So I am back in Copenhagen for one night after a spectacular week traveling Europe, and since I have so much to write about, I want to write everything down about last week before I leave for the Czech Republic this evening! I had such a fabulous time in each city, and they all have their own charm and uniqueness! I’m going to split up my blogs into three posts about each city so it’s easier to read, so first up is Amsterdam!
Day 1: Friday, April 8
After my morning classes, I came home and did last minute packing and preparation for our trip. Our overnight train to Amsterdam was scheduled to leave at 6:20pm from central station, so I left my house around 5:15 and was planning on just meeting Gabi at the train early so we could find the track. When I got to the train station though, I checked my cell phone and freaked out from seeing 4 unanswered calls and a text message from Gabi saying her train is messed up and she doesn’t know if she is going to make it on time!!! I immediately called her, and apparently the CRAZY wind storm we were having messed up the trains. We just decided that I would go to central station, find the train to Amsterdam, and then give her directions on how to find the track easily because she probably wouldn’t have much time if she made it at all.
She ended up getting on a train, but she lives a 40 minute ride away from central station, so if there were no delays, she would make it with 10 minutes to spare. I found our train no problem, hopped on, and found our cabin!
Then I sat and waited for Gabi…
The train was about to leave in 5 minutes, when Gabi calls me and says her train is stopped 2 stations away, and they aren’t moving because the wind storm knocked out communication to central station. OMG! I really didn’t want to be on a 14 hour train ride by myself to Amsterdam.. so I jumped off the train and figured I would find a new way to Amsterdam with Gabi! We figured if we had to wait until the next day, we could always go dancing at Kulor Bar that night and still have a blast, but we went to talk to the ticket counter first.
Thankfully, the lady told us to hop on a train to Odense, an island west of Zealand where Copenhagen is located, and we could get on a train to Amsterdam there… oh, and the train to Odense leaves in 5 minutes. So me and Gabi took of running through the station to the train, which was so crowded we had to stand for like a half hour. Then a man working on the train told us they were stopping the train to Amsterdam for us in Odense because like 10 other people missed it because of the wind!! YAY!!! What an adventurous start to our trip!
We were so happy when we made it and I was back in the same cabin I had been in two hours ago!
We celebrated with Spanish wine and tapas!!! Out of classy plastic cups :) Our wine tasting teacher would not approve.
The train was basically empty, so we took up the entire cabin, then another guy opens our door who was supposed to be staying in there with us. We had music playing on the computer and our food and crap sprawled out everywhere.. he was probably not excited. We moved everything really quick though and turned off our music haha. A Danish couple also shared our cabin with us. I actually slept really well on the train, and I LOVED it! It is awesome because it takes you right into the center of the cities so you don’t have to find a way to the airport, and you don’t have to deal with airport security!
I thought it would be kind of weird sharing a cabin with random people, but we basically slept the whole time. We talked to the first guy in the morning for a little bit, and he says he takes the train a lot because he splits his time working in Denmark and in Amsterdam. After the entire week of traveling, I would definitely say I like trains WAY better than flying.
Day 2: Saturday, April 9
Our train arrived in Amsterdam around 10:30am, and luckily we only had to walk about 5 minutes to our hostel. We stayed at Youth Hostel Meeting Point, which was right near the Red Light District. I don’t really know what we were thinking when we booked this hostel… it must have been cheaper than a lot of the others because this place was a dump. Basically our first thought was: “what did we get ourselves into!?”
We had a mixed dorm with 21 beds, and it smelled really bad. There were also a lot of older people at the hostel.. isn’t it called “Youth” hostel!? There was this one old guy in our room who would go to bed at 7pm and turn off the lights, so we couldn’t see anything in the room! It was so annoying, but luckily it was beautiful outside!!
We spent the entire day walking around exploring the city. We had no plan, we were just seeing as much as we could! We walked by the red light district (not our cup of tea), the nasty touristy area, and the beautiful, picturesque canals. I just realized I didn’t take any pictures of the red light district/touristy areas. It was basically just coffee shops where you can buy marijuana mixed with some sex shops and bars. It was so weird I can’t even explain it… and it is crazy that right next to all of the madness are these quaint little canal houses and beautiful streets and bridges.
