Day 28 & 29: Take Two- Amsterdam with Ashley

Friday morning was a craze of preparations for the weekend and my upcoming visit with my good friend from Agnes Scott, Ashley Williams. I got up, did a load of laundry, biked to campus to visit the ATM and the library to print our e-tickets, mailed some cards, and went to the grocery store! Shortly after noon, I headed down to Tilburg West to board the train to Amsterdam.

Ashley had been communicating with me throughout the morning about her travel status. She was taking a train from Besancon, France (where she is studying abroad) to Paris, through Brussels and all the way to Amsterdam. I was to meet her in Amsterdam around 2pm. However, due to some unfortunate weather in France, her trains were delayed and she didn't end up arriving until closer to 3pm. Luckily, I was able to arrange my train plans and got to Amsterdam about 3pm. We were to meet up at the Central Train Station in Amsterdam, a station that I have become quite familiar with in my travels around the Netherlands. However, after our many texts to find one another in the station, we soon discovered that Ashley's train had dropped her off at the Schipol (airport) Station. So, Ashley took a short train to the Central Station and we finally met up! It felt so good to see a familiar face!

Ashley was pretty exhausted from a long day of traveling already (she left about 5:30am!), but we headed on down through the busy streets of Amsterdam to the hostel. We were staying at the same hostel (Shelter City) that I stayed at last weekend with the girls. Its pretty centrally located to the station and other good sights ot see in Amsterdam, so it was perfect! And the weather was MUCH nicer this time around, so I was very thankful for that. I even got some nice pictures in the sunlight (hmm, sunlight....imagine that!).

We had to wait in quite a line at the hostel to check-in, as they were pretty busy this weekend. Most universities in Europe have this week off for the Carnaval festivities, so many students are capitalizing on this opportunity to travel....guess that's what we're doing too! When we finally got through the line, we realized it was 5:30pm-time to be at the Anne Frank house! We had booked tickets online to avoid the crazy-long line for 5:30, thinking that would give us plenty of time...however we were running late! But we booked it on over to Prisengracht, and with the help of our handy dandy  map of Amsterdam (which I had saved from last weekend), we got there just before 6pm (when the museum closes!). The woman at the counter was mift, but she allowed us in (thankfully!). We spent about 45 minutes reading the facts about the commemorative life of Anne Frank and the history of the Secret Annex and those it housed for so long during the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands. We climbed the steep, narrow stairs all the way to the Annex. The rooms in the annex are unfurnished, as Anne's father, the sole survivor of the family, wished for them to remain unfurnished. However, they did have miniature models of how the home looked during that time. It was quite a lot to take in, and left us pretty speechless as we left.

Next, we set out to find the Canal Boat Tour port, as Ashley had booked tickets for a evening canal cruise for the two of us. With the help of the map, we eventually found our way! Then we attempted to grab a quick bite to eat before boarding the boat, as the woman at the ticket counter informed us that we were not allowed to bring food on the boat. We only had about 30 minutes until the boat left, which is not much time to eat in the Netherlands. One thing I have found about going out for dinner here is that you need to have plenty of time. We stopped in the Comedy Cafe for dinner and told the man at the bar that we were in a hurry ("our boat leaves in 20 minutes!"). He was super-sweet and helped expidite our sandwiches (which stilll took like 20 minutes!). It was a few minutes to 8:00 at this point, so we took our packaged sandwiches and headed to the boat. We weren't allowed to eat them there, so we put them in Ashley's bag for later.

On the boat, we enoyed a nice glass of wine and some peanuts, while our friendly Dutch tour guide (and waitress!) navigated our hour and a half journey through the canals by sharing interesting tidbits of trivia about Amsterdam. I learned so much on this tour, and it was really interesting! She spoke about how the houses and buildings in Amsterdam appear to be leaning against one another, as the ground is slowly sinking. She also shared a lot of interesting historical information about why the houses were built and how the number of stairs symbolized "how much taxes the family had to pay". We went under seven bridges in a row that were all illuminated with lights. So pretty! Another higlight of the tour was when the guide took a glass and scooped out a cup full of water from the canal. When looking at the canal water from the streets, it appears quite dirty and brown. However, the water in this glass was very clear. Our guide told us that the water from the canals is pumped out once every two weeks and fresh water from a lake nearby is pumped in. So the water is, indeed, quite clean!

