First stop on the whirlwind tour... Amsterdam. I took the Eurostar from London to Brussels and LOVED it! It was so quick! And it was very comfortable... and I didn't have to get there an hour and a half early and deal with all of the airport lines and stress. It was so easy. Get to the train station 30 minutes beforehand, board the train and you're off. This is my new preferred traveling method... when it makes sense.
So, I get to Brussels and rush to catch my next train to Amsterdam... except that it's 2 hours late. I observe a couple of Americans acting like idiots and I was feeling extremely embarrassed.
Finally, the train arrives and my seat is situated, oddly enough, with three other Americans (it was a table for four). Two of them were boyfriend/girlfriend and they were taking a trip similar to mine, but at different locations. They were 18 and 19 years old, but acted much more mature than that. They were both from Los Angeles. The other guy sitting next to me is a teacher in Amsterdam. He, too, is from California, except I think he said he's from San Diego. He was very very nice and is really enjoying his live in Europe. He loves teaching over here and says the children are really dedicated to their work. We discussed the similarities of the children in the US and the UK and came to the conclusion that there really isn't much difference. But on the mainland, his experience is different. Thank goodness! I won't get much in to that discussion, because that could make for a veryyy long post.
When we finally arrived in Amsterdam, I grabbed a taxi and headed off to Inge's apartment. She lives in a really cute part of town, in a really cute little apartment... alone. That's unheard of in London! You'd have to be really wealthy to live alone in London! She told me that she pays about 350 Euro's a month in rent and I about fell over. People in London will pay £350 a week in rent! So, we got on to my favorite discussion about the salary differences and the cost of food, etc. My normal economical questions. I find it interesting how it can be so expensive in one city and so cheap in another... and they're not that far from one another!
The next day, I decided I was going to walk everywhere I needed to go. Amsterdam is a really small city, believe it or not. They have a tram system, but it's really not necessary if you have a lot of time on your hands. So, I walked to Cafe Americain for some coffee (it was in my book of 1,000 things to do and see before you die and it's not a typo). The Cafe was part of a Hotel and it was absolutely beautiful with art deco interior. After that, I walked over to the Blomenmarkt, a little flower market along a canal. I was surprised to see that there really wasn't as many flowers, but more flower bulbs. So, I bought a package of tulip bulbs to send mom and dad. I thought since they have been working so hard in their garden, they might want to spruce it up with some tulips from Amsterdam. :)
After the flower market, I walked up to Dam Square, which is supposedly where the city began. A short walk later, I was at Oude Kurk (Old Church), which is the oldest church in the city and is conveniently located next to the red light district. Oude Kurk plays beautiful music from its' tower... sometimes during the Summer, they will have concerts with their bells and it sounds extraordinary! I heard a little sample while I was walking around the area. My goal was to climb up the tower to get a birds eye view of the city, but they said it was closed from renovation.
I'm not sure that I really have to explain what the red light district is, but for those of you who probably don't know (mom!), it's where all of the men can go hire a hooker. Even though I already knew what to expect, I was so shocked that across the street from this beautiful church were women in their undies standing in windows trying to lure the men in for a quick buck! What do you think that says to the church? As I'm sure the church was there before the hookers... There were some beautiful hookers... and some really... ummm... not so beautiful hookers. I really felt bad for them for about a second... that they have chosen this path of employment. The Dutch are funny. Not only is prostitution legal, so is smoking marijuana. There are "coffeehouses" all over the place where you can buy a joint. And there are two directly across the street from the church! At least the government gets taxes off of the sale... something the American government misses out on quite a lot.
I read an article not too long ago about the prostitutes in Amsterdam. I didn't know this, but since it is a legal "trade", they also are required to pay taxes on their "services". And since it is a legal professions, the government also ensures that all prostitutes are able to access medical care. Now that's something, isn't it?
After my mini exploration of this area (I think there was more, but I had seen enough), I made my way over to the central station, which is close to the main canal. There's a lot of construction going on there at the moment, but I finally found my way over to Lovers (the boat cruise shop) to purchase a ticket for the cruise, except the guy wasn't selling any and he pointed over to another area and told me to go get tickets on the other side. Got the ticket and went on a lovely cruise throughout the canals of Amsterdam. It was so beautiful!
Next, and last, on the list was to go visit Anne Frank's Huis. I arrived there and the queue was so long that I didn't think I was going to have enough time to wait in the line and complete the tour as I only had a couple of hours left before I had to head off to the train station and I still needed to pick up my luggage at Inge's house. Instead, I sat on a bench in front of the "huis" and imagined what it must have been like during those days. I read my Amsterdam guide about the huis and reflected. Took a picture, but you can't see that it actually says "Anne Frank Huis" on it. It's quite the popular destination.
On my way back to Inge's house, I walked through Jordaan, which is the oldest part of town. Didn't do much walking around there as I wasn't feeling too well (was coming down with a cold) and I think my walking shoes were pretty worn out by that time.
A couple of hours later I was off, by tram, to the Centraal Station to head off to visit Morten's family in Holbæk, Denmark...
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