We stopped at a couple of flea markets, where I got a pretty watch/locket necklace, and we walked in and out of some fun stores, tried a bunch of cheese samples at the cheese store, wandered through a flower market, and just enjoyed the beautiful weather. We saw a lot of the city, which is absolutely gorgeous. The areas around the canals reminded me a lot of Copenhagen (minus the water).
We ate at a Mexican restaurant for dinner because we had both been wanting Mexican for months!! Mom and Grandma skyping me from a Mexican restaurant didn’t help with that either ;) I finally got my guacamole and margarita fix.. yum!
Then we were super exhausted, debated going out, and decided just to hang out at our hostel’s bar for a couple of hours. We drank tea and chatted while everyone around us was taking shots.. and when they went out, we went to bed haha. Despite being in a room with 21 people, I actually slept great! Ear plugs are the best invention in the world!!! No one should every stay in a hostel without them!
Day 3: Sunday, April 10
Early to bed, early to rise! We wanted to get moving early because we heard the Anne Frank house always has a huge line, and it’s best to get there before it opens at 9am. First we ate a quick and cheap breakfast at our hostel and checked in with our parents online so they knew we were still alive (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!). Then we started walking to the Anne Frank house. We knew the general direction, but the city is laid out in concentric circles because of the canals, so it took us a little longer to find it than we imagined it would. We also got distracted by the scenery…
We got there around 10am, and we had to wait an hour in line. It was absolutely worth it though! The museum was very interesting, and we got to go into each room in the house where they had short movies from people who had known Anne Frank, quotes of hers on the wall, and little facts about her and her family.
Being in Amsterdam now, it is hard to imagine that such terrible things used to happen there. The museum was kind of depressing, but it also put a great perspective on history, life, and people. It is hard to imagine that human beings could have treat each other in such a terrible way. I remember reading Anne Frank’s diary in school, and seeing the actual pictures she glued to her wall that she talked about in her book and the attic she would go to with Peter just makes it seem so real. The space they lived in was tiny, and I am sure it felt even smaller when it was furnished and had 8 people living there. It is definitely a must-see in Amsterdam.
Then we bought lunch and enjoyed it by a canal. Afterwards, we digested on a dock by the water and soaked up some sun.
Then we went on a canal tour, which seems like the thing-to-do when you’re in Amsterdam because they are everywhere! It was a nice hour long ride throughout the canals, but I would have enjoyed it more if there was an actual tour guide talking to us instead of a computer saying the different sights in 3 different languages.
The little car in the right picture cracked us up! They have to park in front of the trees because those spaces are so small!
After the canal tour, we got some veggie burgers and people watched from the restaurant.. seriously best people watching spot ever!
There are a lot more eccentric people in Amsterdam than in Copenhagen, and we just died laughing at some of them… the best are the guys who think they are so cool but they look like huge tools. So funny! After dinner, we were just walking around (actually we were looking for somewhere to get dessert) and we ran into a movie theater. We both were like, hmmm… a movie sounds fun, especially since we had to wake up at 5am the next morning to go to Paris, we couldn’t just hang out in our nasty hostel, and we didn’t want to go to a bar and drink. The movie didn’t start for another hour, so we stopped for ice cream then saw the Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston movie, Just Go With It. We laughed hysterically!! The Dutch laughed more than the people at the movie we saw in Denmark, but there were still some jokes that are only funny in America… like acting flamboyantly gay is not funny in Europe (well at least in Denmark and the Netherlands). Anyway, after the movie it was late, so we went back to bed at our hostel to prepare for our early wake up call!
Gabi and I both decided that 2 days was the perfect amount of time to see Amsterdam. It was a beautiful city, but also just absolutely crazy and overwhelming. It’s definitely a place to party which would have been a blast, but we decided we would rather not be hungover and feel like crap in Paris!!! I’ll start working on my next post soon… I need some lunch and should probably start packing for Czech Trek!
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