AmsterDAM Girl

My train for Amsterdam didn't leave until the afternoon so I got up and ate the remnants of my food from other cities/countries (an avocado from Dublin and the rest of the baguette from Paris) for breakfast and headed out to walk around a bit before packing my things to head out again. I got to the train station with no problem and boarded to get to Amsterdam by the early evening. I sat next to this nice British lady who had just finished her Ph.D on jungle cats in a really remote area that I can't remember the name of now but she was on her way to a conference in Rotterdam and we exchanged stories up until she got to her station.

Bought a random avocado in Dublin that I didn't get a chance to eat until Brussels...

Even Ernest Solvay can enjoy a brew every now and then.

I had planned to explore Amsterdam on my own but when I posted a picture on Facebook of my Eurail pass before I left Philly for Dublin, one of my high school friends whom I haven't seen in about seven years, Sean, commented on the picture that he would be in Europe as well so we had planned to meet in Amsterdam. I love how I've been able to reconnect with some old friends while traveling using social media because not only did I catch up with Sean halfway around the world but I was also able to catch up with some college friends, Ashish and Ryan. Ashish saw my posts around Europe and messaged me asking if I'd be making it to Amsterdam around the time that I was in Paris because he had been studying out in Arnhem right outside of Amsterdam for the past year and it was perfect timing that we got in touch so the plan was to meet up with a few old friends while checking out a city made famous by its Red Light District and coffee shops but what I will come to find out is full of history and beauty.
Since Sean was also traveling around, we booked a small hotel room together in the center of the city and agreed to convene there since his flight was coming in from Spain around the same time my train was getting in from Brussels. So after getting off the platform at the central station, I walked around the station for a while trying to figure out if I should take the tram or the metro or a bus to the hotel because the hotel looked within walking distance but walking around in the rain carrying a large pack and backpack while looking at a map was not ideal at the time. Luckily, Amsterdam is yet another European city with a very good public transportation system so I got a ticket and headed onto the metro. Within two stops, I got to where I needed to go and within ten minutes of walking, I had made it to Hotel Nes. It was a cute little hotel nestled right next to the Jewish Quarter and I thought it was only because the hotel was so narrow that the stairs were so steep but I will find out later that it's common in almost all the buildings in Amsterdam.

Layout of Amsterdam

View from the hotel room

Good to know the time difference.

With my tummy growling and Sean not getting in for another half hour or so, I thought I'd find something to.munch on near the hotel so I walked around the corner to this pub called El Gaeper and asked for a Dutch beer to start. At first, the bartender mentioned Heineken (I didn't know that it had its origins in the Netherlands) but I ended up going for the Jopen Hopen while I perused the menu for some finger foods. With my American accent being super prominent, a guy sitting a seat away asked where I was from and I found out that he's from Seattle and his new company just moved him out to Amsterdam. He later suggested that if I wanted a snack, the bitterballen, which are fried balls of meat paté, are delicious so I went with his recommendation and what a great recommendation it was! While I sipped on my Jopen Hopen and later a Texels Skuumkoppe and munched on the bitterballen, I found out that Anthony is a managing director of an Amsterdam-based biotech company that is researching a different method to administer cancer drugs and I nerded out for a bit with him before we exchanged contact information since I told him that I'm jobless and homeless at the moment.

Bitterballen and Jopen Hopen

Beer options

After Anthony left, two large student groups showed up (one group was dressed up in zombie garb) so I people watched for a bit before Sean grabbed the seat next to me and I freaked out a bit that I was actually meeting up with a friend from home halfway around the world. As we caught up and ate lox on baguettes, one girl from the student group asked me if I could repeat a sentence in Dutch for her on camera because they were on a scavenger hunt. She taught me how to say it aloud but there were so many unfamiliar sounds in it that I needed them to write it down but even they had trouble with the spelling of some words because there are so many random letters! Eventually, they found the paper where the sentence was typed out and so I tried to get the pronunciation down as best as I could to say it on video for them and all I actually said was "I love this [insert name] student group!"

Amsterdam student group

Dinner - lox on a baguette

Crazy meeting up with Sean!

