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.