Amsterdam with mom, Oct. 19 - 28

My mom came to visit me in Amsterdam for a little over a week. The time was spent intensely discovering the city, it was cool to be a tourist while at the same time having lived here and knowing all the ins and outs. This is the coolest city in the world, and there's nothing better then visiting it, especially with an insider (me)! We had loads of fun.

Day 1 - Orientation
I woke up at 6am after a day of cleaning, shopping, and generally staying up late. The trek to Centraal Station and Schiphol Airport was very graceful (I caught the right bus, bought the right tickets, and found the right platform). I met my mom and when we got back to my place and unpacked (got loads of new stuff!) I skipped my class and did a massive walking tour of Amsterdam. To avoid jetlag it was best to stay up, and we saw all the major tourist attractions that most tourists see during their entire time in Amsterdam: Waterlooplein, Flower Market, Kalverstraat (major shopping street), Dam (the first day of a fair where there was a stand with delicious Oliebollen; Tim Horton's Dutchie timbits are based on these), Red Light District, Universiteit Van Amsterdam, Rembrandtplein...

Day 2 - Back Pedal Breaks and Beer
Heineken brewery! Also my moms first day on a bike, and my first day of yelling "back pedal breaks!" over my shoulder. I even watched her take a light tumble.
The brewry no longer brews, but you get to see all the old equipment, as well as learn about the company now. You even get 3 free beers and a souvenier, and many people just come for the bar. We also had a traditional pancake dinner at an old merry-go-round styled restaurant, the first of many pancake dinners. In the evening we hit Holland Casino, where my mom didn't get in because of an expired drivers license. We went to Leidseplein instead, the mecca of nightlife in Amsterdam, and of course, more pancakes.


First day on our matching bikes. On the famous "Skinny" bridge




















Day 3 - Clogs, Shrroms and Prostitutes, or All-Things Dutch
I took my mom to the traditional Dutch village of Zaanse Schans that I visited before. This time the windmill was more exciting; because of the strong wind all of the machinery was in overdrive. We are now also both the owners of traditional Dutch clogs. Well, mine are traditional. My mom's are decorated with windmills, and the Dutch have a saying that crazy people "walk with the windmills". Pretty funny.
In the evening we took a very informative walking tour through the Red Light District, where we learned that the Dutch government recently sent prostitutes to Afghanistan as their contribution to the effort. Our group was very small, just me, my mom, a Dutch couple and a rowdy American accountant who bought a box of shrooms during the walk, offered everyone a shroom, and when we all declined he proceeded to eat the whole box himself. He made it through the tour but at the end when we went for a drink at a bar they were starting to kick in; he spent the evening admiring the beautiful lights of the parked taxis. The bar itself was the last wooden bar in Amsterdam, and it used to accept cash and monkeys as payment (because of all the sailors). When the owners got bored of the monkeys they were banished to the basement. To this day the Dutch have a saying that if you get a bad/rejected hotel room you're "rooming with the monkeys".





















Day 4 - Den Haag
Day trip to Den Haag (The Hague) with the Intenraitonal Studnet Network; my mom hung out with students all day. Den Haag was the capital of the Netherlands until 1806. That year, Louis Bonaparte set up his government in Amsterdam, and when the French were kicked out the government returned to Den Haag but the title of apital and the king remained in Amsterdam. Today Den Haag is sill the seat of government and the residence of the royal family. After seeing the Queen's Royal Residence (on certain days, depending one the stock market, Queen Beatrix is the richest woman in the world), we wanderd through the city and ended up at an IMAX movie theatre; to us Canadians it's nothing new but for some students it was a unique experience.
En route back we stopped at Scheveningen, a major sea side resort/the most popular beach in the Netherlands. During WWII Dutch resisatance fighters used "Scheveningen" as a password because no German could pronounce it properly.


Royal Residence










Embassies and other important buildings










Scheveningen











Day 5 - Rijksmuseum and Rain
Intense museum day, including the Rijksmuseum (Rembrandt's Night Watch is here), Van Gogh Museum, Museum Van Loon (a canal side home of the wealthy Van Loon family, co-founders of the Dutch East India Company VOC) and the Amsterdam Historisch Museum. My favorite in terms of content is the Van Gogh museum, but the building of the Amsterdam Historisch is very interesting. It's located in a former orphanage in the Nieuwe Zijde (New Side) of central Amsterdam, which is actually older than the Oude Zijde (old side) of Amsterdam. We had a great dinner in a beautiful Dutch restaurant and an uber touristy boat trip throught the canals at night. It rained heavily though so we couldn't see much, and we got soaked cycling home at the end of the day.


