Amsterdam!

Because of patchy Internet while traveling i didn't get the opportunity to post about the rest of my trip, and will be posting them all now!

I left Leuven early on Thursday to meet up with some of my sorority sisters (Lora, Sami, Brittany and Stef as well as Lucy who is in Tri Delta and Louisa who goes to Johns Hopkins) in Amsterdam. They are all studying in Paris for the semester, but were spending the weekend in Amsterdam, and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for me to see another new place!
I arrived in Amsterdam around 1PM on Thursday, and was greeted with the worst weather possible. It was freezing, pouring rain and windy. I was warned that people in Amsterdam suggest everything in the city is walking distance. We knew the hotel wasn’t far, but we wanted to take a cab because of the weather, and were turned down by several cab drivers all of who told us to walk. This would NEVER happen anywhere else I have ever traveled, as it seems counter productive to the livelihood of the cab drivers!
We walked around for a while and went into a coffee shop, and saw firsthand why Amsterdam has such a crazy reputation. There are “no smoking” signs everywhere, but they say “TOBACCO PROHIBITED, MARIJUANA ENCOURAGED” or something to that effect. Needless to say, this is VERY different from Egypt. If an Egyptian is caught with drugs, their punishment can be as severe as to get their hand cut off.
Because of the weather, we eventually decided to go to one of Amsterdam’s many museums. We spent the afternoon and early evening in the Heineken Experience, which was a really well done exhibit. We learned how beer is made, and got three free beers with admission! They also had a really cool room with reclining chairs in front of televisions showing a loop of Heineken commercials from the 1960s until today.
We had dinner at an amazing restaurant, I honestly don’t know the name of it, but it was wonderful to have western food and spend an evening with so many familiar faces!
The next morning we got up early to go to the Anne Frank house. It was an amazing and moving experience. We all agreed that it provided an amazing amount of insight into her family, and it was easy to see that they were all very close, especially from the video interview of her father. The museum worked to preserve the story of the Frank family, as well as educate all of its patrons on the general history of the Holocaust. I was happy to have shared that experience with my friends, many of whom happen to be Jewish as well.
After Anne Frank we had pancakes, one of the many things Amsterdam is famous for, and then set off on a bike tour of the city. We were really lucky that the weather held up, and we took a three hour tour, stopping at all the main sights. The Vandelpark was one of my favorite places, as it reminded me a lot of New York City’s Central Park. Amsterdam is such a beautiful city, which is rich in history. One of my favorite parts of the tour was when the guide explained that all of the houses along the canals are build to be slanted inward. All of the houses have hooks on their roofs, where people’s stock would hang in the sixteenth century, so as to avoid getting wet if the canals flooded. The houses are tipped forward so the stock wouldn’t damage the façade of the house but hitting against it.
We spent the better part of the afternoon walking around after the bike tour, and then partook in rijstaafl for dinner, which is a seven course Indonesian meal. There are an abundance of Indonesian restaurants in Amsterdam, as it was a Dutch colony. I have never eaten Indonesian food before, and we all agreed it was a wonderful gastronomic experience. The food came all at once and we feasted for a while, enjoying savory sauces and different types of rice and vegetables. I would definitely do it again! We were exhausted after our long day and decided to turn in early.
The next morning, we slept in, and went to breakfast at a place called Bagels and Beans. We were so thrilled to have bagels! They were more like fancy bread in the shape of a bagel, but beggars can’t be choosers. Afterward we went over to the museum square and took pictures in front of the “I Amsterdam” sign. Then we waited in line for the National Gallery. The museum itself was amazing, with a lot of Rembrandts and Vermeers. It is no my favorite period of art, but the building itself was architecturally beautiful, on the inside and the outside, and the collection was extensive and impressive. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time for the Van Gogh, but I have seen a lot of exhibits (at YCBA and the Met), and enjoyed the last few hours walking around Amsterdam with my friends before hopping on an InterCity train from Amsterdam to Belgium, and then the Eurostar from Brussels to London.
I definitely want to go back to Amsterdam, preferably in the summer, as there are beaches nearby and it is a beautiful city to walk around. It is a ton of fun, but also rich in history and culture.