because it attracts a multi-billion dollar tourist industry, they look past it and allow it to happen.

After dinner, DJ and I took a long walk in search of one of Holland’s windmills. The Netherlands is known for their windmills and gorgeous tulip fields and we were determined to see one of the windmills that were accessible from the city center. Venturing out to a tulip field seemed less realistic. We walked for about 30 minutes until we found it. The walk was beautiful and we loved sitting beneath the windmill to rest our feet.

There was a brewery at the base of the windmill where we were able to enjoy a beer and reflect on our day. 

Sunday, December 8

James, Dani, and I decided to venture into the park near the museums. We got a bit lost getting there and it turned into a 3-hour excursion, but the walk was great and we got to see parts of the city that we otherwise would not have seen. The park was glorious, bright green and massive, so we could only wander through the front of it before we had to leave, but our adventure was fun. We met up with our other friends for lunch and then went in search of the second windmill in the city. We had to walk through Jordaan to get there and when we saw the windmill, we realized that our long walk was worth it. 

This is the oldest windmill in Holland (built in the 1600s) and posses this classic quality that has the ability to make one feel that you’ve been transported back in time. 

By the time we walked back to our hostel, it was time to board the train back to the airport. Our flight was delayed so we had lots of time to kill in the airport and we were all thrilled to touch down in Prague and return home.

The weekend was really fun, but also incredibly exhausting. We spent 12 hours a day up and on our feet, so I’m looking forward to a (hopefully) relaxing last week in Prague. While this trip was filled with new adventures, it was bittersweet because we all knew that it was the last trip before the end of our program. It feels like just yesterday that I was stepping off the plane in Prague, celebrating my 21^st and embarking on my first weekend trip to Vienna with DJ. I can’t believe how the time has flown by. As I begin this week, I’m going to make an extra effort to be present in each moment and just enjoy the time I have left here. I never could have realized that a mere three months of my life could leave such a profound impact.

Czeching out,

Grace