Week Six: Hoi! Welkom in Holland

Zaanse Schans

Twiske

Amsterdam

Hoi! Welkom in Holland! Translation Hi! Welcome to Holland: The land of fairy tale villages, wooden clogs, luscious green landscapes, the Red Light District, coffee shops, breathtaking architecture, and serene canals that line just about every other street. If you haven’t already put two and two together, I spent this past weekend in the Netherlands. (For those of you not so geographically gifted, Holland and the Netherlands is the same thing and Amsterdam is the capital.) I traveled with Tori, and we stayed with her boyfriend’s (Harold) family in a quaint little village called Oostzaan, just a quick ferry ride out of the red lights, confused Asian tourists, and city buzz of Amsterdam. Staying in Harold’s village was the perfect balance of spending the day out and about in the city and then coming home and waking up to the peaceful canal right outside the window. But now I am getting too far ahead of myself, back to the beginning.

Thursday morning started off not so bright, and far too early as Tori and I made the trek over to the train station in the grueling Preston weather. After one drowsy train ride and some pesky airport security, we were off and flying with KLM: destination Amsterdam. When we arrived my mood instantly went from tired don’t bother me teenager, to kid in a candy store. We were immediately warmly welcomed with smiles and European kisses from Harold’s parents (Nynke and Herman), probably the nicest people I have met since being abroad. I was in awe and shock of all the signs in Dutch and the variety of languages coming at me from every direction. We grabbed a quick sandwich and headed off to Zaanse Schans, a small touristy village complete with all original homes, towering windmills, tiny candy shops, a cheese factory, a wooden clog factory, and plenty of ethereal fields and gardens.

Zaanse Schans was gorgeous, not to mention the sun was out so that was a definite bonus. We made our rounds through all the little shops, stopped and watched a clog be made in about five minutes, went into a windmill, and finally stopped in heaven… aka the cheese factory. Now, I’m not really even a huge cheese fan, but this stuff was absolutely delectable. They had hot and spicy, pesto, garlic and herb, young, aged, smoked, goat, cow, you name it they had it made there fresh. Nynke surprised us later with some garlic and herb cheese to take home, yumm. Nynke didn’t stop feeding us there either… being a classic mom she put food in front of us faster than we could make it disappear: pasta, rice, tiramisu, cheese, crackers, wine, tea, and the list goes on. Although we didn’t see much of Nynke and Herman the next few days, it was so nice and relaxing being in a home with a family again opposed to my dingy little dorm room.

 We had a nice lazy morning, and eventually headed of too Amsterdam in the afternoon. It was gorgeous. We took a ferry into town and were immediately in the hub of it all. There were vendors, packed streets, and gorgeous buildings. I saw a massive building thinking it was a museum of some sorts and Harold informed me that it was the shopping mall… a little nicer than the Westfield I must admit.  We wandered through town as Harold, our personal tour guide, pointed out various squares, good places to eat, one of the Queen’s castles, and much much more. In addition to the beautiful architecture, I think one of the most enchanting things about Amsterdam is that a series of canals run through all ends of the city. They are lined with nice little benches to sit on and watch as the tiny boats mosey on by, and picturesque bridges that light up at night and glisten on the water—amazing.

After we got tired from the typical sight seeing, we ventured off to Vondel Park to sit back, relax, and enjoy the day. The park was just as awesome as the city itself. It had big open lawns, statues, towering trees, and tons of people out enjoying the weather. We laid back and relaxed, had a little picnic, and enjoyed some very entertaining people watching—a man doing meditation hula hooping, sporting tie-dye pants and a fishnet shirt to top it all off… interesting. From there we ventured off to a smaller version of one of the US’s little Italies for some tasty, and reasonably priced calzones. By that time the sun was setting so we made our way over to the ever so infamous Red Light District.

Seeing as I had heard a decent amount about the Red Light District before I went, it really wasn’t all that shocking to me. One thing that did catch me off guard was when I was trying to take a picture to capture the fact that is really is lit up by both glowing florescent red lights that line the shops and alleyways, Harold informed me that I couldn’t take picture in a few more feet because if a prostitute was in one the pimp would get mad at me. Needless to say I put my camera away after that. We did a bit of walking around and saw our fair share of “adult” shops. Down the alleyways there were all the girls in the windows and it was a tad bit on the uncomfortable side. I actually felt really bad for them. We finished off the night in a coffee shop, The Dolphins, which was completely decorated as if it was underwater with detailed murals on the walls and coral coming from the ceiling. It was a very nice and relaxing way to end a long day of sight seeing.

On Saturday we made the decision to head into Amsterdam a little later in the day, and spend some time seeing some less touristy parts of Holland. Seeing as everyone rides bikes, we rode our bikes through the village and into the Twiske, which is like a big park or reserve. We rode our bikes through a good portion of it, taking in all the greenery and nature. On the way back we rode through another little village, which was the epitome of picture perfect: clear skies, tiny homes with kids playing outside, tractors crossing the road and heading into the fields, canals with floating lily pads… After we got our nature fix for the day we headed into Amsterdam for a second time and explored the West end a bit more, seeing more sights such as the Anne Frank house, and ending up back in the city center. Exhausted from all the walking we treated ourselves to a nice beer and appetizers out on one of the terraces in Rembrandt square. It was wonderful.

Our travels ended with one last hoorah at Harold’s friend’s birthday party. It was hosted in his in a party-venue type tent in his backyard complete with fully stocked mini fridges, snacks, awesome lighting, and good company. Most everyone spoke English, but it really made me aware of how many more languages other cultures know in comparison to us. We met tons of really cool people and had a great night, which eventually ended with some tea and cookies back at Harold’s house. Needless to say Sunday morning came far too early. Staying in a home with someone who knew the area truly made my trip to Amsterdam feel like a real vacation, void of the stresses that come along with travel. Amsterdam is most definitely a city I plan on making my way back to sometime in the future but until then, tot ziens!