We decided that one trip to Amsterdam wasn’t enough. We skipped a couple of the major landmarks to have more of a ‘hang out’ day the first time. There was so much to see, honestly, two days wasn’t even close to enough.
Nothing starts the day better than breakfast from a file cabinet full of heated food. I only had a bite or two, but Neil frequented these more than any one person should. Kidding…but not really.
It was recommended to us to visit the Flower Market on the water. We made it one of our first stops of the day. I was expecting loads of flowers blooming everywhere with…oh I don’t know…something spectacular. There were lots of flowers, but the vendors were mostly selling bulbs and planting supplies. I was kind of underwhelmed, but it was still fun to check out. Maybe my expectations were too high or we went at a bad time of year.
As soon as I got to Holland I started reading The Diary of a Young Girl, the Anne Frank story. I picked it up in the 9 year old girl’s room we were staying in (this little girl had books in her room that most teenagers would read). I knew the general story, but I wanted to learn more specifics before visiting the Anne Frank House.
Although it was a tragic piece of history, I was really interested to walk through the annex that she hid in for 2 years.
After waiting in line for almost an hour, we paid the $10 and walked up the narrow creaky stairs behind the famous bookshelf. Photography wasn’t allowed, but since they cleared out all the furniture there wasn’t really anything to take pictures of. None the less, is was still quite interesting to walk through a place with such history behind it. The walls were stenciled with quotes from Anne’s diary, along with pictures of the 7 other people that lived with her in the annex. Various articles owned by Anne were displayed under glass; including her tattered red diary. Video interviews of Mr. Otto Frank and Ms. Miep Gies played on repeat as we slowly shuffled through the crowd. It was sad, but still one of my favorite things we did in Amsterdam. I’d recommend it to anyone that likes taking in a bit of history.
We found, probably, the best flea market I’ve ever seen. They had rad vintage leather coats, old school Adidas, ancient cameras and electronics along with every kind of printed shirt. If I wasn’t carrying everything I owned on my back, I would have spent all my money there.
The rest of the day was spent wandering…
The nicest McDonald’s I’ve ever seen
Clouds started rolling in and it looked like it was going to pour. We took this as a sign from God telling us to go see the Sex Museum. And did we ever…..I’ve never laughed so much. This place was hilarious! Every stupid thing related to sex was displayed, enlarged, rotated and talked. So much fun!!!
After a very enlightening visit to the museum, it was definitely time for a beer…or two.
And what visit to Amsterdam would be complete without a stop at a ‘cafe’ for a little smoke.
The Bulldog is one of the most popular hemp cafes. A few awkward tourist moments later and SUCCESS(!) we bought weed and smoked it legally while drinking a soda.
I’d have to say that Amsterdam is the first city that I visited on the trip that I could honestly call home. The people are friendly, the weather is mild, I LOVE the architecture and everyone speaks English. I had so much fun! Thanks to Sam for making Neil and I feel so welcome! This trip couldn’t have worked out better.
I was sad to leave, but excited to pick up on our adventure to Transylvania.
Although we were staying 45min away from Amsterdam, the city of Leiden was in the perfect location to visit neighboring towns. Neil was especially interested in visiting the town of Gouda. It’s (obviously) where Gouda was invented and Neil is a huge fan of cheese (despite being slightly lactose intolerant). Sam mentioned that is was a cute little town and well worth the short train ride.
The weather was perfect for strolling around. All be it tiny, Gouda was still quite interesting. Most of the buildings were beautiful ornate stone that looked almost untouched by modern day. The town hall was the most impressive. We stopped for lunch in the popular town square and tried the local brew. (Neil’s Note: The local brew was amazing, check it out in my Beer post)
Our only true destination in Gouda was the famous cheese stores. They had a plethora of flavoured cheeses to buy. The most picture worthy was the herbed Gouda. We bought a wheel of original Gouda and the visit was a success!
Little towns like this remind me why I love traveling. When you can dedicate a whole day to buying cheese you know you’re on vacation.
London, Paris, Barcelona, Rome…AMSTERDAM!!! These were the cities that made up Europe in my mind as an adolescent. Obviously the world got a little bigger as I got older, but these were the original ‘must see before I die’ cities. Maybe because it was so spontaneous, but I was REALLY excited for Amsterdam.
We took the 45min train from Leiden mid morning to get a full day in.
The train station led right into all the action; to the right-trendy cafes and boutiques and to the left-Red Light District and most of the touristy weed cafes. We went left (there really wasn’t a decision to make).
After navigating through millions of presumably high, possibly drunk tourists we made it to the first of a dozen streets featuring very observable, LEGAL prostitution and drugs.
The scent of weed lingering in the air, the garbled sounds of people talking mixed with flashing neon lights, all reaching for your attention. I lost all sense of time strolling around this area. Even though it was broad daylight, there was still sense of ‘party’ in the air.
Unfortunately, but understandably, photography is forbidden in the Red Light District (for the safety of the working girls) so most of the pictures we took are from the surrounding streets.
