What a whirlwind trip this has turned out to be! I arrived in Amsterdam on Friday morning, I had a few hours to kill before my friend Tina was done with work. It was the first time I had really been on my own in an unfamiliar city so I decided to walk around and get to know Amsterdam. I was so surprised how beautiful the city was, Amsterdam is (of course) divided by the canals, sometimes I felt I was walking over bridges just as often as I was walking down streets. Everyone bikes in Amsterdam, everywhere you look all you were guaranteed to see someone on a bike or a bike chained up. I took a really great picture that my friend Katharine said I should submit to a travel book for Amsterdam of three bikes that were lined up so perfectly. By the time Tina had finished work I had walked across the city. She met me in one of the main squares and we walked to her apartment. That afternoon we walked around a little bit and went to this little Tapas restaurant, it was just locals and jam packed!
Saturday was our big day in Amsterdam. Vincent Van Gogh was from Amsterdam, thus there is a museum in his honor. Until June the museum is holding a special exhibition featuring paintings and drawings done at dusk or in the night. Starry Night (which is normally at the MET in New York) was brought in for this exhibition, so I had opportunity to see it much closer then I would have been able to see it at the MET. We ended up spending almost four hours in the Van Gogh museum, that afternoon we just walked around some more before our nightime canal cruise.
Sunday morning we woke up hoping to go to Anne Frank's house, but when we arrived the line just to buy tickets was over two hours long (the only thing I wanted to do that I didn't get the chace to do in Amsterdam). After a quick tea we met a girl Tina worked with to take the bus out to this traditional Dutch village. When we arrived all we could see were windmills! I can't even describe how cute this little village was, all the houses were situated around a lake, many had windmills. There were a couple of cute little shops where you could buy postcards and windmill magnets, all and all it was a great little side trip.
I am so glad I decided to go to Amsterdam, it was kind of last minute, but Tina and I had a great time. In just a few days I was really able to see a lot. I learned that there is a lot more to Amsterdam then the Red Light district and the legalization of pot. Well anyway, love from Paris...
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