Amsterdam

To catch up, two weekends ago I took a side trip to Amsterdam. The plan was to meet up with Keith in Amsterdam for the weekend, then both of us would come back here to Norway.

The trip began with Robert kindly dropping me off at the airport at 5:30 AM. I traveled my way to the Netherlands with no problems, and trained into the city. Keith, per his usual style, booked an excellent hotel. It was right across the street from the train station and a block away from the hot spots of the city.

The plan for the day was to walk in the footsteps of Rick Steve. This included a walking tour of the city, and stops at several museums. One of the interesting things about Amsterdam is that it's clearly a city built on trade. There are shops all along every street, and at least one McDonald's per block. Another interesting thing are the bikes and the trolleys. The city was designed for bikes with special bike paths going everywhere. Unlike Norway, where pedestrians are king, bikes rule the road in Amsterdam.

We went to three museums. The first was the big, famous Amsterdam museum. Ironically I can't remember the name. It was under construction, but they moved their best stuff to the open part. It consisted mostly of Rembrandts. The second museum was the Van Gogh museum. That museum was somewhat disappointing. It was missing some of the more famous works, and really, I just don't get the guy. The third museum was more of a historical museum about the rise of Amsterdam. This was the most interesting. Probably because I find history somewhat more interesting than art. Unfortunately this museum defeated us and we weren't able to make it through the whole thing before it closed.

Amsterdam is basically a giant circus. Literally. There was actually a carnival setup right in front of the royal palace. I road a ride. Of course that's just the beginning. The streets are packed on a nice day. It's kind of like Mardi Gras without the beads and parades. There are street performers, vendors, fresh air urinals, and plenty of debauchery. Speaking of which, there is also the red light district and the coffee shops. It's basically what you would expect. We toured the area but it was largely an educational endeavour.

That's about it. It was a full day of Amsterdam. I would definitely like to go back and spend a little more time.