Bonjour à tous et à toutes!

I'm home! It feels good to be back in Paris, but I did have an exciting weekend in Amsterdam!

But first, Friday: French conversation class, 3 hour lunch break during which time we (4 of us) bought train tickets to Barcelona for this coming weekend (and it was stressful, but we prevailed because the lady was very nice and helpful), philosophy class which went 20 minutes over the time limit, and no Proust class. Then I went to the Louvre with Kathy because it is free on Friday afternoons, and we saw Rennaissance art objects, which was interesting. There are a million more things to see at the Louvre, but I am going back at least two more times.

Saturday I got to the train station ridiculously early for my train and validated my train pass and read Proust for over an hour, and then got on the train to Brussels. The train took an hour and a half and then I spent 3.5 hours walking around Brussels, which was interesting and smelled like waffles. I saw the Bourse stock exchange and the Mannekin Pis fountain and the Place Royale and the Grand Place and a bunch of other sights and walked a whole lot. Then I bought a waffle with chocolate on top, which was really, really good. But it was practically pure sugar, so by the end I was about at my sugar limit. I will post pictures later, and that will be more informative (of Brussels, not of my waffle). Also, I had my backpacking backpack with me the whole time, so that was a bit tiring.

Then I took a 3 hour train ride to Amsterdam. Except that is only a partial truth, because all the sights in Brussels are located by the Brussels-Central station and my train from Paris and to Amsterdam left from Brussels-Midi station. So that meant I had to find a train that was going in between the two and board that for one stop. And on the one hand, it is just like riding the metro, but on the other hand, if you mess up and board the wrong train you could end up in Switzerland or Germany or Poland. Practically. So that was nerve-wracking, but it actually worked out flawlessly. And then I took a train to Amsterdam that stopped a bunch of times and made me tired.

When I left the train station in Amsterdam I was very tired, but the air was cold and there were a ton of people out and music and lights and the city instantly started waking me back up, and I was very excited to be there. I walked a long time to get to my hostel because while it had a nice central location by the two big museums, the two museums were a decent walk from everything else…about 3 miles. Also, Rick Steves does not seem to think street names are particularly important, so his map only shows the street names for "important streets". Except, anyone who has ever gone anywhere with me knows that I somehow always end up in obscure places, and it is not fair when the obscure places aren't on my map. But truthfully I think I made it to the hostel pretty well because there were some posted signs pointing to the museums and, while it probably wasn't the most direct route, I think it was a rather common one.

Overall, Amsterdam was a lot prettier than I expected. It is always difficult to picture a city before you arrive, but Amsterdam in particular has so many contradicting qualities that I had never really put it all together. First they have tons of canals and thousands of bikes. Then there is the grungy counterculture aspect where drugs are commonplace. And then there is the Anne Frank house, Van Gogh museum, and other historical and cultural monuments like that. But I found the canals to be beautiful and the bicycles to be everywhere and, as a whole, Amsterdam was smaller and quainter than I had expected, with less of a dingy drug-related atmosphere. So that was good news!

Also, they speak Dutch there, which I completely forgot about until I was getting off the train. Basically all of the signs in Amsterdam were Dutch only (with the exception of food places) but then everyone spoke English. So I said "thank you" in Dutch a few times, and that was all I needed (even though I did learn a few more phrases, just in case).

I checked into the hostel and was assigned a bed in an 8-bed dorm where I put my stuff before heading out to dinner. I went to Leidsplein, a square with a whole bunch of restaurants, and looked around there and ate at Wok to Walk.

Then it was still only like 9:15, so I walked over to the Red Light District, which was interesting… I met another guy who acted creepy but was actually very nice and I said I wasn't allowed to give him my e-mail address and he said that was okay and maybe we would run into each other in 5 or 10 years, and maybe I would be rich, and wouldn't that be cool? Which it would. And the Red Light District was weird because there were literally girls posing in the windows in white bikinis with black lights shining on them and tons of people running all around and signs for live sex shows in the windows. But there was also a canal running down the middle of the street where lovely white swans were swimming in the reflection of the neon lights above them. And that is why Amsterdam is weird.

After a little while there I walked a bit more around other, nearby parts of Amsterdam before heading back to the hostel. Except, someone had piled all of their stuff on my bed so I had to go downstairs and ask to change rooms and this time I was assigned to a room with 6 beds (which is what I had paid for in the first place) where everyone was already trying to go to sleep (it was around 11:45). So then I went to bed and woke up around 8 when everyone was up and getting ready.

The person who slept below me I never met. Then there was a family of three (2 parents and a daughter who was like 12), and a girl from Finland. Also, it is a bit creepy sleeping in a room when you don't know who else is sleeping there. And then I had buffet breakfast downstairs and headed out to rent a bike. I rented my bike and then rode to the Van Gogh Museum (which cost 12.50 euros, which is ridiculous). I really like Van Gogh and pointillism and so I found the museum very interesting as it showcased a bunch of his artwork mixed in with a lot of biographical information.

Then I rode my bike around for awhile to explore before stopping for a panini for lunch and then riding to the library with city views and free internet (where I posted my last "I'm alive!" post) and then biked to behind the train station where I took a free ferry across to North Amsterdam.

