Weekend in Amsterdam

Great idea on the elevator in our hotel

One of the aspects that I really like about DIS is their realization that American students want to travel when they come to Europe. Along with providing us a two week travel break (which you will hear about soon) they also scheduled in a three day weekend. Zoe and I decided to take this opportunity to go to Amsterdam for the weekend. Helle drove us to the airport bright and early on a Friday morning so that we wouldn't have to worry about catching a train at an ungodly hour. She is such a sweetheart. Despite our flight being delayed a little, we successfully made it to Amsterdam with enough time to find our hotel and explore the city. One of the first things we immediately noticed was the copious amount of bicycles. Having spent the last three months or so in Denmark, one would think that we had become accustomed to seeing people bike everywhere. Wrong-o! There were bikes everywhere, many on racks or leaning against buildings, but we also spotted bikes just piled on top of each other-quite unfortunate for the owner of the bike on the bottom. The city itself was the quaintest place I have ever been. There were canals throughout the city, lined with very narrow, but tall houses. The architectural style of the houses was like nothing I had ever seen before. We took a stroll through the red light district while there was still daylight. I had heard about Amsterdam's coffee shops (which legally sold marijuana) and sex shops but I was not prepared for how prevalent they would be. We couldn't escape the smell of pot-coming from both the coffee shops as well as just people walking down the street. After having literally walked what I believe to be the entire city, our feet were killing us so we decided it was time to grab some dinner and call it a night. Our hotel had a sauna in it which I took advantage of before going to bed.

This woman is an inspiration to all

My love of cheese will never end

nom nom nom

There was some minor construction on the palace...

Outdoor-walk up and pee urinals. Why didn't I think of that?

RooOOXXXanneee...

House boats!

To Hell With My Band Account-I didn't even bother going in...

Saturday we woke up early to start exploring again. However, to our disappointment it was raining out which made the idea of the bike tour we were going to go on seem pretty miserable. Instead we went to the Anne Frank House. If you ever go to Amsterdam I highly recommend going there. Although I have never read her diary, I had learned about her in school. However, this was a perfect example of how one can only learn so much from a textbook. Being in the annex that she was forced to hide in for two years was an experience I won't soon forget. I had goosebumps the entire time and it wasn't because of the temperature. Later we explored an outdoor market where we bought scarves and stroopwafel (great combo). Stroopwafel consists of two very thin waffles with caramel in between. We bought it from a man who was making them fresh so the caramel was still warm. It was amazing. That night we went back to the Red Light District to do some exploring. It was eye opening to say the least. I think many of the people there were also tourists, just interested to see for themselves what goes on. Although it was very crowded it never felt dangerous. I later learned that it is one of the safest areas of the city because there are so many hidden cameras and undercover cops on patrol.

That's some interestingly shaped chocolate to say the least

Stroopwafel man

Heaven

I almost bought a pair-but after trying them on in the store and realizing how uncomfortable they were as well as impractical I figured it wasn't a good idea. Oh, and other tourists were laughing at me.

Clog boots!

Clog skates!

Clog car?

Our hotel was just full of great quotes

The 3 story rack behind the sign was filled with thousands of bikes

On Sunday, our last day there, Zoe and I did a bike tour through the Yellow Bike Tour Company. It was so great to see the city how most of the Dutch see it-via bicycle. Our tour guide was very informative and it was great to hear the history of many of the sites Zoe and I had explored earlier. We learned that the houses were so thin because property tax used to be based on the width of the front of your house. Therefore, people made their houses very narrow, deep, and tall. In addition, if you lived in a “back house” (not facing a canal) you didn't have to pay property tax because it only applied to the front of the house. Our tour guide also pointed out how crooked many of the houses were and how they all leaned towards the canals. This was done on purpose so that when people were moving their furniture up to the upper floors (via a hook at the top of every house) the furniture didn't hit the building. We were able to see the smallest house in Amsterdam as well as ride our bikes through Vondelpark which was just gorgeous. The sun was out in full force and Zoe and I were so thankful that we had put the bike tour off until Sunday. After the bike tour we hurried back to our hotel in order to get our luggage and catch our flight. I had a great three days in Amsterdam-it is such a charming city and I definitely want to return one day.

The thin red one-only one window wide-is the smallest house in the city

Vondelpark