Ik Spreekt een Beetje Nederlands (part 2)

So the day following the CIEE trip to the Hague, i returned on my own to visit my friend Sien. Sien is a student at Leiden University in the Netherlands who studied on exchange at Richmond during the fall semester where she joined up with the quidditch team. At the end of last semester, I told her I would visit her and I delivered.

Sien met up with me at the train station in the afternoon. From there, she showed me a bit more around the city which i hadn't gotten to see much of the day before. I learned that Hague is considered one of the uglier Dutch cities, with its supposedly bland architecture but I tended to disagree. Sien showed me around the city, with some of its notable landmarks and monuments:

I also learned that apparently fred means peace in some language:

Neat

After a bit of sight seeing, Sien had to attend a meeting for what she described as her campus' new green eco-friendly student organization which she helps run. I decided to tag along and got to witness how student life works in the Netherlands and got to sign the petition for the school to consider implementing recycling (but don't tell them I'm not a student). To be honest, it was hard to tell I wasn't in the colonies at this event. The organization enticed people to show up with free food, everyone was speaking English and there was American music playing in the venue which reminded me a bit of the Commons at UR, if students you know actually hung out there after classes. Then things got a little different, as some different students took over the projector and played a series of contemporary African and Caribbean music. I really don't know how else to describe it. Here's one of the videos that played:

Different. After the meeting wrapped up, Sien brought me to see the beach area of the Hague, which was kind of ironic considering it was the first day of Spring. It was cold, but i guess businesses there had just opened up for the season. The beach district was no different than similar boardwalk style cities in the US with a series of beachside establishments, a decrepit pier, and sand. It was my first time seeing the English channel which was pretty cool. We also stumbled upon a series of sculptures depicting some interesting humanoid figures. There were i think 30 different instillations and Sien informed me that each represented a fairy tale or fable, some Dutch and some more internationally recognized.

This one's eating raw herring just like me!

Hansel & Gretel?

Gulliver's Travels

Not sure but this one is dark

Weeping Giant

 This one is apparently a very Dutch story about a boy who puts his finger in a crack in a damn.

Almost missed this one

I then had a nice dinner with Sien and her boyfriend of two years. We had pannekeken, which is if you cant figure out is Dutch for pancakes, which the Dutch eat at any and all times of day with any and all types of foods inside the hotcakes. I got salami and cheese. Not bad. After our nice dinner, I bid Sien and her boyfriend adieu and took off a a train to the wild city of Amsterdam.

Now yes, we all know about Amsterdam, city of wonders and what not. When I stepped out of the train station, I was greeted with this lovely sign warning me of the dangers of the city:

Don't try the Cocaine in Amsterdam: Point noted

After figuring out the transit system, I hopped on a tram towards the neighborhood where I met up with my Airbnb host for the weekend, Rika. Rika was a very nice middle aged woman who rents out her daughters room, which was very apparent by the amount of horse and doll type of memorabilia throughout the room.

I also had to climb this to get into bed

Rika was a wonderful host, but i didn't see too much of her as I was exploring Amsterdam. I chose to stay in Friday night to get a head start on Saturday. At the crack of dawn, I got up and tried to beat the crowds at the Anne Frank House. I had heard the crowds get ridiculous, and I was not mistaken. I arrived about 50 minutes before opening and the queue was already about 40 people long. No big deal. After less than 5 minutes in line, the crowd had already doubled, and by the time doors opened a near hour later, the line stretched out down the street, around the church and who knows how far after that.

Like most people, I sure was touched by Anne's story when I first read about it in middle school. Getting to step inside the secret annex where her and her fellow hiders lived during that time was an extremely surreal experience. The space was as cramped as you can imagine, even without furniture, as Anne's father had requested the annex remain bare in its presentation. The sheer thought of 8 people living in such a confined space, limiting their noise levels during the day is unimaginable. The museum does an excellent job portraying the story of not just Anne, but the rest of the inhabitants of the Secret Annex, as well as those who helped them during their hiding. The museum consists on the original building that housed Otto Frank's former company and the secret annex. All the furniture has been removed with the exception of the original bookcase used to conceal the entrance to the secret annex. The rooms have been kept in conditions resembling how they were left in 1944. The museum also consists of the building next door, which consists of several exhibits highlighting the story, the Holocaust and daily life in Amsterdam during the second World War, as well as a gift shop of course. There is also a video playing in which celebrities like Natalie Portman and various writers, columnists and media members give their thoughts on Anne's stories. I would have to say the Anne Frank Huis is a must do when in Amsterdam.

