I started writing a blog entry when we were in Amsterdam I was sitting at my computer, but I didn't get internet for a while and only wrote a little...so here is what I wrote:
Second day 
"Amsterdam = cultural experience
Right now I'm sitting in our hostel room waiting for Erin to finish getting ready and this super gruffy man who we originally thought was sketch is now talking to us but he's pretty funny. He's saying how he likes how we have regular bags and not backbacks and how its actually much better its pretty funny. Now he's talking about how America has good smoke and now is using terms we have no idea what he is actually talking about. So we just asked him what the difference between weed and hash b.c ppl keep talking about it but we have no idea. He's telling us how it is nicer if you smoke before you go to work."
Back to now!
I am sitting in Hoorn Holland with Erin at distant relatives cute house, Geerte (side note: so erins grandma on her dads side is Geerte's mothers cousin...if that makes sense). We are waiting for the pouring rain to stop so we can walk to the grocery store which we think is kinda close b.c we need to get cash from the atm before we go to the train tom. Speaking of which my nice travel plans begin tom:
- get to Hoorn train station for the 630am train
- train to Airport
- fly to London Gatwick
- airbus to center London
- tube to station to stay with mom's friend Diana
- afternoon in london, hopefully finding a pool to swim in! then spend the night
- wake take tube to Heathrow,
- fly from Heathrow to Vancouver
- Vancouver to SFO
- BART to walnut creek
- packing and night in walnut creek
- drive down to Stanford with madre & move in!
aka WOW let the craze begin...it's pretty sad thinking about having to leave europe and traveling we've had so much fun! and although living out of a suite case isn't my favorite it's been a pretty awesome and i can't believe Erin and I are going to be separated for 3 months crazyyyy everyone has commented on how they're impressed we still have stuff to talk about after all our time together!
well now about amsterdam!
I love all the canals and old townhouse buildings, and thousands and thousands of bikes! It's ridiculous Erin and I have almost gotten run over a few times. The roads are pretty confusing because it's all cobblestones and in some places its not clear at all where the bike lanes are vs. walking sidewalk vs. above ground tram so it is pretty entertaining trying to watch out for everything and cross the streets at the same time.
Although we only had a day and a half in Amsterdam like always we squeezed as much in as possible!
First day
- arrived and had interesting time trying to figure out where our hostel was..but fortunately we found it without too much trouble and showed up in style with our huge roll bags and hands full which always brings interesting looks when the front desk people are used to seeing intense backpackers...went to our 10 person room and finally took a shower..however the hostel didn't have free towels so we had to share my tiny wash cloth i squeezed into my bag right before I left
- it's also hard to find coffee because here "coffee shop" that is on signs everywhere referes to some weed thing or hash thing i'm still not quite sure but it has to do with palces where you can go in and buy things you smoke..hahahah
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| running from the not-coffee- coffee shop |
- went out to find internet so we could contact her relative...when we left we turned the corner down an ally and there in red lights was a sign for a sex shop...welcome to amsterdam!
- but there was a place with fricken amazing falafels & sauce for one of the first times since our travels and the sauce they call "garlic" is kind of like ranch yay
- then we did what we do best, explore the city through wandering around, the canals are lined with all different boats, some are canals that you are allowed to live in and have house boats then the others are full of small fishing type boats, some of which are sinking and only have the bow sticking up out of the water
- we then stumbled upon a lovely cathedral by which was a statue of Anne Frank, then from looking at our map we found out we were right by the Anne Frank Museum and unlike all the other museums it was open still! so we got to do a tour of the Anne Frank House which was pretty intense but interesting seeing the hiding spaces, replicas of their floor, read original letters, watched a video, saw the original pictures Anne had decorating her wall!
- Our afternoon wanderings gave us a better sense of the city and we got to see the more popular tourist spots that were bustling at night
- we then decided to venture into THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT! but had to first ask instructions haha...and on our way I had to try one of the dark chocolate covered waffles they had in all the shop windows
- a few words on the red light district, when we got to the proper street we were standing outside of a sex show theater, the business man who stands outside trying to get people to go in noticed our shocked expressions and asked where we were from
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| art made out of condoms... |
- after we got a little used to the whole idea (only a little i don't think I'll ever get used to the whole idea) we realized it wasn't so strange to stare and that that was kind of the whole purpose, the weirdest part was when men actually walked in and then the girl would close the curtain behind them
- we also walked up to a few doors with the curtains drawn and in the top curtain there was a sticker with the price! the average was 140 euro for 15 min
- We had planned to rent bikes and bike around the city but when we got up it was raining pretty hard and the forecast was for rain all day so we decided it would be perfect to start the day with some of the famous Amsterdam museums
- side note - first we discovered we couldn't leave our bags at the hostel and because we were leaving that night to go to Hoorn
- INTENSE SIDE NOTE! erin and I are sitting here both working on our blogs and she has boymeets world stuck in her computer that we haven't watched any of yet and its the end of our time together and we looked at each other and for the hundredth time this trip started saying the same thing at the same time about how we could watch it while we pack! crazy too much time together :]
- we went to the Van Gogh museum and got a student pass b.c if we went to two museums it would be cheaper!
- I really like Van Gogh so I found the museum very informational and interesting with the pictures next to quotes from his letters which put the pictures in his perspective
- one quote i really liked and actually wrote down was what he wrote before he began what he called his first masterpiece, the potato eaters he said he was starting to
" paint what I am not yet able to, in order to learn how to do it"
- after the museum we stopped at took pictures at HOUSE OF BOLS bar tending academy which was across the street, I felt pretty cool :]
- we ended up walking to the shopping district, going into one of Amsterdam's parks, seeing cute little shops, getting money on erins phone
- the flower market!
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| wooden tullips |
- we also passed by this super sweet shop that made this intense custom bikes with different added decorations on it...it's complicated to explain but here was a picture I snuck while standing out side of two cool ones!
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| and yes the horse is the seat for your bike... |
- because it was mid afternoon of course erin needed another coffee so we saw this one shop that was very in style with a lot of amsterdam advertising...we really like the font and colors and modern type furniture and styles a lot of shops and hotels use here...its kind of ikea style, but here's an example from the coffee shop we stopped in!
- realized that it was getting pretty late, then asking a shop owner we had found out that the museums closed at 6 and it was 6:05, so we just missed it grrr
- we decided to take the tram to museum park again hopeful that maybe they were wrong but no...we did meet a guy from America who we later walked around with and I was able to sell my student card for 10 euro so it wasn't a complete waste of money purchase
- Also in museum park is a super sweet sign that has the city new slogan I amsterdam (picture below)
- now we were going to Hoorn at soon so we decided that the last thing we wanted to do was one that had been recommended by numerous people, books etc. the canal cruise, to give us a different perspective and view of Amsterdam!
- we also got to learn a lot about some of the buildings we passed, for example we learned that a lot of the buildings that are leaning forward into the street were actually designed that way, there are a bunch of theories why such as it helps lifting stuff into the top stories, it shows off the fancy decoration and makes them more noticeable etc.
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| river lights turned on during our cruise |
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| big theater carre |
That's all for now b.c im getting tired and I need to pack before I leave tomorrow but I have lots of pictures from our Dutch countryside adventure today and final remarks on Holland!
Also if you want I have a bunchhhh more pictures on facebook that you can feel free to enjoy :]
adios le pido
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