One must not forget, however, that this is a public blog, which potential future employers can easily access if needed. So in brief, to hear the full story (and boy oh boy, what a [horrifically] amusing story it is), just talk to me old-school come December/January, write me a letter, or send over a facebook message.
We begin our adventure early Friday morning, having arrived at Amsterdam Centraal, the major train station. Thankfully our hostel, an oddly-decorated 20-person-per-room shitshow, was only a 5-minute walk away. After deposing of stuff, the first thing to do in the lovely city is, of course, to check out our neighborhood, a.k.a. the Red Light district.
Yes, the Red Light district had women posing in (not very) sexy lingerie in front of windows, although contrary to what Eurotrip and Deuce Bigolo seemed to imply, they were in fact grossly unattractive and looked quite bored. And yes, marijuana is, in fact, legal, as are mushrooms and various "soft" drugs. Coffeeshops abound-- 3 or 4 per block in some quarters.
The legalization of pot and prostitution aside, Amsterdam is in fact a gorgeous city. Amsterdam actually has more bridges than any other city on earth, including Venice and St. Petersburg:
Amsterdam's architecture: simply adorable.
There were also crooked houses, which I loved more than anything:
I kept thinking of what Amsterdam reminded me of, and finally Sam and I realized that Amsterdam looked exactly like the way the North Pole is represented in those claymation Christmas videos they show on ABC family every December. You know. Those.
In brief: the first day was spent wandering, going to the Anne Frank house, being very disturbed, feeling very confused and paranoid, and collapsing into bed.
Thankfully, the second day was far more fun. We went to a pancake house, where I had Pofferedjes (spelling = unknown), the most delicious pancake puffs EVER.
Just look at that buttery/powdered sugar/ syrupy goodness. Oh heavens! I sure have missed unhealthy food in Paris. Apparently pounds upon pounds of cheese is better for you than I assumed?
After pancake deliciousness, we went to the Van Gogh Museum, which was, unsurprisingly, fantastic, followed with more Amsterdam wandering. My friend Nate was set on a canal cruise, so we went on a 12-euro trip. It was nighttime by then and the lights of Amsterdam were gooorgeous:
Most people, though, lulled by the boat and our collective exhaustion (despite getting over 12 hours of sleep in my case), didn't quite make it past the half-hour mark:
The problem with Amsterdam, though, is how completely tired you become after a few hours of wandering. It's quite a walkable city (perhaps only a 40-minute walk to transverse the length of it), so we were lax to take the tram anywhere. So the experience of Amsterdam was in fact the exact opposite of Barcelona, in which everything was vibrant and spirited-- rather, Amsterdam is mellow and (almost too) calm. However much I enjoyed Amsterdam, I was quite ready to leave.
Also, I think I have changed my mind on the whole marijuana-legalization issue. If all the world was Amsterdam, the human race would get absolutely nowhere. Then again, some people would not think of this as a problem at all. Certainly less stressful, if done properly. More on this another day, and of course you can always ask me about it in person.
Next trip: London, hopefully, later in the month. And now, recovering from last night's MGMT afterparty.
Later days!
2 comments:
poffertjes. uh muh GUH. they make special pans for them, too (automatic mark of a delicious food), like flat skillets with puff-pancake-sized dents. the golf ball of frying pans.
i would love to live in such a mellow place for the rest of my life.
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