We wandered doll-eyed, ready for anything, walking over countless canals, dodging endless cyclists, and just absorbing the energy.
I fell in love with the architecture; tall, slim, brick buildings slighted crooked with age just oozing with character. I could picture myself sitting on one of the window sills watching the crowd walk by.
There were millions of kitties poking their heads out of windows and sleeping the day away anywhere they could find a crevice.
The whole city was alive with culture, flavour and curiosity. I was eating it up. No one seemed to be in a hurry to get anywhere. Cafes were exploding with people from all walks of life. There was always something intriguing to look at.
Obviously we were in the heart of tourist heaven/hell, but the feeling was still organic. Not every tourist trap is this comfortable.
Sam was a welcomed guide, taking us through all the hot spots while pointing out her favorites. Once we got a bit off the tourist track we started seeing of little more of the ‘real’ Amsterdam; tiny alley ways with clothing boutiques sandwiched between hip cafes with kids drinking too much espresso stooped on low rooftops. I wanted to buy, drink and smoke everything!
The streets were littered with some seriously cool graffiti.
As day turned into night we started to tip a few back. It’s pretty much kosher to walk around with open alcohol as long as your not an ass about it. We had pre-drinks at one of Sam’s favorite watering holes, then hit up a Blues club called Bourbon Street for some live music and dancing.
By the time I arrived at the club I was well on my way.
The band was really fun. I must admit my memory is a little blurry which guarantees that I had a great time.
I think we’ll need to have a ‘Round 2′ to catch all the other bits we missed…..
PS: I’m writing this on my brand new Netbook. Best purchase ever!
Flying to Holland was a pleasant unexpected change of schedule. Once we had the offer on the table, we crunched some numbers and figured this was an opportunity that we just couldn’t pass up. So, we hopped on a plane to the other side of Europe. We landed in the Schiphol airport a little tired, but I was excited to see my long lost friend and Neil was stoked for a break from hostel life. OK, I was too.
Samantha and I were childhood friends. After high school we went our separate ways; I moved to Vancouver and Sam moved to Holland/England. I was thrilled to meet up with her again in such an exciting place. We took a short train to Leiden station and waited for a cute blond to pick us up.
She showed up right on time and looked exactly like the pretty Sammo I remembered.
We drove to the house, driving over canal after canal, mostly on cobblestone roads, dodging millions (!) of cyclists. I’ve never seen so many cyclists. Coming from Vancouver I thought was used to seeing bikers on the street, but this was ridiculous. I thought that we were going to peg one for sure.
We rolled up to our new home. Holy jeez we hit the jackpot.
This beautiful 4 bedroom, three floor, two bathroom house was sandwiched between two canals. Sam took us on a mini tour and then up to our room on the very top floor. It was amazing! Normally the family’s 9 year old girl lives in the room, but for the next two weeks it’s ours!! There was a king sized bed and a personal sink in our room with a washer/dryer just around our door. Sigh.
After the shock wore off, Neil, Sam and I hung out in the lovely back yard. Guinea pigs included.
Sam and I downed a bottle of white wine and Neil enjoyed the cheapest Heineken on the planet ($5 a 6-pack). We decided to take it ‘easy’ and go into town for a bite to eat.
Shortly after a serenade by a hilariously drunk bachelor party and another bottle of wine under our belt we wandered back to our palace.
Sam surprised me with the all basic ingredients for ceasers (tomato juice instead of Clamato). At this point I haven’t had a ceaser in months; one of my favs.
We finished the evening watching Flight of the Conchords singing every song that came on. It felt like Sam and I didn’t skip a beat. I was so happy we came.
The next day, I woke with ‘bit’ of a hang over. We planned to go to the beach and I wasn’t going to let the troops down. A few moans and groans later we finally got our butts to the beach only to find that the sun was gone and it started to rain. It reminded me of that Alanis Morissette song from high school.
Anyhoo, it was still nice to get our (now) pale Canadian skin to the beach. We were city bound for a while there.
Almost ever night Sam cooked dinner for us. Nice, hey?! We were so used to crappy sandwiches or whatever weird Romanian or Serbian food we could find. It was such a nice change.
One night, Sam’s friend’s Arla and Michel came over for dinner. It was fun just to shoot-the-shit and drink too much wine.
We basically hung out in Leiden for a couple of days taking it easy before making the trip to Amsterdam. Leiden was a very cute picturesque town with all the charm that I expected from Holland. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood riding their bicycles to and from where ever. The whole town was surrounded by canals with beautiful stone buildings for even the most basic stores and shops. It was great just to wander around with not much of an agenda. Where to go for lunch was our greatest concern.
There was a really nice botanical garden just mins away from the house…..
…and a market they set up every Wednesday and Saturday.
It was fun playing house in this story book town.
Next stop AMSTERDAM!!!!
