Amsterdam (May 25th-28th, 2006)

I've been wanting to go to Amsterdam, but my head was filled with a lot of ideas about what it would be like. Anyway, I finally decided to go and I'm glad that I did.
Unfortunately, I ended up picking a weekend that was filled with gray weather and rain, but it's not like there's anything that you can do about it, so I tried to make the most out of the trip and the hairdryer in my hotel room got a good workout.

The first day, I set out to cross some tiems off my list of “things to do”. I thought that I would beat the crowds and go to the Museums first thing in the morning. It took a little while to find it (took the wrong tram by accident), but after walking by the Rijkmuseum (and seeing a sorta long line up), I kept walking to the more interesting (to me, at least) Van Gogh museum. The line up was long, it didn’t move quickly, it was raining a lot…oh well. What can you do. The museum
tried to make us feel better about our wait by sending out staff to give out free buttons. Inside it was also really crowded (and I got there pretty soon after it had opened) and because everyone was wet, it was a little gross feeling too. At least it wasn’t as bad as the Vatican.
I gotta say that I'm not a big fan of Rembrant and that type of artwork, so I didn't bother waiting in the super long line (while it was raining) to get into the Rijkmuseum. I did however see Rembrant in the Van Gogh museum in a special Caravaggio/Rembrant exhibit as well as in the Historical Museum. No biggie...I guess if I go back to Amsterdam, I'd probably visit the Rijkmuseum though. It just wasn't on the priority list, and I didn't have any extra time for it.


Yet another concert hall. They always look so impressive. I wonder why?



I was looking forward to buying tulip bulbs to take back home to give as special souvenirs. The flower market was so incredible. All the colours, the selection. Unfortunately for me, the bulbs that were for sale were from Tazmania and couldn’t be taken to Canada. It was too early for the Dutch bulbs (in case you want to get some for yourself, go between July and November), so my fantastic souvenir idea totally went down the drain.
Of course I wanted to go to the shops and see what Amsterdam had to offer. It was so depressing. Everything was bloody expensive, and it was all the same stuff that I’d been seeing around Europe for the past while. I’ll blame the bad weather too…maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for shopping. Whatever it was, I didn’t find anything special.
That night I went to the Anne Frank Huis. It was fantastic. The museum was set up in the actual building in which Anne hid in the secret annex, and was done in a way that you walk through on your own through the different rooms, leading to the hidden stairs leading to the areas where she stayed during hiding. Being in the space where they were really made it all come to life. I would highly recommend this museum to all.

And later that night:


Yep. Red light district. Nothing more to say.




The next day, it was raining again. Sucky. Still, headed out to cross off the remaining items on my list.



Unfortunately, I was too late to see fields of tulips, but darn it, I was going to try to see a real Dutch windmill. I had to go out of the city to see it, but it was pretty darn cool.




I did a lot of walking on this trip. When traveling, I love to just wander as I feel like I get a better taste of the city that way. The canals and cobblestone streets were so nice. I’m sure I would have enjoyed it more if it weren’t raining, but again, nothing I can do about that. There were bikers everywhere. It was so cool. I want to start biking some more. Maybe I should get a bike first.
I went in search of a cheesy, must-have souvenir of Amsterdam. Clogs. Of course they weren’t very hard to find…there were walls of clogs in many souvenir shops, or other shops that were dedicated to the wooden footwear. I don’t really post pictures of myself on this blog (there’s only one so far), here’s another one:
They were REALLY uncomfortable, and for the rest of the day, I felt like I had splinters in my feet. I didn’t end up buying those ones, but instead opted for a miniature pair. If I have kids, maybe I’ll make them wear them for my amusement. Tee hee.
When traveling, I tend to eat pretty lightly. I usually don’t want to waste my time sitting down in a restaurant, when I could be walking and exploring. In Amsterdam, it was perfect, because it meant that I could fill myself with fries and mayo. When I first came to Europe, I really needed my ketchup, but I think I’m starting to get used to the mayo idea, and during this trip, I would start craving it.

Anyway, the trip was enjoyable. Too bad about the weather, but even still, I feel like I saw everything that I really wanted to see. This trip would be the start of a series of travels leading up to the end of the year…up next: Copenhagen!