Europe 2019 - Day 17

23 May 2019, Thursday 

Woke up at about 7 a.m., shower, breakfast at the hostel (hot coffee!) and then we headed out to explore Amsterdam! The weather here is quite nice, about 21 degrees Celsius. I still had my coat on, of course.

The Netherlands is a relatively small country with about 17 million people. It’s famous for its painters (Rembrandt, Vincent Van Gogh), windmills, clogs, cheese and tulips. In Amsterdam, almost the first thing I noticed were the amount of bicycles everywhere! Here nearly all the roads have a dedicated pedestrian walkway as well as a dedicated bicycle lane. So crossing the road becomes even more tricky now. I read that because the Netherlands is a very flat country mostly at or below sea level, it makes it very easy to cycle everywhere. 

First we went to the tourist information centre as usual. It was located near the central train station quite far away from our hostel. The train station itself was quite a nice building. The city is full of canals, which offer boat rides. Then we went to our farthest destination first, to see an old windmill known as Molen van Sloten. It is quite far away, we have to take a tram for about 35 minutes and then walk through the small village of Sloten. The village of Sloten is approximately 2 centuries older than Amsterdam, dating as far back as 1063. We also passed by 2 really big and beautiful churches, the village square which used to house the former courthouse, a small police station (number 1251) that was built in 1866 and in use until the 1980s. 

Then we finally reached the windmill which was a thing of beauty. It dates from 1847 and was rebuilt in 1991. It was a working polder mill that controls the water level; it can pump up to 60,000 litres of water per minute and is largely made of wood. Speaking of wood, coopery (the making of barrels and casks) used to play a very important part in the history of the Netherlands. Barrels were used to store gherkins, cheese, butter, meat, etc and nowadays is used to store whiskey, wine and cognac. Near here there was also a statue of Rembrandt painting, as he was a miller’s son and worked in the neighbourhood of Sloten. 

Then off back to town, to the Rijksmuseum, a museum dedicated to arts and history. We didn’t go in but just took pictures of the facade as it was beautiful. Then to the Heineken Brewery. The Netherlands is, after all, the home to Heineken! Here also we only took pictures of the facade as it was too expensive to go in (21 Euros!!!). Next, to the Van Gogh museum and the Stedelijk museum (another art museum), where we also only took pictures of the facade.

Then on to Anne Frank House. Apparently you can only purchase the entrance tickets online, and when I tried to do it online it was fully booked until end of June!!! Of all the places to visit, this was one of the places I really wanted to go into but so very unfortunately I couldn’t (cry). But there’s nothing that can be done. So on to the next destination!

Next destination was the cheese museum where we saw all sorts of cheese, the infamous Gouda, goat cheese, spiced cheese, etc. I tried some too. Beside this is the tulip museum. We just missed the tulips, they last bloomed last Sunday and now they’re gone. How sad. 

Then we walked to the Red Light District, there were scantily clad women standing in the windows. Here we found a ‘coffee shop’ (shops that sell weed) and I had a joint of marijuana for 4 Euros. This was the mildest cannabis they had, the stronger being hash for 6 Euros. My friend took 2 puffs and gave the rest to me. I had to finish the damn thing, it made me damn thirsty!!! 

Then I bought some stroopwaffle to eat, I really liked it, nice and sweet, I bought some to bring back home, along with some other souvenirs (clogs, of course!). Then we just walked around Amsterdam, admiring the canals and sights such as the Oude Kerk. This is Amsterdam’s oldest building, dating back to 1306. It was a church devoted to St Nicholas, the patron saint of the people of Amsterdam. From 1587, the church became Protestant from Roman Catholic. It is the final resting place for more than 20,000 citizens of Amsterdam, including Rembrandt’s wife who was buried there in 1642 and whose grave still remains there. 

We also passed the Dam Square, the Royal Palace, other churches and Madame Tussaud’s. And then we were done with Amsterdam so we headed back to our hostel, had some beers, bought some groceries and finally called it a day. 

I like Amsterdam. It’s a beautiful place, people are relatively nice, weather was nice. Thumbs up!