Dam Good City

Apologies for this post being SO delayed (and holding up the rest of the week!). Time gets away from me during the work week, but I hope the wait will be worth it :)
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Saturday, November 20th
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Saturday morning the five pf us are were up and at 'em bright and early… except it wasn’t so bright at 7AM in Amsterdam! We all managed to get ready with one bathroom (and despite it still being almost dark outside) and met down in the lobby for the delicious breakfast buffet around 8, making our way into the city by 8:45. We took about a ten minute Metro ride to Centraal Station, where we stepped out into the city for the first time! The train station itself is an absolutely beautiful brick building that looks more like a palace than a transportation hub. It wasn’t even a minutes walk before we saw our first Heineken sign (and would see hundreds more in the next 36 hours) affixed to a cafe.

 

Centraal Station

We hopped on the bus right outside the station, making our way to the Prinsengracht canal, just a short walk from the Anne Frank house. I had heard that the line could get extremely long (since the interior is so small) and can often be a two to three hour wait to get inside. We originally planned to buy reserved time slot tickets prior to leaving, but of course, before we actually all decided on a time, they were sold out. However, no worries: fortunately we got to the house early enough to only wait in line about 5-10 minutes (which was mostly due to a slow-as-molasses cashier) before heading inside. The original exterior and interior of the house have been reconstructed because of its deteriorating condition by mid-century, but have been restored as authentically as possible.

 In Front of the Anne Frank Huis

The bottom levels are now suited as a museum, with exhibitions and videos, but the annex behind the house, where Anne and her family actually hid, is empty of any furnishings, as requested by her father, Otto. The entire experience was extremely moving and the museum is very well done. One of the most upsetting parts was the original pencil markings on the walls (which were saved during the renovation) measuring Anne’s and her sister, Margot’s, height from when they moved into the annex until they were found by the nazis. It was such a great distance to imagine being trapped in just a few rooms for that long, having to be in constant fear and silence. More upsetting was that Anne died only one month before the concentration camp was liberated, and believing both her parents and sister had died. In actuality, her father was still alive, and friends who spoke out afterward believed Anne would have had the will to survive had she known her father was still alive. In the final room of the museum was the actual red and green plaid diary that contains Anne’s original diary entrees. It was a very overwhelming feeling seeing the diary that has become one of the world's most important documents; this single teenage girl’s diary has been translated into more than 60 languages and is the second most purchased book worldwide, after the Bible.
After our moving experience, we were in need of some spirit boosting, so we of course turned to food! I had read about The Pancake Bakery, a restaurant that serves only pancakes, and comes highly recommended by Rachael Ray on one of her Food Network shows. The restaurant was less than a block down from the Anne Frank House, but didn’t open until noon (I remember the chef saying to Rachael, “I don’t get why you eat these for breakfast!”). We spent the next hour walking around the Prinsengracht area, scoping out beautiful architecture, yummy cafes and pastry shops, and adorable house boats. We came across a small market set up in a square where we stumbled upon what we thought to be the best gingerbread in the world! It was fresh out of the oven and after a free sample, we all had to buy a (large) square. It was in-cred-i-ble (and was talked about for the rest of the weekend).

Around 11:45 we headed back to the Pancake Bakery, where we waited outside for a few minutes before being the first ones seated. Within 10 minutes, there was already a queue waiting for tables! Carolyn ordered a pancake with apples and cinnamon ice cream, while I opted for traditional Dutch poffertjes (puffy silver dollar pancakes) with poached pears, cinnamon ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and shaved roasted almonds on top. Gilding the lily much?

 After lunch, we made our way across the city via tram to the Heineken Brewery, where we had pre-purchased tickets. However, first, we took a beautiful canal boat tour, which conveniently departed directly across the brewery. The boat ride was a great way to see the city, navigating through both the old and new canals, and taking in the many different architecture styles. We also saw Europe's largest floating Chinese restaurant! (Could they be any more specific?)

The sun was shining and it wasn’t too cold, so we were all very grateful for the nice weather (it could have been miserable otherwise!). One of the things the driver pointed out that I probably wouldn’t have noticed otherwise, were the hooks hanging at the top of almost every house. The reason for these: the houses and stairs are so narrow inside the houses that it is nearly impossible to move furniture in and out, so the hooks are attached to a pulley system which allows the furniture to be hoisted to the appropriate floor when the windows are (easily) removed!

