Funsterdam, coolsterdam, itsprettysterdam. I truly still don't get how Amsterdam managed to surprise me at being one of the prettiest places in Europe. From the canal after canal of picturesque street life, to the historical architectural elements lingering between cute and impressive, there is only one word that I can pinpoint to explain how Amsterdam is: seductive. Last week was my Independent Travel Break where I took the word 'independent' quite literally as the opportunity to grab my bags and head into a solo trip/odyssey through Northern Europe. I have never had the greatest time in my whole entire life. Traveling alone is so liberating and it allowed me to get face-to-face to just how cities can be charming, scary, disorienting, mundane, and even sensual all at the same time. Traveling alone had always been a huge interest of mine, I have never been afraid of plunging into the blue and taking spontaneous decisions. For me, traveling alone means wandering, discovering, and getting lost; thing I highly value both as a lifestyle mantra and an aesthetic appeal. It's quite literally ingrained in my personality. If you don't like to be lost then we would have a difficult friendship. Keep tuned for another post about how alone can be healing and how traveling on your own reaches into your soul fornall the right places. For what is worth, venturing to Amsterdam was definitely the right decision. From the 17th century buildings, the sleazy corners, and the modern architectural elements, Amsterdam truly did it and did it big time. For starters, my main goal while in Amsterdam was to brake the stereotype. When people come to Miami I usually dislike the fact they categorize it into the niche of "south beach, parties and EDM" without paying attention to the rich food, culture and other artistically composed elements that make Miami exciting. Same thing held true when people would talk to me about Amsterdam "sex, drugs, party" they said, making me both excited and reluctant about my trip. I came to find that Amsterdam is so so so much more than that. Here is a sense of the principles I told myself every day I woke up when I was in Amsterdam:
1. Peruse
Getting lost was quite literally a recurring theme on the whole entirety of my trip. From missed flights, wrong train stations, and foreign languages, it seemed like getting lost was almost necessary for my trip to be my trip. Specially in Amsterdam please throw your map to the wind and loose yourself. Explore every lovely canal, observe the meticulously placed details, come into a plaza and turn the opposite direction, stop at the market, make the wrong turn, dare into small alleys. The first day I was there I got a free tourist map and made a general route. Five minutes into the city and I had no clue as to where I was and how I had managed to get into a street that curved from one canal into another. At that 5 minute mark I decided to rip my map and toss into the garbage (don't litter that's rude!). What came next was a whole entire day of enjoying every inch of the city. Just when you start thinking "aha, I got you Amsterdam, I figured what street I'm in!" you turn a corner followed by a curved alley and find yourself at a completely new part of the city. Usually I use architectural and topographical landmarks to orient myself when I am experiencing a city. The most obvious landmarks of Amsterdam, which are actually in the UNESCO World Heritage list, are the beautiful medieval canals; so it was only natural that I was completely seduced by them. Good for the city for being so pretty (applause) but not so good for me when I try to locate myself from a canal just as beautiful as the next... and the next.. and the one after that (snap). The effect is that while you feel strangely familiar and drawn into the city, you also feel extremely lost; and that to me is wonderful. To experience a city at the intersection of this is to understand just how you become a part of the experience itself. "Didn't I just pass this?" "is this a different canal or the same one?" "where does that street lead?" "oh it leads to another canal." That was literally my though-process as I navigated Amsterdam. Amsterdam kept me in check. When you stop fearing being lost and embracing wandering you find a true magic. Finding the hidden coffee shop becomes rewarding, walking into a wide city-square becomes like the way you might encounter an oasis in the dessert, pointing out a small detail in a window sill that others might have overlooked becomes purposeful. No laid out paths or predetermined tourist routes, I let my sense of wonder guide me through the whole entirety of the city.
