Amsterdam 2

In all honesty, I never had a huge desire or urge to go to Amsterdam. It always seemed like an interesting city, but it didn't pull at my heartstrings to visit the way other cities do. It has popped up more than a handful of times on our discounted frequent flier miles list but we always decided to go somewhere else, or save our miles for the next month. I knew in my heart we would get to Amsterdam one day, but I knew it would take "something" to get us there, because we weren't going to go out of our way to do it ourselves. My biggest surprise about Amsterdam was how much I truly enjoyed this city considering it didn't seem like anything special to me before.

As I mentioned previously, Michael attended a convention which went quite well. He came home every evening excited about papers he read, presentations he listened to, exhibits and vendors he visited and people he had met. We got the evenings together, but during the day I played "Solo Traveler" and had fun on my own. Of course,I would have loved to have had Michael with me, but it was kinda nice to dig back up my solo traveler self that doesn't get to come out too often.

Before arriving I knew I wanted to visit the "Anne Frank House", The "Van Gogh Museum" and "Keukenhof Gardens". They are three of the biggest tourist sites in Amsterdam. Once we got there, I realized, I didn't REALLY want to go see them. I just liked the "idea" of seeing them, because it's what your suppose to do in Amsterdam. So, I ditched them like a bad habit. Anne Frank House would have been cool, but it's rare that I meet anyone that says it is worth it. People rave about the Van Gogh Museum, but my un-artsy self wouldn't appreciate it for what it is and really, I didn't feel like staring at a bunch of paintings. Keukenhof would have been amazing I'm sure. The parks last day open was the day I arrived. I was afraid to get all the way out there and be disappointed because the tulips probably wouldn't be in their prime anymore and might be falling apart.

I did however find myself in two uncrowded and amazing places.

Monday I visited "House of Bols"
Have you ever heard of the company Bols? I hadn't either. They make a liquor which is made in several forms and fashions. The majority are flavored of all sorts of stuff, but then they had their "Genievre" which is kinda like Gin. The distillery self guided tour was one of the coolest I have been to. There were taste tests, sniff tests, texture tests.... it was fun. Afterwards with the ticket I got a free cocktail, and when I was done with that, I got to sample some of the stuff not in cocktail form. The super cool bartender poured me 5 shot glasses of stuff. Three of them were different types of Genievre (old, young and another young) and two of them were flavored, butterscotch and mango. He was surprised to know that my favorite was not a flavored one but a dark whiskey tasting one. After he realized I drink whiskey straight, he pulled out a special bottle and gave me a glass of "Bokma" which is a very strong, very tasty dark Genievre. It was delicious. Of course the bartender let me know that he never has women in there that prefer this stuff to the flavored stuff and let me know I was cool for it. I of course gave my new friend a tip, and I bought myself a bottle of "Bokma" on my way out the door.

The following day, I contemplated again going to the Anne Frank House. I loved the book, I love the story and it would be pretty amazing to see this place in real life. I however had a stronger urge to go to either the "Verzets Museum" or "The Hash, Marihuana & Hemp Musuem". Just FYI, for my mother, Michaels parents and Nana, I've never smoked pot (which in itself is amazing considering how much I have been around it and the location of where I grew up), but the pot culture and history fascinates me. In the end I decided to save this museum for next time and I picked the Verzets Museum, or as its better known the "Dutch Resistance Museum". I am so glad I did as it turned out to be the highlight of my trip. I was a bit nervous about it, because I was so disappointed with the Danish Resistance Museum. I had only been in the museum about 30 minutes when this nice older gentleman said something to me in Dutch. I of course couldn't understand him but he swtiched to English. He said with a cute little smile, "I think probably you were not born yet during the war". I laughed and said no. He told me he was 7 when the war started and that he lived just 20 kilometers north of Amsterdam. We chatted for a little bit and I found out it was his first time to visit the museum and he was very impressed with it. The thing that struck me that he mentioned was that he remembers everything from those years in very clear detail. He was so nice and I was touched that he spoke to me and then talked with me for about 10 minutes about the war and his memories. I finished my museum tour and when I looked at the clock, I realized I had spent 3 hours inside!!! This wasn't that big of a museum, but I think I read everything that was posted and watched every clip. On my way out, I noticed there was a whole different section about the Dutch in Japan and in Africa during the war!!!! I didn't have time to do all that, so I had to skip that part. This was by far, one of the most enjoyable and best museums I have ever visited.

Besides the two museums I spent my days exploring the city and was gone almost the whole day while Michael was at the convention. The architecture was beautiful and I couldn't get over how many canals there were. We of course found ourselves in the red light district which was something to see. It is definitely not a place for anyone that is very conservative or doesn't have an open mind to visit. If you have a hard time reading about drugs being legal, prostitution and sex I suggest to stop reading here and scroll down past the red font.

The red light district lived up to my expectations and stereotypes. There were loads of sex shops, live sex shows, and prostitutes. The "coffee shops" were hoppin' and the smell of pot drifted out the doors as you walked by. Head shops advertised the different types of shrooms that you could purchase and there were plenty of cannabis seeds to buy as well. (All through Amsterdam there were people smoking pot. I would often catch wiffs of it as someone walked by me smoking as they went down the street. We even stood by a little 70 something year old couple that were smoking a joint at a cross walk! ) The prostitutes were interesting. There are windows lining the street with curtains. The women sat in their windows and when they got business the men would walk in and the curtain would shut. There was an array of working women; Young women that looked to be about 22, older women that seemed to be in their late 40's, some not so attractive women, some that were so stunningly sexy that even I couldn't stop staring at them, some in cute lingerie, and some in oversized sweats. Many of them sat in their chairs smoking or talking on their cell phone which I thought was quite funny. I was impressed to see that none of them gave Michael a second look as long as I was on his arm and noticed that they did this with every other "couple" walking along as well. When just men would walk by it was a whole different story. Lips were licked, eyes were winked, and even at times, some of the women would tap on their glass to get the guys attention. It was a sight to see. I realize the drugs and sex part all seem kinda shady, but for me personally, it was refreshing to see a culture in this world with the amount of tolerance that the Dutch people have. It is not something, I have ever seen, anywhere else.

Around the city there were pictures set up with a little history of the spot you were looking at from WWII. This is one of them.

I always assumed that after living in Copenhagen, the Amsterdam bike craziness wouldn't affect me as I thought I was immune to massive amounts of bikes. Boy was I wrong. Compared to Amsterdam, Copenhagen has a total of about 3 bikes. Amsterdam was littered with bikes, anywhere there was spare room for a bike, there was a bike. They weren't near as organized while riding as they are in Denmark though.

Beautiful Canal

Wooden Tulips For Sale

Amsterdam

Bike and Graffiti

Hilarious Sign

Bols Expirence
The jars are filled with an essence which you pump and smell and have to guess what it is

My super cool bartender

House Boats

Hubby

Handmade domino's and lamp at the museum
Souvenirs

How often do you see a sign saying they won't sell drugs to minors? haha.

Canal

So, Amsterdam, super cool city. While walking around, we decided it was a place we could see ourselves living. It's a lot like Copenhagen, but much more laid back and much less expensive!!!! After not having a desire to visit, then visiting it, I very much look forward to a return trip to the Netherlands.

I'll get all my pictures online in the next few days :)