{here's the clog picture i promised!}
I feel like a just ran a marathon or something. I got back to Paris from Amsterdam yesterday afternoon, then had to get my life together, write a paper and run to a mandatory doctor's appointment this afternoon. Now I'm taking a breather for a few hours until I go to a play tonight, after which I will be meeting up with my wonderful friends Shiran and Sam who arrive in Paris tonight! So excited! Just trying to get everything done so that I can spend as much time with them as possible, considering I still have school this week. Speaking of which, my last week of school is next week! Man that flew! I'm so happy to be done with classes and massive amounts of homework every week. The school weeks feel like anything but vacation, which is quite the shame of the experience here. But that's what the weekends are for....
{chocolate and ice cream-covered gaufre during layover in brussels}
Which brings me to AMSTERDAM! First of all, we (that is, Olivia, Cristina, Gaba, Danielle and I) ended up getting in late to Amsterdam because the trains were messed up and had to transfer at Brussels. The only good thing about that is that I got to eat another GAUFRE! (With ice cream. And chocolate candies. And hot fudge. And whipped cream. Heaven!!)
{arriving at our hostel}
When finally got into town, we went straight to our hostel, The Flying Pig's uptown location which is right by a lot of nightlife and the museums. The Flying Pig was exactly what I imagined it to be. Lots of young people from all over the world, graffiti and cool decorations on the walls, a small bar, and rooms containing nothing but three bunk beds and a sink with a mirror. Did I mention the "smoking room?" Yep, there was one of those too.
{wall of the coffeeshop- whose confusing dutch name escapes me}
After dropping our bags and freshening up, we headed straight to a coffeeshop recommend to us by our wonderful friend (and frequent Amsterdam visitor) Marco. All I'm gunna say is that I haven't laughed that hard in a LONG time. We then went for a filling Italian dinner, followed by ice cream!
{danielle and gaba making friends}
After barely walking off our food, we found ourselves at a hoppin bar where we rocked out to old 90s hits--our faves obviously. The bartenders were SO CUTE and gave us free shots!
{traditional dutch food stand at the market}
{dutch cheese- yum!}
The next day, we woke up early to hit up the free breakfast buffet at the hostel and headed to the Van Gogh Museum, which was fab--so well curated and had a great narration of his life and works. Next we went to a market to bop around and get some lunch. I enjoyed an appetizer of a Stroopwaffel before indulging in a cheese-covered pancake. (My body must hate me.) Let me explain these foods to you. A Stroopwaffel is two flat, cinnamon and gingery waffles with caramel spread between them. (Trust me, it went on my list of "Best Things I've Eaten in Europe.) The cheese-covered pancake was a large, thin, chewy pancake covered with what the Dutch call "young cheese," which probably means "not smelly cheese." Anyway, it was delish and I ate the whole thing! After lunch, we walked around admiring the canals and buildings and stopping in cute little shops. We also had a major shopping spree in H&M where I picked up a pair of floral sneakers to replace the floral Docs I've been aching for. After finally deciding what step to take next, we hopped on the trolley, which took us to the Red Light District. This area looked to me like a cross between Times Square and Christopher Street in New York, if prostitution and weed were legal.
{ a lovely window display in red light}
[The whole city in general pretty much makes one huge tourist attraction out of its legal prostitution and drugs. I bet they keep these things legal because its so damn good for their economy! The city was TEAMING with tourists, which was by far the worst part of the city. I am very much looking forward to going back some day when it is nice out and I can ride bikes, take a canal tour and explore all things off-the-beaten-path.]
{dance partayy! cristina and gaba breakin it down}
Anyway, back to the evening post-Red Light experience. We got back on the trolley after wandering past dozens of prostitute-filled windows and displays of crazy-shaped condoms and headed straight for an Asian noodle dinner at Wok to Walk, followed again by ice cream and another gaufre. I really think I'm gunna turn into a gaufre at some point. We then went home and changed to go out, because we got tickets to see Pretty Lights, which I am told is a electro-disco dance party type act. The party/show was amazing and played all my favorite music (Arctic Monkeys, Ting Tings, Vampire Weekend, etc etc), but we're not sure if what we saw was Pretty Lights. Olivia and Cristina confirm that the DJ was definitely not playing Pretty Lights music and by 2:30 a.m. the DJs had yet to change their set, so whether or not we actually saw Pretty Lights will remain a mystery to us.
{taking the one pic you must take in amsterdam}
It turned out that our train the next day was cancelled as well, so we missed out on having any bit of a day yesterday and went straight to the train station in the morning. Very very sad. Yet another reason that I HAVE to go back. When I'm going back is another question, but knowing myself, I'll make it happen.
On a diet until Italy in two weeks. Let's hope I can stick to this plan.
Paix, Amour et Néon,
Marisa
BTW, Pays-Bas is French for Netherlands, just in case you didn't understand the title of this post :)
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