Amsterdam Part Two: Playing Tourist

Since this was my first trip to Amsterdam, I decided that my trip shouldn't be all work. There were a few hours here and there that I was able to sight-see when I wasn't working and then I actually stayed an extra day to really play tourist!

My Hotel:

We stayed at a hotel called Le Coin. If you blinked, you would have missed it. The entrance was passed a bar, down an alleyway with a teeny tiny sign. But the hotel was great. Large rooms with a canal view! Every morning, we'd have lunch in the little bistro....nothing elaborate, just cereal, toast, fruit, meats and cheeses. Oh and the coffee. Oh how I LOVE European coffee.....

Around the city:

And what a beautiful city it is!! Nothing but canals, rows of townhouses and bikes.....lots of bikes! And it really is the city that never sleeps. Every night, we would walk around after dinner (which would take a minimum of 3 hrs) and next thing you knew it was 2am - and there were as many people still out and about as there would be at 8pm! 

Heineken Brouwery:

Ok. Let me begin by saying that I am not a Heineken fan. At least in the States. Because, honest to god, it totally tastes different. In the US, it tastes like weed. Seriously. It's gross. I'm now convinced that they purposefully add a weed taste to the US variety just to emphasize the fact that it comes from Amsterdam where weed is legal. (Or maybe, perhaps it's because it's brewed and bottled in Amsterdam and the green bottles causes it to ferment during distribution. At least according to the official brew master at the brouwery. But what do they know....they spell brewery wrong.) But in Amsterdam, I was a Heineken drinker. It was super tasty! And the brewery tour was really fun! I went with a few of the girls from our PR agency. It was the first time that we all got to hang out and they are a lot of fun! First, they take you through the brewing process. Then they take you through this 4-D movie where you get brewed into a beer (yeah, that part was kinda lame). The room next to the theater is a mini bar where you get quizzed on what you learned as you taste-test a Heinie. The next room is this ultra cool lounge area. It was super dark and had a green lit ceiling.....and then I looked closer at the ceiling. It was entirely made of Heineken bottles. Even down to the bottle chandelier. Way cool. Then it took you through some of the social history, like how it appeared in the last Bond movie or how Heineken was one of the first recycle-conscious companies. The Wobo bottle was a flat, green bottle with nubs on the flat side so that people can re-use the bottles to build housing. It never really took off, but it was definitely ahead of it's time! And then there was the advertising. There is one thing that I love, and that's looking at old adverts. We've come a long way! The end of the tour, brought us to the best part of the tour - the BAR! At the start of the tour, they give you a bracelet with two tokens that you redeem at the bar for drinks. We decided to get our drinks and hang out in the very crowded bar. They even let us tap our own beer! All in all, it was a pretty fun tour and I highly recommend it......even if you're not a fan of Heineken!

Red Light District:
This was an absolute must-see. I think my jaw was hanging open the entire time. Along with weed, prostitution is also legal in Amsterdam. So, after the Heineken tour, the girls from our PR agency invited me to go with them to tour the Red Light District. Honestly, I'm glad I went with the girls. My coworkers are mostly male and it just would have been super awkward to walk around the RLD with them. The PR girls had a client that had rented a houseboat, so we all met him there and he was going to be our chaperon for the night. The RLD is nothing but rows upon rows upon rows of girls in windows. They, of course, have red lights around the windows (except some had blue lights, which apparently means that the girl in the window is actually a dude. Hey...at least they tell you, right?). Each girl flaunts her stuff in the window. The window is actually a door to a little room with nothing but a bed and a little sink. How's that for simple? And each room has a little plaque on the wall. Apparently, it's their medical history. That's always good to know! Unfortunately, you're not allowed to take pictures, so the one picture I have is from the main street, where it was nothing but sex shops, smart shops (pot stores), and live sex houses. Afterward, we headed over to the famous Grasshopper Bar. It's a smokehouse and bar. We got to witness a guy completely pass out after he left the smoking room - he just leaned back and fell to the floor. Everyone was trying to get him up and eventually he did, but man.....I guess some people just don't know their limit!

The Rijksmuseum:
This place was sooooo awesome. I love museums, I love art, I love history. So for 2 hours I got to wander around, surrounded by centuries old dishes and silver, dollhouses owned by royalty, paintings by famous artists and best of all, Rembrandt's most famous painting, The Night Watch. To see how enormous this painting is, is truly amazing. I just love the detail and the colors of his art. I bought some postcards of my favorites that were displayed. I think I'm going to frame them and make a little art collage out of them. 

The Anne Frank House:
This was the one and only thing I wanted to do while I was in Amsterdam. I don't know why, but the Holocaust is one era of history that I am just fixated. I must have read this book at least 10 times when I was younger. Her story is just so captivating, and humbling. During the tour, you could just feel the sadness. At the beginning of the tour, you can hear people talking, murmuring, etc. The closer you got to the bookcase, people got quieter. Then, once you were in the annex, no one made a sound.....it was dead silent. It was so moving. There was no furniture in the rooms (by request of Anne's father), but to imagine furniture and 8 people living in that part of the house must have been maddening. And they HAD to get along. They HAD to look out for one another. They HAD to be quiet so that they would never be found. Unfortunately, they were found (no one knows who turned them in) and were taken to Auschwitz. The most moving part of the tour for me was to see the attic where she would spend her time looking out the window at the tree. The tree fell about 2 months ago, but you can see where it used to be. The other part was, of course, her diary. Every last page was on display. It filled an entire room. To see her handwriting and the checkered diary was absolutely humbling. At the end of the tour, it drops you into a little diner. My coworkers and I all got coffee and just sat in silence for about 15 mins. It's definitely one of those things that you HAVE to see. And I'm so very glad that I did.

Vondel Park:
After the Anne Frank House, I didn't have enough time to go to the Van Gough museum. But nearby, there was a beautiful park. I decided I'd take a little walk through the park. And it did not disappoint! It was green, there were little ponds and streams everywhere and in the heart of the park was a statue. It was a peaceful end to a great trip!!