Amsterdam: Venice of the North

Alright- it's been over 24 hours in Amsterdam! Unfortunately, I can't post pics from here b/c my laptop can't connect to the internet from Derek's. I will as soon as I get a chance though, so don't worry.

Now, let's see- got here OK- only took a few hours from the airport :-) We all know my sense of direction, totally got on the wrong train! FYI- my first time in a foreign country traveling alone (sort of). But luckily, Derek gave pretty good instructions, so I eventually found it! The flight was fine, lots of movies, watched Knocked Up and Shrek 3, slept uncomfortably through a lot of the flight, though it was half empty.

Wednesday, Oct 17: Walked around near Derek's apartment. Went to eat falafels for lunch, and then Indonesian food for dinner. Indonesia and Surinam were/are Dutch colonies, so there is a huge influence here (food-wise) and there, I'm sure. We also went to a sports bar (Hoopendorf?) and had Bitterballen, some kind of common bar food. I'll give it an A. We hit up a coffee-shop on the way home and then watched some Flight of the Conchords.

Thursday, Oct 18:

Photo: Canals


Derek went in to work, so I ventured out into the city on my own. Of course, first stop was Anne Frank Huis (the house where Anne Frank hid out with her family).

Photo: Anne Frank Huis


I'm sure everyone has read "Anne Frank's Diary" at some point. It was unfurnished. Otto Frank (her father) was the only surviver in that family and of the 8 people who hid out there, and he decided he did not want the annex where they hid to be furnished. He was the person who had the diary published and the museum established. There was a huge line there, though I only waited maybe 30 minutes.

Photo: Line to get in.


Definitely worth a look. The Anne Frank foundation now focuses on anti-semitism, human rights violations, etc. They sold her diary in all languages in the gift shop. Then I went to the Amsterdam Tulip Foundation museum.

Photo: Tulip bulbs for sale.


They sell tulip bulbs there, though the guy told me they can only be taken to other countries in Europe. I will probably look into trying to ship some home. He also told me that in Atlanta, since it is so warm, you just buy the bulb and put it in the fridge until December, when you plant them. He also said Atlanta has the most per capita planting of tulips? Mainly because so many companies are HQ-ed there, like Coca-Cola and UPS, etc. I learned all about the tulip industry, tulipomania, and tulip growing. From what I've seen of Derek's pics, you can go out of Amsterdam about an hour or so, and see tulip fields. It seems growing season is more in the spring/summer.

Now we're about to head out, and check out the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE 07). From what I can tell, it's very similar to Miami's Ultra Winter Music Conference, except more Nederland's and European DJ's and musicians.

More to come later, along with pictures.