Thursday evening around 7:00 I met up with Matt Kogan, David Barkan, and Ben Blumenthal to take my/our first trip of the semester. (Vic/ Besalu doesn't really count as a trip to me.) After some initial delays and difficult figuring out where and when we had agreed on meeting we finally grabbed a cab to Barcelona's El Pratt airport (BCN). Checking in was incredibly easy and security was the loosest I have seen since pre- 9/11/2001. We didn't even have to take our shoes off! I mean, I obviously felt significantly less safe as a result (*sarcasm*). After eating a quick buffet dinner in the airport we boarding the Boeing 737-700 for our Transavia flight. I was very happy that I was able to carry on my backpacking backpack. Surprise 1 of the trip: I have never seen green seats in an airplane before. These were not a standard dark or forest green. They were neon-it basically hurt my eyes to look at the seat in front of me. After squishing into the tight rows we took off for our 1 hour and 30 minute flight. I slept the entire way.
Upon arriving in Amsterdam we decided to take a taxi to our hostel instead of trying to figure out the trains; it was already 11:30 and we were tired, didn't know what we were doing, and wanted a chance to see the city a little bit that evening. We went out to the taxi stand and, surprise 2: taxi's are not uniform. Getting into a decent, leather-seated Mercedes was a nice treat for a taxi. Little did we know we were getting into what turned out to be the car off a Jason Stathem Transporter esque driver. "Buckle up" were his first and most friendly words- and good thing we did. Luckily we arrived at our hostel with white knuckles from holding on being our worst injury- we proceeded inside. After checking in the concierge's parting words were "and remember, no smoking"; he said it with a laugh. We all laughed back, knowing that the four of us could possibly be the only room that was guaranteed to follow that sarcastic request.
The room was surprisingly nice (3). We had our own room with 2 small bunkbeds, a shower and a bathroom. It was certainly no Ritz-Carlton, but it definitely gave me a good impression for my first hostelling experience.
After quickly getting situated and making our beds we decided to head out and not waste one of only two nights. Ben had a family friend from England joining us for the weekend who had arrived earlier that evening. We met here and her friend in Leidseplein square ("in front of the Burger King").
After sitting in a bar for a little while we decided to walk around our neighborhood. Surprise 4: There were Falafal places EVERWHERE! No joke, I think I saw more falafal places this past weekend than on the day I spent walking around Jerusalem. And yes, I did have falafel-once. We also walked past two restaurants next to each other entitled: "Zorba's" and "Antonio's", which was very funny considering two places with identical names are basically next to each other on Green street in Champaign. There were also these qausi-restaurant/ open-air places with 'vending machine' type walls full of food: burgers, hot dogs, etc. Ben felt moved by one and purchased a croquet. I think he said it was the second best purchase of his life. Unfortunately the one two days later did not prove as fruitful. What was even more exciting about this croquet experience was what we asked about its contents. "Milk, meat combo. It's hard to describe- its not really food" was probably not the answer Ben (or any of us) wanted. After that we wandered into another bar/restaurant type place. Ben and one of the girls went in first and, considering the frigid weather in Amsterdam (probably high 20s at night) we all had coats on. As we began walking into through the front foyer area into the restaurant the lady at the door yelled for us to stop. We turned around and she said, "you must take off your clothes". Now I know this is Amsterdam, but I was fairly taken aback by this comment. After a moment the lady must have realized her mistake and explained that we needed to take off our "coats"- we laughed off the error. After this we headed back to the hostel for the evening.