Cute pup at the bar

So after the student groups left, Sean and I had finished our meals so decided to figure out the lay of the land and just started to wander in no particular direction but just went to where it looked like there were things to see. Down one busy block, we passed by a lot of places selling cones of fries and others with Amsterdam souvenirs and smoking paraphernalia, and also passed the Sex Museum. We then went down this smaller lane that seemed like there was activity going on and something drew me to this bar called the Queen's Head so we popped in so that I could use the bathroom and just to check it out. Upon getting out of the bathroom, Sean and I were able to confirm that we had walked into a gay bar but I still wanted to stay for a drink so Sean accommodated. While we were having our drink, I saw that they were playing bingo and I wanted to join so Sean and I purchased one playing board each and hung out for the full round. Since the person (I couldn't figure out if she was a crossdresser or not) calling the bingo balls was calling them in both English as well as Dutch, I tried to follow along to learn some numbers. I think I started to get the hang of the numbers at one point but I kept getting distracted by how funny it just sounded because to me, it just sounds like garbled English but it's actually another language. Hearing Dutch being spoken during my stay in Amsterdam did not seize to amuse me; such a cute language. So anyway, we didn't win anything at the Queen's Head but it was fun nonetheless.

Just thought that this was random...

The entrance to the Amsterdam Dungeon

The PG-13 displays of the Sex Museum?

Just a beautiful view as we crossed a bridge

Couldn't figure out if bingo host was a crossdresser or not...

Not wanting to stick around for another round of bingo, we headed out again and somehow, our wandering led us to the infamous Red Light District. We walked up the street and past a lot of glass doors with ladies of the evening wearing a lot of scandalous clothing. It was actually really weird to me that I was so close to the glass doors and the women could actually see me walking by. I tried to not get too close to the doors because it freaked me out a little. It was funny though because a lot of the women were standing by their doors trying to attract attention but others seemed really disinterested and stood by the door on their phones or were drinking out of coffee cups and doing other normal activity that I wouldn't expect of them while trying to attract business.

The PG view of the Red Light District

Such a stunning city that I couldn't stop taking pictures while wandering

After we finally made it past all of the glass doors, it was quite late and I had an agenda I wanted to fulfill tomorrow so we finally looked at a map to get ourselves back to the hotel. On our way back, we passed by one of those shops selling cones of fries so we got one of those and then another shop with waffles dipped in all different kinds of frosting so temptation won out and we got one of those too. Full of sugar and carbs, we finally made it back to the hotel and I was definitely ready to get some rest because I knew I had a full day awaiting me.

Munching on a waffle with chocolate frosting and sprinkles

Cone of fries with a huge dollop of mayonnaise

More beautiful evening lights against the river 

At one point, I looked down and I found a sad fry!

The next day, I definitely knew what foods I wanted to try so I asked the receptionist where I could find an outdoor market with food and he directed us to one right behind the Heineken Experience which wasn't too far away so we got to walking. It didn't start raining until we got to the outdoor market but we didn't let that stop us because there were so many different little stalls of clothes and souvenirs and of course my favorite - delicious food. My first stop was to get some fresh stroopwaffle but before we could find a stand making them, we passed by a stand making something called cocosballs and it smelled amazing so we got five of them (one of each type) to share. When I asked how these cocosballs were made, I was told that they pretty much mix together coconut flakes with honey and bake it but I have a feeling that they might have been missing a few ingredients and directions in there. Still amazingly delicious though. Munching on some cocosballs, I found my stroopwaffle cart so I ordered on dipped in chocolate. Dam, it was good!

Morning view of the canal

Attempting to read Dutch

I thought that this was a seal but apparently it's a lion

The market awaits us right behind there!

Found the market!

Mmmm... Cocosballs

Cocosballs mixture with raisins

Found my stroopwaffle!

Making our way through the market, we made our way back to get on our rain gear because I wanted to join a walking tour in the afternoon. On the way, I stopped by a stand advertising herring sandwiches and I was told by my cousin, Michelle, that I needed to try one of those so that's exactly what I did. In my opinion, quite tasty. With my herring sandwich in hand and as we walked through the streets, I took note of the fact that Amsterdam is overrun by bicycles and I loved it. There are so many bikes that line the canals, many without locks, and these people were so skilled at navigating their bikes that we saw people casually holding an umbrella in one hand and maneuvering their bike through foot traffic with the other without even having to brake. Quite impressive if you ask me. Later, on our walking tour, we find out that every year, hundreds of bikes get fished out of the canals along with an estimated twelve or thirteen human bodies, sometimes not whole because of the boat motors... But I'm jumping ahead of myself.

Herring sandwich

Ducked into a small cafe - so many yummy pastries

Really steep steps

Where else would you find this kind of view??

