Amsterdam

This article features the guest author James.

The final weekend of my visit was quickly approaching, and we knew that we needed a trip. And not just any trip; one that could match the previous weekend spent at Oktoberfest and put the perfect exclamation point onto my travels and Jennifer's first two weeks in Germany. When it came down to it, there was really only one choice that would provide the perfect mix of entertainment and accessibility: Amsterdam!! Just a couple hours away from Köln by train, but drastically different even from the liberal atmosphere in Germany's entertainment capital. We knew this was going to be something special.

To start with, we avoided the normal accommodations of the tourist: hotels and hostels. To add that je ne sais quoi to the experience, we rented an authentic Dutch houseboat. Situated just outside Amsterdam centrum along the Amstel river, it provided us with a convenient, yet relaxed, base for exploring the city.

After meeting with our boat owner and taking care of the essentials, we quickly decided to take a trip around the city on the bikes which had been provided for us. After stopping in a trendy, upscale neighborhood for lunch (because we are such trendy, upscale people!) we headed to the van Gogh museum. We were afraid we wouldn't have much time there, but every Friday night the museum is open late and features DJs and live bands. We were definitely not disappointed with the artwork, as their gallery is the largest collection of van Gogh paintings in the world. You could really tell the progression of painting in his life, along with his perpetual dissatisfaction with his work.

For the evening, we decided to head into the city center. We stopped for dinner at Dam square, home to the royal palace and meeting point for everyone heading out for the night in Amsterdam. After an overpriced meal of ramen noodles, we took our first trip into the "beating heart" of the city: the Red Light District. I found the experience to be rather surreal. I occasionally struggled to keep from laughing. It's not every day you see hordes of people (mostly of the male persuasion) walking down the equivalent of a grocery store aisle of half-naked women. Jennifer was initially repulsed, I believe, but still intrigued enough to walk through the whole area. One thing you can't deny about the Red Light District, though: Even apart from the women in the windows, there's a lot to do there! We spent the evening in several bars in the area drinking Dutch and Belgian beers and chatting up the neighboring group of Irish women. On the way home, we discovered the first negative aspect of Amsterdam: the buses that run at night won't accept the multi-use pass that we had bought for the weekend and required an additional 3€ per person.

Saturday morning arrived gray and cooler. We awoke to some noises outside the boat. At first I thought it was some workers on one of the nearby boats, or just some loud tourists on the streets. I popped my head out of the hatch, and the sight that caught my eyes had me yelling to Jennifer. I knew she wouldn't want to miss what was going on. We found ourselves right in the middle of a crew regatta! We put on some warmer clothes and I made a pot of tea so that we could go sit topside and watch the teams row by. We even got a little friendly chatter out of a few teams that were doing their warm-up lap. I can't think of a better way to have started the morning, especially for Jennifer.

By the time the regatta was over, we were starting to get quite hungry. We decided to head over to a weekend market that Hein, our boat's owner, had recommended. About this time was when the skies decided they couldn't hold out any longer, and the rain began to come down. It was never very heavy, but it was enough to be noticed the whole day. We found a cafe to dry off with some hot chocolate and some lunch. Afterwards we spent some time browsing and shopping in the market.

For the rest of the afternoon, we decided to visit the Anne Frank House museum. It is located in the actual building where Anne Frank and her family spent two years hiding from the Nazis. It was quite moving to wind your way through narrow passageways and rooms the size of closets which had served as the home for 8 people. At the request of Otto Frank, Everything has been preserved as it was left by the soldiers: cleared of all furniture but still containing pictures on the walls. Despite the line to get in wrapping around the corner of the building, this is a must-see exhibit.

As the light began to fade from the sky, our thoughts turned once again to food. We debated for a long period of time what sort of food to eat and finally stumbled upon a very nice looking Indonesian restaurant. Although we looked a little ragged from our day spent shopping and sightseeing, the staff graciously showed us to our seats. Neither of us had ever been to an Indonesian restaurant before, so we went right to the task of trying to figure out what to order. In the meantime, a flamboyant male flight attendant harangued his dinner date (and us) with the details of his life. The food was excellent. Our dishes were spicy, rich, and delicious, and came accompanied by a range of sides that each played on a different part of our tastes. Although not the cheapest restaurant in the city, it was less expensive and blew away the dinner we had forced down on Friday.

We decided against the central area for Saturday night and chose to hit up a trendier area of town instead: the Rembrandtplein. After getting into our party clothes, we hit up the Irish-styled pub on the plein. After tasting a few new beers, we started walking around the square and trying to decide where else to go. The atmosphere at the coffeeshop didn't seem to great, so we kept on walking. We stopped into another small, but raucous, bar for a quick change of pace (i.e. liquor instead of beer!), and then finally decided it was late enough to move on to the main attraction! Escape is one of the European "super-clubs." Much larger than most nightclubs in America, it features two dance areas: one very large two-story venue playing house/electronica, and a smaller area spinning hip-hop, latin, and top 40 music. And these guys go all out! The main dance floor had several DJs, plus a singer (that's right, he was singing house music!), and on the second level had five more guys running choreography for the many projector and plasma screens, hundreds of lights, fog, confetti, and of course the sound system. I've never seen anything like that in the US! So we made the most of our 10 euro cover charge and danced the night away, finally making it home just shortly before dawn rose over the river.