Rijksmuseum











A couple doodles...











Amsterdam Historisch Museum











Day 6 - Churches and Hookers
Museum day number two started in the Red Light District at the Oude Kerk and a funny church called Our Lord in the Attic. In the 17th Century Catholics were only allowed to practice in private; public churches weren't allowed. This church was built in the attic of a wealthy merchant's home. Following that we dashed to Rembrandt's house and had lunch in a tiny, leaning house that looks like it's going to fall into the canal any day. We dodged the rain again and made our way to the Jordaan to catch another boat tour, this time not in the rain, and even got to see the inside of a house boat. We returned to the Leidseplein for souvenier shopping and dinner, and then took a walk around my hood. We took the walkway over the River Ij past a massive floating Chinese restaurant, Centraal Station and we even made our way back to Dam for more donuts and walked through the Red Light District. Near Dam, where the Red Light District starts, is a neat bar called Fockink, where they serve traditional Dutch Jenever (similar to gin) and loads of other liqueurs. It's an extremely old place and the bar is very low (the Dutch were short brefore they evolved?), with a walk up window so you can also get liquor on the go. That's where a family with 3 small kids got their shots; I guess they didn't want to hang out in the smokey bar. But even the kids got a shot glass, with juice. Very funny. We walked home through the Red Light District; it's such an intrersting place at night. And despite the non-stop drug dealers selling "cocaine, ecstasy", you feel very safe.


Oude Kerk











Our Lord In The Attic














Church in the attic














Rembrandt's House, the one with the green shutters between the Rembrandt facade and Rembrandts cafe











Canal tour #2











On a house boat; not too shabby either! The city has reached its limit on houseboats; the government will not allow any new ones. As a result, they've become very expensive; often a houseboat costs as much as a canalside house.











Day 7 - Anne Franke Huis
First thing in the morning we went to a Gassan Diamonds, a diamond factory. The tour and demonstration was brief. The major part of the tour was us sitting in a little office looking at
beautiful, sparkling diamonds that we could take home for about 1000-10000 euros. Next stop was the Willet-Holthuysen house, a gift from a wealthy family to the city of Amsterdam; beautiful canal side home. That was the end of the Museum itinerary, and in the afernoon we went back to my hood and went to the Turkish market. It's a cheap market with everything, and it's not on any tourist map so it's truely local. In the afternoon we decided to be brave and fight the crowds at the Anne Frank house. It was worth seeing but quite disappointing. When the family was discovered the Germans confiscated all the furniture, and Otto Frank (Anne's father and the only survivor) never recreated the conditions they lived in. Personally, I think it's so they can cram in as many tourists as possible in one day. A true tourist trap. In the evening we finally made it to the Casino, and after doing well at the slots, losing, doing well at Black Jack, and losing, we ended up 12 euros poorer. Not bad.


Gassan Diamonds














Anne Frank Huis, the one in the middle with the light shining on the top windows.













Near the Casino











Day 8
A chilled out day. Went shopping at Waterlooplein market, a true mix of things where you can find neat one of a kind items and loads of junk. We also met my Dutch friend for the best applei pie in town, which is truely somethign since the Dutch aren't great culinary artists. As usual, we took a walk through the Red Light District at night, and caught a ferry to Amsterdam Noord to one of my favorite cafes with a cool view of the harbor.


Outside my window










There's a windmill in my hood, how cool!











The Jordaan district












Day 9
On our last day we just wandered the side streets of Amsterdam and did some last minute shopping at the Flower Market. We also visited my favorite pancake place, a little 3 table restaurant located on a top floor in a narrow canal house. We took one last walk around the city in the eveing, and visited Club 11, located on the top floor of one of the tallest buildings in Amsterdam. When you're on the 11th floor in a flat city, the view is quite spectacular and it seems to be very high up.


The statue version of Nightwatch at Rembrandtplein
















Crazy ING ad on Kalverstraat; that's a real guy!















A map of Amsterdam:















Our travels through Amsterdam. X marks the spot... where I live.















Day 10
No point in going to bed, we caught a cab and train to Schiphol at 4am in the morning.


Now that I'm alone again I feel homesick for the first time. With no visitors in sight I feel permanent here!