1. Peruse
Getting lost was quite literally a recurring theme on the whole entirety of my trip. From missed flights, wrong train stations, and foreign languages, it seemed like getting lost was almost necessary for my trip to be my trip. Specially in Amsterdam please throw your map to the wind and loose yourself. Explore every lovely canal, observe the meticulously placed details, come into a plaza and turn the opposite direction, stop at the market, make the wrong turn, dare into small alleys. The first day I was there I got a free tourist map and made a general route. Five minutes into the city and I had no clue as to where I was and how I had managed to get into a street that curved from one canal into another. At that 5 minute mark I decided to rip my map and toss into the garbage (don't litter that's rude!). What came next was a whole entire day of enjoying every inch of the city. Just when you start thinking "aha, I got you Amsterdam, I figured what street I'm in!" you turn a corner followed by a curved alley and find yourself at a completely new part of the city. Usually I use architectural and topographical landmarks to orient myself when I am experiencing a city. The most obvious landmarks of Amsterdam, which are actually in the UNESCO World Heritage list, are the beautiful medieval canals; so it was only natural that I was completely seduced by them. Good for the city for being so pretty (applause) but not so good for me when I try to locate myself from a canal just as beautiful as the next... and the next.. and the one after that (snap). The effect is that while you feel strangely familiar and drawn into the city, you also feel extremely lost; and that to me is wonderful. To experience a city at the intersection of this is to understand just how you become a part of the experience itself. "Didn't I just pass this?" "is this a different canal or the same one?" "where does that street lead?" "oh it leads to another canal." That was literally my though-process as I navigated Amsterdam. Amsterdam kept me in check. When you stop fearing being lost and embracing wandering you find a true magic. Finding the hidden coffee shop becomes rewarding, walking into a wide city-square becomes like the way you might encounter an oasis in the dessert, pointing out a small detail in a window sill that others might have overlooked becomes purposeful. No laid out paths or predetermined tourist routes, I let my sense of wonder guide me through the whole entirety of the city.
The first night that I got there I said to myself that I was going to make it worth it, so I headed out at around 10pm just after pretty much throwing my bags in my hostel bed and went to go to see the city, I was determined to not waste a single moment. A good thing about Amsterdam is that the city quite literally radiates out from its city center. You get off at the central station and are transported to a point that is relevant to the history, geography, and personality of the city. That is somewhat rare now a days, that a city's main station delivers you at the very heart of the city; it makes Amsterdam so functional and distinctive. You get out of the station and there is so much activity! All cities have a unique story to tell about their spatial history. So does Amsterdam. This watery cityscape offers an enticing mix of old and new. radially planned and almost deliberately designed for the walking and biking experience, spending a day in Amsterdam under the blue sky is the way to go. The medieval buildings in the center are never straight, in some parts they lean to the side, piled into each other and slanted into the street. In other parts, the narrow structures lean inward into the narrow street in front of them. You walk on the streets and feel part of the whole, everything is intimate.
2. Try it, don't expect it
As soon as I landed in Amsterdam I was starving, so on my late night venture to the city I decided to look for a cheap snack to get me through the night and into my hostel's free breakfast. I spotted a French Fry stand selling fries in a cone with what seem a fistful of mayonnaise literally dumped on top like some sort of street style highschool cafeteria. It seemed so wrong, and so gross, and so right! Being in Amsterdam meant I was open to try new things: from the more orthodox going out to sleazy bars and talking to the Dutch, to the controversial Coffeshops, I was determined to make my stay in Amsterdam a memorable experience. One of the days I woke up real early (that right there is what I mean by trying too, because if you know me you know that I actually am a nocturnal creature and mornings were invented just to personally and eternally torture me). I headed to the city to walk around and hit off the main sightseeing attractions. Soon I figured out that I was in the middle of the Red Light district at 11 in the morning... While the Red Light District is actually lit red at night, in the day time it is quite literally just another neighborhood in the city. Known perhaps as the most controversial area in Europe, Amsterdam's Red Light District is truly interesting if not shocking. Women show their stuff on the window, just like if I had gone window shopping for new shoes. They are there, raw, winking at me, and throwing me besos. I only realized where I was strolling into it by looking up and locking stares with an 11 am prostitute. So only normally the woman on the window was not the late night, curvy with perfectly done hair. She knocked on the glass, pointed to inside and threw a wink for good measure. While you are welcome to go ahead and try that too, I kindly refused without helping but to look straight into her boobs and skimpy corset. Hi, I'm awkward.
