Amsterdam: Jordan

Amsterdam started on kind of a strange note while we were still in London. Thanks to our night at the Fabric which got us back to the hostel at 2:30 neither Nathan or I heard our alarm and overslept 15 min. which wouldn't have been a problem except Eurostar, we found out, requires you to check in to your train 30 min. before hand. We run to the train station to find that our train has left. Not knowing when the next train will be or if we will have to pay for it we run to the ticket office and tell them we missed our plane. The attendant hands us two tickets and says, "don't miss this one or you will be charged". You don't have to tell us twice. We went back and checked in, even though we had an hour, there was no way we were missing this one. We finally got on the train and were really excited to be on our way when, about half an our in our train loses power for almost an hour. Our two hour ride turned into a three hour one. But thats ok, we made it to Brussels and then didn't know what to do with our rail passes. We walk all the way across the station to the service center where the waiting line is about one hundred people (at least) long. Unsure of what to do, we get a number to wait and then go over to the open information desk to find out if we actually need to wait. The guy tells us that he can validate our passes. We then asked him how we get to Amsterdam and he tells us that the next train leaves in five minutes. I guess train travel really is that easy, we rushed to the platform hopped on the train and prayed it was the right one (not really but for dramatic effect it sounds pretty good).

We did get on the right train and we did make it to Amsterdam. From the station we walked to the HotelBoat which is a cute little boat with a very nice owner and his girlfriend. The rules of the boat: Quiet time starts at 11:00, There is no smoking in the rooms, and you may roll a joint on the front deck. Yep, thats right, we're in Amsterdam. We drop our stuff at the boat and go find a place to rent bikes. The biking system here in Amsterdam in incredible. There are seperate bike lanes, pedestrian lanes, and car lanes on most major streets along with seperate traffic lights. On smaller streets there are very few cars and most people choose to bike or walk. There are also seperate bus lanes if you prefer that. We rented bikes and decided to go to the Anne Frank House. It took us way too long to find it but at least the view and the weather were nice.

The Ann Frank House is set along a canal and from what I could tell always has a huge line. As we were waiting, at the very back of this long line, a woman comes and stands behind us with her family. She then turn me and asks me if I speak English (she was from the states) I say of course and she tells us that she accidently bought too many tickets online and if we would like to buy them we could skip the line and go on in. Of course we took her up on the offer. Inside the house is a strange experience. All of the rooms were completely unfurnished at Otto's request after the war. It was really hard to get a sense of what went on there because all of the rooms were so empty. The original warehouse part has been turned into the reception area and gift shop. I am really glad we went, it was just different than I thought it would be. After that we rode around Amsterdam until we found a place to eat. We chose a small place by the boat that sold Shwarma, I think it was more of a novelty than anything, but it was good. The room in the boat is small, which is kind of an understatement, but the couple that owns it are great and there is free breakfast, which you can't argue with.

Today we tried to wake up fairly early and beat the crowd to the Van Gogh Museum. We made it there about 10 min. after it opened and there was already a line. The museum was great. It showed all of the different phases of Van Gogh as an artist. I didn't realize just how different all of his phases were. His Dutch phase he used a lot of browns and blacks, very dark with minimal detail. in Antwerp he did a lot of protraits. In the Siene region of France he did beautful pointalist landscapes and there was even a phase where he copied the style of Japanese art. There were also images by Gaugin, Rodin, Cezanne, Bernard, Millet, and other famous artists and graphic artists.

After the museum we walked across the street to a place called House of Bols, which is a cocktail and bartending museum. We were curious. It was way to early to go through the museum since it includes drinking (oddly enough they open at 12pm and people are there right when they open). Instead we spent about twenty or thrity minutes talking to the two people that worked there. It was actually a fun discussion. We talked about the differences in transportaion, liquor laws, drug laws, and that fact that whenever you say Amsterdam all people think of is pot.

After our little discussion we chose to avoid any more museums and ride around the city enjoying the 65 degree weather and the stunning canal view. We made our way back towards the boat and I thought it would be a good idea to stop in the very large public library located about 3 min. from our boat since we both needed the internet. Let me just say ( and I know I'm going to sound like a nerd here) the library is incredibly beautiful and modern. There are about five stories each with their own personality. Each floor has a set of tables with fifteen free computers (with free internet! which is why we came). There are macs in the music section that you can use to download stuff for ipods, edit, and things like that. There are also study pods, which are a great idea. I hate to say this but if we had a library like this, I probably would have studied more. The huge wall of windows on every floor looks out over the canal and Amsterdam city center.

Tonight is our last night in Amsterdam, an interesting city with a very unique culture.

Next up: Berlin