It's been a really long day for me. My flight left Boston at 7:05pm EDT, and arrived in Amsterdam at 7:25am CEST. I couldn't have slept more than maybe three hours on the flight. I ate the on-flight dinner, and watched “Milk.” (I've been meaning to see it for some time, and highly recommend it. It really puts the gay rights movement into perspective for those of us young enough not to know how far we've come. To think that you could be fired from your job for sexual orientation... outrageous!) Next thing you know, they were serving breakfast. Geez!!!
In Amsterdam, I hopped on the train, and headed to Amsterdam Centraal, the main train station in the heart of Amsterdam. I got there a little before 9am, so killed some time walking before renting a bike for 9.50 euros from Mac Bike right beside the station. I also got a free bike map, which was quite helpful in not only orienting myself, but also in pointing out the best bike paths.
I biked up to Java island, a little island wedged between rivers and accessible by bridges. It was quite and serene, and few people were out and about that early in the morning (ie, they were already at work or school or whereever). I then headed back into the city looking for Oosterpark, but got terribly lost. The good kind of lost, of course!! I wandered all over, ate some of the leftover food I had from the plane (cheese and crackers, bread and butter) and enjoyed the sun before it hide behind clouds. By the time I actually found Oosterpark, it was noon. I'd been biking for almost 3 hours!!
Amsterdam is not at all like I expected it to be. Then again, I suppose I had no real expectations. Everyone hails it as this crazy liberal pot-smoking whorehouse, but I didn't get that vibe at all. People seemed laid back, but not stoned. I only smelled pot once, and that was in the park. Not sketchy at all, or perhaps I just wasn't in the right part of town!!! Amsterdam also has a lot of interior canals. I was not expecting so much water. It felt quite Venice-like because of the numerous canals, but that was the only similarity between the two cities.
Finally, I was not expecting the extensive use of bicycles in the city. The 5 minutes of Amsterdam research I did before arriving there mentioned that biking was an ideal way to see the city, but I wasn't ready for the extensive bike paths. The city has really integrated all of its mode of transportation together in a rather seamless matter. Cars, bikes, and people all have separate paths and traffic lights to simplify matters. There are trolleys in the center of many roads, but it doesn't seem to be an issue. Also, the sheer number of bicycles I saw was astounding. After a few hours of seeing nothing but bikes, it got a little bit discouraging, much like seeing discarded aluminum cans on the side of the road tarnishes an otherwise clean city. That aesthetic fact aside, it was reassuring to see such a “green” town, where bikes and public transportation significantly outnumbered car transit.
Back to park talk though, Oosterpark was small but had everything a park should have: bike paths, a small pond, ample benches, and waterfowl. There was a pair of swans along with four of their F1, and several tourist-types were photographing them. (Me included.) Following a brief walk around the area, I crashed on a bench for an hour long nap before heading to get some food. I'd seen what I thought was “Hartdog's” on the way to the park, so I return. Un/fortunately, I discovered that it was Hartog's, a bakery. I bought a mini apple pie (Mini Appletaart) without using any English. Go team!
Following the park endeavor, I went to see one of the mosques in the city. It showed up as a blue symbol on my bike map, and a totally passed it because I was looking for the spires I've seen all over the middle east. It was instead quite unassuming, which is more fitting for a place of worship, IMHO.
Off to the Van Gogh Museum. But before I made it there, I ran into the I amsterdam sign, and took too many pictures of it. Eventually, I did make it into the Van Gogh museum. It's cliché to say these days, but I'm a big Van Gogh fan. I was totally blown away when I saw “Starry Night” at the MoMA and realized it is the size of a sheet of paper, more or less. So tiny!! This museum had a lot of other famous works (200 paintings!), and fortunately, most of them were larger. I knew that he had lived a troubled life (ear-cutting-off-and-such), but had no idea he committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest at the age of 37. Quite tragic. That information was provided, along with tons of other tidbits, on bilingual placards. What was way cooler though, was the computer system with letters to his siblings. I couldn't stay and read them all, but I was quite inticed by the ones I did read, and hopefully will be able to find an online collection or book one of these days.
After the museum, I biked back to the bike store, taking about an hour of meandering to return to the shop. I hopped back on the train, and now, here I am, sitting in the airport waiting for my flight. It is totally snack time right now.
Next post will be from Jerusalem!!!
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