Amsterdam and Berlin

For James' second visit out here, we decided to take a trip to Amsterdam and Berlin before spending a weekend in Madrid. This meant that I was absent from class on Tuesday and Wednesday (totally not a big deal. I don't think the professors noticed). So Tuesday morning I had a 6:50 AM flight to Amsterdam where James and I were to meet. I actually had to take the night bus (buho) downtown and then hop on a 24 hour airport shuttle. That went pretty smoothly! I was flying easyJet, a cheap-o airline (not as bad as Ryanair though), so unfortunately I had to pay to check my bag because it didn't quite fit the size dimensions. If only I didn't pack so much! On the airplane was the first time I ever heard Dutch being spoken, and they kept saying what sounds like the F@$% a lot, I'm dying to know what that word means in Dutch! Once I landed I still had to wait 3 hours til James' plane got in, so I shopped around the airport. There was a cool store-picture Ikea, but like the CVS version. It was really affordable! I got some souvenirs for people back home, since I knew I would already have to check my bag, I may as well get my money's worth!


I thought it would be a lot easier to get to Amsterdam via transportation from the airport. I didn't do too much hardcore research on the subject but I assumed it wouldn't be too much of a hassle. But since neither James nor I can understand Dutch, we resorted to a cab. When we got to the hotel, the staff told us we were going to "get the full Amsterdam experience" by having to lug our luggage all the way up to the 4th story in extremely narrow staircases. That was fun. Inside the hotel room, it looked like we weren't going to have a bathroom. Then I open the closet and see there it was! A pretty tiny bathroom it was. 


We got lunch at an Argentinian/Italian restaurant (there were a ton of Argentinian restaurants in Amsterdam for some reason). Then we went on a canal cruise. Amsterdam has over 1000 canals in the city-the most in the world! (When I go to Venice I'll let you know how they compare!) 

Beautiful Amsterdam canals. The buildings on the left are leaning outward because they used to pull the furniture into the house using the pulleys on the top. Rather than just extend the pulleys out a little bit so that the furniture didn't crash into the side of the building, they decided to just lean out the buildings. "There's the right way, and there's the Dutch way."

We got off the boat at Centraal Station and just walked around, exploring the city. To save money we ate at an inexpensive restaurant called Walk to Wok. You choose from a variety of noodles, sauces, and meat to make your favorite Asian noodle combination. If you go to McDonald's in Amsterdam they have apple milkshakes which are really good! James got 3 in one day... That night we wanted to go to a Torture Museum, but I fell down the narrow stairs in the hotel so I was in no mood. The next morning, Wednesday, we went on the free walking tour at 11 AM. This is the 4th city that I've gone on a free tour with this company, Sandeman's New Europe, and I totally recommend it. We walked all over the city and learned so much about Amsterdam. We even walked into the Red Light District a little bit, and you better believe at 11 AM the ladies were working. 

The buildings lean every which-way in this city.

These are used to prevent public urination. Try and pee in this corner and it'll splash back all over you!

Beautiful Begijnhof-a neighborhood in which men are not allowed. aka heaven!

Angels burning in an oven? Back when people couldn't read they used pictures like these instead of house numbers. In fact, the Dutch didn't use last names until they were forced to choose ones for themselves. The guide said many people chose "Poopie" as a last name.

Modern part of Amsterdam

Smallest house!

The free tour ended at the Anne Frank Museum, so we went in there. It was moving to see the rooms where Anne and her family hid from the Nazis for so long. After that we ate at another Argentinian restaurant because I was so starving I just walked into the first place I saw. After that we headed to the Van Gogh Museum, which was really awesome. It's my second favorite museum I've been to, behind the Musee d'Orsay in Paris where you can see a lot of impressionist art. Right outside of the museum is the famous I amsterdam sign, so naturally a photo shoot occurred there. 

I amsterdam!

After dinner and wandering through the canals, we went to bed early to prepare ourselves for the next part of our journey: Berlin! Once again, we thought that it would be fairly simple to take the public transportation from the airport to the hotel, but turns out Berlin has the shabbiest system I've experienced in Europe. In that respect I felt at home because it was pretty much as bad as the T. You're supposed to buy a ride, which lasts for 2 hours, and if you're caught without it you get fined, so its pretty much an honor system. 


Anyway, we got to the hotel around 11 AM, and surprisingly our room was ready. I knew I then that I was going to love Berlin. We were staying right in the middle of the action, it felt like I was on 5th Ave. It was my first time in Germany (aside from just being in Frankfurt airport), and it really felt right. It was nice to not stick out for being tall, blonde, and blue-eyed. We hit the ground running in Berlin with a bus tour. It was my first time not doing a free walking tour in a city! but we were so tired and it was 10 euro for 2 hours, and at least we got to relax and get an idea of what the city was like. We drove by many embassies, churches, and government buildings. Many of them are quite modern since Berlin has seen a lot of destruction in its not so distant past. 

An old building: what a rare sight

 After the tour we grabbed some lunch and rest, and headed to the attraction that I was most looking forward to: the East Side Gallery, a portion of the Berlin wall still standing that is covered in murals. It's almost 2 km long, but here's a glimpse of it. 

East Side Gallery

 After making it there in the last remaining moments of daylight, we went into KaDeWe, Europe's largest department store, square footage wise. It gets 80,000 visitors a day, but it was so expensive! I couldn't picture real people shopping there. We ate at the EuropaCenter for dinner that night and enjoyed some drinks on the lovely roofdeck of our hotel afterwards. 

Berlin at night on the roof deck.

The next day was quite busy. We started off at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. For not showing much initial interest in it, I ended up loving it! It included tons of stories and tools that were used to cross over different sides of the Berlin Wall, including cars that people were snuck into, and human sling shots. Then we headed to what was called the Third Reich Tour. It was given by Sandeman's, the free tour guys, but it was 10 euro and totally worth it. On the 4 hour walking tour we talked all about how Hitler came to power, the groups he targeted, the people that were under his command, and a variety of interesting World War II facts. It was so cool to be standing in front of the Reichstag, or the site of Hitler's bunker, and hear the history that happened there. The happiest part of the tour was me trying my first Doner Kebap, a Turkish wrap type thing. 

A synagogue that was spared on Kristallnacht.

Our yummy Italian dinner after the tour.

 Next stop after Berlin: back to Madrid. This time James got to meet some more of my friends, and the highlight of Madrid/the whole trip was going to the zoo in Madrid! It was hilarious because we rented a two person golf cart and cruised and goofed around the zoo. It was the epitome of the lazy American stereotype! But so fun!

Our two seater.

Adios until next time!