We arrived Friday afternoon and immediately went out to explore the city! We were lucky that our hostel was pretty centrally located and it wasn't far to walk to find the sights. We stopped by the giant sign that spells out "I AMsterdam" in HUGE letters while on our way to the Van Gogh museum.
Another fun thing they have around the city are these GIANT wooden shoes!
We weren't allowed to take pictures in the Van Gogh museum {obviously}, but it was absolutely amazing! There were three floors of paintings from not only Van Gogh, but other artists in his time period. My favorite painting there was of his famous yellow sunflowers in a vase. {For some reason, I thought the starry night painting was there, but sadly it's in New York} It was incredible to be up close to the paintings and see the way he painted. I never realized before how much paint he used to create the texture of his paintings. A lot of the more recognized paintings of Van Gogh had descriptions of the paintings and/or the story behind the painting which made it more interesting to know how or why Van Gogh was inspired to create them.
Saturday was packed with all of our last minute tourism, because we had to leave bright and early Sunday morning. I went on a canal boat cruise that was basically a tour of the city from the canals. It was actually really fun, because it was a totally new perspective on the city from down in the canals.
One thing that is quite popular in Amsterdam is biking and if you weren't getting run over by the trams, buses or cars, you better watch out for the bikers! There was even a parking garage for bikes!
Another popular sight were the houseboats that lined most of the canals {and there were so many swans!}.
A few interesting things that we learned on the tour were that many of the old, and even new houses, have a beam extending from the roof of the house with a hook on the end. Because most of the houses there are built for vertical space, they use the hooks when moving in or out of the houses and lift things through the windows. The staircases are too steep and narrow in all of the houses that lifting things through the windows is the only way moving is possible!
We also went to see Anne Frank's House {which is now a museum} that takes you through the history of WWII from Anne's perspective as you go through the house.
It was such an out of body experience to climb up the incredibly steep staircase to the landing where the secret door is. It was so surreal when we climbed up through the bookcase, because you literally have to step up and duck in order to get through, exactly like Anne describes it. After going through the house, I still am amazed that they were able to hide in such a dangerous location. I am just so blessed that I was able to be born in the US after such a horrific period of religious persecution.
On a happier note, we met more of our friends later that day to visit the Heineken Brewery.
Although I'm not really a fan of Heineken, it was fun to see the history of how beer is made and the history of Heineken, since it started in Holland.
One thing I love about advertising is how it changes with the times, and I loved all the old posters and advertisements of Heineken that were everywhere!
We even got to taste test beer that was brewed only two weeks before, which is practically the freshest it can get!
The only letdown of the weekend was the fact that it started snowing Saturday night, but the streets were all lit up that it looked like Christmas all over again!
Sunday morning was a rough one, because we had to catch a 7am airport shuttle bus from Amsterdam to Eindhoven. The catch was that the trams don't work that early. So we had to walk all the way from the center of Amsterdam 30 minutes to the train station where the bus would pick us up! All in all, it was an exciting and fun weekend, but I could have done without all the extra traveling!
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