Photo on the side of a shed that I thought was cool

Coffee shops everywhere

I have a fascination for sign efficiency

With a wardrobe change fit for rain, we made our way to Dam Square to join a walking tour of the city. We followed Lee, our tour guide, to various churches, many of which are situated right in the Red Light District,and to Bagunhof which is where nuns from all over the world go to live. While we walked through the Red Light District, Lee also told us that these prostitutes are actually registered with the city as small business owners and they pay taxes and do everything else that is expected of other normal contributing citizens of the city. I think I respected their profession a bit more after hearing this. Then, as we made our way through to other parts of the city, we were told that Amsterdam buildings are quite quirky in that they are built quite narrow so there are really steep steps and much furniture are brought into the buildings by a pulley system which is why many buildings have a large metal rail at the top. Also, since Amsterdam is situated on beach-like land, the foundation for the buildings aren't stable and after Lee pointed it out, I wasn't able to stop noticing the tilting of the buildings. We also passed through a public area of the Amsterdam Museum where a large carpet was on display to represent all of the different nationalities that are present in Amsterdam, making it the most diverse city in the world with over 180 different nationalities. After passing through there, we went to an alley that had these stones (I can't remember the name of them) that were carved and painted so that they could be put outside of storefronts as an indication of the business. Some were easy to pick out but others required a bit more deciphering. Another thing that I learned that I found quite interesting was that Amsterdam has the symbol of XXX because it's an old maritime symbol - since not everyone spoke the same language, to represent ships that were coming out of Amsterdam, they were marked with the XXX symbol so that everyone would know where these ships were coming from. Unfortunately, that symbol has since been adopted to mean other things but I thought it was pretty cool to learn about its origins.

At Dam Square waiting for the tour to start

Lee, our tour guide

Lee took us through the Red Light District

Boob on the ground

From what I can remember, this cathedral used to be a brothel

Now I think it's a restaurant

Bagunhof

Inside of Bagunhof. There are visiting hours

Carpet on the public part of the Amsterdam Museum to represent the different nationalities

Found the one to represent the U.S.

Stones to show what different stores were

No idea what this one is for...

Tilting houses!

More leaning houses

Ending our tour at the Anne Frank house, Lee told us a quick story of how Anne Frank and her family had moved to Amsterdam during the time of World War II and how they had to go into hiding at the first chance they had when the Germans started to make their way into Amsterdam. Lee also pointed out the church that Anne wrote about in her diary that was her indication that there was still life existing outside of where she was hiding because of the church bells that rang everyday. It was a fairly somber end to the walking tour but I felt like I learned so much more than I had expected and gained a new found appreciation for the beauty of Amsterdam.
After the walking tour, we had a canal cruise planned so headed in that direction but not before getting distracted by a storefront with waffles as well as a cheese shop farther down. There were samples all throughout the store and just the amount of cheese wheels that were in there was overwhelming and magnificent. This wasn't a particularly unique cheese shop though as there were a few others that we passed but this just happened to be the one we walked into. So after walking out of there with a cheese sandwich, we made our way to the canal cruise. We had planned it for earlier in the day but I'm so glad we went when we did because the sun was just going down at this point and I think it made the canals look much prettier. I'd say that my favorite part of the canal cruise was looking at all the unique boat houses that were all along the canals and wondering what it must be like to live on a boat. Some houses were designed with a porch and everything so I was able to wave at some people who were sitting outside while we passed through the canal. It was beautiful and I'm so glad I followed Michelle's recommendation to get on the canal cruise.

Stopped to look at all the beautifully delicious snacks

Got a waffle

Cheese!!

More cheese

Got my cheese sandwich

Getting ready for the canal cruise

Found Nemo - its a museum

Smallest house in Amsterdam - only a doorway-wide

Videos sent via Snapchat

Having accomplished all that I wanted before meeting up with Ashish and Ryan, the last thing to do was actually meet up with them so it just happened to be good timing that the canal cruise was finishing up just as they had made it to the station. Walking off the dock, I almost quite literally ran into them and after some hugging and introductions, we made our way to drop off some things at the hotel before heading out to join a pub crawl that Sean and I had signed up for that day. During the pub crawl, I learned about Vondel Park, which is a park for unadulterated displays of affection which didn't disturb me but further added to my thoughts of how uniquely free-spirited this city is. Although Ashish and Ryan had to leave early, it was great to end the night catching up with old friends and people watching and dancing with some other travelers who were just down to have a good time.

Catching up with Ashish and Ryan