Amsterdam

Amsterdam is awesome and I've never seen so many canals and bicycles before in my life! The city itself is amazing and the integration of bike lanes everywhere is impressive. Of course, as unwitting pedestrians, we had to pay special attention to where we were walking, and look for bikes and mopeds as well as cars (we had a few close calls).

When we arrived it was a rainy, cloudy day. As we started walking the rain was just stopping so we decided to take a canal tour, as we had read that it was a great way to orient yourself in the city. Long story short, it wasn't what I had expected; it was more of a ride around the city than the 'tour' that I had wanted. I was a little disappointed but still got some good pictures, and it was a good way to see a lot of Amsterdam quickly. We were very short on time and would never have seen some of the things we got to see from the boat, such as the EYE Film Institute of the Netherlands:

After the tour we went to the Rijksmuseum (National Museum), which was nearby and has the big 'I amsterdam' sign. Of course, this was the most crowded place we saw. The line to get into the museum was super long, and it was difficult to get a good shot of the sign because everyone was trying to get a picture up close. There was also an ice skating rink right behind it!

After getting some pictures (the line for the museum was too long) we wandered off and happened on a restaurant called Little Buddha for lunch. We were the only ones in the restaurant, but it was spacious, beautifully decorated, and had delicious food. We could tell it's the kind of place that gets very crowded later, but it was nice to have the place to ourselves.

We went to the hotel to check in and drop off our bags. The hotel was very nice, and next to what looked like a business district. The only problem was that it was almost at the end of the line of one of the trams, and took a good 20 minutes to get to a station where we could transfer to another tram to get into the city.

Trying to figure out the tram system was tough, although we finally figured it out towards the end of the trip. If you're going to any place that's off the main island (museums, our hotel, etc) you'll probably need to take the tram. They don't come nearly often enough, and the station names aren't listed on the maps at the stops or on the tram, so it's hard to tell which station to get off at sometimes. We spent as much time on the trams as doing actual sightseeing. If you have to transfer lines you could end up waiting a while, especially later at night.

We made the trek back to town, stopping at Rembrandtplein, which has a huge statue of the artist, as well as a bronze representation of his famous Night Watch painting. The square is surrounded by restaurants and cafés and is a nice place to hang out for a while, although we didn't have time for that leisure. (Note: know the difference between café and coffee shop so you don't pick the wrong one. Cafés have coffee and food and coffee shops have drugs. Of course, some have both.)

Then we headed into the main island to grab a bite to eat, and went to check out the Red Light District. It's certainly an experience you won't get in America: there were tons of novelty shops, coffee shops, clubs, sex shops, and, of course, prostitute window shopping. We wandered a few of the streets, which were packed with people, but didn't go into any of the places. It's a little overwhelming since we weren't sure what to expect, but overall it's not an evil, dangerous place that some make it out to be. Everything is tightly regulated by the government, and aside from drunk tourists we didn't see anything gross or threatening in the street itself. Many coffee shops have impressive neon signs, like this one we passed on Rembrandtplein:

Getting back to the hotel took a couple hours, since we were still trying to figure out the trams. If you ever plan a trip to Amsterdam, make sure you're close to one of the lines that goes directly to Centraal Station and doesn't require a transfer. Also, they won't let you bring your late-night falafel with you on the tram.

Sunday, we got to the Van Gogh Museum shortly after it opened and didn't have to wait in any lines, which was nice. The museum is four floors of Van Gogh's work and work by other artists that inspired/were inspired by him. I won't even attempt to describe the artworks, as I have no basis for doing so, but I learned a lot about Van Gogh's techniques and inspirations, which were very interesting. Unfortunately, his most famous works are all at other more prominent museums, but this one had a lot of his early work and many lesser-known works from similar collections as the famous ones. Strangely, the museum skipped any discussion of his personal life or mental issues, simply referring to a time that he voluntarily checked into a mental institution. They focused on his artistic techniques, but his art was greatly influenced by emotion and ignoring it takes away some insight and understanding of the works.

We had a relatively early flight, so we didn't get to explore some of the areas we wanted due to lack of time. After Van Gogh, we made our way up the main island to Centraal Station to catch a train to the airport. Amsterdam is a wonderful city (although the trams are frustrating at times), and I already want to go back to get to more things on my to-see-in-Amsterdam list.

As always, there are many more pictures in the gallery!