Sure, there are prostitutes, red lights, Coffeeshops, and big neon signs that say “Live Sex Show,” but there are also hotels, normal restaurants, and even houses where families live. It can be a surreal experience to walk through it, but it can also be disappointingly normal after your first visit. Part of this is that we, as Americans, associate prostitution with grimy street corners, meth-mouth, and unattractive women beckoning us to follow them with one hand and dragging on a cigarette with the other. Which is why it made the district so interesting and exciting to me at first. But, the Red Light District prostitutes don’t nearly live up to that standard. Each prostitute stands or sits behind her own clear glass door, wearing a bra and panties (some people assume they’re fully naked). They aren't hacking drug addicts (allegedly at least!). Also, the Red Light District only makes up a small section of the city, basically a couple blocks. In fact, if you keep walking down the street in one section of the district, in about 5 to 10 minutes you’ll end up at one of the University of Amsterdam complexes. So you could go out hoping to get high and ogle prostitutes and accidentally get an education. Boom.
Amsterdam’s canals are beautiful, and the city has much more to offer than weed and prostitutes. Other less sexual things I tried were a picnic in the beautiful Vondelpark, ordering from the menu in Dutch, a nice visit to the coffeeshops (wink), lots of foam on my beer,joining a big and peaceful street protest/march, talking to strangers and buying something at the flee market.
As soon as I landed in Amsterdam I was starving, so on my late night venture to the city I decided to look for a cheap snack to get me through the night and into my hostel's free breakfast. I spotted a French Fry stand selling fries in a cone with what seem a fistful of mayonnaise literally dumped on top like some sort of street style highschool cafeteria. It seemed so wrong, and so gross, and so right! Being in Amsterdam meant I was open to try new things: from the more orthodox going out to sleazy bars and talking to the Dutch, to the controversial Coffeshops, I was determined to make my stay in Amsterdam a memorable experience. One of the days I woke up real early (that right there is what I mean by trying too, because if you know me you know that I actually am a nocturnal creature and mornings were invented just to personally and eternally torture me). I headed to the city to walk around and hit off the main sightseeing attractions. Soon I figured out that I was in the middle of the Red Light district at 11 in the morning... While the Red Light District is actually lit red at night, in the day time it is quite literally just another neighborhood in the city. Known perhaps as the most controversial area in Europe, Amsterdam's Red Light District is truly interesting if not shocking. Women show their stuff on the window, just like if I had gone window shopping for new shoes. They are there, raw, winking at me, and throwing me besos. I only realized where I was strolling into it by looking up and locking stares with an 11 am prostitute. So only normally the woman on the window was not the late night, curvy with perfectly done hair. She knocked on the glass, pointed to inside and threw a wink for good measure. While you are welcome to go ahead and try that too, I kindly refused without helping but to look straight into her boobs and skimpy corset. Hi, I'm awkward.
Sure, there are prostitutes, red lights, Coffeeshops, and big neon signs that say “Live Sex Show,” but there are also hotels, normal restaurants, and even houses where families live. It can be a surreal experience to walk through it, but it can also be disappointingly normal after your first visit. Part of this is that we, as Americans, associate prostitution with grimy street corners, meth-mouth, and unattractive women beckoning us to follow them with one hand and dragging on a cigarette with the other. Which is why it made the district so interesting and exciting to me at first. But, the Red Light District prostitutes don’t nearly live up to that standard. Each prostitute stands or sits behind her own clear glass door, wearing a bra and panties (some people assume they’re fully naked). They aren't hacking drug addicts (allegedly at least!). Also, the Red Light District only makes up a small section of the city, basically a couple blocks. In fact, if you keep walking down the street in one section of the district, in about 5 to 10 minutes you’ll end up at one of the University of Amsterdam complexes. So you could go out hoping to get high and ogle prostitutes and accidentally get an education. Boom.
Amsterdam’s canals are beautiful, and the city has much more to offer than weed and prostitutes. Other less sexual things I tried were a picnic in the beautiful Vondelpark, ordering from the menu in Dutch, a nice visit to the coffeeshops (wink), lots of foam on my beer,joining a big and peaceful street protest/march, talking to strangers and buying something at the flee market.
