A Weekend in Amsterdam (Day 1)
Today was our first full day in Amsterdam. This city is awesome. One of the things I forgot to mention in previous posts was that bicycles are extremely popular here as a normal mode of transportation. There were lots of them in Noordwijk, and tons more here in Amsterdam. One of the Dutch guys I was with at the event in Noordwijk commented that one has a higher chance of getting hit by a bike in Amsterdam than by a car or tram, and he was right! Everyone is courteous, though, and all the cyclists we found had bells or some other warning device that they used when approaching. One gets quickly used to hearing that bell and stopping in one’s tracks to look around and make sure that there isn’t an oncoming bike in the path ahead. There usually is, and it is usually approaching at rapid speed.
We had a great time in the city today. We started by waking up and having a breakfast of cheese and bread (awesome!). Then we got a charger for the camera battery (it turns out that camera shop we found the day before was actually the right one, and they weren’t shady at all–in fact, I’d recommend them for the good help that they gave us!). We took the charger back to the hotel and plugged it in, leaving a card in the electricity slot (there’s a card slot for one’s hotel key in both of the hotels we were in this week, and the key goes in the slot inside the room to activate most of the electricity in the room–presumably, this is to reduce usage in unoccupied rooms, but there may be other reasons, too). Then we went out for lunch, which we had at a decent restaurant right on the Dam Rak (that’s the street where our hotel is located), about a block away from our hotel. The food was pretty decent, though I think we’d pick somewhere else next time. Then we went back to the hotel and found that the cleaning staff had returned to do something else in the room while we were out, and they had pulled the card out of the slot. Fortunately, it looked like the battery got at least a partial charge, so in into the camera it went and out of the door we went.
Our plan today was to head south, eventually traversing the Leidestraat to get to the Leidesplein (“plein” is like “square” or “place”). Along the way, we got to cross some of the rings of canals, see some awesome architecture, take in some neat places, and generally enjoy ourselves as we explored the city. We went through the floral district (I don’t know how to bring bulbs back yet, but I think I’m going to find out tomorrow). We found this awesome little enclosed part of the city 
for which we need to look up more history, but it had something to do with the “Beguines.” This deserves more research on our part [update: research done, the Beguines were an order of women who did not take official vows, but dedicated themselves to service of the community]–there was a small plaque there describing some information about the area in English, but it didn’t have a whole lot of detail, except that the community was started in the early 1600’s, that the large church inside was given over to be the Protestant church during the reformation, and that the last Beguine died in 1971, but that the area is still inhabited chiefly by “women of the Catholic tradition.” The large church there
was listed as being built in 1603, I believe. It is apparently still active as a Protestant church. There is also a “hidden” chapel
We eventually made it to the Leidesplein, after taking a mistaken detour to the east (having accidentally left the map in our room, we were saved by a map on an information display that showed us just a few blocks to the east of where we wanted to be). There were tons of people here, and lots of restaurants and shopping. It was great fun watching people and walking through the area, but it was all really busy (and some things were really tourist-trappy). We eventually found a small Thai place on a side street, so we ate there. We were the only people in the place for a little while, but others eventually filed-in. We had a good time there. On the way there, we passed a “night market” that had fruits and cheeses available. We stopped back there, and found some chocolate-covered stuff in bulk for Jenny, and some good grapes and dates (among other fruit, but we only got the grapes and dates). The woman behind the counter was kind enough to get the dates for us, since she said she’d have to charge us for any that fell on the floor, and if she did it we wouldn’t have to pay. She was nice to us–everyone here has been nice to us. They say hello or good morning or good afternoon or whatever in Dutch, we answer in English, and everything is cool. Anyway, we took our little snacks, and started to walk back up to the hotel. The walk back was much shorter than the walk down, due to the fact that we took the right roads this time. 🙂
Jenny and I got settled into the hotel room again. Then we realized that it was 9PM. And we were in Amsterdam. And we were in our hotel room. This would not do. Tired feet and all, we got dressed again and headed out in search of a quiet cafe. We found one, ordered a few pints of Heineken, and watched people while we ate peanuts. It was good fun. On our way back, we saw a girl trying to get onto her bike, with her boyfriend nearby. She had clearly had too much to drink. We couldn’t understand anything that she was slurring in Dutch (as if we could have understood it anyway), but the signs were clear–we made it out of the area just in time before she tossed her cookies. Eh. Some things are the same everywhere. 🙂
I have to say that we’re picking up on at least a little Dutch. I can’t say any of it yet, but at least I’m starting to hear some words enough that I kind-of know what the person is saying. Too bad we’ll be coming home on Monday morning. We’re having a great time here–maybe even better than we had in New York City, actually. I don’t know exactly why that is. Maybe it was just where we were in NYC. Anyway, we’re having a good time. I’ll probably be happy to get back to a big glass of ice, though….
More pictures:
Jonathan
