Welkom in Amsterdam

Date Traveled: December 4, 2011



I left Glasgow on Saturday morning (the 3rd) and shortly landed at the KLM/Delta European hub, the Schipol Airport near Amsterdam. My flight schedule had me on a 24-hour layover in Amsterdam (my choice) and I fully intended to enjoy some time in the city. Before I left for Glasgow, I booked a bed at a hostel on the outside of the city center, but right next to the museum campus. I was hoping to find something closer to the city center, but many hostels won't let you book a single bed over a weekend for just one night; instead, you have to book a minimum of 2-3 nights. Getting to the hostel wasn't bad, though. Once I got through customs, it was pretty easy for me to find a ticket agent and buy a round-trip train ticket, though the woman behind the counter gave me a look of disdain when I started speaking in English.


The train system was familiar since I spent so much time in Berlin earlier this year, and no more than twenty minutes later, I arrived at the main train station in downtown Amsterdam. It's a beautiful building, architecturally, though much of it was covered in scaffolding and being refurbished. I bought a street map of the city from the Tourist Information center just across the street from Centraal Station. Though it was early in the afternoon, the sky was getting a little cloudy and started to rain a little bit, but it didn't bother me as I started wandering through the streets of Amsterdam.


I didn't take too much time to get lost in the city because I wanted to get to my hostel and check in, making sure I had a bed for that night. A number of trams and buses run throughout the city and there is a subway system set up, though it doesn't really get you many places in the city, but I decided to walk. Afterall, it didn't look far, and I was short on change. I did find out before I went about the I Amsterdam card, which give you total access to any public transportation system as well as access to dozens of museums around the city. I thought about purchasing this card, but even for the 1-day offer, it was going to be more expensive than walking and buying my entrance to the one museum I had time for.

Amsterdam is one of those fantastically cool, walkable, friendly, cheery, beautiful cities. It is of course famous for its extensive series of canals, which were recently added to the UNESCO list of culturally significant sites. One of the other things that immediately stands out as being unique among European cities is the architecture of the houses, the majority of which can't be more than 15-feet wide. Though skinny, each building is deep and rises 4-5 stories above street-level, and is crowned by a little ornamental façade. Naturally, this design made it difficult to move large pieces of furniture up and down stairs, so many of the houses have a pulley system in place near the roof line so that you could hoist large items up and through windows. And of course there are the canals - beautifully lined with trees along the sidewalk and boats in the water. I've never been to Venice, and while I imagine it is more austere, Amsterdam's canals just seemed inviting and quaint.

Tree-lined canal in Amsterdam

I got to my hostel, the Hotel Annemarie, and had a little problem checking in because I thought I paid for everything online at www.hostelworld.com, but it turns out they only take the deposit and you have to pay the rest upon arrival - but the hostel may or may not take credit cards. Such was the case and I had to run around the corner to find an geldautomat (ATM) and get some money. Wasn't too big of a deal, but I also had to put to a refundable deposit for my key, which was just slightly annoying. But the host at the hostel was a very cheery man with a more than friendly disposition and every time I saw him he asked me by name, "Eric, how is your stay? Eric, how are the rooms? Eric, is there anything I can do for you?" And to be fair to the 75% rating on hostelworld.com, Hotel Annemarie was very nice - definitely not a party hostel.

I went up to my bed - one of eight in the room - and took advantage of the free wifi and tried calling home with my computer. But it turns out that voice calling from the Gmail chat window has been modified and it is no longer free to call the US internationally... So I checked my email, made my bed, and then put my things in my backpack and headed out to check out a museum while they were still open. Most close at 6pm on a daily basis, so I didn't have much time. Luckily, Hotel Annemarie is adjacent to the museum campus where the Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum are located.

My first instinct was to go to the Van Gogh Museum and get my fill of the renowned artist, but I ran into another snafu because I didn't have much cash and the minimum to use a card was 25-euro... Luckily, the Rijksmuseum is just down the street and I was easily able to get in. The Rijksmuseum is a clearinghouse for all things Dutch. It covers aspects of Dutch history, culture, and art and has many fascinating displays. The museum has been undergoing a series of renovations so the majority of the museum is inaccessible; instead, they've had to condense their art and artifacts down to the most popular.

I had to go through fairly quickly, but was able to learn that the Netherlands gained its independence from Spain in the 1500s and refers to various autonomous regions within the political confines of what we recognize today. Holland, though synonymous with the Netherlands, is really just one of those autonomous regions. Anyway, the Netherlands quickly became a powerhouse of sea-trading and exploration, colonizing parts of North America (New Amsterdam became New York City), South America (Suriname), Africa (parts of South Africa), and southeast Asia (Indonesia). Somewhere along the way, the Netherlands transitioned into being governed by a monarchy...I missed that transition, though - or maybe that display was in the closed-off portion of the museum?

The tour then brought me through a few rooms complete with jewelery, gems, and other fancy accoutrements of the rich and famous and a room full of delftware, a type of blue and white ceramic in which pictures of Dutch life, designs, flowers, and landscapes are depicted.

