Amsterdam; the city of red lights, weed and tulips.

Amsterdam; the city of red lights, weed and tulips. 

 I actually only saw two of those things.  The trip in was a bit stressful.  I was an hour early for my train, because I’m anal like that, and the train was an hour late.  When I got in my host, from couch surfing, was working so I got to lock up my bags and get to know the lovely city.

Amsterdam is so small!!!  I could walk from one end to the other in 45 minutes.  And I just couldn’t get over that you could just smell weed, drifting on the wind, everywhere.  What a city.  Beautiful streets, beautiful canals, beautiful gardens and super nice people.  I headed for a walk as soon as I got in and just got lost amongst the streets.  (This will be a continuous theme in this city), but I did manage to find all the museums and some of the historical building while wandering.  

Yes Holland Michigan looks remarkably like the real Holland.  I guess with all the Dutch hanging out there you can’t go wrong.  I felt somewhat at home walking the streets that seemed so familiar. 

An odd thing happened while I was eating my lunch, in a beautiful park with ducks and willow trees and a windy little river, a Parisian decided that today he would fall in love with me.  Now this was a bit awkward at first.  Who does the love at first sight stuff!!?  At first he just offered to walk with me, so I said yes.  Then we got deep into conversation and I found out his girlfriend (of 6 months) had just broken up with him and had been cheating on him.  A little bit of over share, but he was convinced I was the new love in his life.  We went to a park and I let him hold my hand and pretend the romance for 4 hours.  He even plucked a rose from a nearby bush and gave it to me.  Nothing became of it; I didn’t want anything to become of it.  I liked this little romance just the way it turned out. 

After my romantic walk, I met my host and he broke my suitcase.  Not much, just a little handle breakage.  Which was totally fine, because it was old.  Then took me out to a café and we got a beer.  His house is from the 1900’s so it has these amazing stairs! They go almost straight up, but wind around the corner too.  At first, because I was exhausted from my day, I was not thrilled.  But they grew on me.  The light-less cramped stairway was quaint.  He said that the city was supposed to renovate ages ago and just had never gotten to it.  “Every once in a while I get a notice that says renovations will start in three months, it’s been 4 years since the first letter”.  Bureaucracy is the same everywhere, slow.

So the next day I went to a little town called Zaanse Schans.  It was about 20 minutes outside of Amsterdam.  Of course I over shot the train, and had to take the next train one stop back.  Miriah and her wonderful directional capabilities. *sigh*  It was lovely, right out of the post cards lovely.  No tulips, but lots of windmills, canals, sheep and Chinese tourists.  I don’t particularly like Chinese tourists.  I had to navigate around them a lot in Jeju.  They just are a bit obnoxious… I’m not going to rant because then you will all think I’m racist.  But besides all the people I got to see a cheese factory, the wooden shoe factory and a beautiful little town with perfect gardens and houses.  I loved it.  When I headed back, I just chilled out at a café for a little while and then headed back to the house.

don't those pancakes look delicious?!

I met an interesting couple of people at the Pub that night. Ken, a guy traveling from china solo, was super nice. We met up the next day and saw the Van Goh museum together then had pancakes. 

Oh Van Goh, I don’t even know how to describe the pleasure from just stepping into the building.  I love his art so much.  I was originally going to see a lot of the museums, but that one alone cost 15 Euros, so no.

That night I was lucky enough to catch Liz!!!! We worked on Jeju together between 2010 and 2011.  It was such a surprise to see her again.  She’s exactly how I remember.  Bubbly and sweet, full of energy and stories.  She brought along a friend, and a tour guide.  The tour guide left shortly after we met, but he seemed pretty cool.  Check out yellow bike tours if you ever go to Amsterdam.  

So off we went with a vague idea of where we needed to go.  Out of the way, not in the tourist area, but nice.  We walked and chatted, and walked, and chatted and came exactly back to the place we started walking.  The train station.  We did this 2 more times before someone pulled out the map on their smart phone.  In the end we did not find what we were looking for, but something much better!  Bloesem.  A wonderful organic restaurant with out a menu.  The chef just prepares a menu for the day and can alter it to your tastes.  How strange and fabulous, and I tell you it was WONDERFUL!!! So much good food and wine.  Unfortunately the pictures I took are not so good, but you can have a look if you want. 

That was my last night, and what a way to end Amsterdam.  In the morning I caught the train to Paris, with two changeovers but hey it’s Paris.  The city of lovers and wine and amazing food.  I can deal.