My review of the Amsterdam Trip 1/23-1/26

My thoughts about Amsterdam:
Good:
- It is fun to ride around on bikes.

Bad:
- It is not nearly as awesome as my expectations, disappointed.
- The nightlife is fairly lame, and the ratio of girls to guys is really bad.

Other:
- It is a really touristy city in general.
- The city is quite small compared to other European cities I have visited.
- Since Dutch is the primary language, some stuff can be confusing.

What I did / Where I went:
Inner Amsterdam Hostel
A good place to stay for a cheap price. It is clean and has helpful staff, but there isn't much to do there.

Anne Frank House
There was a long line and it was fairly expensive, but it gives a good insight into the life of Anne Frank.

Heineken Tour
A little more expensive than other brewery tours at ~13E, but it was my favorite so far with a very modern feel.

Ultimate Party Pub Crawl
Make sure to pre-game or show up early for the free starter shots of vodka. For the price (~18E?) it was a decent value since you got a free drink at each bar and also shots of pre-mixed vodka in between. However, in our group it was mostly just guys which was lame.

What more I should have done:
Gone outside the city into the countryside of Holland to see some windmills and tulips.

1/26/09 not all of us made it back from Amsterdam

Andrew, JJ, and I left the hostel a little after 10:30 after breakfast and took the train to the airport. We were there 3 hours early so we sat around forever in the airport waiting for our flight. After going through security, Andrew realized that he didn't have his passport, so JJ and I waited while he retraced his steps back through the airport between passport control and the security gate.

Andrew couldn't find his passport and EasyJet wouldn't let him on the plane without it, so JJ and I had to get on the plane without him. I left Andrew with my phone since he lost his phone on the Easybus ride to the London Stansted airport before we even got to Amsterdam. JJ and I got back to our flat and informed everyone that Andrew was left behind, and I worked some more on our prague project. On the one hand I felt sorry for him... on the other hand he is incredibly irresponsible and it was bound to happen sooner or later lol.

1/25/09 Heineken tour, pub crawl

In the morning we went to the Heineken Factory tour. It was my favorite brewery tour that I have been on as it was very modern, had lots of stuff to do, and had a cool get brewed ride were you travel through the brewing process.

From Amsterdam Trip

Afterwards we stopped at McDonald's again and I had to wait in line for over 20 minutes behind some lady who ordered 40E worth of food and like 10 Happy Meals, which really pissed me off. While we waited for Andrew again, JJ and I went and took some nice pictures of the canals in Amsterdam.

From Amsterdam Trip

At night we met up with the other SU students to go on the Ultimate Party Amsterdam Pub Crawl. We got there late and missed the free starter shots so it sucked at first standing around waiting for the next bar. But at the next bar we got some vodka/cranberry mixed drink poured for us and by the third bar we were having a good time. JJ and I had fun dancing on stage and we ended up going to 6 different bars. However our group was mostly guys which sucked, but we still managed to have fun.

1/24/09 exploring and the red light district

At breakfast I had the chocolate and hazel nut spread called "Nutella" for the first time, which was really delicious. Andrew, JJ, and I rented bikes for the day and rode them to the Anne Frank house.

From Amsterdam Trip

Even though the original furniture was gone, the house gave a good representation of the cramped quarters and frightening atmosphere that Anne Frank had to endure while hiding their everyday from the Nazis. The museum also offered a fascinating insight into the side of Anne Frank that she only shared with her journal, her deepest thoughts, her own understanding of why her people were being oppressed, and her desire to run around outside and be free.

We met up with the rest of the SU students who came to Amsterdam on a different flight at 6am, and they were obviously wiped out from the early morning flight and lack of sleep, so we agreed to meet up with them later. After waiting for Andrew we wandered around the shopping areas for a while and then headed back to the hostel. We met up with the rest of the group at the Red Light Bar, but they were still wiped out so Andrew, JJ, and I wandered around the Red Light District.

The Red Light District had lots of porn stores, peep shows, and of course the girls in the windows. However, it really wasn't as cool as I expected it to be. The area was actually really small and super touristy and it was basically just a bunch of guys walking around. There were also a lot of older couples too which was kind of weird. On the way back someone randomly threw a coke bottle out of the window of a car as they drove by and hit Andrew with it. After that we went to McDonald's and I got a McBacon meal, 2 hamburgers, and the most tasty McFlurry I have ever had.

1/23/09 flight to Amsterdam

Took too long packing for our trip in the morning and ran through the streets of London since we had to take a different bus that dropped us off in the wrong place. For British History and Culture we went to the Imperial War Museum, which I had already gone to before.

JJ, Andrew, and I got to the airport early and played air hockey, but the puck kept flying off the table until it eventually went in between 2 arcade machines and we lost it. Once we got from the Amsterdam airport to the city center we took a tram towards our hostel, but we got off at the wrong stop because we couldn't understand what the driver was saying, who apparently said our stop name 3 times over.

Our hostel was nice with comfy beds and a good shower. We wandered around Amsterdam for a while almost getting hit by bikes several times.

From Amsterdam Trip