Dam (Holiday Break Part 3)
- Alexa Nickandros
- Jan 14, 2019
- 5 min read
Hello again all, Winslow here to tell you all about the last leg of our holiday break.
With a short pit-stop in Berlin from Prague we were on an overnight bus on our way to Amsterdam. Since I can sleep pretty much anywhere and everywhere I didn’t have any problem with being on the bus. I can’t speak for the young one and the boyfriend, but as soon as we got to our hostel they both made their way to someplace to lay down. I guess they didn’t have beds for them yet so I sat and observed the room we were in while the two rested on the booths. We were in a bar area, and even though it was really early there was music playing. The smell in the air was stale smoke, but as I observed longer someone came in alone and made fresh smoke. The smoking room we were in was sectioned off from the rest of the bar by glass doors, and within a couple hours it was bustling with other travelers. Good thing we got to go up to our room by then because it was getting a bit overwhelming down there.
Amsterdam is known for a number of things, as we came to find out. This list will describe in a nutshell our experience in this city!
1. Cheese
Dutch cheese is called by the name of a city close to Amsterdam: Gouda. I accompanied my two travel companions as they strolled into one cheese shop after another, each day, armed themselves with a toothpick, and watched in awe as they gulped down one cheese cube after another. There was young gouda, aged gouda, very aged gouda, sheep and cow gouda. There was red pesto and green pesto gouda. There was truffle, coconut, and cumin gouda. That’s one way to skip lunch.
2. Clogs
These were worn by the Dutch when they milked their cows, so the cows wouldn’t hurt them if they stepped on their feet. I didn’t see anyone around wearing them, just in every souvenir shop in the form of slippers or keychains.
3. Tulips
Since it’s the off-season for flowers, we saw mostly tulip bulbs, fake tulips, and tulip souvenirs around the city. Even at the famous tulip market there weren’t many fresh tulips. The young one likes tulips; they’re very happy flowers.
4. Tulips in Clogs
5. Bikes
I heard somewhere that there are more bikes in Amsterdam than there are people. This has to be true. I can’t even describe to you the amazing amount of bikes that were chained to racks, had their own parking on boats on the canal, were leaning against railings on bridges, and were stored next to the Ij River awaiting their owners. There are even entire parking garages dedicated to bikes. They have their own road as well, which makes crossing the streets in Amsterdam a bit like the game Frogger. Bikes control the city! We got a taste of such power when the young one and the boyfriend rented a tandem bike. It’s always nice for me to be towed around, but it’s even better when all we have to do is ring our bell and the seas of people part for us!
6. Windmills
We took our tandem bike across the river on a ferry to North Amsterdam. I think a lot of people miss this part of the city. After you get through the old port on the other side it’s all small town life with homes that have canals for backyards, open air, and quiet. Soon we got to a nature reserve called Twiske which included a windmill. There used to be thousands of windmills in Amsterdam, but now you can just find one here and one there. Somewhere on that side of the river there are eight of them. The one we got to had been moved there a long time ago, and someone lives in it while it controls a dam. Our bike ride was certainly refreshing. But as the young one tends to get hungry sometimes, and night falls relatively early, we called it a day.
7. Coffee Shops
I don’t like to get in the young one’s business when it comes to “substances”, but coffee shops are hard to miss… There must be one at every corner of the city! We know plenty of people who had been to Amsterdam before, therefore a lot of our experience was finding out for ourselves what others have told us. I didn’t imagine, however, that coffee shops would be so abundant. I had to go into quite a few of them so the boyfriend could check out the menu, otherwise I was left back at the hostel. Most of them had a bar-like atmosphere (given what I have seen of bars in my life), while the young one and the boyfriend were looking for something cozier. They did find one I guess, called The Rookies.
8. Canal Houses
The boyfriend had been asking a slew of questions about the nature of the houses along the canals of Amsterdam, all of which were answered during our city tour. Here is a short Q&A on the subject:
Q: Why are they so skinny?
A: The Dutch were taxed on the width of their homes. Also, they liked to pack as much as possible into the space they had.
Q: Why are they all tilted?
A: No one wanted to build anything in the Netherlands before the Dutch arrived and made it their mission to construct on the barren wetlands. As the wooden foundations are exposed to air they decompose and leave the houses askew.
Q: What are those beams sticking out from the roofs?
A: Since the buildings are so skinny it is impossible to get furniture inside. So the hooks on the beams pull the furniture up. That’s also why the buildings are tipping forward, so the furniture doesn’t damage and isn’t damaged by the face of the building as it’s pulled up.
Q: Do you think the floors are tilted with the buildings?
A: If the floors get that bad, the owner will have to adjust them to be straight. So maybe now your floor will be level, but your windows will be crooked.
9. Stroopwafel
"Just eat them" - the young one
10. I Amsterdam sign
You know, the big red and white letters that everyone takes pictures with…well not us! They had put the letters away sometime in December so they can later put them up somewhere else. What a rip-off.
This was the best we could do.
Amsterdam was a great cap to our time away. It was our favorite city to explore because of the charm of the streets and all of the galleries and unique shops you can find along them. This made the young one feel less obliged to always find something to do, and happier taking her time.
Our next vacation is in less than a month! We have a destination in mind but the young one is still crafting the plan. We have all been quite lazy since coming back home, and we hope to have plenty of time to pick ourselves up as well as recharge before we head off again.
Best wishes,
Winslow
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