AMSTERDAM ADVENTURES

One of my main goals for my study abroad experience was to travel - a lot - but mostly to travel to places where I have never been before. The last three months I have been to places that were entirely new to me until last weekend. Thursday night I made my way to the airport and jet-setted off to Amsterdam for the rest of the weekend. I’ve been to Amsterdam 2 or 3 times before, but it was one of the places I really wanted to visit because of its history and position during World War 2, and plus now I can really see what this liberal city and red light district are all about. I’ve never been into history, especially WW2 history, but traveling throughout Europe and learning how all these countries were affected during the war sparked an interest. I knew Amsterdam was home to the Anne Frank house among other memorials to the war, so I decided to make the trip up north. Thursday we had a late flight and got into Amsterdam around 11pm. Thankfully our hotel was close to the train station and we had no trouble getting there from the airport. We decided to battle the elements (it was below freezing there at night) and check out a coffee shop nearby for the last hour it was open. Friday, we took a free New Europe walking tour of Amsterdam (the same company that took us on the tour in Prague.) I was really excited for this tour because I wanted to learn about the city and its history. But to my disappointment, the guide didn’t go too much into the history of WW2. He touched on it and we walked to the Jewish Quarter, but mostly he spoke about Amsterdam’s liberal society- how prostitution is completely legal and marijuana is decriminalized. However, that was pretty fascinating too. Amsterdam’s slogan “If it’s good for business…” Heavy taxes are placed on almost everything- food was pretty expensive so I don’t even want to guess what the prices for prostitution are! After the walking tour, my friend Samantha and I went to the Rijksmuseum, stumbled across the “I AMSTERDAM” sign, took the Heineken experience tour through the brewery (which was AWESOME) and finally stopped at the Van Gogh Museum. It was long day and a lot of walking in the freezing cold, but in the end we felt accomplished that we got so much done. We stopped for dinner at a pancake place- had to try them- but were slightly disappointed. Then we out another Amsterdam coffee shop at a place called “Rasta Baby” – It had a pretty cool vibe but we didn’t stay for too long because we were exhausted.
On Saturday, we started the day off at the Anne Frank house/ museum. We waited on line in the snow for about half an hour, but it was worth it. It was a great experience to visit the house and re-learn the story about the family in hiding. It was one of the best parts of the trip for me, and provided the most information about WW2 in Amsterdam. It was of course very sad. It’s hard to believe that this actually happened and people actually had to live in fear for their lives. Its one thing to learn about the terrible things that happened during the war, but it’s another to actually go and visit the places that were affected the most. It really puts it into a different perspective. After the museum, we had lunch and did some shopping. We took a stroll through the red light district and it was quite an interesting sight to see. There is a woman for every fetish advertising themselves in windows. It was interesting how normal it seemed to everyone and how excited the young tourist boys were. We came across the hash, marijuana and hemp museum and thought it would be interesting to go inside, but it really wasn’t. It was just a bunch of pictures and paraphernalia- not worth the 5 Euros. After dinner at the Chipsy King (best fries ever!) We went back to the hotel to warm up. At night we headed to a Doors coffee shop. (As in the band, The Doors) It was fun, and they played good music. We stayed there for a few hours, and eventually called it a night. Sunday was a short day. We walked back through Dam Square and wandered around. We did some souvenir shopping but eventually just hung out in the mall until we had to head to the airport because it was too brutally cold to be outside. We took the train back to the airport and had lunch there before flying back to Roma. It was an amazing weekend and I’m glad I went- I got to see a lot of things that I never had before and learn about a culture where just about everything is tolerated, if it’s taxed. It also prepared me for some brutally cold weather. For some reason I decided to book a trip to Switzerland in December. If I don’t come back a popsicle, it will be a success!