We arrived Friday morning and spent most of the day relaxing and walking around. We checked into our hostel and figured out where everything was in proximity to us as well as laying out a tentative schedule. For the evening we went to the Van Gogh museum which is beautifully designed and modern. The only unfortunate thing is that many of Van Gogh's most famous works, the ones I would recognize, are in other museums around the world. In spite of this, the museum does a great job of chronologically following Van Gogh's life showing the visitors a more personal side of the talented man.
In the evening we went to Leidseplein which is an area known for its nightlife. We were ready for Halloween but were disappointed to find most Dutch people unenthusiastically celebrating the holiday.
The next morning we took a country bike tour. After my wobbly experience in London, I was a bit nervous to get back on a bicycle. Luckily this tour proved that the London bike was faulty as I had none of my previous difficulties! This tour took us to a windmill, a clog/cheese farm, the beautiful Vondel park, and through the gorgeous countryside that is right outside of Amersterdam. This tour had mostly Americans and Canadians on it so it was fun talking to all of the travelers in the group. I particularly bonded with this group of four from Dallas. I told the 20-something-year-old son that I was from Kansas City and he took two seconds to name my high school saying he had a lot of friends that had gone there! I nearly fell off my bike out of shock! When you have been living out of the country for 3.5 months it is so refreshing to have people recognize where you are from and be able to tell you things about it! I was so excited and talked to them the rest of the day.
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| The owner of the cheese/clog farm. He was a bit nutty and spoke 5 different languages. |
After our tour we walked around the city a bit more and that evening we went on a tour of the Red Light District. I was not really interested in this tour but my travel mates thought it would be educational and interesting. I actually found the whole area fascinating and asked our tour guide a lot of questions. I tried to take everything in and not over-analyze the cultural phenomenon that was in front of my eyes.
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| The most comfortable hammock-chair ever! |
On our final day in Amsterdam, we went to see Concertgebouw, Amsterdam's famous concert hall. Though we didn't take a tour, I was glad to see this building a take a picture with it! Maybe one day I will even get to hear a concert there! After a Hawaiian pizza for lunch, we went on a walking tour of the city before dipping out early and getting our Anne Frank House tickets.
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| Concertgebouw. |
Then I got to return to one of my favorite museums in all of Europe, the Anne Frank house. This museum is so well executed and Anne's story so interesting that I was glad to see this historical landmark again. The museum has made many improvements since I was there last and I am glad to see that Anne's legacy continues to thrive and inspire new individuals daily. This museum had even more resonance after touring Auschwitz, where Anne's mother died, on my Poland trip. Such a brave young girl has touched and influenced so many people's lives, though she suffered such an early death. It was truly a remarkable experience and I hope I can return there in another six years to sign the guestbook for a third time.
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| The Anne Frank statue. |
After Anne Frank we got some delicious Italian food and headed to the hostel for bed. Monday morning we flew back to Cork and took a taxi directly to UCC just in time for my Irish class!!
More adventures to come,
The Opinionated Lassie
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