From the air, Holland looks like a very colorful patchwork quilt.

During my April break, I also visited Amsterdam, or, as I call it, the city of bikes and canals. They were everywhere! Almost every street/square looked the same to me, as each followed a canal and contained similar earth-tone, rectangle buildings facing the water. In fact, Amsterdam, the capital of The Netherlands, originally began as a Dutch trading post which relied exclusively on the maze of canals and rivers for its transportation. The city slowly grew to become as it’s known today, where, in addition to water taxis and boats, bicycles are chained to all the bridges and railings; many Amsterdamians ride them as their main form of transportation, which makes a lot of sense because the city is very flat. Andy and I considered renting bikes for a day, but the busy traffic and the tram dents in the road (scary!) dissuaded us, and we walked around the city instead–probably the safer choice.

      At one point, we did do a Blue Boat Canal Tour, which was a really nice way to see a lot of the city and the canals in little time. Although the boat had commentary about the city’s history, we preferred to sit in the back of the boat, outside the glass, so we could be outside and see the buildings better. The weather was nice: windy and brisk but sunny. As we rode down the river, I really got to experience the vibe of the city, along with catching a glimpse of many of its main attractions: one of the IAMsterdam signs (yes, there are multiple ones!), the Anne Frank house, a few of the museums, and The Jordaan. I don’t think I saw The Van Gogh Museum from the boat tour, but it was another highlight of the trip. In fact, the museums in Amsterdam are supposed to be amazing, although I only got to see The Van Gogh Museum (the Rijksmuseum looked impressive but I just didn’t have time). I wouldn’t describe myself as an avid Van Gogh fan, but I do like his paintings, especially the ones with heavy impasto, and I loved going through the four-story museum to learn more about the famous Dutch painter.

                 We also visited the famous Jordaan district–a center of arts and culture in Amsterdam. It’s full of cafes, comedy clubs, and busyness. (Although, to me, it seemed much the same as the other parts of the city, albeit with a few more offbeat shops.) 

 As far as Dutch food went, here’s what I found:

A Ben & Jerry’s! Actually, Ben & Jerry’s seems to be all over Europe, with ice cream vending machines on Kent campus and stores in almost every city we went to in Europe. Even though the duo learned their ice cream making trade at PSU, I haven’t really tried their ice cream, so we decided to duck in. I had a decent chocolate mint bowl, and Andy got a crepe which looked amazing, but apparently tasted terrible? (I kind of don’t believe him.)

 Later that night, we went to a famous comedy club–Boom Chicago–which actually wasn’t as good as some improve I saw in New York last year. Still, it was a nice change to touristy sightseeing, and I had a good time there. Walking around the city at night, too, revealed lots more bicycles, lights, and people going their ways. The city definitely had a young, busy vibe, though it seemed rather quiet and quaint, in a way, at the same time. Only around 2 million people live in Amsterdam, and the lack of tall buildings made me keep reminding myself I was in a capital city–but perhaps that reveals more about my ideas of cities than a fault of Amsterdam’s. Ultimately, I really did like Amsterdam, a lot more than I expected. I’m not sure what I would have done if I had stayed longer, but I really enjoyed soaking in the vibe and simply watching all the people on bikes and all the canals reflecting in the building windows.

                And you should probably listen to this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAppS5HalR4. It’s true.

Location: Amsterdam, Holland