This week and I went to Amsterdam Friday night. The weather was kind of rainy so I went to the store and picked up a few groceries and walked around a little bit. Friday night I hung out at home and relaxed with a glass of wine so I could have a nice early start the next morning.
Saturday morning I went to the Anne Frank house, I only ended up waiting maybe 20 minutes to get in (I arrived by 10:00) by the time I figured out which tram to take and then walk from there, which it wasn't very far. After that, I then walked the "nine streets." I saw a lot of unique little shops and by the time I ended up getting home, it was around 6. I had to nap with all the walking around I did, and then Saturday night I ended up finding a couch surfing bar event at Cafe de Vergulde Gaper (near Central Station and the Heineken Experience). It was a cozy little pub, and I ended up meeting other travelers from around the world- Tiago and Alexandre (Portugal), Jenny (England), Sylvie (Lithuania), Diana (DC), Andrey (Russia), and some people from Finland.
Sunday morning I went to the Van Gogh Museum with Diana and Jenny- a lot bigger than I had imagined. The exhibit included photos by people that gave Van Gogh's inspiration, along with ones painted by himself. Also, it was interesting to learn that some of the people who work at the museum today are relatives of his! How neat is that, keeping the family business after all this time. After the museum, Jenny and I picked up a few things for a picnic at Vondelpark (I spent 5 Euro- we even got some Heineken beer for .53 euro each...it was a dark one, very delicious and good to enjoy in the park, especially with how amazing the weather was- very sunny, everyone was out and about- bikes and clusters of people every 10 feet or so. The picnic started out with just the two of us, gradually aiming more and more people- we told a few people, and then they called some people, and so the chain continued. By the end we had about 20 people for our picnic (good turnout for such an impromptu event!). That night Holland played Portugal for football (or if you prefer, American Soccer). Unfortunately, Holland did not win but still it was great to see so many supporters out to watch the game. The people in Europe I think are crazier for soccer than American football fans!! The streets were decorated with tons of orange banners all across lamp post to lamp post, huge inflatable socce balls were hung everywhere, in some places people even paint their houses orange! Everyone wears anything orange that they can get their hands on, lots of face paint as well- the Netherlands colors are red, white, and blue as well... they usually do the flag on their face, each color is a horizontal stripe. Also, the fans are of all ages- there was a family in the bar with a child as young as about 3 to grandma and grandpas even!
Monday morning it was raining when I awoke. Luckily by about 10:30 when I was about to head out of the apartment for my day it stopped. I went to the Amsterdam Bibliothekka... Totally amazing. The biggest library I have ever been to! They have hanging glowing art from the ceiling, kind of like amoeba shaped, or like modern art 'snowflake' type sculptures. One of the floors that lends out music has relaxing music playing on that floor. As the morning went on, I'm pretty sure they had an actual person inside playing the piano (I believe they rotate different local artists that play a few days a month there).
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