Amsterdam Oct. 11

October 11, 2009
So I am currently on the train from Amsterdam back to Brussels for the night. Amsterdam was so amazing! The train ride there was so beautiful, lots of lush green farmland and waterways and canals as we entered Holland. We arrived late Friday night so we checked into our 30 person room hostel!!!! Yes you read it correctly---30 person! It supposedly is rated one of the top hostels in Europe. It was all we needed and everyone was super respectful. It was definitely bizarre though to see people smoking pot in our lobby!!!! WEIRD. It was definitely strange to see all the legal “coffee shops” around Amsterdam and know that it’s all legal is absolutely insane to me.
We found a great restaurant for dinner and our waiter was so sweet circling stuff on our map to go and see. After eating we decided to wander into the “Red Light District.” It was shocking! Even though we knew what it was before visiting it, seeing it was a completely different story! We thought it was so intriguing and hilarious! We kept exploring all the different alleys and looking at all the girls in their fluorescent bikinis standing under the neon lights in the windows. It’s just so awful that this is the life that they choose; they even have to pay taxes and get health benefits for it! So crazy! Also when we were still in the Red Light district we saw someone get mugged! I looked down this alley and saw flailing limbs and a person jump up and run away then literally seconds later two police officers on horseback went galloping after the guy, it was crazy! The guy was so dumb to try to mug someone when there were so many people still out walking around in the streets. Nonetheless witnessing that on our first night made us much more cautious about sticking together.

We woke up early to our free breakfast—a great thing about staying in hostels. We then made our way to the Anne Frank “Huis” or house where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazi’s in WWII. The building was the office building of her father Otto Frank’s Jam Factory. I read the Diary of Anne Frank in 8th grade so it was really neat to see it in real life. The hidden “annex” where the 8 people including the Frank family hid was much bigger than the space I had imagined. It was basically a full apartment, but what was really crazy to me was the amount of time they had to remain there without any fresh air or sunlight because of the black-out curtains. The whole museum was very tastefully done. My favorite part was definitely getting to see Anne’s actual diary that they had on display.

We then shopped around this area called Jordan, which is the less-touristy area and more residential with some great boutiques. For lunch we got traditional Netherlands pancakes that were good, but kind of strange too….I think I prefer our pancakes in America. We headed back into the city center and did some major shopping. Amsterdam has amazing shopping!

Later Saturday night we met up with three of our friends from CEA that happened to be in the city for the weekend too. We had dinner together and walked around the city and showed them the red-light district…which we were still fascinated by!

Today we got an early start and walked by the flower market where they had tons of beautiful tulips which Holland is famous for. We then went to the Heineken Factory for the “Heineken Experience.” It was SO cool! Since it started in Amsterdam they offer this really great tour where they had interesting ways to communicate the company history and lots of interactive activities. One of the coolest parts was this room where you would stand and face this screen. It was supposed to simulate “brewing you” as if you were the actual ingredients. For example when we were “mixed” the floor would shake and real bubbles or mist would appear. We were mixed, heated, stirred, bottled, and enjoyed! It was really neat! When we were bottled the screen showed us being opened from inside of a box of Heineken and taken out and enjoyed at a rooftop party! It was a great and fun way to learn how beer is made! We were also given a fresh glass of Heineken and taught how to properly drink it. There was another room where you could sit on individual couches that had TV’s attached to each chair that showed all the Heineken commercials throughout the years starting in the 1950s. Each room was so fun and interesting! At the end we got another fresh glass of their beer, we opted for the Extra Cold version! The area where you could drink your beer and relax was awesome! The tabletops were interactive and sensitive to cold so wherever you set your cold beer a Heineken symbol would appear under it and if you set it on certain places on the tabletop image of a world map facts about certain cities would appear on the tabletop screen. It was so high-tech!

We were so glad we went! I must say that Heineken is not my very favorite beer, a little too bitter for me, but I still LOVED the experience and would highly recommend it!

We grabbed a quick lunch then got our bags and headed to the train station. We will have dinner in Brussels tonight and leave early tomorrow morning (Monday).

Overall I’m obsessed with Northern Europe!
~K