Another Lonely Night in Amsterdam

16 February 2008
I have been awful about keeping my blog updated. As I write, I am in a hotel in Rome, Italy. Three weeks ago, I was in Amsterdam. I had flown up on Friday morning, then checked into the hostel and walked toward the van Gogh museum. Unfortunately, we are mere mortals and hadn’t eaten all day, so we stopped in a little pancake house. I enjoyed a small plate of pancakes, coated in powdered sugar and butter. They were delightful.
The van Gogh museum was amazing—just as I had expected. I spent a few hours on my own, taking in as much as I could. Maybe it is just “trendy” to like van Gogh, but I do because his style, though not realist, is unique and intriguing. There is also a little to be said for his tragic life.
On the tram up to the Plein, I listened in on a Dutch conversation. I am not a fan of Dutch for two primary reasons. Firstly, after studying German, there are moments when I think I can understand them, only to be mildly frustrated that it’s not German and I can’t understand them at all. Secondly, it is one of those really throaty language, even more than German (or at least Austrian German).
True to form, we ended up wandering quite a bit. I bought some Ben and Jerry’s chocolate chip ice cream (yummmm) and saw the “coffee houses” and souvenir stands before taking our time when walking back to the hostel. We went to bed really early because it had been such a long, exhausting day.
The next day, I insisted on renting a bike and looking around a bit on my own. Having a bike was the best idea of the trip because I could get pretty much anywhere quickly and with ease (though the traffic was a little intense at times). I rode up to Anne Frank’s house and took the tour. As I went through, I constantly thought of Natalie. She would have loved the place, I thought. At the end of the museum, there was a little place where you could learn about new civil rights issues around the world and vote on what you think should be done about them. I was there for about an hour!
I spent the majority of the afternoon cruising on my bike and exploring the city. Around 4, I decided to check out the Bols Bartending Academy and Museum. It was my favorite part of the weekend. Basically, I could go through the museum and learn about all the different flavors of liquors and genevers that the Bols brand had to offer. Then, I answered a few questions and was recommended a Double Dutch Cosmopolitan. It was tasty, classy, and ice cold. The bar tender even informed me that it was a “very healthy cocktail” made with natural, organic cranberry juice. Well…what more can you ask for? After drinking my cocktail, I was allowed to sample as many flavors of genevers as I wanted. I tried a few and chatted with the (very cute) bartender for a while.
Then, I rode my bike back to the rental place (my time was almost up), and met up with Joe and Val. We agreed to get some dinner and head back to the hostel early because we had to be up by 4 am for the airplane. We arrived back in Salzburg happy, healthy and unscathed.
The next weekend, I went tobogganing in the Alps. It was amazing and very fun. Mid term week went by, fairly well. I feel that it all went on…
Then…SPRING BREAK BEGAN!