As I was picking out a hotel room, I was struck by how expensive the hotels in Amsterdam were in comparison to other places I have looked at. By more expensive, I mean significantly more expensive. Just to do a price comparison I looked up the cost of a similar type of hotel in Paris... and it was over 100 Euros cheaper. I'm not really sure why it was more expensive... but this seemed to carry over into everything in Amsterdam. Food and drink (specifically beer) at restaurants was more expensive than other places we have been. I have to remind myself we are spoiled and live in an area where the beer is delicious and cheap.
One great thing I did discover online while I was picking out our hotel was the I AMsterdam City Card. It is a card that you can purchase to use for 24, 48, or 72 hours. With this you get to use all public transportation, and you get into many different museums for free as well as discounts at other major attractions. I didn't realize, until I did some research, there were so many museums in Amsterdam. The weather was suppose to be chilly and rainy while we were there, and the idea of some indoor museums appealed to us. To anyone who goes to Amsterdam this is a great deal and our City Cards paid for themselves within the first day.
Our first day in Amsterdam we actually got to the tourist office too late to buy our City Cards. We wandered around on our own to take in some sights and get a feel for the city (and Josh had his eyes peeled for a place to eat and get a beer - as always). Amsterdam is known for two things: pot and prostitutes. In the past year the laws have changed in Amsterdam and it is only legal for residents to smoke (apparently they do some sort of ID check if you attempt to purchase anything... or so I've heard). Not that this mattered to Josh or I since we don't (can't) smoke, but this fact is probably going to upsetting to many people. I didn't realize it was legal in Amsterdam to not only buy/smoke pot inside of "coffee shops," but it is legal for residents to have up to 5 grams of pot with/on them. I quickly learned (more by the smell than by making the mistake of wandering inside) that a "coffee shop" is a place to buy/smoke weed, and a cafe is the place to go if you actually want to drink coffee. It's not hard to find a coffee shop in Amsterdam. If the neon lights didn't get your attention, the smell wafting out the door certainly would. I was more aware/prepared for the prostitutes than I was the pot. I have read many books (fictional) that have taken place in the Red Light District of Amsterdam. For those of you (like Josh) who don't know what that is... prostitution in Amsterdam is legal. There are brothels along the street. There will be red lights on in the windows of these brothels, and the prostitutes stand in the window to attract customers. If the curtain to a window is closed, that means the lady is currently with a customer, and is.. ahem... working. As we were wandering around Friday night we turned down a narrow alleyway, and I noticed the glow of red lights coming from a building. I knew what was coming... but apparently Josh didn't. As we got closer there were two big picture windows, and there was a prostitute in each window. Both of the ladies were in their late 40s, had seen better days, and were clad in "clothing" which left very little to the imagination. Stretch marks and cellulite were not what I was prepared to see. Neither was Josh. He was speechless, which is rare.
We found a pub to have dinner in and enjoyed some traditional Dutch food. Josh had pasta with a cream salmon sauce (delicious!), and I ordered ham and macaroni and cheese. I was thinking of American mac and cheese with ham added to it. What I got was macaroni made with tomato sauce with a few thin slices of ham on top of it covered with a fried egg and melted cheese. At first I was a little take aback. I'm not exactly adventurous with food. But, I told myself it looked like some weird food creation Josh would cook (if fact I'm pretty sure he has made something like this before) and it would probably taste better than it looked. I was right. It turned out to be delicious. We had some other "traditional" Dutch foods while we were there. I had pancakes with ham and cheese - the pancakes were flat and similar to a crepe which I rolled up to eat. We also had something which I do not know the name of, but it was mashed potatoes, onions, and carrots as mixed together with gravy and meatballs on top. We also tried shrimp croquettes, which reminded me in a way of a shrimp won-ton with creamy filling... only it looked more like an egg roll. How's that for a food vision? My favorite part about eating out in Amsterdam was many bars had resident cats who lived there. Our first night out the bar cat pranced through the restaurant before jumping up on the far end of the bar to look out the window. All of the bar cats were friendly and wanted to be pet. In the same place we had a combo of food, beer, and cats. This crazy cat lady was in heaven.
On Saturday we purchased our City Cards and started using them right away. Our first stop was the Rijksmuseum, a fine art museum which houses a lot of work by Rembrandt, as he an Amsterdam native. Next door to this was the Van Gogh Museum (another Amsterdam native). The morning was rainy and cold, so it was perfect to spend inside of the museums. We couldn't take any pictures inside of the museums (and honestly, who would want to see that?), but there was a beautiful park outside.
We went to the Amsterdam History Museum and learned a lot of things about the city (certainly things I didn't know). A lot of maritime history and antiquities for anyone who likes that sort of thing. One of the things included with our City Card was a free one hour canal cruise. We both agreed this was one of the highlights of our trip. We had a narrated trip through the many canals and learned the history behind them. It was a great new way to see the city.
As we were walking around Saturday night the weather went from bad to worse. It had been chilly with rain showers on and off throughout the day. Josh and I had packed/worn jackets and brought along umbrellas (which I was grateful for). However, the temperature dropped and the wind picked up making it very wet, cold weather. I had thought about packing more cold weather things with me before we left, but the forecast made it seem as if it was going to be warmer than I was already preparing for. After wandering around in the cold for awhile I finally broke down and had to buy an emergency ear muff and a pair of mittens. Best 10 Euro I've ever spent.
We weren't able to take pictures inside of the house... if you ever get a chance to go here, go. I read Anne Frank's Diary when I was around 12 or 13... and seeing this house in person put a whole new spin on her life, her diary, and mostly her courage and spirit. There aren't words to describe the small, cramped conditions of this house... and to imagine living there with many restrictions for two years. It was humbling. We continued this theme and went to the Dutch Resistance Museum. This museum follows the story of people in Holland who worked to resist the Nazis during World War II. It was fascinating... but the combination of the two places made for a bit of a depressing morning.
We went to an ancient Greek/Roman art museum (it was free with our card, and Josh loves all things Greek/Roman) as a way to distract ourselves. After this we went to the Heineken Factory. The factory offers a "tour" which they call the Heineken Experience. I use quotation marks around tour because I was expecting an actual tour of the factory. I understand the company is probably concerned with trade secrets, so they don't want to actually show anything that could give away part of the Heineken recipe. So what we got was a tour of what their factory should look like... and they explained the steps of how they make their beer. The rest of the "experience" was just seeing a lot of Heineken advertising. However, we got two fresh off the line Heinekens at the end of the tour (and with the price for the tour... well... it was equal to what we would have paid for two beers at a bar). Josh loves beer and loves Heineken, so I'm trying to be positive about the tour... but it's hard... I saw it as kind of a disappointment.
At least now Josh knows what Ikea is and maybe I won't have a hard time talking him into going shopping.
When we go somewhere Josh and I try to to as much as we can while we're there... and we end up having these crazy marathon days. We usually ended back at our hotel by 9 pm to relax. A lot of people envision going to Amsterdam and partying their asses off... and you certainly could if you wanted to. Proving that we are a couple of married fuddy-duddies, we spent our time at museums, soaking up history and the feel of the city rather than going crazy. Cheers!
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