At 8:00 Friday morning my alarm went off. At 8:01 Ben's went off and at 8:05 Kogan's went off. At 8:10 we were all still sleeping. We eventually got up and ready in lightening fashion ans was out of the hostel by 9:15. First stop of the morning: Anne Frank's House. Unfortunately we broke our golden rule this morning and split up. We were supposed to meet the girls and then walk over to the house together to do the tour. They, however, were running late. (surprising?) We were told that there is often a long line to get into Anne Frank's House, so me and Kogan agreed to go ahead and stand in line while Ben and Barkan would wait for the girls and meet us there. On the way to the house, Kogan and I saw a building on fire and watched as the firemen ran up, shattered the windows, and began throwing things out of the top floor- not part of the plan for the weekend, but still kind of exciting. Anyway, the two of us arrived at Anne Frank's house to discover...drumrole for surprise 5 please...we were the only two people there. We bought our tickets and waited inside the front area for the other four members of our group. After about 20 minutes we tried calling-unsuccessfully. Kogan's phone didn't even work, actually. Luckily mine did (sort of). This was my first experience with a phone telling me that my text didn't go through when it actually had. Either way, we could not get in touch with Ben or David and, seeing a large tour group of young students entering, decided to go through the museum. It was incredible seeing the actual rooms of the Annex and trying to relive what daily life must have been like for the people in there, especially having read the diary and seen the play. The rooms were small and dingy and the house was actually much as I expected it to be. We discussed the horror felt seeing Nazi squad cars pull up on the brick path in front of the house, next to the serene canal- it seemed a little surreal.
About 10 minutes after we went in, Barkan called informing us that they had just arrived-we met up with them in the lobby after going through the musem and all was fine. Next, we walked to the center of town, also known as the 'red-light district'. It was still fairly early, so the 'red-light vendors' were not out in full force. We walked around the area, wandered in some 'coffeshops' (which will never have the same conotation to me again) and took in the city.
Impressions interruption:
Surprise 6: Amsterdam is much smaller than I imagined. Our hostel to the red-light district is basically the furthest you could walk and it only took about 20 minutes. Surprise 7: This city is even more infested with the marijuana-smoking, sex-driven lifestyle than I even imagined. I thought there would be a noticable presence but that the city would still have some commercial areas, more urban areas, etc.- like most cities. The red-light district was the heart of the city, both geographically and in spirit. The streets were lined with shops- everyone a 'coffeeshop', sex store, or the occasional tourist shop. I can see this would be an exciting place to go for many individuals my age. While it was definitely unique and interesting to see, it was far from my cup of tea, or that of my companions. However, we walked around, took in the experience marveled at the rediculously lazy culture that accompanied the constant smell of marijuana as you walked the streets.
I digress. After walking around for a couple of hours we continued down our to-do list of activities for the weekend and headed to the Vincent Van Gogh museum. We decided to do this instead of the Rembrandt (As cultured as I try to be, I couldn't take two art museums in one weekend), which may have been a poor decision. It was interesting learning about Van Gogh's life and seeing some of the paintings. Unfortunately the museum did not meet our 'get a lot of bang for your buck' theme as it was fairly expensive and only mildly educational.
After the Van Gogh museum we went to the Heineken factory- definitely the highlight of the trip, I believe (surprise 8?). The tour of the large building is called "the Heineken Experience" and rightly so. First you learn a little about the history of the company, then about the production of the beer. The last 1/3 is basically a large marketing/ brainwashing campaign. Everything from a room with nice couches, flashing lights, and huge tvs depicting UEFA/ Heineken moments (Heineken is a sponsor of UEFA) to futuristic chairs allowing you to view any Heineken commercial over the last 50 years. 2 free samples of beer were included as well- which were quite fresh. In total, the tour took about 2 1/2 hours. I now notice anywhere I see a Heineken sign, as well.
After the Heineken factory we decided to return to our Spanish roots and take a siesta. Gotta love the Spanish lifestyle and quick influence it has. After 1 1/2 hours we were all ready to go again. We met back up with the girls and went to dinner at a decent Italian place in Leidseplein. Then, after hanging out in a hotel for a while, back to the Red Light District to get a true taste of what it is like at night. By now it was already past midnight and apparently the neighborhood isn't the safest- everything turned out fine. As we walked down side streets it was incredible to see the difference in the area. Streets lined with windows that we hadn't even noticed earlier in the day were now filled. I'm not sure how I feel about the whole prostitute-red light thing. It was very weird, though fairly similar to what I had imagined. Try as we did, we could not convince Barkan to take advantage of the opportunity.