Shelley Winter's oscar for playing Anne Frank

The original house is directly to the right of the triangular roofed building

Conveniently across the street from the Anne Frank House, is the Cheese museum, in which one can sample a wide variety of Dutch cheeses. I'm not sure what the Dutch do with their cheese, but they're doing something right.

After having more than my fair share of free cheese, and purchasing some more because you know, I'm not a mooch or anything, I decided to explore more of the city on foot. I am not sure how much walking I did exactly this weekend, but it must have been at the very least 10 miles. That's a large figure right? I walked up down in between and throughout Amsterdam that afternoon. I  ended up getting lunch at a place called Van Dobben, a place that Lonely Planet had suggested.

Remember the Name

If you're looking for some cheap no nonsense quality food, this is the place to go. I had roast beef smothered in gravy, and sampled some of their world famous croquettes which are certainly not overrated.

Seriously, they were life-changing. Anyways, all that and a hot chocolate was around 10 euros, so a great deal all around.

From there, I went to explore Amsterdam's museum district, which consists of a nice green park, surrounded by museums on all sides and features this sign you may have seen in pictures before:

Rest assured I have shaved since this photo

Naturally, I had to have some fun with this sign, because every time anyone I know is in Amsterdam they seem to instagram a picture of this sign for some reason. Seriously, why? It just says I Amsterdam. Is it a famous landmark? No. So why is this the quintessential Amsterdam picture?

What is this language?

Anyways after my hipster ironic picture, I went to the Van Gogh Museum. You may know him as that painter who chopped off his ear and painted stuff like this:

I'll admit, I did not know much about Van Gogh beforehand, but the man lived a crazy life, and was actually insane, and his artwork manages to reflect the various period of normalcy and insanity he experience in his life, which was extremely interesting to follow throughout the museum.

I followed that up with a stroll through Vondelpark, the large park nearish the city center. Parks are nice. Most cities have them and they're a welcome change of scenery every now and then. Some have weird statues, like this one:

My next stop was the Sex Museum. Now, Amsterdam is known for its sex culture, and I'll get to the Red Light district in a minute, but I have to say that the sex museum was just plain hilarious. Once you get past the old time sex pictures which are just plain weird, you experience animatronic flashers and a wide variety of hilarious exhibits. I'll keep the pictures PG-13 for you:

S&M Displays

Marylin Monroe was there

This is my new friend Harry. He's kind of a dick

I then made my way to the infamous Red Light District just as night had set in. We all know about the Red Light District, so i'll leave that to your imagination or personal experiences. I will say, that the place is pretty disorienting, despite being like 4 streets and a canal. It is pretty easy to lose your sense of direction when you're surrounded by hoards of people, neon lights and girls that are tapping on their windows at you.

That night, I tried out a couple of local bars and some local beer as well. In all fairness, it was nothing compared to what I am used to in Belgium so theres nothing to talk about.

This is Grolsch. Moving on...

I must say though, Amsterdam looks pretty stunning at night:

The next day, I decided to get a different perspective of the city and took a canal tour. After walking an absurd amount the day before, it was nice to have the city shown to me. It does appear different from in the canals. For one, everything looks bigger (duh), but the city also appears extremely more complex and harder to navigate. So props to the Romans for inventing roads. Those things are dope.

One of many houseboats

I ended up getting lunch at Van Dobben again because it was just that good.

With a couple hours before my bus back to Brussels departed, I was able to watch the Manchester United Liverpool match in a pro United bar. What an excellent game that was (right Pat Barrett?). Juan Mata is juan incredible player. That United victory was an excellent way to close out my weekend in the Netherlands. I can't say enough about Amsterdam, as it was definitely one of the most enjoyable weekends I have had so far in my time abroad. Till next time, cheers.