AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS PT 2
August 13th 2019
bikes bikes bikes. there are literally bikes everywhere. i’m surprised i haven’t gotten run over by one yet. all the bikes are so cute, there was one covered in live flowers, there was one pulling trolley full of dogs, there was one covered in feather boas, there are some with baskets and bins holding groceries, clothes, kids, pets and all sorts of stuff. all of them are so unique and i absolutely love it. as i write all of this i know i sounds like the most touristy person but ya know might as well own it i guess.
all the girls here are literally adorable. they have the cutest outfits, wear the cutest clothes- dresses, skirts, dress pants, and then wear tennis shoes with it. it’s so funny to me how they dress so nice and then wear tennis shoes and bike around, i love it.
here is goes from 71 and sunny to 60 and windy and raining basically with no warning. i’m definitely never dressed right as i go out and my hair is a mess from the wind and rain. most girls wear their hair up, i now know why. despite the weather people don’t use umbrellas and they ride their bikes no matter what the weather is.
the food here is… interesting… there’s fried pigeon, raw pickled herring on a hot dog bun, fried goldfish, pig ears and monkey brains… ok, i’m kidding about the last one, but that’s what my grandparents always used to joke about when we didn’t like the food served. “at least it isn’t monkey brains”. needless to say, i’ve realized how much of a picky eater (and drinker) i am, eating food from around the world for a year should be fun. also, the water here tastes so much different, i didn’t think about how the minerals would change from country to country and i am not used to this water at all. i used to have a friend from school who really didn’t like anything but salad and bread. i remember one time i made her a salad for dinner but she didn’t even like that, instead she ate a whole plain baguette that we had. this is basically how i’m feeling right now, i’m living off of bread and cheese at the moment because even the salads have raw fish on them… again, i’m very picky i guess. but, one place we’ve been going, cafe george, has literally the best french fries i’ve ever had haha. i’ve gone there a few times, eaten fries, had a drink, and worked on this website and it’s been pretty nice. they have amazing desserts too, no fried pigeons in that.
stroopwafels though. grammie has decided she wants one after every meal. basically, it’s a fresh, warm, waffel with a layer of hot caramel inside and then it’s dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with nuts of caramel or sprinkles or whatever else you want. they’re dangerously good and i bet we will visit a few more times before we leave town.
we visited the rijks museum today as well. normally i don’t like museums, and this one wasn’t much different to me than some of the others i’ve seen at home, but, there was some cool artwork. i can appreciate old artwork and the history behind it and the artist, but it isn’t all that exciting to me. they did have an exhibit on the piece, “the night watch” by Rembrandt that was being restored. it is about 12x14 feet and was being scanned by a machine so it could be accurately painted. that was pretty cool to see.
me driving the boat! after this he went to the back and sat and talked w mom and grammie while i drove :)
this is the thinest apartment in amsterdam. it’s the red one, and it’s only one window wide.
we booked a private canal tour, which i wasn’t like overly excited to do, but it was one of my favorite parts of this whole week. our captain was so cool. he graduated with his masters in psychology and is now self employed as a boat tour guy. he was in his early twenties but had so many cool stories and life advice. the boat he drove was all wooden and owned by the oldest captain in amsterdam, who we actually met, she’s a super cute old woman that still gave tours on one of her other boats. while going through the canals he told us a lot of the history behind the buildings and the city. here are three interesting facts about the city he told us. one, a lot of the buildings here lean, and they don’t just lean a tiny bit, it’s very noticeable. when they were first built they build them on piles of wood and as the wood rots the buildings start to lean. but, inside them they have made the floors flat. two, the water in the canals looks disgusting. it’s very brown and murky looking, but, it’s actually so clean. it’s so clear the brown look is from the mud at the bottom. if you take a glass and dip it in the water it is virtually clear. this is because every once in a while they pump out all the water to the ocean and bring in fresh water to maintain the water level. three, there are many houses in amsterdam that are only one window wide. they’re less than 5 feet wide but go back the whole length of the apartments. also! he let me drive the boat! i got to drive it through the tiny canal openings which are barely 5 inches wider than the boat itself.