After our leisurely ride, we were ready to tackle the Heineken Brewery. I had heard great things about it from friends’ previous trips, so I was excited to experience it. The first floor provided a background on the founders and company, with the usual museum-like exhibits and historical objects in glass cases (we of course just meandered through this part). At the end of the floor was a woman giving a short explanation about the brewing process, before entering the actual (non-working) brewery, which showed all the steps in making the famous brew.

After exiting that area, we were (surprisingly) greeted by horses! I’m not really sure why they are still there (they used to use them to draw wagons to deliver Heineken to parts of the Netherlands), but I guess they have to compete with the Bud Clydesdales somehow! The five of us then waited in line for about 10 minutes for the “Brew U ride.” Knowing us Disney fanatics, Carolyn and I were very excited for our first ride of the semester. But, as always, high Disney-expectations led to disappointment. The “ride” was basically just a standing platform that shook a little, in addition to bubbles and a few water spritzes for effect (although I did have Ashley grabbing my hand at one point!). It was a very cute idea, but could definitely be Disney-fied. I'll get an imagineer on it stat. The ride let out to two huge Heineken star-shaped bars, where a (very cute) bartender gave each of us a small glass of beer and taught us how to drink it “correctly.” Apparently, you’re supposed to swoosh it around in your mouth; if you just swallow it straight away, it will taste bitter. Carolyn and I were hopeful that we had been drinking it the wrong way… but to no avail, beer still tastes gross. From there, we made our way to the interactive part of the experience where you can take pictures and make videos with all things Heineken. We all took a few pictures to e-mail to friends and family (appropriately with the Tower Bridge!), before making a "music video" to a Dutch song, which when shown to others, may appear as though we had enjoyed the "experience" a little too much ;) But in reality, we had yet to make it to the actual bar!

That was our next and final stop, where we were entitled to two pints of Heineken (included in our admission) but we ended up passing on the offer, and headed back out to the city.
At this point it was about 4:30 and the sun was beginning to set. We made our way to Leideseplein, one of the main night-life squares in Amsterdam, full of bars, clubs, etc., encountering a huge protest along the way. Also in Leidseplein this time of year was the Winter Plaza, a cute little market area with Christmas treats and an ice skating rink!

We spent about twenty minutes (and multiple apple beignets later), before heading to meet Allie’s boyfriend and his friends for dinner. We didn’t think about how being a group of nine in Amsterdam on a Saturday night would be such an issue, but we finally managed to find a little Italian restaurant on one of the main streets. The meal took a while, and by the time we were done it was almost nine o’clock: time for Amsterdam at night!
We first headed to a coffeeshop (where Carolyn and I nearly suffocated) before heading to the Red Light District. Let me preface by saying the whole thing intrigues me. Of course, always thinking about business, I asked questions like “Do they work independently or are they managed by a company?” “How much do they have to pay for their space?” “Is it per night or per month?” “Who owns the actual buildings?” "How are they chosen?" etc. I think everyone thought I was a little crazy, but I'm still dying to know all the answers! The actual walk through was almost like a movie – very bizarre. About half of them were talking on their cell phones, and I of course joked, they’re probably saying, “Mom I can’t talk right now! I’ll call you back later!” We did see many a windows shut and negotiations taking place, but the whole experience was just very bizarre: it was almost like looking at life-size (scantily clad) Barbie doll boxes. I was very glad we were with a group of guys, because otherwise, we would not have had the guts to walk through by ourselves. Can you say awkward?

After we’d had enough of the red-light experience, we walked back to Dam square where we spent about an hour at a bar nearby (which played great American music) before calling it a night. We were able to catch the tram and Metro back to our hotel before they closed, and definitely none of us had issues falling asleep!
Although we really only have a day and a half in Amsterdam, we accomplished a ton in our first (real) fifteen hours. How the city transforms from day to night is incredible, and almost seems like two different worlds. My expectations were definitely not disappointed; can’t wait for day two!
      Cheers,
      LC