3. Check it out
Being in Amsterdam meant that I was able to see many wonderful landmarks and places that I had always hoped to visit! Finding the "I Amsterdam" sign, the Anne Frank House, the Van Gogh Museum and the other known contemporary buildings was very rewarding. I stretched them out too, since I stayed for about 4 days, as to fill each day with cool things to see. My favorite parts were:
The Rijksmuseum (The National Museum) - this great complex is tucked in at the end of the main Amsterdam pedestrian street. Just when you starting thinking that it cant get any better than the beautiful Royal Palace, city squares, and towers, you reach this museum complex that extends through a big part of the city. It's the museum dedicated to Dutch art and history. It's magnificent, you get a good sense of just why the Dutch Golden Age was so historically and artistically memorable. But the space takes presence even outside its walls. The museum grounds that hold the Van Gogh Museum and plenty of gardens are so ideal to an evening well spent. I went there in the afternoon and sat by the classically landscaped gardens, moving from time to time to different parts of the museum, each one better than the next. At some point I was sitting there on my own watching the kids play, seeing the clouds pass by, talking to the occasional person who would sit on the same bench as me. Enjoying my time |
His own plaza, pretty much his own museum, his own house, and many other commemorative plaques later and I think that Rembrandt seems to be Holland's national hero. And who can blame them; he is greatly considered one of the greatest painters and print-makers in European Art. How perfect then that Rembrandtplein is one of the busiest squares in the city, at least when it comes to nightlife and clubbing. So in reality, I liked this plaza because every time I went out it was full of life and action. Originally a butter and dairy market, Rembrandtplein has long left its farm friendly origins behind and these days you are far more likely to find yourself enjoying a latte on the terrace of a café than buying milk from a farmer. In the middle of the square you can find a large statue of the man, gazing down on the late night revellers with a rather thoughtful expression. One late night in the way back to my hostel from a night of drinks I crossed into the middle of the plaza and met Rembrandt's approval. He and his buddies stand there in the middle of the night like good friends saying "You do you." When I missed my flight and had to wait 5 hours for the next one there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to head to the plaza, read a book and enjoy my last moments in the city there. I even took a selfie, no shame. |
The old and historical are relevant, but another aspect of the city I really enjoyed was The Eye, the new dutch Film Institute. Film is an illusion created by the scenic coordination of light, space, and movement, which becomes real through projection. In architecture, the interplay between these parameters defines the intensity and effectiveness of the individual spatial perception significantly. This building does wonders, it integrates these concepts to the core of its design. Seeing it from the train as you make your way to the old city is so striking, the juxtaposition makes it bolder. To get there you have to take a ferry to make your way over to the other side of the water where everything is so calm and much quieter. After 3 days of tourist after tourist, line after line, and person after person, crossing to the other side of the water was such a great decision. I spent my evening sitting outside the steps of the building which look directly to Amsterdam central station from the water. It was so nice! |
With the Eye as a vivid and most recent example, it is very safe to say that contemporary and modern architecture is special in Amsterdam too. My absolute favorite was the library, which is masterfully orchestrated to be one of the best libraries I had ever been to! As the largest and coolest library in Europe, with seven floors, cafes, a restaurant, a museum, a gallery and countless wings, it would be silly if you go to Amsterdam and don't check it out. Other notable buildings were Nemo, the science center and the Olympic Stadium.
4. Have Fun
On Saturday night I had a really good high school friend meet up with me in Amsterdam. Needless to say is that we had a good time. At some point we were lost (surprise! see #1) but we ended up at a bar in the Red Light district ordering a very very very dark beer with so much foam that I couldn't help feeling like we were in the Holland. We met a weird (rather creepy at the end) guy called Adan from London, who after beer 3 or 4 I kept calling Alan because why complicate things. We chatted, made jokes, stared at the bartender. We walked around, stumbling into many streets and exploring the city. It was fun. But the fun wasn't just at night. In the day time I went to Vondelpark where I sat there people watching, the most fun and free activity there ever was. Another time I went to the flower market and got free flowers, I shared cigarette brakes with people from my hostel, I visited the playground, and the market. At the end I couldn't help for feeling so lucky to be where I was, because to travel is to live.
