Amsterdam, June 29, 2010

Haallo from Amsterdam!
We have successfully arrived in The Netherland’s largest city, and it’s a party. I mean really, a party. Essentially, Amsterdam is a party in city form. But more on that later.
Sunday was our last day in Paris. We got a late start, but were able to take the train to Versailles and see the palace. On the way, Ian got a special treat; not one but two accordion players and a saxophonist jumped on board the train and played a few French songs. Heavenly. Anyway, after a kebab lunch in the Town of Versailles, we visited the estate of Louis XIV. The architecture was beautiful and dripping with gold and satin. The grounds were beautiful, and many of the ceilings were gorgeously decorated. We came back and had yet another (now daily) nap before going out to meet fellow Yeagers Patty, Kyle, and Sam, along with their friend. We had a delicious dinner in the Latin quarter, and they gave tips and anecdotes about Amsterdam as we shared tips and stories of Paris.
We had a great time in Paris. The city of love was very good to us. We were glad to be there for four full days, because we got to know the city (and the metro and the food) really well. Merci, Paree.
Monday morning was rough. We got up at 6:30, ate our breakfast of stale baguettes, Nature flavored yogurt, and sickeningly-sweet orange juice (it was free), checked out of the hostel, and went to the EuroLines bus station. Our bus left at 9 am and drove pretty much straight through to Amsterdam, making a few stops in Belgium and the Netherlands. We really enjoyed the “Engrish” signs on the bus, such as “No pique-nique” and “No ring” (meaning, no food or cell phones).
Let’s talk about the Belgian and French countrysides—they are really boring. It was mainly flat farm-lands with some scrubby trees and occasional windmills. The cities, however, were much more interesting. Brussels was really pretty, as was Utrecht. We were excited to get to Amsterdam, although we didn’t get to our hostel until about 7 pm. Our first dinner in Amsterdam consisted of pancakes: mine were topped with peaches, but Ben and Emily got a little more adventurous and tried shoarma and Indonesian chicken, respectively. They were really like big crepes, but they were delicious and filling. That night, we walked around Vondelpark (which is adjacent to our hostel) and watched all the people celebrating Holland’s victory. It was a huge party; someone in the park had a speaker on his bicycle and played some Ray Charles. Hearing Dutch people sing along to “Hit the Road Jack” is pretty entertaining. So, was it strange that someone had a speaker on his bike? Not terribly. There are bikes everywhere here! There are very few cars and most people get around on bikes. It’s not uncommon to see 2 or 3 people on one bike, somehow balancing, or to see a child seat attached to the handlebars, where they put their children. The bikers here are also pretty aggressive. We saw a lady get smashed in the elbow by a fellow biker, and I think that kind of thing is not uncommon.
We are in a six-person room in the hostel, and we had the pleasure of sharing a room the first night with Bernard (“Bernid” as he said it) and James, who were from New Zealand. They had been travelling around Europe for a few weeks. Since they were just starting off at gainful, full-time employment, they ONLY had 4 or 5 weeks of vacation. We felt really sympathetic… Today (Tuesday) involved an incredible amount of walking. We had to be out of the hostel by 10:30, so we hit the streets in search of the Poezenboot (the cat boat). The Poezenboot is a cat rescue/ sanctuary that houses close to 20 kitty cats. They were all adorable minus the enormous Maine-Coon (approximately the size of Massachusetts) that came close to ripping Ben’s face off. Lunch was an obscene amount of delicious Greek food, and then we went to the Amsterdam zoo. Artis was a lot of fun, but the best part was LEMURLAND, where we got to walk through an area where several ring-tailed lemurs were chilling. Other fun animals included Seals, Penguins, Elephants, Giraffes, false advertising for cheetahs that didn’t exist, and a lot of monkey shenanigans. During our extensive wandering through Amsterdam, we unknowingly stumbled into a corner of the Red-Light district, where Beckel was quite amused/appalled by the hookers. The world cup games are quite the craze here, so people watching is very entertaining. Currently heading out the door to go hear some awesome Dutch blues at a bar with statues of the Blues Brothers on its roof.