amsterdam

when e. and i were at the rijksmuseum yesterday with the rest of our art history class, waiting for our teacher to show up, one of our classmates asked us if we were pot-smokers. when we said no, she laughed and said, "well you're in the wrong place then!"

despite this sentiment, you don't have to be a pothead to have a good time in amsterdam. of course, those who are will never lack for something to do, as there are coffeeshops (read: cannabis/hashish establishments) on just about every street.






(despite popular belief, it is actually illegal. but coffeeshops are licensed to sell it as long as they don't advertise, sell to minors and sell alcohol or hard drugs at all).

but really, anyone with a passion for art, architecture or history--or just a desire to explore a new place--can have fun in amsterdam. it's a very eccentric city with something for everyone.








(raw herring. it's a dutch fave, but i just can't get down with that.)

amsterdam is also fairly walkable, although there are trams that run throughout the city:


(trams are a beautiful thing, once you can figure out how to use them. we rode one for eight stops before we realized we were on the right line but going the wrong direction.)

monday, we checked in to our hostel, shelter jordan, as soon as we got there. it's a christian hostel--kind of awkward when we were invited to bible study--but it was cheap, and we knew we wouldn't have to deal with any druggies.




(clean place, friendly staff, good security, good location. thumbs up.)

after checking in, we went to the anne frank house--the actual house where she and her family hid from the nazis, turned into a museum. it was very cool but, knowing their fate, it was also very difficult to walk through the house, behind the secret bookshelf that opens on its hinges, up the narrow staircases and through their rooms.


(pics weren't allowed inside.)

after that, we went on a boat tour.



boats have traffic lights, too:


we drifted by some cool sights, like the science center...


...a restaurant that apparently holds 900 people...


...and 'the skinny bridge'.




tuesday, we really hit the town. we went to the rembrandt house, another cool house-turned-museum that doesn't allow pictures inside.


then we walked around the (in)famous red light district (prostitution is legal in this country).


prostitutes stand in the windows in their underwear. some beckon at the guys who walk by, while others just sit there looking bored and talking on their cell phones.


(despite the fact that they put themselves on display, they tend to get mad when tourists try to take pictures of them.)

we spent a lot of time hanging out in the dam square, home to the royal palace...


...the national monument...


...tourists...




...people who harass under the guise of saving souls...


...and a trio of dancing dutch women.


(they would ask a tourist for a euro--for the children in kenya--and if they received it they would do a dance, reach down and pick up a fruit. they each had a selection that included a banana, an orange and what i think was a kiwi. if they all picked up the same fruit, you got your euro back. at one point, somebody ran off with one of their fruits. they chased him down but didn't catch him.)

we ended the day at the movies (literally--the theater is called 'the movies').

yesterday, we checked out of our hostel and headed to the rijksmuseum to meet our class.


huge! it's actually closed for renovation until 2010, so right now only one wing of it is open. we spent two and a half hours in just that one wing.

again, no pictures were allowed inside, but it had a neat courtyard.




we're coming back to amsterdam in a week and a half or so for our class trip to the van gogh museum. the next class trip is tomorrow to the hague (while amsterdam is technically the country's capital, the hague is the seat of goverment--the political capital).

outness,
b.