I'd like to preface this post by saying that I can't say enough wonderful things about Amsterdam. If there was one place that Natalie and I didn't spend enough time in, it was most certainly Amsterdam. 2 years wouldn't be enough, let alone 2 days.
Before coming to this magical little city in the Netherlands, I had imagined something of a Sodom and Gomorrah where everyone was lurking in corners banging hookers and smoking weed without consequence - my imagination could not have been more off.
Natalie and I were instantly delighted when we arrived at the Amsterdam train station (which looks akin to many countries national monuments). Though the weather was murky, even the grey skies and light rain couldn't take away from the natural beauty of this city with it's beautiful canals, awe-inspiring architecture, and natural greenery. En route to our hostel, The Flying Pig which was located in the infamous red light district, everything was passed was beautiful including the people. It seems in Amsterdam, anything ugly, including buildings, are not allowed.
The Flying Pig turned out to be a great hostel for us. We had a great private room and the location of the hostel was right in the middle of the action (and by action I do mean where all the hookers are, pun intended).
After checking in, Natalie and I met up with my friend Alex who accompanied us down the street to the first coffee house we spotted (like Starbucks in the States, there is a "coffee house" on every corner).
That evening was the big World Cup Semi-Finals game between the Netherlands and Argentina. It was at this point in the trip that we realized we had perfectly coordinated our trip in line with the World Cup, which was super ideal as neither Natalie nor I were in any way soccer enthusiasts. Having the games on really prevented us from getting the attention we felt we deserved. (Natalie said it best when she said she felt as if she was constantly standing in front of the screen saying, "No! Look at MEEEEE!")
Before coming to this magical little city in the Netherlands, I had imagined something of a Sodom and Gomorrah where everyone was lurking in corners banging hookers and smoking weed without consequence - my imagination could not have been more off.
Natalie and I were instantly delighted when we arrived at the Amsterdam train station (which looks akin to many countries national monuments). Though the weather was murky, even the grey skies and light rain couldn't take away from the natural beauty of this city with it's beautiful canals, awe-inspiring architecture, and natural greenery. En route to our hostel, The Flying Pig which was located in the infamous red light district, everything was passed was beautiful including the people. It seems in Amsterdam, anything ugly, including buildings, are not allowed.
(This is a "shopping center" aka a Mall in Amsterdam)
The Flying Pig turned out to be a great hostel for us. We had a great private room and the location of the hostel was right in the middle of the action (and by action I do mean where all the hookers are, pun intended).
After checking in, Natalie and I met up with my friend Alex who accompanied us down the street to the first coffee house we spotted (like Starbucks in the States, there is a "coffee house" on every corner).
(Natalie and I at the Coffee House. Props to Alex for taking a great photo)
Over the next hour, we thoroughly enjoyed our "coffee" before heading down the streets of Amsterdam to explore and site-see. I have to admit, I expected the red light district to be a lot different than it was. Don't get me wrong, there were lines of windows full of prostitutes in neon thongs shaking what their Momma gave them inside little 10x5 hovel that included nothing but a bed, sink, and drain (gross), but the streets were clean and the hooker windows were all part of a beautiful piece of architecture which made it all seem fairly tasteful all things considered.
After spending a fair amount of time ogling the ladies of the night, we headed to a bakery where we indulged in some stroopwaffles and Belgian waffles. For those of you who haven't tasted a stroopwaffle before, I feel confident saying that you haven't truly lived. These delightful little soft mini waffles filled with syrup are amazing. After later consuming this entire pack of stroopwaffles that evening, Natalie and I vowed to find that bakery and purchase enough stroopwaffles to get us through the winter.
(Our Cookie and Waffle Feast)
That evening was the big World Cup Semi-Finals game between the Netherlands and Argentina. It was at this point in the trip that we realized we had perfectly coordinated our trip in line with the World Cup, which was super ideal as neither Natalie nor I were in any way soccer enthusiasts. Having the games on really prevented us from getting the attention we felt we deserved. (Natalie said it best when she said she felt as if she was constantly standing in front of the screen saying, "No! Look at MEEEEE!")
Anyways, being that we were in the Netherlands and both happened to have orange shirts in our suitcases (one of the few items of Natalie's that hadn't changed colors or sizes) we decided that it was time to get into this World Cup Business.
A friend of mine from Gonzaga was living in Amsterdam and suggested we go to Coco's for the game. While walking the 30 minutes from our hostel to Coco's, it became very clear that this World Cup business here in Europe is like nothing either of us had ever seen before. Every single bar (and even the streets themselves) were packed with orange-clad Dutchies glued to the television watching the game. Coco's was insane and we quickly realized there was no way we were rendezvousing with my friend Kelli because finding her amidst the masses would be impossible.
I can honestly say that I have never had more fun watching professional sports than watching the game that night. The only downside was that the Dutch ended up losing in a devastating overtime kick-off and there's nothing worse than a sad Dutch guy (beautiful people should never be sad).
On a positive note, we did end up running into my friend from college after the game and grabbing some pizza with her and her boyfriend and visiting sister and brother-in-law which was fun and gluttonous.
(The outside of Coco's, the inside was way busier. Now multiple this by 20 and you have what the block looked like.)
