Spring Break- Amsterdam

03/22/11

     Arriving in Amsterdam early was key as we were only there for two days and there’s a lot to see in Amsterdam. It was just the eight of us girls going to Amsterdam, but when we went to book hostels, we tried to book two rooms of four at one hostel, but as we did it, my reservation didn’t go through because it was full while the other room did. Therefore, we split four and four and I stayed in a hostel with Gina, Kelly, and Ali. We split according to where we were going for our next destination and the other four girls were going to Berlin, while my hostel was going back to Rome for the remainder of break. We got to our hostel at about 11 am and were greeted by our very friendly owner who helped us carry bags up the amazingly tiny, yet steep staircase. He sat us down with a map and circled everything in location to our hostel and the most key sites to see in our short time there. He even offered to wake up at 6 a.m. to help carry our bags down when we needed to leave on Thursday morning. I really enjoyed our hostel, we stayed at Amsterdam Cribs and it had two adjoined rooms and one bathroom. We had a TV, playstation, DVDs, and coffee! My kind of hostel! However, we were absolutely exhausted and took a quick hour nap before heading out for the afternoon. 

Hostel Kitchen

Name of our room?

Gina in our tiny staircase

     We were meeting the other girls at the Heineken Factory after a quick stop for lunch along the way. We saw a place called Village Bagel and stopped there because it looked good and we knew it’d be fast. I got a BLT sandwich on a tomato bagel. 

Streets of Amsterdam

BLT Bagel Sandwich

     It was a quick walk from here to the Heineken Factory, where we went in for the tour we had heard so much about. Included in the entrance fee was 3 free Heinekens over the course of the tour. It started with the history of the Heineken brand, followed by an overview of the ingredients used to make it (water, barley, hops, and yeast), then we saw how all these ingredients are mixed together to get to the final product. After this was one of the most interesting aspects of the tour, a “4D” virtual experience where we were “turned into Heineken.” We were standing in a room where the ground beneath us shook and water was poured on us as we felt as though we were truly the beer being created. It was really neat! The tour concluded with a bar where we could use our free drink passes to have a couple Heinekens before heading back out to explore Amsterdam. We hung around for a bit and enjoyed the experience and the Heineken tasted so fresh and cold! 

The Heineken Factory

Transformation of the Heineken Label

4 Ingredients in Heineken

Where the beer is brewed

Enjoying our first complimentary Heineken

Round Two!

    

     After the tour, we headed back to separate hostels. Everyone showered and then met back up for dinner at a place called Burger Bar. We had heard going into Amsterdam that they had really good ethnic/foreign food, which we have all been craving. This includes a great hamburger. We did a bit of research and this seemed to be the recommended place for a good burger, and boy was the consensus correct because the burger was great. From dinner, we walked around the red light district for a bit and were surprised at the sight. It was very surreal and I for some reason didn’t think it was going to be how people actually explained, but it was. Because there isn’t much of a nightlife in Amsterdam and we were exhausted, we went back to our hostel and fell asleep watching That 70’s Show. I forgot what it’s like to have a TV in our room! 

Dinner place

03/23/11

     We started the day off early and met the girls in the other hostel at the Anne Frank museum at 10:30. World War II has always been one of my favorite events to learn about in history and having read The Diary of Anne Frank multiple times for school, I was really looking forward to seeing this museum. I was a little sad that I couldn’t take pictures inside, but it was with reason. The museum started in the lower levels of the original house where Anne’s father, Otto, ran his business. After going through this part of the house, we walked through the actual bookcase that was used to cover up the hole in the wall that was the entrance to the hiding place of Anne Frank and family during the persecution of the Jewish that occurred in World War II. In general, the house was larger than expected, but when considering the fact that they did not leave that house for two years straight, I can only imagine how small it actually felt. The house was surrounded with quotes from her diary and had several interviews of people who knew her and survived. When I went into Anne’s actual room, I was surprised to see that the decorations Anne always wrote about putting up in her room were still preserved. When we got to an additional part of the museum outside the house, it talked about how each family member was sent to different concentration camp. I actually cried in this room in hearing an interview and recognizing that Anne died just 3 weeks before all concentration camps were liberated. One woman who knew Anne discussed that she may have had a little more hope had she known her father was still alive. One of my favorite quotes I saw in the museum was from Otto Frank, “We cannot change what happened anymore. The only thing we can do is learn from the past and to realize what discrimination and persecution of people means. I believe that it’s everyone’s responsibility to fight prejudice.” 

Gina & I at Dam Square

On the walk to the Anne Frank House

Anne Frank House

My favorite quote from the museum

     With a depressing, but very interesting morning behind us, we went to breakfast/lunch at a place called the Pancake Bakery. I ordered the pancake topped with caramel/mocha sauce, ice cream and whipped cream. While this was extra sweet, I definitely managed to eat the entire thing because it was so good. After lunch we headed towards Vondelpark where we wanted to rent bikes after taking pictures in front of the “I Amsterdam” sign. We all took turns climbing up on the letters and taking pictures. 

Delicious Pancakes

I AMsterdam sign

Some of the girls on the sign

All of the girls on the sign

     By the time we got to the bike rental place, it closed in an hour and a half and the price was nowhere worth the little amount of time we had. Therefore, we just went and sat in the park for a bit. We decided we didn’t need to shower because we weren’t going out that night with our early flights the next morning so we went directly to dinner. We went to a Japanese restaurant where I ordered some form of curry chicken and shrimp noodles. Following dinner, we hung around for awhile before separating again to our hostels to call it a night. Once getting back, we all packed up, showered, and called it an early night.

Vondelpark

Japanese Food

View of the Alps from the plane