Amsterdam:

JandJ. Amsterdam.

I will start with our deplaning story. We were walking up the jet bridge, about to enter the airport, when we see a few armed guards at the entrance. Before stepping foot in the airport, they asked to see our passport. We were directed to a guard, who asked us a few basic questions and let us go. I have flown to many countries, and have never had an experience like this, but then again…I’ve never flown from Turkey, which we figured was the reason. At passport control, there was a group of Turkish men pulled out of line for questioning, and a very strong security presence, and I don’t mean TSA type security, these Dutch men were big and armed. We were talking in line, and both confessed that even though we had absolutely nothing to hide, we were both really intimidated. I guess that’s their plan. Afterward we realized that it actually made us feel really safe. Either way, welcome to the Netherlands!

So, we have a confession to make. It was around this time, that we were starting to worry about our spending. We were looking to save a little money, and had several travel days left on our rail pass that would be expiring soon. So, when looking into housing in Amsterdam, we decided to stay close to the airport (thanks to our friend Yessie for getting us the hook-up) and take the train to downtown Amsterdam every day. It actually turned out to be okay. Neither of us felt like we missed out on not staying in the heart of things. 

The Basilica of Saint Nicholas

First things first, we needed to buy a train ticket to Paris. France is the most difficult country when it comes to booking train reservations with the rail pass. First, they don’t allow online reservations for pass holders, second they only have a limited number of seats for pass holders, and third, the reservation price is not fixed like in other countries like Italy or Portugal. The prices are already high, and the more crowded the train, the higher the price. After getting settled in our hotel, we returned to the airport, to make our train reservation. Of course, none of the high speed trains were available for our travel day, BUT… we are told to go to the main train station in Amsterdam to check because this guy’s system wasn’t working properly. So, off we went. At the main station, we told the guy our dates, he looked, said he found one train, we paid the reservation fee, and walked out very happy. About 50 steps outside the station, Javier says, “you know what, I want to double check the dates one more time to be sure, because I didn’t actually look at the tickets to make sure.” I’m thinking…here he goes again. Javier is always questioning himself- did I lock the door? Did I turn off the stove? He is constantly checking and rechecking everything, which is sometimes tedious. So, he pulls out the tickets to double check the date, and lo and behold, the date is WRONG! The guy gave us tickets for the day after we wanted to leave. So, back we went. He checked the correct date, of course the high speed train was unavailable, but never fear, the slow train was, and it wouldn’t cost us a reservation fee! So, instead of a quick 3 hour ride, we had a 9 hour ride to look forward to! Oh, goody. All kidding aside, we were just happy to be able to leave on time.

Red light district.

It was already dark by this point, and since we only had a few days, we decided to stop by the visitor’s information center right across the street, where a nice young man gave us a map with the highlights of the city. Before we left, we kindly asked for directions to the red light district. It was just a short walk away, so we decided to check it out. Now, I know what goes on in these places, but from a purely visual standpoint, I’ve seen girls in Vegas wearing less clothes. I’m not sure what I expected…maybe for it to be dark and dirty feeling, but it wasn’t. There were lots of people walking up and down the streets, the canal running through the middle, everything was clean, no funny smells, nothing! Javier had been here before, so I was asking him all kinds of questions about the red light district. He kept telling me, “I don’t know.” I would ask another question, and again, “I don’t know.” Finally, he looked at me and said, “Baby, I have no idea how it works behind those doors. I have no idea how much they charge. I don’t know if they have pimps, or if they are self-employed. I don’t know how they’re treated in society.” Hahaha! My questions were nonstop. Why did I assume that since he’d been there before, that he should know these things? We both had a giggle and decided to grab a bite to eat at the Chinese Restaurant. Now, I would say that even though I have now been to Amsterdam, I too have no idea about what goes on in the red light district, but that would be a LIE!!! I do know, thanks to our tour! Apparently, since prostitution is legal in Amsterdam, the women all have work permits for their profession. They rent a door (and the room by default) for so many hours, and in that time they try to make their money. We learned a lot more, not only about the red light district, but also about the coffee houses as well as the rest of Amsterdam, but that wasn’t until the next day.

Kor. Best guide. period.

We had the BEST tour guide. We have taken more of these free tours than I can count, and this one was by far the best. His name is Kor. He helped us remember it by saying, just think of “hard core!!!” How could this guy not be a good time? Anyway, Kor, like most of these tour guides, is a young man who was born and raised in Amsterdam, knows his city inside and out, and has tried all his city has to offer. He was really entertaining, and like most of the people we encountered in Amsterdam, had a phenomenal grasp of the English language. Like, better-than-many-people-born-and-raised-in-America kind of good. He gave us the history of the Netherlands, why people refer to the Netherlands as Holland, and why they chose orange as their country’s color for sports when their flag is red, white and blue. 

