Recently I had the opportunity to travel to Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Holland) after a very generous friend offered the trip to me for virtually free travel costs!! Amazing! Chris and Tang Dalo are former co-workers of Andrew’s from his 2 years in Bangkok and now live in Connecticut. We loved travelling together and just had a blast seeing the sights, eating Indonesian food, traversing the city by foot & tram occasionally, and seeing President Bush protests.
If any of you have ever seen this beautiful canal city, it is well worth the trip. The city is gorgeous, formed by rings and rings and more rings of circular streets & circular canals, one after the other after the other. Walking is the preferred mode of transportation, but we soon learned that crossing the street can be a hazardous situation as you check left and right several times for: Trams (innavigable from their tracks, so better watch out), Haphazardly driven bikes (don’t suddenly dart out in the road or you may lose a limb), Buses (narrow streets don’t allow for much room), and of course, Cars, Pedestrians, and Things-Left-Behind-By-People-Not-Cleaning-Up-After-their-Pets.
A bike parking garage!
Tang in a wooden Holland-ish clog
We had a fabulous time, though, and visited the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, Rembrandt’s House, the Anne Frank Huis, (where she and her family hid for 2 years before being taken to concentration camps), the Heineken Brewery, and a Canal Tour. We also came across a few sights that probably could not be seen anywhere but Amsterdam, including a public urinal and a street performer making bird chirping sounds (for money.)
Chris using a blatantly public urinal (we didn’t think he was using it, it was supposed to be a photo op, but oh well)
Tang and I in the Museum Park square between Rijksmuseum & Van Gogh
One of the many canals circling the city center
Heineken Brewery (one of our favorite experiences!)
