Friday, March 20th 2015
This morning started like so many other travel weekend mornings, a walk to the train station. But instead of getting off at the airport, we stayed on a few more stops to catch a bus! I met Dom (my friend from Australia) and Duncan (her boyfriend and also my friend!) in Leuven and jumped on the train. One of us (no names mentioned) thought the bus stop was a ten minute walk from the train station. So, we headed in the direction that this individual thought. It was not a bad walk, through a park and around the city. When we realized we were in the wrong place, we turned back and I realized we were at the Royal Palace in Brussels! It was really pretty, and I’m glad I got to see it. It wasn’t that nice out, so we didn’t take pictures. I was planning on going back to Brussels to see it anyways, so it worked out that I got to see it then and didn’t have to go back for it (because as much as I love Belgium, Brussels isn’t my favorite city). We made our way to the bus station, which happened to be right next to where our train pulled in (oops!), but we got a nice walk! I climbed on the bus and fell asleep for the next three hours.
I woke up and we were pulling into Amsterdam! We had to take a tram into the city (which we had to pay for twice thanks to the wonderful Holland transportation system. We eventually made it and walked down the main street of Amsterdam. It was very commercial, but the buildings were so pretty! We saw lots of cheese shops, food stands and museums. We made it to the main square and it was packed! After checking into the hostel we did a tour of a bunch of markets. We first went to the flower market, which ended up to be mostly bulbs and seeds unfortunately. Next was the oldest and biggest market in Amsterdam. It was quite impressive with lots of stalls. We were of course hungry, so we got some amazing chicken pieces with delicious sauces. Finally, we went to the last market and (today was a large day of snacking) got traditional croquettes. We shared a cheese on and a beef one. They had an incredibly crispy outside and a yummy creamy inside. They were very good and different from the ones here.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the city, looking at the cool buildings and the canals. We warmed up with some hot wine. While wandering the street a lady was giving out bakery items, probably to get rid of the leftovers from the day. I gladly took a cheese one, and it was very tasty. We of course had to eat some real food for dinner, so I got a bowl of soup. We ate in a square and had a window seat so we could watch everyone wandering around while at dinner. It was a very nice place to relax. After dinner we wandered around the bars in the square. We found one that was having a band later in the night. The bartender described the band as rock-pop with a bit of funk, so we decided to go see the city and then come back.
Since we were in Amsterdam, we had to see the Red Light District. We had walked through during the day, but the night is so different! The girls are standing in windows all throughout the street, and there really are red lights in each of the windows. It was pretty weird to witness, especially when you see the creepy guys going into the houses. The girls all smoked in their rooms and had very different facial expressions. Also, there was a clear distinction from the outside of the street to the inside as to the price. In general it was a very unique experience.
We then had to get some dessert to kill time before the band played. I had some amazing gelato. I had been craving it for awhile, so I was glad to finally enjoy it! Yes, I’m very aware I will be doing some serious working out when I get home. We went back to the bar and were surprised to see the rock-pop funky band to be a 70s cover band. They were pretty old, but we gave them a shot. They were actually quite good. It was really interesting to listen to the girl sing, because for the most part you don’t notice that they are not native English speakers, but then it becomes very clear on certain lines when you can hear the Dutch accent come out. After listening for a little, we decided to call it a night and head back to our hostel. |
Saturday, March 21st 2015
This morning we headed straight to the back of the Anne Frank House line. Yep. A very cold morning of standing in line to get into the Anne Frank House. BRRRRRR! And it was raining at points. But I really wanted to see the Anne Frank House, so the wait was worth it. While we were waiting in line Alison joined us! I get to see her two weekends in a row, what a treat! I was hoping to be almost in by the time she got there, which was unfortunately not the case. We eventually got into the house and it was a very cool experience. I knew a lot about Anne Frank since I’ve read her diary, seen the play and done a fair bit of reading about the Holocaust, so it made the experience much more about taking in the environment. You could really see what she suffered through and the cramped areas they were stuck living in. I even saw the bookshelf that covered the secret door to their hiding place There were also many interesting videos of people who were close to Anne Frank talking about the time and her, which was very cool to see. After that long long morning, we decided to try an Amsterdam traditional dish… pancakes! They make these huge pancakes and stuff them with everything, from sweet to savory. They pretty much fill up the whole plate. I wasn’t terribly impressed by my choice of fillings, but the experience was fantastic and I really liked the pancake. Yum! |
That afternoon we spent doing a lot of walking, through parks and around museums. We made our way to the Van Gogh museum, but decided to return tomorrow to avoid the standstill line. So instead we headed towards the I Amsterdam sign and ended up in the middle of a protest! It was pretty interesting to see and we watched one of the musical performances before making our way to the sign. It was soo crowded but we fought our way to one of the letters to get a nice picture. We also stopped by a cheese shop on the way to get some cheese to bring home with us (since Holland is known for their cheese). We tried so many different ones before settling on a few choices. I got a young goat cheese and Alison got a gouda. They were so good and it was very fun to wander the store and talk to the employees. I think Duncan and Dom thought we were crazy as to how obsessed we were about our cheese, but, they can judge, we will enjoy.
For dinner we met up with Maxim and Deborah for cheese fondue. It was a pretty fun experience even though we didn't like the cheese very much. We ended the night with delicious apple beignets from the bakery. Yum!
Sunday, March 22nd 2015
The next morning we got up and wanted a delicious breakfast, so we got more pancakes. This time mine was filled with vegetables and big chicken pieces and cheese. It wasn’t a dessert, but it was very tasty and savory. I can get behind this pancake idea. We then made our way to the Van Gogh exhibit. I have to say, I managed to navigate my way around Amsterdam pretty well at this point. The museum was pretty good, lots of art. I liked walking around it and learning about Van Gogh’s life. There were a few paintings that I really loved, mostly his paintings of flowers.
We spent the afternoon enjoying the sun!!! Yes finally a sunny day! We wandered around pretty gardens and near the I Amsterdam sign. I ended my trip to Amsterdam with Poffertjes, the small traditional Dutch pancakes with maple syrup and sugar. Yum! A great snack to have on the way to the bus. We then said bye to Amsterdam and made our way home to Leuven.