After our boat tour, which  I enjoyed immensely, we headed back to the hostel to put our things down before heading to the red light district. We ate our sandwiches and refreshed before heading back out in the night to see the infamous Red Light District (again!). It was quite lively, as it was nearing midnight on a Friday. Ashley was curious to see the sights, so we walked down the street to see Amsterdam in all its glory :) Then we headed back to the hostel to rest for the evening.

Saturday morning, we slept in a bit and had a nice breakfast at the hostel. Then we set out to see the renowned Rijksmuseum in the Museumplein of Amsterdam. We had not made it to this sight last weekend, so I was particularly excited to see this well-known museum. Ashley is an Art History major, so she was looking forward to some good art too! We had to wait in quite a long (cold!) line at the Rijksmuseum. It was kind of crazy, becuase a man a few people behind us had what appeared to be a seizure while we were waiting. They had to call an ambulance, as he had collapsed on the ground. It was frightening, but he seemed to be okay.

We enjoyed mozying through the museum and seeing all of the art. I felt like it really complemented my studies in my Dutch history/culture class. In class, we learned that the Rijksmuseum was established in the early 1800's while the Netherlands was under the rule of Louis Napoleon from France. We saw Rembrandt's "Nightwatch" and many other famous paintings and pieces of art by Dutch painters.

After the Rijksmuseum, Ashley and I met up with my friend Daniel (from Tilburg) and his friend who he was meeting in Amsterdam as well for lunch. We found a little restaurant near the museums that served traditional Dutch food and stopped there for lunch. Ashley tried part of Daniel's beef kroket....and liked it!

After lunch, we parted ways. The boys went to the Heineken Museum (surprise, surprise!) and we went to see the Van Gogh museum. It was good to see again, even though I had visited last weekend. After Van Gogh, we went to the Albert Cuyp Market, a famous outdoor flea market in Amsterdam. It was quite a sight to see! I bought a pair of brown boots (which I had been looking for) here. The highlight of the market was finding the man who serves hot stroopwafels! I had told Ashley about stroopwafels, and wanted to give her an official introduction to this Dutch treat. Needless to say, we thoroughly enjoyed the king-size,hot off the wafel-press stroopwafels :)

Since we had been walking (in the below-freezing weather) all day long, we decided to take a tram back closer to the hostel so that we did not have to walk as far. This was a really good idea! It dropped us off pretty close. We had talked with some girls the night before at the hostel who mentioned that they had been to a really good Mexican place the night before near the hostel. Being from Texas,  Ashley really wanted to find this rarity and have some delicious comida Mexicana! I, of course, am always up for Mexican, so we headed out for dinner at the Pacifico. It wasn't difficult to find, and we were promptly seated. We shared a delicious dinner together, sampling some of their fine guacamole, and another mexican dish that involved cornbread, chorizo and egg. We enjoyed tasting their delicious sangria (yum!) and I had a nice apple cinnamon martini. Needless to say, it was a fun and yummy night!

Around 10:30pm, we headed towards the train station to go back to Tilburg. It was an intersting train ride back, as we observed a multitude of crazy-drunk college students at the 's-Hertogenbosch station when we had to switch trains. In the south of the Netherlands, Carnaval had already begun, so they were dressed up in their Carnaval costumes and pretty wasted. But we made it back safe and sound!

Day 30: Carnaval

On Sunday, Ashley and slept in and made a nice lunch after we woke up. Then we began getting ready for Carnaval. We met up with my friend, Bali, who helped me with my make-up for my Mermaid costume. Bali was dressed up as a zebra and Ashley was as butterfly. The three of us took the bus down to the city center to see the parade. We got some good pictures, then headed into a coffee shop, as it was extremely cold outside and we were beginning to get super cold! We warmed up with a nice cup of hot chocomel (hot chocolate) with some slagroom (whipped cream) on top and watched the parade from the shop's window. It was quite a sight to see! Lots of Dutch people dressed up in crazy costumes and interesting floats driving through the city streets!

Afterward, we headed back to Verbs for the evening. Ashley made us some delicious home-made macaroni and cheese and we relaxed for the night.