Dam Over The River Amstel

I had to spend the night at Geneva Airport . The security guard came around, looked at my passport and said it would be fine if I slept there. I used my backpack as a pillow and slept for about 4 hours. Not bad for sleeping on cold floor. It was basically the same as sleeping on the ferry from Chania to Athens. Except there was no Catherine or tv or snacks or warmth. Well, ok, it wasn't really the same. Anyway, it was time to check in which I did. I was a little apprehensive (I thought something might go wrong again) but it all went smoothly. I went through security and waited to get on the plane. I did my now usual routine of trying to get on earlier and get an aisle seat near the front. The plane ride was only about 1 hour long. I listened to music since I don't have any books to read. It was cloudy and kind of rainy in Amsterdam when we landed. I grabbed my bag and hopped on the train into town. I found my hostel, Aivengo Hostel, pretty easily. It is only 5 minutes from the train station. There are two big dorm rooms with 16 beds in each. I am staying there four nights. That is the most nights I will be staying in the same place the whole trip. Weird. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. I couldn't check in right away so I left my backpack and decided to go for a walk.

The walk I decided to do was through the Jordaan (yor-DAHN) neighborhood. This is the neighborhood on the western side of the city. It is a very artsy, yuppy area. There are many small canals (Amsterdam is known for having a lot of canals by the way). I started at Dam Square which is sort of the main square of Amsterdam (City Hall Building picture 1). I will talk more about that tomorrow when I do another guided walk. I bought a couple donuts for breakfast. Everything seems cheaper here. I also exchanged the last of my Swiss money. Goodbye pretty money, hello again Euro. I started walking and it started raining pretty hard. I kept my book under my jacket whenever I wasn't under some kind of cover. I walked through some canals and by a bunch of really cool streets. The houses here are so different. They are very skinny and very long. Completely different architecture from everywhere else I have been. They also used a lot of brick since they had multiple fires long ago (brick buildings in picture 6). Another thing about Amsterdam, there are a lot of bikes here. They are much more popular (and practical) than cars. Bikes are locked up to everything, I think it's pretty cool (picture 1 and 3). Also, Amsterdam has lots of ethnic food places. You know what that means... Kebabs again! Haha. We'll see if I ever get one here.

So back to the walk. I kept walking and finally came upon the Westerkerk (picture 5). This literally means Western Church. Rembrandt is buried somewhere under the chairs (they don't have pews). It has the tallest spire in the city. The organ is pretty sweet looking. I went into the Anne Frank House next. There was a little bit of a line to get in and it was pretty crowded inside but I didn't really mind. As most of you should know, Anne Frank was a Jew in Amsterdam during WWII. She wrote some diaries (for those with good memories, or who happen to look to the side bar, you will remember that I read those diaries back in February) while she was holed in a secret annex for two years. No pictures allowed inside (BOOOO) but I bought a couple postcards. It was insane trying to imagine 8 people living in that tiny little space for 2 years. They ended up getting caught and all but Otto Frank (Anne's dad) survived the concentration camps. So sad. I was really glad I went to the House today and I really liked seeing the room. It made me remember a lot of the stuff from the Diaries.

From there, it was still raining but I kept walking. I came to what Rick Steves calls "The Center of the Jordaan"which is a bridge over a canal. One road has a lot of shops, another road has a great view of the Westerkerk spire and the canal is tree lined and very pretty. I will admit, the neighborhood is pretty spectacular. I think I took some pretty cool pictures. We will have to wait and see when I put them on a computer. I walked back to the hostel and on the way stopped at a grocery store. There are a lot of pastries and salads and sandwiches there. It was a pretty big store and had cheap prices. I liked it. I bought some almond pastries, a fruit/lettuce salad (weird but looked interesting), and some crackers for sometime in the future (I always like having some crackers around just in case). I had the salad and pastries back in the hostel after I got checked in. My hostel is only about €18 a night. That isn't bad at all for where it is located and stuff. I sat around and regained some strength.

I decided to go to the library next (picture 8). It is pretty near to the train station in the northeast part of town. The library has loads of computers and free internet usage. That is pretty much the coolest thing ever. It is a very modern building and has some awesome views over the city. Like the view on the other side of the computer monitor I used to write most of this post. I spent a couple hours in the library starting, but not finishing, both of the posts from the weekend. They should be finished tomorrow. I also picked out my hostel for Friday in London. I went back to the hostel and sat around for a little bit. Then I walked down to Dam Square and ate some French Fries with mayonnaise (the Dutch way). It wasn't too bad, very different, but I still prefer ketchup. The Square was much more lively at 6 pm than it was at 10 am when I was here earlier. Lots of people walking around and stuff. I just sat and people watched for a while. I stopped by the grocery store again for some dinner. Just a ham and cheese sandwich and some stroopwafels. Stroopwafels are little waffles with the syrup inside them. SO GOOD. Oh man. I am like addicted. I ate that stuff back at the hostel and then went back to the library and emailed a bunch of people. I came back to the hostel and slept. Only one person snored in the entire room... and he was right above me. How does that always happen? Also, I was right under the emergency light which stays on the whole night. Very annoying. Oh well. I slept really well (I got about 10 hours of sleep).

Happy Monday!