I have a confession to make. I have fallen madly in love...with Holland! I was there for two consecutive weekends, starting three weekends ago. The first weekend I was in a town called Tilburg, in the south, in order to see a music festival called Festival Mundial; for the second I went to Amsterdam. Both weekends were a blast! And the Dutch people and culture appeal to me very much. Each weekend I learned a lot about some different aspects of Holland.
Tilburg: I decided somewhat last minute to go, as a seat in the rental car spontaneously opened up. My travel companions were 6 Spanish people and a girl from Hamburg. All very delightful, fun, and nice people! We did Couchsurfing, which is basically sleeping on someone's couch or spare bed for free when you're travelling. We stayed with this Dutch guy named Arjen, who somehow had space for 8 people in his home. I had a very nice time. Because of Arjen, we got to meet and hang out with a lot of real, authentic Dutch folks and try out some Dutch food...some of which tasted like American food (I ate something that tasted exactly like a corndog) and some of which was VERY different (I tried a sucker that tasted like a Chupa Chups at first but had a salty liquid reminiscient of soy sauce in the center...it was pretty gross but I stuck it out to the end nonetheless).
The Dutch people are very nice and cool people, and their language is fantastic. To me it sort of seems like a mix between German and English. Surprisingly, however, most Dutch people speak very little German. They do, however, speak perfect English so there was no language barrier. They also have a lot of World Cup spirit; both weekends the streets were totally decked out with bright orange banners (the orange thing is because of William of Orange...for anyone who's taken a European history class, this may ring a bell), their flag (which basically looks like the French flag turned sideways), and signs that say, "Hup Holland Hup!" During the Tilburg weekend they were actually playing a game in the Cup, so we saw lots of people at the festival dressed and painted in orange or dressed as a lion, their mascot.
Festival Mundial was a multi-cultural music festival; there were bands from Spain, France, America, Ireland, and many different countries in Africa. I got to see N.E.R.D., Flogging Molly, and Sean Paul (who is, as it turns out, kind of a jerk) and also discovered a pretty good band from France called Babylon Circus. It was a bit rainy and cold the whole weekend, but still a very good time was had by all.
Amsterdam: Most beautiful place I've ever seen in my life. My companions this time were three Romanians, two of which work in the same chemistry lab as me, and a Frenchman. Our sleeping arrangements, assembled somewhat at the last minute, consisted of "camping" at a site in Amstelveen, a town right outside of Amsterdam. The placement of quotes is due to the fact that we were sleeping in a cabin, on beds, with a restroom and showers nearby. Which was fiiiine by me. We rented a car again for this trip and driving into Amstelveen we saw my dream neighborhood. I didn't know before that it was my dream neighborhood, but I know it now. Picture this: a street lined with house after quaint little house, each surrounded by a moat where people hung out on their boats and there were gardens with beautiful flowers everywhere...it gave the feeling that the people who live there must not have a care in the world. Unfortunately I was not able to get a picture, but I would seriously like to live there someday.
Within the center of Amsterdam there is also a lot of water, and bridges everywhere. Again there were apartments all along the waterfront, with a boat in front of each one. I saw people sitting in their boats just reading or having a picnic. I thought it looked the most stunning, however, at night, when the city lights were reflected on the water like splashes of paint.
We toured the Red Light District, and this time I stayed dry since girls are allowed to walk through; I did, however, refrain from taking pictures as I heard that the "employees" of the district are wont to do one of the following to those caught doing so:
a)Jump out and grab the camera of the offender, then proceed to throw it on the ground, subsequently stomping on it mercilessly; and/or
b)Throw a cup of urine (!!!) at the offender.
So...yeah, I kept my camera in my purse.
After a night of our own "self-guided" tour of the city, we took a free walking tour the next day, which was very informative (an organization called New Europe has free walking tours in many cities, including Munich, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Paris, and many others). We got to see many interesting parts of the city that we'd simply walked by before without noticing, or without knowledge of the vast history behind it. For example, we saw the street Rembrandt lived on, the Anne Frank house, and "Hand on Boob," a sculpture done by an anonymous artist in the night right outside a church.
By the way, the church is situated right in the middle of the Red Light District, so that, in bygone days, those who had "sinned it up" in the City of Sin could go straight to a priest and pay money to have their sins forgiven. There was also a women's prison where people would go to watch prostitutes get whipped for fun. Ah, those were simpler times.
Now about the architecture. At first I wasn't very impressed...it's not exactly dazzling and I was used to the gothic, medieval, and baroque style of Germany. Slowly, though, I began to notice how much character the buildings have and by the end of the weekend it really grew on me. Many of the building have an odd bell shape on the top. They all have large hooks extending from the front near the top. And many of them lean forward. I have no clue about the reason for the first statement, but the last two have to do with the big import business that Amsterdam was built for. The hooks were used to haul things up into the buildings, which leaned forward so that the things being hauled up wouldn't swing and hit the front of the building. Clever!
Before we knew it, the weekend was over and it was time to go home. Sadly I did not get to go to the Van Gogh (my favorite artist!!) Museum, but hopefully someday I will be back in Amsterdam.
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