I am trying to be brief, but I think I am failing. Sorry.

The goal of going to North Amsterdam was to go biking though Dutch countryside, which I did. It started out as small suburban houses on tiny canals and turned into fields with sheep and cows and huge green pastures. And I had no map, and no idea where I was going. So eventually I got nervous and decided to turn back and pedaled vaguely in the direction of where I thought I needed to go. And everyone should be feeling nervous about that. I ended up using the sun as my navigational tool and made some lucky guesses and somehow, miraculously, found my back to the ferry terminal. But honestly, I was an hour or more away from the terminal in fields of sheep with no map, and it was a bit scary. And my navigational sense includes thoughts like "Oh! A McDonalds! I saw a McDonalds before, so this must be right!" Except, there is obviously more than one McDonalds in the country. Or better yet, "A lady in a wheelchair! I saw two ladies in wheelchairs before, so there is probably a nursing home around here and I am probably back to it! Phew!" which is also ridiculous logic. But because my life is ridiculous, that logic also proved to be correct.

Then I was very hungry so I bought French fries because they are popular in Amsterdam, apparently. And you eat them with a little wooden fork/spear and you are supposed to put mayonnaise on top but that is gross, so I did not.

Then I biked a bit more and rode to the Anne Frank House, which was interesting. They did a good job not only representing Anne Frank and her diary and her family, but the impact of the Holocaust overall. There is no furniture in the house because the Nazis ransacked it and Anne Frank's dad wanted it left empty, but there are pictures of and models of the original layouts and artifacts (such as their correspondence courses, movie pictures, dinner menus) and other informative plaques and diary quotes.

After that I rode my bike back to the hostel and collapsed onto my bed for a bit because I had ridden my bike a gajillion and a half miles. And then I took a shower and went out to Dam Straat (which I find to be a rather entertaining street name, I'm not gonna lie) in the hopes of finding some excitement. But it was a lot quieter since it was a Sunday night, so I ended up talking to Teresa on the phone and then buying ice cream and heading back to the hostel.

And for night number two I had the hostel room all to myself. And that was great in the sense that I got a great sleep and could use my alarm clock and had control of the lights and it was quiet, but a bit frustrating in the sense that I was traveling by myself with the hope of meeting people in the hostel, because that is how it is supposed to work.

But I woke up early the next day and returned my bike because I was too tired to ride it anymore. And then I walked past the Mint Tower and flower market to go on a canal boat tour. And I enjoyed my canal tour very much because a) I got to sit down for an hour and watch Amsterdam pass me by and b) it was just generally fun! There was a recorded narration (there was only two other people and me in the boat, so it was English only) which pointed out some semi-important sights, but it was fun just having a different viewpoint and being on the canals.

Then I walked to the Dutch Resistance Museum, which took ages even though I didn't get lost. And overall I had already done most of the things I felt I needed to do in Amsterdam and my legs were sore, so I was moving a lot slower all day. But that was enjoyable because I was able to see more and absorb it all at a slower pace.

The Dutch Resistance Museum was interesting in a thought-provoking way because it talked about many different forms of resistance against Nazi-rule, but also told the consequences of each. While it seems important to resist, each action also had huge consequences for the perpetrators and other innocent civilians, which made me reflect on whether the resistance was really worth it and also how well orchestrated Hitler's rule really was. That being said, it is definitely different being in Europe where all of the WWII history is so deeply engrained in each city and culture compared to the United States where the Holocaust constitutes one unit in a yearly history class. And yes, we study the Holocaust frequently and with a serious intensity, but seeing monuments everywhere I go and visiting museum after museum reflecting the horrors of the war makes a much stronger, and slightly more depressing, impact.

Then I ate a weird "beef kebab sandwich" for lunch and walked back to the hostel (where I had stored my bag). I stopped at Museumplein (a park/square) for a bit and wrote in my paper journal and then bought apples and chocolates at a Dutch grocery store (which was an interesting experience) and then headed towards the train station.

I took a 3.5 hour train to Brussels where I had a reservation for a train back to Paris. Except, the train before mine never arrived, so everyone was crammed onto my train. So I spent an hour and a half in the luggage compartment/hallway with like 15 other people, and that wasn't very fun. Actually, everyone was completely silent the whole way, with grumpy looks on their faces, and I was in much better spirits than most of the people because I just found the situation slightly amusing. I also thought that if that had happened in the United States, I would have known the life story of everyone in the compartment by the time we arrived in Paris, but instead everyone just suffered silently, and it was strange.

I'm very glad to be back in Paris! I miss speaking French and eating cheap crêpes and talking to my host family. But Amsterdam was very interesting and definitely different than I had expected. And I'm glad I stopped in Brussels and I feel like I did a decent job seeing a large amount of the city in the short time that I had. Next weekend I am going to Barcelona, and the weekend after that I am staying in Paris. I also think I decided not to go to London since a) it is not on my railpass b) it will be expensive (250 euros just for the train) and c) I want to make sure I have enough time in Paris, and I don't feel like I will otherwise. So that is the plan for now.

I hope your weekends were all brilliant and the fact that you read this whole thing impresses me, because it is definitely more than four full pages in Word…

A bientôt!

(That means "See you soon!" or "Talk to you soon!", for future reference)