"Where's the Dam square?"

Hey all! (Sorry this entry got kinda long!)

I just got back from Amsterdam yesterday around dinner time. I had such a great time! Amsterdam is a very cool, interesting city.

I met Ryan at the airport Thursday night, his flight came in a little later than mine, and we ventured off to find our hostel by about 9:00. We took a train to a tram to the museum quarter. When we got off the tram it was a beautiful night! All the streets were decorated with Christmas lights and people were walking and riding bikes everywhere. So we started to walk to where we thought our hostel was, and it started POURING! Basically, we walked around for about an hour and a half, lugging our stuff around, lost in miserable rain before we finally found our hostel at about 11. It was not a good start to our trip!

We got settled in and set out to find a grocery store because Ryan didn't get fed on the plane. However, since it was so late, none were open! So instead we walked to a little square about 10 minutes away to find food. It was nice because it had stopped raining and we were not lugging our bags anymore. The square was hoppin! There were people, restaurants, bars, cafes and coffee shops everywhere, and everything was lit up like Christmas! After grabbing a burger for Ryan at Burger King, silly I know but it was the fastest place and he was hungry, we crashed and went back to the hostel.

Friday we got up, ate breakfast and headed out on a free walking tour of the city. The tour started at the National monument in the middle of Dam (long A) Square. Walking on our way to the square we got a little turned around and Ryan said, "Where's the Dam Square (short A)?!" not realizing what he said. We both cracked up!

The tour was really nice! For about three hours we learned about the history of the city. Amsterdam was created when fisherman dammed the Amstel River in the 1200's...hence the name Amsterdam. More and more dams, canals, bridges and locks were built as more fisherman came to the area and to keep the then fishing village from flooding (the entire city is below sea level). Now there are more than 100 kilometres of canals and 1,500 bridges, creating about 90 islands.

All the houses along the canals are very narrow and tightly compacted together. We were told by our guide that the houses are so narrow because back in the day house owners were taxed based on the width of their houses! So all the houses are very narrow and long. Since the houses are so tiny, the staircases are also very tiny (to maximize floor space). So how do the Dutch get a new bed or a piano to the second floor of their home you ask? Well the Dutch were quite the innovators. All the houses have hooks near the top of the roof with facades that are slightly tilted forward. To get big objects up to the second floor, the Dutch hoist it up on a rope attached to the hook at the top. The facades are tilted forward so the items being hoisted do not hit and break any windows! Cool, huh?!

So back to the history...Amsterdam was officially established as a city around 1300. It was then conquered by Spain in the 16th century, but the Dutch didn't like King Phillip's taxes and prosecution of Protestants so they rebelled. They rebelled for 80 years! This rebellion is appropriately named the 80 years war...the Dutch name things very sensibly. The Dutch won, set up the first modern day republic and entered into a "golden age" of tolerance (religious, social, political, you name it) and wealth (from trade through the Dutch Trading Company- a shipping company). This period, however, ended when Napoleon conquered the city and made it a part of the French empire. The Dutch resisted again, broke free of the French and became the tolerant, liberal Amsterdam we know today. At the beginning of WWII many Jews fled from Germany to Amsterdam because of its religious toleration. The Jewish population in Amsterdam quickly grew to over 120,000! Anne Frank and her family were one of the Jewish families that fled from Germany to Amsterdam (she wrote her diary in Amsterdam). Sadly, the German invaded the Netherlands and quickly imposed their rules. Only 5,000 of the once 120,000 Amsterdam Jews survived the war.

So enough about sad history, I'll tell you about all the fun Ryan and I had! After the tour, we went into a cafe to warm up, get off our feet, eat a small lunch and drink a couple of Heineken's. It was really nice. After that, we walked around Dam Square (the city's main square) a bit and went to the Heineken Brewery tour. The tour was really fun! Then we went to dinner (Chinese!) and walked around the city. We walked through the red light district, which was weird yet interesting to see. The red light district contains countless coffee shops (really marijuana shops), prostitutes, "sex shows," clubs and bars. As you may or may not already know, prostitution is legal in Amsterdam. It is just seen as another business! The girls have to rent out their rooms, pay taxes and abide by other business regulations. That is just so weird to me! There were people from all walks of life--old couples, young families, single men, groups of college friends--walking around the streets like it was perfectly normal to see half naked girls standing in windows! That's Amsterdam for you! We ended up going to a bar and then a club. Overall, Friday was a very fun and informative day!

Saturday we hit up the museums. We went to the Van Gogh museum first. It was very well done and taught all about the life of Van Gogh while guiding us through the stages of his painting style. I love Van Gogh and loved seeing his paintings so close up! Then we went to the Rijksmuseum, which contained a lot of Dutch history and many Rembrandt paintings. Rembrandt, though very different from Van Gogh, was also an amazing painter. All of his paintings are so real and lifelike it is incredible! They looked more like photographs than paintings! After the museum we decided to take a load off and enjoy a 90 minute canal cruise. It started raining again but the boat was covered so it was fine. We really enjoyed the first hour but the weather, the lull of the boat and our exhaustion put us to sleep for the last part! We needed that break :) Then we warmed up in a cafe with tea and chocolate before heading over to Anne Frank's house.

I loved this museum! It was very well done. There were quotes from Anne's journal along the walls and many artifacts from when the family. There were also videos of interviews of the servants/workers that helped them hide. It was neat to see the little annex they stayed in too. I was especially touched by the lines on the walls marking the growth of the children during their two years in hiding. At the end of the museum they had Anne's actual journal on display too. It was a very moving museum.

After the museum we walked around the city and got dinner at a nice little Italian place. Then we wandered our way back to the hostel, popping in and out of shops and stopping for a beer. It was another great day!

I had to catch my flight at 2:30 Sunday so we really only had the morning to wander around the city. We strolled around the square near our hostel then ventured over to explore the floating flower market. The market consisted of a bunch of greenhouses floating on a canal with their storefronts on the street. It was really pretty! There were tulips and Amaryllis everywhere! It was funny too because you would look among all the pretty flowers and see a pot growing kit! Then we just wandered our way to the main train station and I started my journey home :( It was a great weekend!!