Amsterdam, (Holland) Netherlands

The first day of travel is never interesting, so bear with me (killer intro- I know).

The adventure began at 905 AM when the desk attendant told us our gate closed and there was no possible way for us to get onto the flight out of Granada into Amsterdam. I glanced at Taylor, and the anxiety was already showing on her face, but I was too stubborn to believe that our travels were ending before we even set foot out of Spain. We ran to a new Vueling attendant and begged him to put us on the flight, after some pleading he hand wrote out our tickets, including the time we came to him (which seemed a bit unnecessary), but hey! The ticket was all we needed. 

We successfully made the flight and we were off to Amsterdam. In the Amsterdam Train station there was a massive power outage (due to a Hurricane that was raging through northern Europe), which changed the regular schedule of all trains in and out of the station. Luckily we were able to catch one, (after attempting to read a map in Dutch) and made it to the hostel about 40 minutes after. As long as you get where you’re going it doesn’t matter really matter how long it takes.

Our hostel was a 1-minute walk from the Red Light District; I found this amusing and ironic considering it was a Christian hostel with incredibly strict rules. Nevertheless, the first night in the Netherlands was exploring the main square of the city and of course the nearby Red Light District; it was amazing to me how casual it all seemed.

The RLD is one of the main roads through Amsterdam, and lots of people were unconcernedly walking by along, this included women pushing strollers who would walk past the women in the windows without a second glance. I’m experiencing somewhat of a culture shock all over again. Weaving in between stores selling sex toys and peep shows had us realizing we weren’t in Spain any more. The Red Light District is the main industry in Amsterdam with over 300 red light windows filled with legalized sex workers. Amsterdam is a world of its own.

Shortly after we explored china town and drank the famous bubble tea. I’m not entirely sure what was mixed in, but I recognized the taste of chilled milk, sugar, earl grey tea, and boba; I enjoyed it, but I don’t think I would go out of my way to have it again.

Our roommates in the hostel were two girls on a weekend trip from their semester studying in France. After 10 hours of travel and a night of walking we were ready to pass out in our single blanket bunks on the 3^rd floor, and were fast asleep by midnight.

 Goede Nacht! (In my best Dutch accent).

In our second day in Amsterdam we woke up to more rain, but we grabbed our umbrellas and walked the cobblestone paths, after walking around the shopping district we stumbled upon a cheese store and after sampling close to 20 flavors (We’re from WI, alright?!) we ended up purchasing a 10 dollar pesto cheese. I’m not saying this was the best purchase, budget wise, but it was necessary and made our cheap meat, and cheaper bread taste pretty dang good. We were able to buy all of our groceries in Amsterdam for 5 dollars each for a total of 4 meals (sandwich, water, fruit, yogurt, dessert).

As the rain picked up we headed to the Anne Frank House for a tour of the secret annex turned museum. The experience was even more sobering than I expected it to be, walking through the dark apartment where Anne and her family hid, and knowing that this place was their whole world for 2 years. Quotes from Anne’s diary filled the walls: her fears of being separated from her family and being put into the concentration camps, her dreams for the future, and her daily life in the annex.  

"Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart."

"I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains."

"It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."

Pictures were not allowed inside of the museum, but I’m not sure that I would have felt comfortable taking them either, it was a home and we were just guests passing through. The tour was emotional and heart breaking, one room spoke of how Anne had passed away only 2 weeks before the concentration camps were liberated, they questioned if her urge to live would have been stronger if she would have known that her father was still living..it’s impossible to even scratch the surface on this piece of history. When we head to Germany we will be touring Dachau Concentration Camp just outside of the center of Munich. Although this period of time was horrific, it’s necessary to be educated.

To lighten the mood after the tour Taylor and I attempted, and succeeded in finding the famous bench from the movie “The Fault In Our Stars”, it didn’t really look too much like the scene from the movie, and Augustus Waters wasn’t there to brush the hair out of our wind blown faces, but nevertheless it was a fun experience. Surprisingly there were about 10 other people who arrived at the bench the same time we did! We took the famous “Okay? Okay” photo and were on our way.

We also found the classic IAmsterdam letters :)

For our second night we tried out a few different teashops and cafes and we’re impressed with them. The people were kind and genuine, and the food was wonderful. Ordering in English has been refreshing, but we always seem to regress to Spanish out of habit.

Its a little insane but hearing people speaking in Spanish has become really comforting while we’re traveling through a country that speaks Dutch! I understand nothing and I crave hearing Spanish again so I can follow conversations. Dutch almost seems fake to me, and pronouncing the street names has proved impossible.

Tomorrow we’re off bright and early to 3 days in Prague, Czech Republic J I absolutely loved Amsterdam and the adventures it brought. I’m sure I wont forget it anytime soon, and its given me quite a few great stories that will make their debut during those times around the campfire.