But the main attraction at the Rijksmuseum is the vast artwork collection with pieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, and Steen. I am not an art historian and don't really understand the intricacies of the various media or techniques used, but I can appreciate the talent that goes into portraying the Dutch landscapes, the symbolism represented in various party scenes, the detail in portraits, and the sheer magnitude of the museum's most famous piece, Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" - a huge 12-by-14 foot mural of guardsmen from Amsterdam's upper-crust. It's a beautifully detailed painting that is somehow still around today after being trimmed down on three sides when it was moved to a secondary location that wasn't as big as its original and then more recently being ripped apart in places after a deranged man slashed through the painting in many places with a knife.

Rembrandt's The Night Watch in the Rijksmuseum (photo: Rijksmuseum.nl)

I left the museum right around closing time at 6pm, and didn't really feel like walking all the way back into town for a night out by myself, so I grabbed some food from a nearby grocery store and went back to my hostel to eat. Back in my room, three girls from Spain were getting ready for their night out on the town, but the other beds were empty. This was good news because it meant that our room was maybe not going to be too crowded. Sure, I might have to deal with them coming back late that night, but I could put up with that. I finished reading my book and checked emails until my battery ran out, but by that time, a giggly and talkative group of French students (and one Swede) came into the room speaking the whole time in French. I tried to just ignore them, but one of the guys and I chatted for a little bit. They were confused why I was staying at a hostel in Amsterdam but wasn't going out for the night. I tried explaining that I was on business (of sorts) and just here during a layover. I don't think they understood. They continued to get ready while I, running out of things to do, pretended to study a map of the city.

They eventually left, apologizing in advance for when they came back later that night, and I tried to get as much sleep as possible because I knew that later on, when everyone returned, I'd be woken up again. Well, the Spanish girls did not return, which I thought was weird, but it was good because there weren't enough beds for me, the three of them, and the five french students, and when the students returned they were loud, but not obnoxiously and I prepared for the light by putting my airplane eye-shades on. Wasn't too bad.

I wanted to wear ear plugs, too, but I wouldn't have heard my alarms go off on my iPhone, which I had tucked into the hood of my jacket hanging off the post of my bunk bed. I ended up waking up before my alarm went off and decided to be nice to my roommates and turned my alarms off before hopping in the shower so they wouldn't be woken up either. I took my shower and started packing my bag in the dark so I wouldn't bother them by turning on a light, and nearly had everything together when I went to put my iPhone in my pocket...but it wasn't there in my jacket's hood where I left it. I felt through all the pockets in my jacket to see if I just misplaced it. But I was positive it had been in my hood because that's where I put it when I turned my alarms off so my roommates wouldn't be woken by it. It just wasn't there. I thought maybe I left it in the pockets in my shorts, so I emptied my backpack and checked everywhere. Couldn't be found. I checked my jacket again, and then shook my sheets, and then my backpack again. Jacket. Backpack. Jacket. Backpack. It was nowhere to be found. I started getting really psyched out that someone, again, had stolen my iPhone, exactly like what happened when I was on my way to the Berlin airport earlier this year.

I started to freak out and I turned on one of the lights, which woke up one of the French girls, so I muttered, "Désolé. J'ai perdu mon mobile." She asked me to let the cat out of the room because it was bothering her. When did a cat come into the room? So I let it out and continued my search. Maybe it fell into the sheets of one of the two beds below? I couldn't quite justify rummaging my hands through the beds where a girl in one and a guy in the other were sleeping, so I flattened myself on the floor and rechecked under the beds. There, with the light on, I could see a little box-like thing near the wall under the bed. It was my phone! I grabbed it just to make sure, let out a big sigh of relief, and stuffed everything back into my backpack and headed downstairs for a meager breakfast of toast and jam.

It wasn't that late and I was going to make my flight, no worries, but I quickly left the hostel and started my way back to Centraal Station. But what good is a stay in Amsterdam without a visit to the Red Light District? The district is famous for its provocative nightlife and adult entertainment, but is also home to museums, art galleries, family houses, churches, cafés, and shops. Of course, being Sunday morning, nothing was open, but it made my visit even cooler because it was like walking through a ghost town...or at least like walking down Bourbon Street in New Orleans the morning after during Mardi Gras!

The famous I amsterdam statue outside the Rijksmuseum. They were filling the fountain in front of it with water for an ice rink, so I couldn't get a head-on shot. Seems like 8am on a Sunday is the only time when it's not covered in tourists!

Old mansions lining the outermost of the concentric canals, separating the main downtown area and the museum district.

The National Monument commemorating WWII

The Oude Kerk, the oldest Gothic monument in Amsterdam, dates back to the 1200s, though it has undergone many enlargements since. It is an island of sanctity in the heart of the Red Light district :)

Typical façades lining the canal in the Red Light District

Amsterdam's Centraal Station. BEAUTIFUL train station.

Amsterdam was such a beautiful city, I am sorry I only had such a little amount of time to spend there, but it is definitely worth going back to with friends or family - someone else to enjoy it with me and experience all it has to offer.