I Amsterdam and The Hague- April 24 - 26, 2009

I was super excited to find out that my sorority sisters Allison and Kellie would be the first (and probably only) visitors to my lovely country and they were coming on the weekend that I had planned on going to Amsterdam. Perfect! Sadly, Allison was only staying a total of 30 hours in the north, but Kellie was going back to Maastricht with me to spend the afternoon and night. I was really excited to show off my awesome city to someone (my Dad came in February but the weather was really crappy)!

So I hopped on the train to Eindhoven to meet my friends at the airport. Kellie arrived first at noon, and so we looked for a bus to take us to the city center. Weirdly, there was only a bus to the train station so we scrapped seeing Eindhoven (not really sure if there is anything to see in Eindhoven). We went up to the super-nice airport food court and Kellie experienced her first encounter with the Dutch people. She was surprised how well they spoke English and how attractive they are. I ordered a delicious kids meal with chicken nuggets, fries, a drink, ice cream, and a toy. What a deal!

After eating, Allison had arrived from Milano. We hopped on the bus to the train station and began our journey to Amsterdam. It took another 2 hours on the train until we arrived in the XXX. We found our hostel in the beautiful Jordan area in the Canal Ring. We stayed at a Christian hostel which is the way to go in Amsterdam. Hostels in Amsterdam are notorious for being extremely expensive and not that great. They are party hostels and a lot of them allow drinking and smoking = dirty rooms and obnoxious people = no sleep. So I found this Christian hostel which was clean and the best part - we got free HOT breakfast. Now to you all in America, this may seem like a silly delight, but after eating soggy toast and tea for free hostel breakfast, having French toast and ham/egg/cheese sandwiches was like the Ritz! The other great thing about our hostel was its location. We were in the quiet Jordan area and about a 5 minute walk to the Anne Frank House.

So after checking in and getting the reminder about 7:30 pm bible study, we headed off to the Anne Frank House. We walked about 10 minutes down the canal past the house because we didn't expect it to look as it did (and we were searching for a line). Well, as it turns out, the front of the building is a normal canal house but the entrance is in the adjacent house and is very modern looking, so you could miss it if you weren't looking close enough. There was also no line (it was 5 pm on a Friday) so we were pleasantly surprised.

Seeing the place where Anne and her family (and 4 others) lived for 2 years was very moving. The floors were so creaky, I have no idea how they did it for so long without getting caught. You enter the museum and it takes you through all of the offices and store rooms of the business. Then, you step through the bookcase door and go upstairs to the annex. The pictures that Anne had pasted onto the wall of movie stars are still there. Anne's original diary was there too. It was so intriguing and sad. We later learned on our walking tour the next day that 842 Dutch Jews that lived in Amsterdam survived the Holocaust. At the beginning of WWII, 32,000 Jews lived in Amsterdam. We learned at the Anne Frank House that a lot of them came to Holland because they believed the country would remain neutral during the war as it did during WWI.

After the Anne Frank House, we headed to the Van Gogh museum. We were really lucky that it was Friday because that is the night when all of the museums are open until 10 pm. They also had a dj and cocktails which made the gallery seem really chic and fun. For a second, I felt very artsy and sophisticated..haha. So we explored the museum, saw the Bedroom of Arles and many other Van Gogh landscapes (those are my favorites). Then we went to the exhibition where we saw…..Starry Night! It was so cool! I am so lucky that it was here because I don't know how long it would have been until I could go to the MOMA in New York and see it. The whole exhibit was of Van Gogh's nighttime works. They were all very beautiful and interesting.

After our art fix, we were all ready for a beer, AND Kellie and Allison had yet to have their first Dutch beer drinking experience (which is one of the musts when experiencing Dutch culture). So we went to the Leidseplein and sat down at a sidewalk pub and each got a pint. The square was lively with drunk people and street performers. The Leidseplein is Amsterdam's version of Oxford Street in London.

The next day (Saturday), we got up and headed to the train station to catch a New Europe free walking tour of Amsterdam. These tours are great and all of the guides seem to be hot Australian guys from Melbourne. We started walking through Dam Square and then through the Red Light District. When we walked through, I surprised at the caliber of the ladies in the windows…kinda old or bigger. We were reminded that all the good one's curtains were either closed or worked at peak hours…haha. So then we walked past the church in the Red Light District where the sailors who just visited the ladies could repent…only in Amsterdam. We then walked over the tallest point in the city (a bridge), saw some leaning canal houses, and the old prison. Then we walked past the most famous "coffee shop" in Amsterdam and through the Jewish Quarter which was sadly abandoned after WWII. We went through the Begijnhof, where the nuns found refuge after the reformation, and where single women still live today.

After the tour, we headed to the Heineken Experience. Now, I have been to my fair share of breweries in Europe, but the Heineken Experience was by far the coolest! It is way more interactive and interesting. And we made a really awesome Dutch windmill music video…priceless. After drinking 2 pints of Heineken, we hit the gift shop…they do that on purpose! But I did get some incredibly awesome souvenirs for my house next year.

Then we sat out on the canal and drank lattes until Allison had to catch her bus to Germany at midnight. The canals have to be the best part of Amsterdam…they are so beautiful and the canal row houses are so quaint.

On Sunday, Kellie and I traveled to The Hague (Den Haag) which means "the seat". This is the capital of the Netherlands and where the Queen lives. We went to the Maurithuis Museum which houses many Vermeer's, Rembrandts, and The Girl with the Pearl Earring. We walked through the Binnenhof where Parliament works and saw the Noord Paleis (North Palace) where Queen Beatrix works (don't ask me what she does…haha).

Then we were off to Maastricht where I finally got to show off my wonderful city. We went to the Preuverij eet Café (the Preu) and had French onion soup, fries with mayo, and spring beer…yummy. I think Kellie was in love. We then started to explore Maastricht, but (of course) it started raining so our tour was cut short, but I was still able to show her the old Roman Walls and the school.

I loved having friends visit and we were lucky to have such great weather! I am off to London on Tuesday!

Love and miss you all!

Tot ziens,

Betsy