Amsterdam

After flying out of Dublin, I landed in Brussels and took a bus to the train station in Charlerois, a small city in Belgium. Since I had a bit of time before my train left, I decided to wander and try to find a waffle. However, to my disappointment, I was unable to find one, so I had to instead settle for what had to have been the most delicious pastry I've ever had... it was really tasty. Then, I hopped on the train and headed to Amsterdam.

sin - noun
1 a : an offense against religious or moral law b : an action that is or is felt to be highly reprehensible
2 a : transgression of the law of God b : a vitiated state of human nature in which the self is estranged from God

Yep, that pretty much describes this place. This city was a very interesting mix of beauty and trash. The city has many canals spread throughout, and there are all sorts of cruise tours that you can go on (I didn't though), similar to Venice (although I don't think as prevalent). There are TONS of Americans there, most likely to indulge in the abundance of sex and drugs around the red light district, and NOTHING is free (nor do they offer student discounts on anything).

Anyway, I got in at about 4:00 or so, and I immediately went to my poorly-located hostel, checked in, then booked it to get into the Heineken brewery before it closed. It was a brewery tour that gave you three beers (not proper beer though... maybe a half-pint each) and a Heineken bottle opener as a gift at the end. It wasn't as thorough in content on the process as Guinness was, but seemed to divert focus to marketing. I would describe the Guinness tour as 'posh', and the Heineken tour as 'new age'. It was OK, but nothing special.

That night, I just kinda wandered around the streets to see what the place was like. Of course, in doing so, I ran across the famous red light district, which was really interesting. No matter what street you walk down, the windows are filled with prostitutes knocking on windows and trying to entice men to shell out some cash for a 'fun time'. Also present in the district are lots of guys asking if you want cocaine or ecstasy. I was literally offered about 4 times within 10 minutes. They also have tons of cafes where you can buy and smoke marijuana in many forms, but since I don't smoke, I didn't really venture into any of those venues. I found a bar to grab a beer at, and met a dude from the Czech Republic that was 7 foot 1. Huge dude. Then, I just went back to the hostel to turn in for the night. (I don't have any pictures because cameras in the red light district are a BIG no-no).

The next day I spent seeing things, starting with the Rijkmuseum, which is just a museum. Nothing special about it, and no pictures allowed. After that, I went to a concert hall for a FREE concert (I couldn't believe something in Amsterdam was FREE). It was a nice trio of a cello, violin, and some similar instrument between the two in size. They played one of Beethoven's symphonies, and it was rather pleasant.

Next I did what I consider to be the most worthwhile thing to do whilst in Amsterdam: the Van Gogh museum. I never liked Van Gogh much, and like most of the painters who were considered the greatest, I thought he was overrated. However, after going to the museum, I totally changed my perspective. This guy was a total artistic genious. He experimented with many different types of paintings, using different techniques and styles. The thing that was most impressive was the way he used brush strokes for texture, which can't really be captured in a printed book. I really thought this museum was well worth the money I paid, and I was going to buy a poster of my favorite work of his if I didn't have to carry it around for the rest of the trip. Here is a link to what it looks like if you are interested: Flowering Plum Tree

The rest of the day I just wandered around, and I was going to go on another backpacker barcrawl, but I fell asleep in my bed at the hostel and didn't wake up from my nap until morning (I saved a lot of money doing that though, so I'm OK with it).

The next morning, I checked out, and went to the Anne Franke house. It was OK, and I was able to sneak a few pictures in, but it was overpriced. It was really just a tour of the house where the Franke family hid during the Holocaust, and you weren't even allowed to go into the top room, they just provided a mirror to see the room (there is a picture of it in my photos through Kodak Gallery). While I was standing in line, I met a couple of girls from Cincinnati, so we chatted for a while. Then, after leaving the house, I showed them around a bit (they liked Amsterdam even less than I did), and I spent the rest of my time shopping. That night, I hopped on a night train to Berlin, and slept horribly.

Overall, I would say that Amsterdam is nice for a visit, but not the most fun place to go while travelling alone. In summary, overcrowded, overpriced, and overrated.

See more Amsterdam pictures here!