(I dedicate this post to my friend Amanda from Chicago. She is my motivation for updating today)
Once we started plannıng thıs trıp, Romanıa became one of the countrıes I just couldn’t waıt to vısıt. Transylvanıa, specıfıcally, just sounded lıke one of those fantasy places you only read about and never actually see. Arrıvıng overnıght by traın only catered to my ımagınatıon of thıs Gypsy land.
We arrıved at 8:00am. Belıeve ıt or not I slept pretty good on the traın; wıth the sounds of the wheels gatherıng speed and the cool breeze through the wındow. I had to be woken up by the conductor bangıng on our door screamıng “Bucharest!”. We had a sınk and mırrow ın our cozy sleeper room so we washed up and prepared to step out ınto yet another world. A few errors ın dırectıon and we caught a bus to our hostel (YMCA Bucharest). We were warned by our travel book to avoıd the cab drıvers at the traın statıons because they often overcharge tourısts.
Neıl mıstakenly booked us ın for the day after we arrıved (who knows what day ıt ıs anymore). Thıs proved to be a bıgger hıccup than expected and we had to kıll some tıme on the lobby couch whıle the manager of the hostel fıgured out where to put us. Funny enough he decıded to let us stay at a half renovated condo, also owned by the hostel. It was free so we saıd ‘what the hell’. It was, as he explaıned, ın the mıddle of beıng renovated. There was saw dust on the floor, water bottles everywhere, but FREE. That was the magıc word. We’ll take ıt!
After a quıck nap on the make shıft pull-out couch/bed, we walked to downtown. As always, ıt was boılıng hot. Probably around 30-33c. No wınd. We couldn’t walk the 3kms fast enough.
Our fırst ımpressıon was, busy(!). There was tons of traffıc, people screamıng tryıng to sell you thıngs, cars honkıng, mıllıons of people.
Once we got onto the smaller streets ıt really started to take shape. The archıtecture was ınterestıng. The buıldıngs were a mıx of gorgeous Gothıc master pıeces and bland Communıst fılıng cabınets. It went from breathtakıng to kınd of creepy.
We grabbed a coffee (I drınk coffee now) and took ıt all ın, stıll a lıttle wıped from the traın rıde.
We walked back to our make shıft apartment ın the cool nıght aır stoppıng to buy $1 beers and hılarıous snacks at the convenience store.
To our surprıse, we dıscovered a TV (wıthout a cable connectıon) ın the room. After some tıme of negotıatıng wıth the ancıent pıcture box we got ıt to play at least one Englısh channel clear enough to watch some random movıe wıth Stephen Balwın and called ıt a nıght.
It was our fırst sleep ın Romanıa. We were warned about the stray dogs. 200,000 ın Bucharest alone. We saw some around town durıng the day, but nothıng lıke thıs. At all hours of the nıght you could hear garbage cans beıng tossed around, dogs searchıng for food and lookıng for a fıght. Howlıng wıld dogs owned the streets now. I was happy to be on the 9th floor safely hıdden ın our very own fılıng cabınet.
The next mornıng we succesfully took a cab back to the hostel. Yay(!) not gettıng rıpped off by a Romanıan cabby! Our room ıs sweet! The hostel used to be a kındergarden and they left all of the orıgınal ‘decor’. It was really cool and eerıe at the same tıme.
The manager, Bogdan, made the place worth stayıng. He was so generous and acommodatıng. He BBQ’d tons of food and fed us free beer all nıght.
Also, we had to stay and extra nıght due to the swıtch ın our travel schedule and because the hostel was already booked full he let us stay at hıs own personal home for free. He took us for free ın a cab to hıs apartment and lıterally gave us the keys and securıty code. He left us to go back to work. I couldn’t belıeve the trust from hım. If you ever go to Bucharest stay at the YMCA and say ‘Hı’ for me.
The next two days we spent our tıme casually wanderıng around. I’m continuously wındow shoppıng.
Always on the hunt for new food and tryıng to avoıd the constant sandwıch and pızza dıet. Neıl trıed an amazıng Goulash.
We smoked our fırst waterpıpe durıng our travels!
One of the days we took the subway to see a breakdancıng and graffıtı competıtıon. It was really ınterestıng to see some ‘hıp’ kıds from the other sıde of the world. The DJ was kınd of a joke, but the dancers were ıncredıble! We took dozens of vıdeos and pıctures. (flıckr)
On the last full day, we walked through a local market. There were so many cool thıngs I wısh I could fıt ınto my backpack, but sadly I could only take pıctures wıth me. I would have decorated my whole house wıth old pırate shıps, ancıent coıns and art work from thıs lıttle market. Tıme to break out the 50mm.
Nearıng the end of our stay ın Bucharest a frıend of mıne and I got to chattıng on Facebook. She was housesıttıng ın Holland for two weeks and offered to put us up. Sınce we were practıcally on the other sıde of Europe we had to thınk about ıt. But, we weıghed the pros and cons of backtrackıng and decıded to do ıt! It was such a good opportunıty to see an old frıend and one of the countrıes on my ‘must see’ lıst. Transylvanıa wıll have to waıt two weeks.
The nicest McDonald’s I’ve ever seen
