Shorttrip to Amsterdam

With a little, huge delay...

I went to Amsterdam to meet up with Reece and visit the Netherlands for the first time. As I'm growing older, distances seem to be shorter, fortunately. So Mom and me went there with the car, driving on the speedracing, less crowdy autobahn and among crazy Dutch people, not used to velocities over 100 km/h :P
The Netherlands started with stereotypes, thatched roofs and bright orange sings along the streets, narrow houses and canals inside of the city. Even if some of the Dutch know German, they prefer speaking in English - understandably the don't want to subordinate to their bigger neighbour.

First of all we entered the city the "wrong" way, but as walking throught the city to get to our hotel, we decided it was just the right way to get a glimpse of the city center :) After a stop over at the hotel we went straight to the flower market, because my mom always wanted to see the tulips of Amsterdam and the shoes as well . Bad, it was wintertime, but they still had some tiny ones - and a lot of other souvenirs, which we bought another day. But the stroll through the flower market calmed us down, that we won't have a problem to get some souvenirs^^
As the last tourists we entered the city palace of the Dutch Royal Family - we still had 45 minutes, but the Dutch seem to take care of their closing time very well (they would not tell, but always looking after the last ones to walk through the rooms), which was kind of uncomfortable and made me a little defiant...
Good thing, the Anne-Frank-House was open a little bit longer, so we could meet Reece there. While hiding from the starting rain inside of the building, I was shooe at again, when I was forbiddingly taking a picture of my mom inside, but facing outside... The museum was great and had some breathtaking moments, when you can hardly imagine the time during World War II. At other times, Reece and I enjoyed remembering Manila while ending up as the only guests at a nearby Italian restaurant.
Despite the rain we went for another walk through the city, but the we could enjoy the canals, romantic bridges with bicycles and narrow houses better the next day (not worrying about getting a cold :)

The next day was our town canals/Grachten and museum day. First we enjoyed the old masters of the Rijksmuseum with Rembrandt and Co. - as we discovered afterwards, that it was only the best of selection, because they closed down the major part due to restauration, we weren't sad at all, the compressed collection was way better to digest. After some nice museum shops, the obligatory picture in front of the I Am sterdam and a gaze to the melting ice skating rink, we wandered through the Van Gogh Museum. That was more my time of arts (even if I have to admit, I was striken with awe standing and tempted to touch the as-if-alive fabrics infront of the Nightwatch of Rembrandt before). Mom and Reece were surprised of the small size of the paintings and I immersed myself in the brushstrokes and colors :)
Afterwards the Hard Rock Cafe (to tiny) and the Red Light District (to early, not enoug show) couldn't compete anymore. But the cake along the road was good and very heavy!

It's nice to see, that Amsterdam is a totally multicultural city, as we met a schoolclass, there was no majority of any ethnicity. Another nice thing about multicultural cities: the food! We went from italian to indonese, from pancakes to pastry and the funny mixture of chips with kebap :D

Our last full day started with some banana pancakes for which we had to walk hours - literally, because quarter past nine was obviously to early for breakfast in this city... It's weird, you can only have pancakes after 10 a.m. and around 6 p.m. the shops are closing down already (sure the restaurants stay open a little longer, but don't expect to much). Maybe it's because it was winter time, but anyway, when are we expected to have breakfast???
After a visit to the old church with modern arts and the condom store (just outside ;) we met Reece at the Heineken Experience. It's truly marketing, but hey, it was really good. First you can find the subsidiaries on a huge map (so we gathered near the Philippines ;) then you get an introduction to the history of the family business, with video bits in just the right length, picture taking walls, a litte walk through exhibition and finally the beer making tour. First an woman tells you ab out the ingredients, which you can semell and touch, then you can walk through the brewing system, crash some barley and stir the young beer. Then a little cinema puts you in the situation of the beer to experience being brewed before you can get your fresh beer. Some more interactive rooms, historic commercials and exhibitions of Heineken cooperations end the tour.
After two days of walking we then decided to take the boat trip, that was a good idea! We could relax as the sun was setting and saw some of the parts we didn't walk past (like the haven).
At a nice cafe in the train station we chatted some time, until the woman wanted to close it down (at 9 p.m. on a Friday in the Central Station....). Then we had to say goodbye until the next meeting on another continent :D

Amsterdam-Pics: http://bit.ly/8XdgYO