5. Be a tourist but also don't
In my quest to getting to know the city was to try to not make it feel like a wacky tacky tourist. Getting rid of the map was the first step, buying a train pass was the second, the third was staying away from the crowded touristy street. The strategy payed off when in two separate locations a group of people stopped me to asked for directions. And ironically, I sent them off in the right direction. I met countless of Dutch who were actually a little frustrated with the tourists in the city. And to their defense, it was many of us who had come to visit. In every cafe and bar in the center there were tourists. The main pedestrian street was packed, the Anne Frank House and the Madame Tussaud's Museum had lines wrapping around the block, Asians held up their cameras by the hundreds, tourist feeding the pigeons in front of the Royal palace, a huge mass of humans tried to climb the I Amsterdam sign, and a lot of young crowds of guys flocked to the Red Light District. Instead I explored overlooked streets, I turned into quieter neighborhoods. I even stayed in a hostel in a hip, more residential and diverse part of the city. One secrete to meeting the Dutch, who are world renowned for being hot hot hot, is to go to the new library. There were so many hot students there (I guess book too idk) that it doesn't surprise me one bit that I spent about 3 hours wandering inside the library. One of the gems I found by turning into a diagonal side street was the district of Jordaan, this old development of houses next to the center that felt like walking into a village. The cafes near my hostel were less buzzing and more authentic to the Dutch experience. I found a cute white chapel by the harbor a little farther away and stumbled into a cool windmill by walking down the street to the train stop rather than for the closest one. It was great. In the end I even strolled late evening into a market where a nice woman spotted me admiring the flowers and gave me three of them for free. It was so precious.
On Saturday night I had a really good high school friend meet up with me in Amsterdam. Needless to say is that we had a good time. At some point we were lost (surprise! see #1) but we ended up at a bar in the Red Light district ordering a very very very dark beer with so much foam that I couldn't help feeling like we were in the Holland. We met a weird (rather creepy at the end) guy called Adan from London, who after beer 3 or 4 I kept calling Alan because why complicate things. We chatted, made jokes, stared at the bartender. We walked around, stumbling into many streets and exploring the city. It was fun. But the fun wasn't just at night. In the day time I went to Vondelpark where I sat there people watching, the most fun and free activity there ever was. Another time I went to the flower market and got free flowers, I shared cigarette brakes with people from my hostel, I visited the playground, and the market. At the end I couldn't help for feeling so lucky to be where I was, because to travel is to live.
5. Be a tourist but also don't
In my quest to getting to know the city was to try to not make it feel like a wacky tacky tourist. Getting rid of the map was the first step, buying a train pass was the second, the third was staying away from the crowded touristy street. The strategy payed off when in two separate locations a group of people stopped me to asked for directions. And ironically, I sent them off in the right direction. I met countless of Dutch who were actually a little frustrated with the tourists in the city. And to their defense, it was many of us who had come to visit. In every cafe and bar in the center there were tourists. The main pedestrian street was packed, the Anne Frank House and the Madame Tussaud's Museum had lines wrapping around the block, Asians held up their cameras by the hundreds, tourist feeding the pigeons in front of the Royal palace, a huge mass of humans tried to climb the I Amsterdam sign, and a lot of young crowds of guys flocked to the Red Light District. Instead I explored overlooked streets, I turned into quieter neighborhoods. I even stayed in a hostel in a hip, more residential and diverse part of the city. One secrete to meeting the Dutch, who are world renowned for being hot hot hot, is to go to the new library. There were so many hot students there (I guess book too idk) that it doesn't surprise me one bit that I spent about 3 hours wandering inside the library. One of the gems I found by turning into a diagonal side street was the district of Jordaan, this old development of houses next to the center that felt like walking into a village. The cafes near my hostel were less buzzing and more authentic to the Dutch experience. I found a cute white chapel by the harbor a little farther away and stumbled into a cool windmill by walking down the street to the train stop rather than for the closest one. It was great. In the end I even strolled late evening into a market where a nice woman spotted me admiring the flowers and gave me three of them for free. It was so precious.