Sunday arrived as a beautiful day. Although we were still a little fatigued from our night getting our groove on at Escape, we knew that we had to make the most of this day. The sun finally shone out clear and strong, and the temperatures jumped up into the 60s. We decided to finally get some good use out of our bicycles and took our own tour of the city. It seems that everyone was out enjoying what may have been the last good day in Amsterdam before winter's gray slate descended. Although we didn't go in, we first swung by the Rembrandt House to snap a couple photos of the master's domain. As is a constant theme in the life of all young men, I suggested we then go find a bite to eat. In the nearby Nieuwmarkt, we found a lovely cafe called the Gewaeght, which offered us good food (my chance to try the ever-popular croquette in Amsterdam) and a chance to watch the world go by, ducking in and out of the open market stalls and the neighboring grocery store. Jennifer popped into the store to buy some Dutch cheese, and then we continued on our way.

The Red Light District takes on a whole new dimension when you are walking/riding through early on a Sunday afternoon. Although there were still women making themselves available in the windows, they were joined by families popping out of doorways in their buildings, heading off to the park or the store or out into the countryside for the afternoon. For unlike almost anywhere else in the world, the Red Light District of Amsterdam is a functioning community with offices, residences, and normal people mingling among the tawdry sex shops and half-naked women behind glass. It is an amazing juxtaposition, and provides a lot of insight on the tolerance and values of Dutch (and European) people.

We slowly biked through several other areas of the city that we had not yet seen, picking up some tulip bulbs and watching some children trampolining, before we had to head back to our boat to return the bikes and the keys at 3pm. The owners couldn't make it to do "checkout" so we left the key in the box and slowly made our way back to the train station. It was a shame that we had to cut short the nicest day of our trip, but I feel that the good times we had met and exceeded our expectations for the weekend.

First Week in Köln

My boyfriend James and I arrived in Köln at 8:30 in the morning after nearly missing our small Continental flight from Newark because New Jersey sucks. Köln/Bonn airport is quite small for an international airport, but I guess you don’t have to travel far in Europe to be international. Going through customs was a breeze because there was no one manning the counter. When we got outside the sky was overcast, but the sun shown brightly in Miss Erin Taschner. She was my predecessor to the position that brought me ESA and Germany in the first place. Erin met us at the door with a great big hello. As soon as we were in the car, the flood of information came pouring at me; where the airport was in relation to Köln and ESA, how to get around, where we live, where we park, how to walk. I was getting to the point that I thought you had to breathe differently in Germany too.

Since James and I hadn’t eaten in a long time, we went to a little café for some breakfast. I had a nice tea and an apple pastry. I thought the meal would be relaxing and for the most part it was, but it takes a little while to acclimate to new surroundings. The lessons weren’t going to stop either. There was a lot to learn about living in Köln and we had no time to dally. We quickly learned how German services operate. Everything was nice and laid back. I also learned my first German phrase aside from the CDs I had been listening to. I got to ask for the check, because if you don’t ask, it’s not coming.

After breakfast we toured around the shopping center, saw the Dom and the statue that looks just like Howard, one of our co-workers, in a nearby square. By 11:00, most places were open and we stopped at a little pub for our first Kölsch. The pub only had seven stools and a small bar, but there were already a few locals in there getting the local scoop. While we had our first few, the locals played some Yahtzee. It was quite a fine setting. After our Kölsch, we made our way to the apartment.

The apartment is in a nice location near Rudolfplatz. You walk into a hallway with the kitchen being the first door on your left. After the kitchen in the bathroom and laundry room with a very large tub. It might be nice when it gets a little cooler to have a good soak in it. Next to the bathroom is the guest room/office and at the end of the hall is the bedroom and then the living room. It’s quite a lot of space for one person, but it gets small quickly with three people and three more of Erin's friends were arriving that night!

Once we had gotten more settled, we went out to a little German Restaurant for some dinner. It was quite charming with a winding staircase and antique furniture. We each got a different glass of white wine to try and got a dish with seasonal mushrooms that were lovely. After we had eaten and were thinking about dessert, a little mouse scurried under the stairs after stealing some crumbs from underneath a neighboring table. Apparently there are a lot of mice in Köln. I just hope I don’t find one in the apartment!

The rest of the week was spent going to work to learn the ropes and leaving early enough each day to get my rental car, learn how to grocery shop and continue trying new restaurants in different areas to try and make Köln feel like home.

Thursday night was made Kölsch Challenge Night by Erin. It was the night before we were going to hop on a train for Munich just to drink more beer, but we all thought of it as the opening act. The Kölsch Challenge consisted of Erin and her three friends, James and I, Casey our boss and Laura. The eight of us made our way to Frúh brewery. A large pub near the Dom. The whole stone building is full of small rooms with different sets of tables. It was very busy by the time we arrived so we made our way to the basement. There we found that the old well had been turned into a table so we sat there. The goal of the evening was to have enough Kölsch that the coaster the waiter was using to tally the drinks would be a full spiral.

We started at 7:30 with dinner. As the Kölsch kept coming, so did the good times. We ended up playing some drinking games that were giving us some stares. One table of guys found it particularly interesting when the girls would spank each other. It struck up an interesting conversation to be sure. By 11:30, we had succeeded in consuming 119 Kölsch. As we wandered the streets, some of the girls took turns riding Casey’s bicycle. Heather almost ran into a police car I the process and fell off. We walked the bike to Freizenplatz where we wandered into a pub for something other than Kölsch. I had a Jack and Coke, but the place was dead so as soon as I was finished we hit the streets again. It was 3:00 by the time we made it back to the apartment, singing and talking to passers by the whole way. Getting up to catch a train will be a miracle.