Left for Amsterdam Thursday morning via train, and it took about 6 hours to get there, but ICE trains are nice so that was no big deal. Read 150 pages of The Corrections, w/e.
Arrival:
Along with what Romy-Michelle told me I had to get: french fries with mayonnaise.
Turns out the mayonnaise is different than American mayo, so it's not as gross as it sounds. And it's actually really good. And they have lots of cool sauces to put on french fries. Everywhere. Potatoes. Usually they give it to you in this rolled up newspaper cone, though that's harder to take a picture of when you're holding it and eating it ravenously since you've been walking everywhere and not knowing where to go exactly and well you see my point. The point is, potatoes are tasty, especially when fried by the Dutch.
As I'm sure you have heard many people say, Amsterdam is a beautiful city. And well, that's because it is. Canals everywhere, beautiful houses and buildings, art and music everywhere, etc. And I was huge fan of all the boats. These boats were particularly nice. Life goal: live on boat in Amsterdam.
I'm sure it'll happen soon?
So after a Thursday of wandering around and exploring Amsterdam with my fellow RISE student, Tom, Friday morning I met up with Andrew. YAY.
HAPPINESS!
Turns out Andrew is in fact Dutch, and that means he has Dutch family, which means his cousin was nice enough to let us stay in his apartment. Which was awesome, and in a great location.
Teeheeheehee. #metapictures
So, here's the opportune time to just put up various pictures of exploring Amsterdam:
The palace at the Dam in the middle of the city. (note - bikes. Everywhere. They don't stop. They will kill you.)
Part of the Museumplein (Museum square, I'm pretty sure is what that means) which includes a large open grass area and these trees. Reminiscent of Scripps College? I'd say so.
This was also at the Museumplein, and well, I'm not sure what to say. I'll allow you to form your own opinion on this one.
Oh hey Blues Brothers
The entire city is very international - a lot of different types of restaurants reflecting various Dutch colonies, a lot of languages spoken on the street, an I was happy to see this is one way the US may have made its way into the Amsterdam night life.
Again, so many bikes in Amsterdam. And this guy will save you if your bike is broken, apparently.
Part of a big open air market in Amsterdam that sold a lot of cool stuff. I bought a locket-watch thing (I don't know what those are called). The stalls varied from jewelry, to tapestries, to carpets, clothes, food, and even power tools. (?) So I guess whatever you need, you can find something here.
Later on Friday Benji met up with us - and this was in line for the Anne Frank House. Intense. There's not much you can say in a blog about the Anne Frank House, so, yeah.
CHEESE... which meant of course we had to have...
Delicious wine and cheese dinners. Much cheaper than actually going out, and really delicious. Plus, just look at the craftsmanship of that cheese plate. Exquisite.
And for dessert... a delicious Dutch waffle covered in chocolate, whipped cream, strawberries, and magic. The waffles aren't soft like back in the US, but rather more hard and pastry-like with chunks of sugar crystal inside. Why aren't Eggos like this?
The next day we woke up for the Van Gogh museum, which was impressive and cool, and after that we went over to the "Heineken Experience." Well... it was basically a huge advertisement for Heineken that you had to pay 15 euro for, and was essentially really dumb. Really, really dumb. You did get to have two beers at the end though, even if they were only 0.25 L.
So, I suppose you can consider us Heineken-Experienced.
And, of course I had to get a Starbucks Iced Grande Iced Coffee while I was in Amsterdam. Duh. #caffeine #SarahLyncoffeebuddy
Speaking of coffee:
I enjoyed the label of this. If you can't read it, it says, "The chemical name for caffeine is '1,3,7-trimethylxanthine. Makes your coffee sound like a painkiller. And it is."
Yes.
Awwwww cute.
The three of us outside the Amsterdam Centraal station. Miss it already.
w/e
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