A Bridge Too Far

So after my last post containing only my musings on Amsterdam without any actual explanation of what we did over the three days (give me a break, it's hard to write in anything but stream of consciousness when you are lying by a pool in Santorini, which I am currently), I will try and succinctly summarize our time there.

On our first full day we ventured out to De Pijp which beside being a "cool" neighborhood that various forums said I should visit, held the best part of Amsterdam for me... My friend Bridget! We met up with her and her boyfriend Markus for coffee (ACTUAL coffee), before they had to get to the airport to leave that afternoon. It was a complete fluke that they happened to be there as I had been trying to organize a place to meet up with Bridget since I had been planning my trip and had almost given up because our plans had both become pretty concrete. She was one of my favourite work mates at my last job and I was pretty devastated when she left to travel the world so it was really nice to see her again, if only for a couple of hours.

Shereen and I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Vondelpark (the biggest park in Amsterdam), visiting the Rijks Museum which holds many of Rembrandt's masterpieces, and walking thought the Jewish Quarter back to our hostel in the evening.

/Vondelpark

The next day we went to see Anne Frank's house in the morning. Now that I am old enough to fully appreciate how heart breaking the story is (as opposed to the last time I was here with my parents) it was hard not to get emotional. There was an older woman who actually broke down in sobs next to me who was telling her friend that it brought back too many memories for her. I wondered what her experience of the war had been.

In the afternoon we took a bike tour around the city, which was as fun as it was terrifying. Everyone knows Amsterdam is the bike capital of the world. Locals take biking seriously, and they have about as much patience for tourists wobbling along in the bike lane, as we have for learner drivers in the right hand lane at home. I was dealing with a bike that had hand brakes (I'm used to back-pedal brakes), riding on the right hand side and looking the wrong way before I crossed an intersection. I would safely cross the bike lane looking to my left, avoid the cars coming from the left, avoid the cars coming from the right, then I would sigh in relief before screeching my brakes, skidding, swearing loudly and narrowly avoiding a speedy local in the bike lane on the other side. It was always the two bike lanes that got me! Ahh, anyway the day was so much fun. Like I said in my last post I did almost get hit by a truck (or maybe three) but most times it was because the dumb bike traffic lights are so quick and there wasn't enough time for the whole group to get through one, and I would focus too much on looking where I tour guide was heading next rather than the colour of the light. Anyway those close shaves were nothing compared to the 100 times I almost got take out by a local. They are vicious I'm warning you. It was a great day riding around the canals and Vondelpark again, where this time we saw the Picasso statue and were given a little information about the park including the fact that it's sinking and that is legal to have sex in the park- hence it's nickname Fondlepark. I was slightly worried at the beginning of the tour, as I am not the most athletic person in the world and didn't want to be that girl, struggling at the back of the pack. But I really needn't have worried. Shereen and I were joined by two young British girls and three older American women, so I was already in the top 50-ish % of athletic ability. Plus Amsterdam is flat as a tack, the only time you had to exert any effort was in going up over a canal bridge or "Dutch mountain" as our guide called them. It was on this bike tour that we went right into the Red Light District for the first time. Our guide Pip told us to get off our bikes as we would be walking to and through it. We were walking along, and I was waiting for Pip to tell us that we had arrived, when I turned to say something to Shereen and there was a half naked woman over her shoulder behind a glass window. It completely crept up on us!

/Bike jam as the bridge lets a boat through

After a couple of hours riding around and hearing about the history of the city from our guide Pip we made our last stop for the day on the Amstel River before heading back to the bike shop. Pip was congratulating everyone about a job well done, saying we saw a lot and all with NO ACCIDENTS! At the time he said it I thought it was premature and had I not been on a bike I would have found some wood to knock. But we set off again and wouldn't you know it, on the last bridge of the day, one of the old women fell of her bike as she was going too slowly uphill. Her ankle swelled to the size of a grapefruit and we had to wait for one of the other staff members of the bike shop to come and take her back in a special bike with a crate at the front for her to sit in. And we were all cursing Pip for jinxing her.

The day we left our flight was not until the afternoon, so we decided to take a boat cruise to see the city from the famous canals. We had lunch at a really cute cafe and went and got some Dutch pancakes before calling it a day.

/Steep stairs to the Pancake House

I realize writing this now we didn't do anything particularly interesting, but it was so fun just travelling around the city looking at it by foot, bike and boat. It was definitely one of my favourite places so far (which I also realize I am saying after multiple posts now and it's losing it's significance, but I swear I mean it).

Next stop: Prague

Xx