For our second and last day in Amsterdam, Natalie and I decided to just walk around the city and explore (and attempt to find that bakery again). There was so much we wanted to do in Amsterdam, but as there wasn't enough time to visit all the museums and attractions, we decided to just do our best to take in the natural beauty and atmosphere of Amsterdam. After 5 hours of wandering around the beautiful canal laden streets, we finally found it.
We purchased a few souvenirs for ourselves, including Holland duffel bags so we could transport the exorbitant amount of stroopwaffles we purchased at the bakery. I really enjoyed the look on the pastry chef's when we each shoved 10 packages of the cookies into our duffel bags. (Typical Americans)
Our next stop was a cheese shop which was staffed by 2 super hot young Dutch guys and 1 super hot old Dutch guy. It didn't take much for them to convince us to buy enough cheese to open a cheese shop for ourselves. (Blonde cheese shop guy, if you're reading this, call me ....I love you)
Next, Natalie and I set out to find a pair of swagtastic tennis shoes. In Europe, we had noticed that all the ladies wear tennis shoes with their cocktail dresses at the club and, being that it looked super comfortable and relatively cool, Natalie and I wanted in on this trend.
(Amsterdam in a nutshell - beautiful canals, houseboats, and bikes. The only thing missing is the giant dutch hunk who probably owns that baby)
We also saw some really cool street art.
(No Amsterdam, we LOVE YOU)
(Natalie vibing with the street art)
That night, Natalie and I put on our new tennis shoes with our dance clothes and set out for the nightlife. I can honestly say I was shocked by how safe the streets of Amsterdam felt. While we were walking some scary guy with dreadlocks catcalled at me, asking if I was German (which I, admittedly, thought was the weirdest catcall ever).
Because he was scary I chose not to respond (as you know, in Midtown Sacramento, it's best not to engage scary people). I could tell the man was upset and was expecting a barrage of obscenities and angry man phrases to follow, but instead he said simply, "You're Mean!". This may have been the exact moment I fell in love with Amsterdam for being so wonderful (even the Scary people are nice)
We first stopped at a club which looked awesome, but ended up just being filled with a bunch of Vagabond Australians so Natalie insisted we take a Dutch bike man trolly to another bar (which admittedly was more fun than I imagined because our driver was very good looking). Our driver dropped us off and we found Paradiso which is this awesome nightclub in a church (yep).
Though Natalie and I were easily the oldest people there by 4-6 years, we had a blast. The place was packed, the music was great, and the venue could not have been cooler.
While in the bathroom we befriended two Dutch girls who had their arms full of glow bracelets. Initially Natalie and I assumed they must be on MDMA, but apparently, they just really like glow sticks. As we got to talking, Natalie and I immediately blurted out that we think Dutch men are the most attractive men in all of Europe. (It helps that the average Dutch guy is around 6'4" and they have the absolute best accents) and the girls to our horror disagreed. (Ladies, if you ever come to Sacramento, it will make you appreciate what you've got over there in Holland - #trust)
After the ladies saw the looks on our faces, they took to the corner to converse for roughly 5 minutes before re-entering our conversation with a bracelet.
"We have been chatting and have decided", said the little brunette Dutch girl to me, "That we're going to give you one of our bracelets"
"But you must use it wisely!", said the blonde one.
I was getting increasingly confused on the value the two girls were placing on the bracelets and once again began to question if the use of drugs was in play. That is, until they told me how they use their bracelets.
"Here's what to do", remarked the brunette. "You find a Dutch boy you like and then you offer him the bracelet"
"But then!" chirped in the blonde, "Your friend (apparently this was Natalie's gig) has to say, but you must kiss her first!"
They then erupted in inaudible giggles and presented me with the glow bracelet the way the Pope would place a coronation robe on a newly crowned Queen.
I never ended up using that glow bracelet, but it wasn't because I didn't think their plan was ingenious - it was because I couldn't find anyone old enough to where I didn't feel like a predator.
(Rocking our new European meets California State Worker looks at Paradiso)
The next morning was a sad one as we realized there was still so much more to see in Amsterdam and our time was up. We decided to spend our last few hours before our flight to Dublin enjoying Amsterdam's most valuable and beautiful resource - beautiful Dutch men. We proceeded to get a table at a coffee shop on the canal, ordered some breakfast, and watched all the beautiful tall Trees (our nickname for Dutch men) drive by on their bicycles.
It didn't take long before Natalie and I began ranking the lovely bicyclists (which quickly became boring since every ranking was 8,9, or 10 - those damn Dutch are so lovely).
It didn't take long before Natalie and I began ranking the lovely bicyclists (which quickly became boring since every ranking was 8,9, or 10 - those damn Dutch are so lovely).
With sorrow in our hearts, we said goodbye to Amsterdam that afternoon.
(On the train to the airport)
I have decided to make it my mission in life to return to Amsterdam (and perhaps speak Dutch, though I'm more undecided on that front). Amsterdam is the type of city where I could see myself living and never getting bored. It's a city with a real pulse, yet at the same time is beautiful and feels strangely very safe.
It has trees all around like Sacramento (real trees), it has the most handsome tall and educated men (not so much like Sacramento), it has amazing food, it was an amazing nightlife, water, beautiful historical architecture, world famous museums, and (if you're in that weird stuff) legalized weed and prostitution. Amsterdam is quite simply a city which gives the people what they want and is better for it.
I will be back for you Amsterdam! Until next time!
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