AmsterDAM

When we landed in Amsterdam, we quickly realized how massive the airport was. We finally made our way to the train area and took it two stops to our hotel/hostel. I’m still not sure whether it was a hostel or hotel. All six of us were in the same room with no one else though, which was nice. The room was extremely clean and comfortable also.

We quickly settled in, and headed out for the night. It was already getting late. We went to explore the new and vulgar parts of Amsterdam. We saw coffee shops and truffle shops before grabbing dinner. We went to a delicious burger place, but sadly none of us were that hungry. Eric and Dustin met up with us at dinner for the rest of the night.

After dinner we all wandered around the red light district for a little. However, it made us all so sad. These women were getting objectified for their careers. They probably never would have a real relationship, and thought of sex as work. It really hurt us.

We went into a PUG?, but it turned out to be a place where you could smoke inside. We were grossed out, and left as soon as we arrived. Instead, we went next store to a hotel and hung out in their lobby. It had cool artwork and lights, so we just chilled there for a while. There wasn’t much of a nightlife in the area where we were just weed, which we didn’t want. It was fun to just hang out though.

Before heading home, we stopped at an Irish pub. Lauren and Brady ordered a tequila sunrise. I was dying for a chamomile tea. Our waiter made fun of me as remarked that I had a different vibe going on. My tea came with a biscoff cookie called Lotus. Yurie freaked out and asked for more cookies from the waiter.

After we finished up, we called an Uber back to the Meineger (the hotel/hostel). On the drive back, a biker SLAMMED into the back of our uber. She kept riding too, and was very clearly intoxicated. The uber driver screamed at her, “DUMB BITCH!!!” It prompted a really interesting conversation between all of us about drinking and riding bikes, which was something none of us had thought about.

The next morning we woke up early and got ready. We grabbed Starbucks for breakfast, and headed to Heineken. We started out by doing the Heineken experience. I enjoyed it, despite not being a huge fan of beer. However, the people who had been to Guinness in Dublin said that was better. There was a pouring contest based off how much foam you let in, and I won! I poured it the best! I got a cute Heineken pin. The experience tour was in the old factory, which was interesting. There wasn’t too much information about the history though. I thought they could have elaborated.

We had signed up for a combo ticket which included the Heineken experience, canal tours, and the ADAM lookout. After the Heineken experience, we jumped on a boat right out front. As we floated along, our canal tour guide explained different things we passed. There were old bars and concert venues. She said how people buy the boat slips along the canal. I hadn’t thought of that before, but was amused hearing all of the details. The canal tour ended at ADAM. Once at the top of ADAM, there was a great view of the surrounding Amsterdam area. The rest of the group was too cold to stay, but Yurie and I waited back. We wanted to do the giant swing. The swings were the tallest in the world. I called myself a broke bitch to the ticket attendant, who got the biggest kick out of that. As we were waiting in line, I saw a girl I went to high school with getting in line as well. She got in line behind us, and we caught up about our semesters.

As we got closer to the front of the line, I started freaking out. I am afraid of heights, and this was a large height approaching. As soon as Yurie and I sat on the swing and were locked in, I started screaming out of pure fear. Yurie was screaming out of pure joy. The swings didn’t last long though. After a few more photo ops, we wandered back down and took the 100 ft elevator back to the bottom. 

At this point, it was just Yurie and I. Everyone else went back to nap. We took the water boat taxi across the river. There were literally cars on it! It is remarkable that it was free as well. We strolled to lunch recommended by some of my family friends. We passed more bikes than I’ve ever seen in my life parked outside the metro station. I bet it is so good for the environment that people bike so much. I wonder why the EU is so much more conscious about the environment, as opposed to us at home. 

The lunch spot was very locally. We realized this not just by the makeup of the crowd, but also the fact that Yurie and the waitress got into a disagreement pretty quickly. It was not a big deal, but she was extremely rude to Yurie. We split some dutch meatballs, which were good but too hot. I burned my mouth worse than I’ve ever done before. There was a weird but kinda good consistency in the middle of it. I got a club sandwich too, which was literally a loaf of bread with a few pieces of meat it felt like. Ugh. 

We headed back to the hotel/hostel afterwards. Everyone else was napping, but I sat in the hallway. I talked on the phone with someone who had interviewed already for a position I was interviewing for. He and I spoke for close to an hour and a half. I had my interview on Monday following our trip. 

When everyone woke up, we quickly got ready and headed to the lobby. Dustin and Eric met up with us in the lobby. We pregamed, and quite possibly drank the place dry of tequila.

