iAMsterdam

The next day we were on to our final destination: Amsterdam! We had a late afternoon flight into Eindhoven where we had to take a bus (that looked like a tram) and then a train to get to the city. First impressions of the Netherlands: everything looks brand new and VERY organized. All the streets, neighborhoods, houses, and buildings were VERY clean, modern, and a bit sterile. It was definitely the opposite of what I’ve experienced living here in Italy.

 Eindhoven Airport

All the trains run on time and everyone follows all the street signs, it was AMAZING. Although, I’ll have to admit that I’ve kind of grown fond or the organized chaos that is Italy, and having everything work out exactly as it’s supposed to was kind of boring. Well, almost everything worked out. The one thing that didn’t seem to translate from English to Dutch was our hostel reservation. There were four of us on the trip and we supposedly booked four beds at our hostel near downtown Amsterdam, however, when we got to our room we found that they had booked us two double beds. Let’s just say the sleeping situation was bit awkward for the two nights we were there and we got plenty of curious looks from the other kids we shared the room with.

Other than the bed situation, Amsterdam was a really great experience. The canals everywhere were beautiful and they kind of reminded me of Venice, but the architecture was definitely different from anything I had seen before. The other thing that’s very noticeable in Amsterdam is ALL OF THE BICYCLES. I have never seen so many bikes in one city in my entire life. In all the streets there is a bike lane (not just a painted section, but a separate road for bikes with stoplights and signs), a bike ferry, and even bike parking garages. There were bicycles everywhere. I’m pretty sure that at least 75% of the population of the Netherlands has a bicycle.

 SO MANY BICYCLES

We also managed to see some of the more popular spots in Amsterdam while we were there. While wandering around we stumbled upon the Ann Frank Haas (house) and the iamsterdam sign. We walked past the Van Gogh museum and, of course, we made it to the red light district. It was definitely an experience. One our last day, we even walked into the Amsterdam Public Library which is the largest public library in Europe. We couldn’t go through it because we had all of our backpacks with us, but it was still cool to see.

 Largest Public Library in Europe

(I wasn't excited because the Ann Frank Haas was too expensive to go in)

As part of our tour of beers while in Europe we also made time for the Heineken experience. It was the complete opposite of everything we had seen in the Guinness brewery in Dublin. Guinness has a very rich tradition and they make it seem like each beer is sacred, whereas Heineken was kind of nonchalant and casual. The correct way to pour a Guinness takes 119.5 seconds, but when pouring a Heineken the Dutch always overfill the glass and then shave off the head. So much wasted beer. The other thing that was kind of strange was that the Dutch don’t drink pints, they drink half pints, and so every beer we got with the tour and at dinner afterwards felt like a baby beer.

 Star Bar

 Ceiling made of Heineken bottles

Overall, I’d have to say my favorite parts of Amsterdam, besides the scenery, were the language and culture. The language is like nothing I’ve ever heard and most of the signs we tried to follow while getting around made no sense at all. Please tell me how I was supposed to associate “vertrekkende treinen” with “departures.” Believe me, it was a fun game trying to follow signs to find the ticket office in all the train stations. The other thing that was really strange is how much mayonnaise they eat. There were little shops all over the place that sold cones of French fries (heaven right?) except the options for toppings were mayonnaise and curry. What the heck?! It was like pulling teeth trying to find ketchup.

Amsterdam was definitely a crazy city, but I definitely appreciated that I was able to experience a completely different culture in Europe. London and Dublin weren’t too far off from American culture and Italy is Italy, but the Netherlands were completely unique.

Hooray, I’m caught up on Spring Break blogs! Next up: Sicily, Calabria, and Southern Italy.