It's been a while since my last blog post. What that really means is it's been a while since I've gone abroad. Although I am traveling with my mom and sister who are among those who normally get these blog updates, it's also still a way for me to just remember my travels. So, here goes.
Overall, Amsterdam is...eh. May had warned me before I came that it wasn't her favorite city, and I couldn't really figure out why. Now I know. Too many tourists (and in my probably stupid opinion, too many bikes). But it does have some rather nice features. Like canals. Lots and lots of canals.
I left NYC right after work on Tuesday and had a six-hour flight that evening to Dublin. Aer Lingus, while not bad overall, needs to calm down with all their in-flight announcements every 10-15 minutes. No, I don't want to buy some piece of crap item out of your catalogue. It's midnight in NY, and people are trying to sleep (or watch The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies, in my case). Irish breakfast at Dublin Airport hit the spot, though.
After a good 2.5+ hour layover, I made it to Amsterdam in about 70 minutes. I can't quite remember, because I finally slept the whole way. May met me at the airport, though, and I think I have shrunk because she's just about my height now. We still had some time before Mom's arrival, so we went to the hotel, dropped off our bags, and went to explore the city a bit (aka take selfies).
During our excursion, May introduced me to Dutch snack bars where you can pick up quick bites to eat with a few coins. We had a kroket, which is like a little deep fried log of meaty goodness. The snack bar we went to looked like a vending machine had exploded into a storefront.
Now that May is also 21, we decided to grab a drink together before going back to pick up Mom from the airport.
After our refreshing little stroll through the city, we made it back to the airport. Mom arrived, and after dropping off her bag back at the hotel, we went searching for a good spot to take Mom for her birthday dinner (belated but still good, right). On the way to dinner, we took more photos of our surroundings, naturally.
We also went into a cheese shop for cheese (samples). Good call on the free snacks, May.
For dinner, we went to an Indonesian restaurant. It was surprisingly good, even if they didn't have mi goreng. Haha.
After dinner, we strolled slowly back past what seemed like the same canal. Truthfully, they all start looking the same after a while (or immediately). But we got an Amercan couple to take photos for us by offering to take photos for them. Works every time.
Having only slept about 1.5 hours on my way over, I fell asleep soon after we got back to the hotel. But we woke up early to start really our only full day in Amsterdam. After we had some delicious, freshly-baked pastries, we made our way to the Anne Frank House.
The museum doesn't actually open till 9 am, but it was a huge line by 8:30 when we arrived already. We ended up waiting two hours in line, but we chatted up some very nice people from New Jersey. They were in town for one of those awesome Viking cruises. Some day (when I have more money and time) I will do one of those trips, too.
The Anne Frank House was absolutely worth waiting for, though. Really well done, albeit crowded. After going through the spaces in which Anne Frank and her family and friends hid for two years, it's quite hard to articulate the feeling you get learning about their experiences in the very spaces where they had been hiding. When we finished, the line was still just as long outside.
From there, we made our way to the Van Gogh Museum. The line was not quite as long, but it started raining more when we got in line. Thankfully, Mom had an umbrella. You can't take pictures inside but the museum was pretty neat and chronicled Vincent Van Gogh's life and career.
Once we finished our second museum before 2 pm, we decided to go grab lunch. We ended up eating döner kebabs and falafel sandwiches. So good, though not as good or as cheap as in Berlin. Still, good stuff. Then it was on to the granddaddy of Amsterdam's museums, the Rijksmuseum.
We saw some naval stuff.
There was a pretty sweet library with actual people doing work below!
There were a bunch of other cool things. I'm quick with museums, so I don't linger too much. I appreciate as I walk.
Then I saw perhaps my favorite painting of all time, Rembrandt's Night Watch, and I thought, "Ok, I'm good. I can head back to New York now." Haha.
There were, of course, other famous pieces in this museum. Like Rembrandt's self portrait.
Or Vermeer's Milk Maid.
Or Frans Hals' Merry Drinker.
Besides the greats, there are also the quirky. Here's what May described as the creepiest piece in the museum. What do you think?
Or this painting of the Battle of Waterloo that I think looks like FDR did some time travel.
By the time we finished, we were pretty museumed out. So we walked around a bit more and ate some snacks...at McDonalds (we had a McKroket).
We ended up grabbing dinner at a nice little cafe, where we shared more beer, Dutch sausage and cheese, and a small pizza. Not bad!
All in all, one day in Amsterdam is plenty. Tomorrow, we fly to Stockholm. For all the time I've spent in Western Europe, the Netherlands and Sweden are two countries I have not yet visited. Looking forward to the rest of this week!