We went to the Martin Garrix concert. It turns out he was from Amsterdam, so there were so many welcome home signs. It was sweet how excited everyone was. Coming from Nashville, we have artists from Nash come back all the time. However, no one really makes a big deal out of it. 

When we walked in, we tried to get some alcohol. There was none. This was the first red flag. Apparently, it was because it was an all ages concert? Bizarre. That doesn’t happen in the US.

As we made our way up to the front of the crowd, we were taken back. There were so many middle school aged children and their parents. One mom even shoved Brady, so aggressively and for basically no reason. Once we were in the front, we just mainly tried to focus on Martin Garrix. He is literally I.N.C.R.E.D.I.B.L.E. Not to be dramatic or anything, but…. I’m in love with him. He put on such a good show, and his music is amazing. We bought some t shirts after the show and then went back to the hotel.

Lauren and I woke up super early the next day to get in the queue for tickets to Anne Frank huis. We woke some of the others up to help us too. We had all of our phones and computers out. Luckily, Lauren got the tickets for us at 12:15. 

We got ready and grabbed Starbucks for breakfast again. We tried to take the metro again, but the 48 hour passes we bought were a rip. They are called the 48-hour ones, but since we used them for the first time on Friday night (literally 10 pm) that was Day 1. Day 2 was Saturday. So, we ended up ubering to Anne Frank huis. 

Once we were there, we got audio guides. The house starts in a museum. The audio guide and museum was done really well I thought. I have read Anne Frank’s diary, but it was when I was younger. The museum was in the factory that was connected to where Anne and her family hid. Each room spoke about history, but also something to do with what the room was. The museum leads into the secret annex, where Anne, her family, and others hid. The actual bookcase that hid the door was still there, and we used the same entrance that they used to get their supplies. All of the furniture was removed when the Gestapo discovered Anne and her family. However, the pictures Anne put up in her room, and other aspects were still the exact same. Anne’s father had brought her collection of magazines to the Secret Annex before they got them. I got chills reading that aspect of her father. As we continued through the Secret Annex, we saw the attic where Anne liked to see the birds from. The bathroom was only able to be used during the night, because once the day hit everyone in the Secret Annex had to go to the living room. This was so the workers in the factory below didn’t discover them. After the Secret Annex, there were some short films about Anne, and the others that hid in the Secret Annex. A few aspects that resonated with me extra were the following… First of all, Anne’s father (who survived and published her diary) said at the time they didn’t realize that Anne had so many thoughts and feelings. She didn’t share them outloud with her family. In another video, it had a bunch of quotes from different famous people about Anne Frank’s story. One thing that was mentioned was that there were so many families hiding in similar conditions to Anne’s, but we only know of Anne’s because of her diary. This made me think. It really put into perspective the number of how many people were hiding in fear for their lives. There was also a book of all the names of the people taken by the Gestapo. 

I bought a postcard in the giftshop that showed an ariel view of the neighborhood, with the warehouse and attic where Anne hid highlighted. This represented to me how in any of the other buildings there could have been the same hiding and fear as well. 

When we left Anne Frank huis, we took pictures around the canals. We wandered in and out of flower stores, and other trinket shops. My favorite place we visited was the cheese meuseum. We got to taste so so many different cheeses. It was jaw dropping how expensive some of them were. We also stopped for a lunch. Yurie and I shared a thai salad and truffle pasta (I don’t like truffle – I don’t know why I agreed to that dish).

Afterwards, we went to find the best apple pie in Amsterdam (recommended by my family friends). The first place we went to was sold out, but it turned out that I misread the email. That place wasn’t the right one. We found the right place, Winkel 43, and quickly could tell this was it. It was overflowing with people in every knoock and cranny, not to mention the large amount of people outside. Everyone had PIE too! We sat at the bar and all ordered apple pie with whipped cream. The whipped cream was probably my favorite part. It came out of a machine that looked like it was making orange juice. We talked to the owner too. He said it was his grandmother’s recipe. 

After our apple pie adventure, we went to the flower market. We had heard there was a floating market on the water. However, it turns out that it has been gone for a while. Instead, there were a bunch of tulip stores on the canal. They were all beautiful to look at. It was soon time to go back to the hotel/hostel. We walked a little bit away to get a cheaper uber. We walked through some really cool neighborhoods and streets on our way.

The airport had a looooong security line leaving us to stress, but it all worked out. We made it! There were a bunch of other Praguians with us on our flight too. It worked well for ubers once we made it to Prague.