Eventually the cold began to get to us, so we decided to leave the Red Light District. We wanted to see what a club in Amsterdam was like so we took cabs back to Leidseplein to avoid the 15 minute cold walk. Luckily mine and Ben's cab was only 8E compared to Barkan and Kogan's 15E, ha. We then went to a club recommended to us by one of the girls working in the Heineken factory. Surprise 9: it sucked. The music was weird, the people were weird and everyone just stood around as the strobe lights roamed the 'dance floor'. However, in the spirit of the weekend theme we stayed for about an hour and a half to make good on our 10E cover. Eventually fatigue and awkwardness set in; we headed back and quickly fell asleep.
The next morning we slept in a little longer, but we had to check out by 10:30- I swear we were out of that room no later than 10:45. Backpacks on our backs we headed to our favorite meeting spot- the Burger King. We then walked back to the town center and walked around for a little. Who would have thought that 4 American guys and 2 British girls would stumble upon a "British and U.S. shop" in Amsterdam? Low and behold, it happened. Surprise 10. Of course, we had to go in. At first I felt a little bad about this, but as we walked around I think the four of us felt a little nostalgic for some genuine American goods- and the shop was definitely genuine. As I have held good on my 'no American fast food abroad' pact until this point I did not plan on making any purchases in this shop. However, I saw an item I just could not resist-A&W ROOT BEER!!! Even upon seeing this item I tried with all my might to just walk out of the store. However, after expressing my excitement one of the British girls asked, "what's Root Beer?" I could not allow this injustice to continue and bought a can for her to try- and me to finish. I was pleased to hear the drink was a little 'georgeous' ha. Gotta love the British accent/speak.
Around 1:00 the girls left for their plane- we continued touring. Having seen all of our pre-determined tourist destinations we decided to wander in to the Sex Museum. It was fairly interesting- combining some of the history of sexual expression with modern day jokes/gag items. Only 3E- definitely met the requirement. We then went to place down the block called "Manekin Pis". Yes, the name is exactly how it sounds. This was a french-fry vendor and wow were they good fries. Some of the best I have ever had, actually.
I decided to purchase an Ajax Amsterdam scarf along with my usual shotglass for my collection. I think it would be interesting if I can find scarfs for the 'futbol' teams of every city to which I travel. We then headed to central station to take the train to the airport. We boarded the same Transavia plane and I slept the entire time again. After returning to Barcelona we took the train from the Airport home. Aside from Kogan breaking an escalator it actually worked out really well.
Final thoughts:
The American influence in Amsterdam is far greater than in Barcelona. Everyone there speaks English, everyone. Additionally, there were a lot of McDonald's, Burger Kings, Hard Rock Cafes, etc. We even saw a "Boom Chicago" comedy club. It was definitely a good experience overall and I am very happy I went. It will be interesting to see what happens to this city in the near future. Ben and I were discussing how/why the European Union allows some of the social laws in the Netherlands (we were actually in the bathroom discussing this). Someone jumped in and informed us that there was actually much discussion in the EU about trying to ban many of these practices- that restrictions have already been made and negotiations are constantly in the works. He went on to say that he believes this will all be gone in 5-10 years. I have not decided whether this restriction is a good thing or not. The city is obviously much lazier, dirtier, etc as a result of the extreme social liberalism. However, it is a part of the culture that is engrained in the very essence of society there. I am now keenly interested in future developments in this political situation and plan to keep myself appraised for recent events.
Overall, I am very happy I went to Amsterdam- it is definitely somewhere everyone should see at some point, hopefully while it is still as I experienced it. I think it might be interesting to return later in life to see if it has changed. Other than that, I definitely do not plan on going back. It was more of a 'check of the list' kind of city than somewhere I would want to spend an extended period of time. Anyways, I'm glad my first trip was a success and I look forward to the rest of my travels throughout the semester. Pictures on facebook again. If you've made it all the way to here-thanks for reading. Sorry again it was so long.
One of you had to have ventured over to the Red Light District
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We all ventured over there. For better or worse, none of us experienced it quite the way Marder did.
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