Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Before I dive into the post, I need to say a little something on the hurricane disaster relief efforts in Haiti.  If you've got the money or time to spare, please donate. 

Yesterday the three musketeers hit up Amsterdam, because regardless to what you might have thought, my home base is an hour train ride away from European sin city.  The city was covered with snow, and many of the canals had even froze over.  I'm sure this is a view of the city rarely seen by tourists.

I AMsterdam. Clever, huh?

Sinking frozen boat fail.

We went to Amsterdam with the sole intent of viewing the Van Gogh Museum, Rijks Museum, and (of course) the Red Light District.  I seriously contemplated being an art history major--I devoured the prerequisite course I took in college, and my entire Spanish art history class in Granada (taught all in Spanish too!).  Knowing about the history of art makes viewing the actual pieces a much more memorable experience.  The Prado in Madrid, for example, blew me away after my Spanish art history class intensive.  Even though I knew very little about Dutch art history, it was still very cool to see Remembrandt and Vermeer in the Rijks Museum.  Sadly, Vermeer's famous The Girl with the Pearl Earring was not on display for our visit.

Rembrandt's famous painting Night Watch at the Rijks Musuem.

The Van Gogh Museum ended up being, for me, even more mindblowing, because for as much as I'd always admired Van Gogh's work, I had never known that he was a self-taught artist.  Learning this made me admire Van Gogh even more than before.  Even though this is his home museum, it should be noted that his famous works such as Starry Night are not located at the Amsterdam museum.  Another surprise within the Van Gogh Museum was a guest exhibit on the Belgian painter Alfred Stevens, yet another artist who has won a place in my love for art.

Reflections, by Alfred Stevens

 Now for the juicy part:  the Red Light District.  After wandering around a bit, we finally found this notorious district of Amsterdam, and I'll admit that it's much smaller than I expected.  Still, it was abound with sex shops, sex theaters, coffeeshops reeking of pot, and scantily clad women seductively dancing behind glowing red doors.  There were not many out on the night we were there, so I can only imagine what it's like when the weather is warmer and the crowds are booming.

Amsterdam by day

I also seemed to have been unaware of why it's called the red light district.  Some discussion on its origins are on Wikipedia:  "In the 19th century, the term "red light" was associated with the red lanterns carried by railway workers (which the latter left outside brothels when they entered. The workers could quickly locate the lanterns for any needed train movement.) Another suggestion for origin were the red paper lanterns (a color associated with sensuality) hung outside brothels in ancient China for identification. The color red has been associated with prostitution for milennia."

 Today, we trained two hours out to the Roermond Designer Outlet area and checked out another ice sculpture festival, this time themed around classic stories. See some favorites below (more on Flickr!).  I also had my first Dutch herring, and as fishy as I smelled for the rest of the day, I look forward to having another soon.  Did you know that raw herring is a Dutch delicacy?  You can order of raw slices (served with potent raw onions), and you eat it from below by pinching the tail and holding the fish above your mouth.  It's quite delicious...cheers!

Notre Dame and the Hunchback

Gulliver's Travels

My favorite--Captain Hook and the Croc!

Pretty nighttime scene outside of Roerdome.

Me in a traditional wooden Dutch clog (100x the size necessary)

Kirsten, Adam and I taking shots of jäger in the ice ba.  Everything including the bar, stools, and shot glasses was made of ice.

»»  read more

Wageningen, Netherlands

Made it to Nude 23-A in Wageningen, the Netherlands, bright and early Friday morning. I unfortunately was stuck with a middle seat and a ton of energy throughout the 9-hour ride, thus being unable to sleep and staying up over 24 hours, but I watched a bunch of movies, including one of my childhood favorites The Green Mile.

It is good to be with my college friends again, despite the cold snowy weather. Hard to believe that not long ago I was lounging on a beach in my bikini, sweating buckets. Now I am bundled up in winter clothing trying to retain what little heat I have. My body has definitely been confused about the time, date, temperature, and location of where I am.

Wageningen is, from what I've been told, in the middle of bumblecrap nowhere. It seems that this has been a trend on my trip, since I've been to bumblecrap Georgia and bumblecrap Costa Rica as well (ok, I don't necessarily think that Drake Bay was bumblecrap nowhere, but some folks told me it is). Anyway, central to this town is Wageningen University, so it's a college town of sorts, which in Europe means that it is a ghost town on weekends since most students go home during this time. You can read more about Wageningen here. Perhaps one of the most interesting things I've learned so far is that the Netherlands exists essentially because of all the dikes that were built to hold the water out--approximately 27% of the area and 60% of the population is located below sea-level. How wild is that??

The rest of this entry will be based on photos:

My first night in Wageningen, this is the accumulation of all the sugary European goodness that I love--Digestive biscuits (cookies), Lindt chocolate bars in the flavors of hot chili and hot mango, stroopwafle, black licorice, Englese drops, licorice-flavored cookies, Nutella, Ferrero Rocher dark chocolate, and--finally-gingerbread! The way to Suzi's heart is to get any (or all) of these goodies in the same room. :)

Me riding sidesaddle on the back of Adam's bicycle.

This is a Dutch parking lot. Bicycles are abundant in Wageningen, and the preferred mode of transportation for most. There are tons of bike lanes, cars yield to bicyclists, there's a fine for cycling without front and back lights at night, and the bike lock systems are a lot easier than in the states. I've had my first "side saddle" bicycle rides since being here, which is a little scary since my balance is less than stellar, but it's quite fun.

Yesterday (Jan 9), we took several busses and trains out to Den Haag for the Cool Haus (Cool Event) ice sculpture viewing and had a drink at the Holland Casino ice bar. It's a tented area that is -10 degrees indoors, and truly has sculptures, a bar, and a mock hotel room (the Royal Ice Room) made of huge chunks of ice. We spent an hour admiring the art work, sliding down an ice slide surrounding an igloo, and had a shot of Jaeger at the ice bar. It was chilly, but well worth the effort. See more ice bar/sculpture photos here.

A Dutch vending machine. Hamburger, anyone?

»»  read more