I packed incredibly light, not even filling my small pink backpack all the way so we were able to explore Amsterdam for the day! From the airport we got on the train (she had already purchased a first class ticket which included mine as a bonus). My first glimpse from along the road was of the Royal Palace covered by reconstruction and fair rides that looked similar to the ones I had just seen at Feria. In the square across from the Palace is the National Monument (below) where a group of English speakers were gathering for a tour. We stopped by a little cafe where we got some coffee and could see the main square. It was really nice as I was tired from my trip and hadn't gotten much sleep the night before with everyone else staying up.
Right down the road a little bit was the Red Light District. I didn't expect it to be lively during the day but I was wrong. And ew. I was glad to have walked down to see that it really is "red lights" where it gets its name. There were some girls in the windows, but the way I imagined it was up high like in an attic window or something. Not so. I tried to take a picture of the red light (I didn't even see there was a girl in the brothel next to the dark window I was taking a picture and the girl ran out and started yelling at me and calling me names. A guy on a bike told us that if you try to take a picture they will take your camera and throw it in the canal. I was happy to get away needless to say. Nel told me that many of the girls are from the east and lied to into going there and then the owners take their passports so they are stuck. I feel bad for them.
We walked along the canals and Nel pointed out a lot of architecture to me. It was so nice to have her leading me and explaining things. She is so knowledgable. We stopped at the Rembrandt House (where the painter from the 1600s actually lived). The funniest part was the fact that they slept in dressers back then. Nel said they sometimes slept sitting up. I always thought of Rembrandt for his paintings but he did an immense number of etchings as well!! One funny story I read about was that he sold off all his editions of one print and wanted one back, so he had to buy his own work back!!! Nel was so sweet, she paid for both of our entrances. We continued walking along the canals and found Rembrandt Square. It has a statue of Rembrandt and was very lively. There were artists selling their work, men putting up a stage for the concerts tonight, and people eating and drinking in the hotel cafes outside. Once again we continued down the canals and found a good park bench to stop and eat lunch. Nel had packed sandwiches and juice boxes for us! She really thought of everything. The rolls were SO good and the cheese was even better. The second roll was a raisin one that I really enjoyed. I really liked the orange juice because it had pulp!
We got a good look at the rich part of town and Nel showed me how the people used to move their furniture into upper levels. There were large hooks hanging on the top of the buildings for levvying things up back then. We saw house boats and I was pretty incredulous that people actually live in boats along the canal and don't own a regular house or apartment. It sounds so cool, I want to try it. We also saw a Tulip Houseboat, I wanted to check it out more because it looked gorgeous, but we needed to move on if we wanted to see Anne Frank's house. We made it through the line decently quickly. I don't know if you know the story of Anne Frank, but all I really knew was the fact that she was a Jewish girl hiding from the Germans who wrote a diary that was later published. Now I know so much more. I really was on the verge of crying the entire visit. The words of Anne on the walls, random papers, or whatever they used as a means to relay them....the words were so profound, especially for a girl of 14-16 years old. The way they were hid was really neat, there was an annex attached to Anne's father's office (he owned a company or two) that was accessible through only one door. They hid in this annex and the door was a bookshelf, we actually got to go in and see everything, it was so weird to think about what had happened in that exact location 65 years earlier.
Above: bridges, the first had lanterns topped with crowns, and the second opens for boats to pass through, it is the most famous bridge in Amsterdam.
Above: Nel with a bike with a wooden seating area in the front for children. People here ride bikes a lot because it is difficult to navigate through the streets in a car. Also pictured is the statue of Anne Frank and the tulip house boat on the canal.
As we were heading back the way of the train station I saw a "Homomonument" which was just a triangle jutting out into the canal with flowers on it. It was basically for the persecuted LGBTs. I talked to Nel about how different Holland is from other countries in terms of its liberties. She agreed and said that Holland has been a republic for a very long time though. Nel next took me into a very nice shopping mall that was an old post office, we checked it out a bit and then headed toward the train station to catch the 5 pm bus. On the way I saw all the fair stands, cotton candy, burgers,...and something caught my eye! OLIE BOLLEN. We bought oliebollen with raisins for the train and it was DELICIOUS. We took the train to Heerenveen where Nel's car was and then drove to Beetsterzwaag where Nel's parents live.
I LOVED the olie bollen! In the train Nel taught me a bunch of basic Dutch, and I LOVE learning it. I love learning languages. The verbal tenses are easier than spanish (no imperfect, no future, no subjunctive...piece of cake), however, there are tons of irregulars and I have the hardest time pronouncing things. Maybe I'll take up learning Dutch at some point for real though, after all I should know the language of my ancestors. Nel also talked to me all about her job as a pharmacist, she almost has me convinced that I might want to do it!
At Nel's parent's house we ate dinner together right away and they had me say grace. The meal was pasta with mushroom and ham, the dessert was berries yogurt type thing called Bessola (IT WAS AMAZING, but unfortunately it is only made in Friesland, the area where Nel and her parents live and you can't bring it on the plane). Oh I forgot to tell you that Nel speaks 5 languages (French, English, Dutch, Friesian, German). Fresian is the primary language that she speaks with her parents, its not even a dialect of Dutch, it's its own language!!! That baffled me. Nel's parent's garden was gorgeous with orchids, daffodils, tulips and flowers/plants I didn't recognize. We went back in to have tea and talked.
Me with Nel's parents and below is Nel's parent's duplex as seen from the backyard.
Nel's house is very spacious and nice, she has 3 cats and I got my own room. The stairs are incredibly narrow like in the Anne Frank house, it's near unbelievable to me. If you slipped on those things you'd be a goner...hence my white knuckled grip to the banister on my way up and down. I took a nice relaxing shower and then went to bed!
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