Amsterdam, Netherlands
We got up around 730AM, had some more museli, coffee, and tea (make Danielle feel better) and then were off to the train. We had a connection but this one we had 30 min to make the next one so it was very easy. The train station like our last European trip are like malls, so many stores and shops. We bought a sandwich is one of the train stations to have later on and had our granola bars and read.
These were the longest trains- taking about 8 hours to get to Amsterdam. We finished our first books by these trains since we had a good distance to go.
We both felt very safe in Paris/Basel/Munich but Amsterdam was a little shady. The weather was not bad, about 52 and partially sunny (colder than Munich but felt about 10 degree warmer, very comfortable temperature to be walking around in). Once we arrived we went to their library (10 min walk from train) which was wonderful. We followed all the way up to the top floor and could go outside and look over Amsterdam which was beautiful-calming, got a great shot of the city. Then we continued out into the city-boy was it crowded, traffic was nuts--just like China all over again. There was no real organization, tons of mopeds, bikes, pedestrians, buses, cars just all going different directions at the same time. It was much too crowded for our liking. We walked to our hostel (called hotel Neutral) to check in and drop our bags. The place was a little dirty for our liking, a little weird like the rest of the city. Well we get there and their credit card machine won't read my card (well it wouldn't read anyone's card to be honest-we saw 2 more people check in and the machine just wouldn't work--I think it was a mean ploy to get cash from people). So we had to go to the atm downstairs and pay in cash (we both already didn't like this place-city and hotel). Our room was very small (half the size of Danielle's freshmen dorm), with a sink, and small table. We had to walk completely outside to get the building we were in which showed the dirt and atmosphere--smelled smoking throughout but luckily not in our room.
We were not going to spend much time but sleeping in the room so we left fairly quickly. We walked to Anne Frank's house (about 5 stories high) but the line was hours and hours long so we checked out the outside view (looked like it had been renovated because looked very modern). Then we grabbed dinner at Prins Heerliik. It was a small joint, but they spoke a little English! We ordered a chicken caprese sandwich with buffalo mozzarella, tomato, and pesto--wow this was scrumptious! And we also tried their traditional dish which was french fries with ketchup and mayonnaise looking sauce. It tasted more bland but tastier than mayo but the sauces compliment each other very well. The fries are definitely more crunchy then US fries. After dinner we walked to the Red Light District-where all the prostitutes sit in windows/doors for sale, peep/ sex shows everywhere, lots of drug sales (we heard a cop tell someone that if they buy in the street they will die in the street---talk about scary). We both felt rather dirty, appalled, and raunchy. It was packed with people, lots of naked videos/pictures posted all over. It made us feel very sad and it felt very wrong so we did not stay long. We walked along the water and headed back to the hotel. We did see some other local cuisine---poffertjes (these are mini pancakes--they are super cute served with powder sugar). When we walked up to the cart selling them they told us the cart was rented by the owner of the restaurant to the left of the car for his birthday. They gave us free poffertjes!! This was the best thing about Amsterdam!! They were delicious!! Nobody doesn't like bite-size pancakes.
Before we went back to our place, we went to the Sex Museum which was about 15 seconds from our place. This showed how sex has been in the public from 1860-1960. We both felt very uncomfortable-of course lots of naked pictures/symbols/toys/statues. We were there for about 45 min and by the time we left, it was dark and getting a bit chilly. We walked back to the hotel and went to sleep.
We fell asleep around 10PM!
First impressions:
Very dirty, crammed, a lot of languages mixed together, good amount of English, sketchy people, lots of pot. It was NYC but dirtier if that's even possible! Lots of streets inside of streets so a little confusing to navigate. Tons of bikes-crazy traffic, no real right of way-chaotic, people didn't move out of the way here either like Paris. Lots of topless/naked videos and pictures on the side of the streets.
These were the longest trains- taking about 8 hours to get to Amsterdam. We finished our first books by these trains since we had a good distance to go.
We both felt very safe in Paris/Basel/Munich but Amsterdam was a little shady. The weather was not bad, about 52 and partially sunny (colder than Munich but felt about 10 degree warmer, very comfortable temperature to be walking around in). Once we arrived we went to their library (10 min walk from train) which was wonderful. We followed all the way up to the top floor and could go outside and look over Amsterdam which was beautiful-calming, got a great shot of the city. Then we continued out into the city-boy was it crowded, traffic was nuts--just like China all over again. There was no real organization, tons of mopeds, bikes, pedestrians, buses, cars just all going different directions at the same time. It was much too crowded for our liking. We walked to our hostel (called hotel Neutral) to check in and drop our bags. The place was a little dirty for our liking, a little weird like the rest of the city. Well we get there and their credit card machine won't read my card (well it wouldn't read anyone's card to be honest-we saw 2 more people check in and the machine just wouldn't work--I think it was a mean ploy to get cash from people). So we had to go to the atm downstairs and pay in cash (we both already didn't like this place-city and hotel). Our room was very small (half the size of Danielle's freshmen dorm), with a sink, and small table. We had to walk completely outside to get the building we were in which showed the dirt and atmosphere--smelled smoking throughout but luckily not in our room.
We were not going to spend much time but sleeping in the room so we left fairly quickly. We walked to Anne Frank's house (about 5 stories high) but the line was hours and hours long so we checked out the outside view (looked like it had been renovated because looked very modern). Then we grabbed dinner at Prins Heerliik. It was a small joint, but they spoke a little English! We ordered a chicken caprese sandwich with buffalo mozzarella, tomato, and pesto--wow this was scrumptious! And we also tried their traditional dish which was french fries with ketchup and mayonnaise looking sauce. It tasted more bland but tastier than mayo but the sauces compliment each other very well. The fries are definitely more crunchy then US fries. After dinner we walked to the Red Light District-where all the prostitutes sit in windows/doors for sale, peep/ sex shows everywhere, lots of drug sales (we heard a cop tell someone that if they buy in the street they will die in the street---talk about scary). We both felt rather dirty, appalled, and raunchy. It was packed with people, lots of naked videos/pictures posted all over. It made us feel very sad and it felt very wrong so we did not stay long. We walked along the water and headed back to the hotel. We did see some other local cuisine---poffertjes (these are mini pancakes--they are super cute served with powder sugar). When we walked up to the cart selling them they told us the cart was rented by the owner of the restaurant to the left of the car for his birthday. They gave us free poffertjes!! This was the best thing about Amsterdam!! They were delicious!! Nobody doesn't like bite-size pancakes.
Before we went back to our place, we went to the Sex Museum which was about 15 seconds from our place. This showed how sex has been in the public from 1860-1960. We both felt very uncomfortable-of course lots of naked pictures/symbols/toys/statues. We were there for about 45 min and by the time we left, it was dark and getting a bit chilly. We walked back to the hotel and went to sleep.
We fell asleep around 10PM!
First impressions:
Very dirty, crammed, a lot of languages mixed together, good amount of English, sketchy people, lots of pot. It was NYC but dirtier if that's even possible! Lots of streets inside of streets so a little confusing to navigate. Tons of bikes-crazy traffic, no real right of way-chaotic, people didn't move out of the way here either like Paris. Lots of topless/naked videos and pictures on the side of the streets.
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