Green Bottle Red Star
Let me start this off by saying one thing. Amsterdam is unlike any other place in the world (duh). We were well aware of this going into our weekend trip. But I guess I didn’t exactly comprehend it until I was physically there walking through the city.
To start, the structure of the city is incredibly unique. Many large cities in Europe have a centralized water source in or near the city center. This, or they’re located on near the ocean. Amsterdam is filled with canals circling around the center of the city. For anyone unfamiliar picture a large circle with a dot in the middle. That dot at the center of the circle is the center of the city. Now think of a dozen circles around that dot, each larger than the prior. Those are all canals. This makes for beautiful walks around town. But it also makes it a little more difficult for directions. Many of the streets are winding and curvy. Nonetheless, it is quite beautiful and enjoyable.
Next, there are the other obvious reasons Amsterdam is different. The legalization of marijuana and decriminalization of many other drugs make for quite the interesting array of personas. To put it bluntly, some people in Amsterdam are crazy. This never really got in the way of anything, at least for us.
The entire vibe of the city is very free-spirited and wild. It definitely isn’t one of those places that you go to and “it feels just like home”. But it was a really fun place to see and experience. We spent some time doing a few different activates and site-seeing also.
Our highest priority was making it to the “Anne Frank House”. We toured through the attic in which the Frank family spent multiple years along with other residents. Make no mistake this attic that housed 8+ people is not tiny, but definitely not quite spacious enough to be suitable for this many people. It was a very humbling experience to learn about the history of Otto Frank, what he did for his family, and how the entire situation arose. From the Nazi occupation of Holland to the implementation of the hideaway attack, this small museum covers it all. In conclusion, this was definitely in the top 5 most “worth it” sites to see that we’ve visited in Europe.
With every cultural and educational experience a fun one must follow, right? The next day we did a tour at the Heineken factory. The Heineken experience was similar to the one we did in Ireland at the Guinness Factory a few weeks back but different in its own way. We had friends who traveled with us to Ireland and were in Amsterdam and elected to skip the Heineken experience due to just previously doing the Guinness. In hindsight, I think they made a mistake. Comparing the two I give Heineken a slight edge. They’re both interesting and worth it. Guinness touches a little bit more on history, process, and development while Heineken is a little bit more fun. It included a video game area, a Heineken branding experience, foosball tables, and a very fun bar at the end with two free beers (Guinness, you hear that? Step up your game… they only give out one).
We spent a few evenings in the pubs and walked around the city. The red light district is unlike anything any of us had ever seen, but for obvious reasons didn’t really warrant much of our interest. We spent part of an evening at Dam Square, and rode the Ferris wheel. We found some good food in Amsterdam including Abby’s favorite Mexican place (similar to Chipotle) that we’ve had yet. Although we didn’t eat here, we stopped by Café Stevens for a quick photo shoot. Another stop was outside the Rijksmuseum where we captured a few photos with the famous “IAmsterdam” sign. I even managed to get hit by a car while we were there. (Yes, I was sober, and no it actually was the driver's fault). Don’t worry, I’m fine. He was maybe going 10mph (I’m still working on learning kilometers per hour).
Amsterdam was very cool and very different. It’s definitely a unique experience that everyone should explore at some point in his or her life. It’s truly hard to describe the vibe of the city without actually being there. It is unlike anywhere else I’ve ever been.
