Anyway, we were in Amsterdam for the weekend. It was kind of a last minute trip--we booked the tickets on Wednesday night and left at noon on Friday. I guess being last minute isn't such a bad thing after all. We flew Lufthansa, which is my new favorite airline. Right as my phone turned to 12:50, I heard the door close. I even tweeted at Lufthansa and they tweeted back! Pretty cool.
But in all seriousness, Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities in Europe. Our first au pair was Dutch (I was five years old), and almost every time my family has vacationed in Europe, we would stop in Amsterdam to visit her and her family, so this was my fourth time there. Most people love Amsterdam for the partying, café's, and the Red Light District. Not me. If you take all of that out of the context of the city, it seriously is an amazingly unique European city. Senior year of high school, I read The Fall by Albert Camus for my AP Literature class, which was a truly eye opening novel about a man reflecting upon his life to a stranger in a bar in the Red Light District of Amsterdam. If you've never been to Amsterdam, there are circular canals that rippling away from a central nucleus--that being the Red Light District. Camus portrays the city of Amsterdam as Dante's nine layers of hell. Each ring closer to the Red Light District is a new layer. Every time I've been there after reading The Fall, I always think how the Red Light District is in the center of Hell as portrayed in The Fall. I just find it a fascinating representation.
We arrived Friday afternoon and went to our hotel in Zaandam--a city about a ten minute train ride from Amsterdam. From the outside, our hotel looks awesome. From the inside, it's still awesome, but the amount of awesome it is relative to the awesomeness of the outside, is much less. Here's a picture (taken from Google Images--Shoutout to Google Images):
Friday night we went into Amsterdam and got some Indian food for dinner. It. Was. Unreal. Is it bad that I'm already getting sick of Italian food? For dinner one night last week we went to Hard Rock Café in Florence...whoops. Saturday we went to Zaanse Schans which is an area with a bunch of traditional, Dutch windmills. This was my second time there, but it's still really cool to see. We also got Dutch pancakes for breakfast. Yum.
Off to the Heineken museum where we literally ran into 25 people from Wisconsin. It was a little reunion, and a lot of fun. Other people took pictures of me, but I'm sure they will turn up on Facebook at some point. So look out for them. However, at the Heineken museum, you can make your own music video. I made one with Jenna. Although, I must say, if you are sensitive to graphic images of two American students barely singing Dutch lyrics and mostly laughing in a 49 second video, please do NOT watch. Otherwise, you can check it out here: http://www.heinekenexperience.com/wall-of-fame/singalong/E728A4726C167D22F391251956D93489.
After that, Ann Frank house. Can't go to Amsterdam and not go to the Ann Frank house. Between seeing Ann Frank's house again and my class about the Holocaust in history, I really want to visit Auschwitz during my time here.
Thai food for dinner--unreal.
Sunday, Benny and I arose early and strolled into the city to go to the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. I'm pretty sure this was my fourth (if not, third) time there. Seriously an amazing place. The Van Gogh Museum, not so much. It was absolutely packed, and it wasn't that breathtaking. And that, folks, is coming from an art history major. If you really feel the need to go to the Van Gogh Museum, try and get there as early as possible. Get in line before the museum opens. It was absolutely packed and kind of unbearable to be honest.
Random burning trash can. I feel like it's been burning for years...
Occupy Amsterdam. Looks like the movement is international.
Budapest this weekend. Ciaoooo.
Ridiculous picture of the hotel.
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