Here are some snippets from our tour: Amsterdam is built like Venice-on thousands of long wooden stakes pushed into the marsh below. When the spice trading took off in Amsterdam, land was scarce and expensive.

Smallest house. Very narrow.

People had to pay taxes based on the width of their house, so naturally, just about all of the houses are really tall and narrow, with some houses being as wide as a single door. Because of these narrow houses, it is nearly impossible to carry large items into your house when moving in, so, towards the top of all the homes there is large metal bar with a hook sticking out which is used as a pulley to haul items up and down where they are then brought into the house through the windows. They have perfected this method by building the homes to angle at the top, so that when moving large items, they don’t bang against the front of the house as it makes it way up. 

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Holland is a province of the Netherlands. It holds some of the major cities such as Amsterdam and The Hague. Because of it’s popularity, people tend to call the entire country Holland, even many of the Dutch. 

The Netherlands is borderline obsessed with the color Orange because it is the color of the royal family. They descend from William of Orange, and that is why they choose to wear orange all the time.

Coffee

The “coffee houses” are rarely, if ever, frequented by the locals. According to Kor, when the Netherlands legalized marijuana, they “took all the fun out of it” so the Dutch kids aren’t that interested in it. But don’t worry, they find other drugs to be interested in.

The church had a very influential role in the legalization of prostitution. Quite simply- it was a money maker. The sailors would come to port, sleep with the prostitues, pay a penance to the church, and be on their merry way. At one point the church realized they were losing money when the sailor would leave at first light. There was no priest to confess to, so no penance, no money. The church decided to instill a, pay-before-you-play sort of idea. The sailors were allowed to come and confess their sins, during normal business hours, before the sin actually took place.

Amsterdam

And the last bit I’ll leave you with is that every year, there is a “silent walk” that takes place through the streets of Amsterdam. It is in honor of a man who was given the sacriment while he was dying. He was so sick, that he threw up the bread. The priest threw the vomit with the bread, into the fire. The next morning, a family member was cleaning out the fireplace and lo and behold, there was the bread. The priest was called and he came to collect the bread. When he arrived at the church, the bread was gone. It was back at the dying man’s house. He tried to bring it to the church 2 more times, with no luck. So, they declared it a miracle and news of this miracle traveled and the people flocked to Amsterdam because of this. The walk parade became silent during the times of Protestant rule. The Catholics continued to celebrate this miracle every year, but did so silently so they would not be found out. So, to this day, the people still walk silently around the city to honor and remember this miracle. Weird, huh?

Dutch meatball.

Alright, enough already! We ate a traditional Dutch meal called Stamppot, which consisted of these meatball things, with mashed potatoes and carrots. It was pretty tasty. And I bought, and ate, several bags of stroopwafels. It was like a little bit of heaven. We walked around the neighborhood and visited some coffee houses- just to see, we didn’t partake…or did we??? YOU’LL NEVER KNOW!!! Bwahahaha! No really, we’re not that exciting.

Or are we???

The next day we set out again. We went directly to the Anne Frank house…and stood in line…for like, 2 hours. But it was worth it! It was surreal to walk in Anne’s house- To stand in the room that she slept, and see the wall still covered in the photos, drawings, and magazine clippings she pinned there so many years ago; the original bookcase that covered the secret door. The house is not decorated to look the way it did, rather, it is a museum, and has different informational pieces. I recall reading something about Otto Frank not wanting the house to look the way it did then, but I don’t really remember the specifics. Instead, the house was redecorated to its original form once for pictures, which now hang in the rooms, so you can see what it originally looked like. 

Had to sneak a picture.

The only other interesting thing we did in Amsterdam was a visit to the Van Gough museum, which we both really enjoyed. I wish all museums were like this. Small, one main artist, paintings from other artists only to show who was influencing him at the time, as well as a progression of his art, from beginning to the end. You can really see how his life affected his painting styles. From his early paintings of peasant life- using dark colors, to his move to Paris, where his life started to flourish and he began to paint with the bright colors we recognize today. 

We had an extra day in Amsterdam that we were going to use to visit the Hague, but after speaking with some locals and doing our own research, we decided to just relax and enjoy the city one last time. We were really fortunate to have great weather while in Amsterdam, and used it to our full advantage. 

To see more pictures of our short stay in Amsterdam, click HERE.