Since we couldn't check into our hotel yet, we decided to go to the Vincent Van Gogh museum. It was a little expensive but it was definitely worth it - the museum itself had four floors of original Van Gogh paintings. The first floor had several paintings from when he was studying art and still living in Holland. His beginning works were very dark and were much closer to real-life portrayals than his later ones. The second floor was a transition from his life in Holland to his life when he moved to Montmartre (in Paris) and I thought it was interesting that you could see a very distinct change in his painting - he began to use brighter colors and was more focused on lines and shapes. The third floor was another type of transition, only this time it was after he had checked himself into an insane asylum. According to the signs, he had decided that he was going to focus less on using color and more on making lines, which was apparent in his new paintings. Finally, the fourth floor was comprised of his paintings from after he left the asylum to the time of his suicide. One of the things I found particularly intriguing was that he wrote letters to his brother for the majority of his life, and as a result we were able to tell exactly what he was feeling during these different stages in his life. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed.
After spending some time at the museum, we decided to get some coffee at a nearby cafe, where we would try to figure out how to get to our hotel. We asked several servers at the cafe where Hotel Zwanenburg was located, but they all said they had never heard of it and that we should take a tram to Central Station and ask someone there. At this point, I started to panic a little because I wasn't sure (a) how long it was going to take to get to our hotel or (b) if we were even going to be able to figure out where it was.
When we got to Central Station, we discovered that our hotel was actually in the town Zwanenburg, which is about five miles outside of Amsterdam. Once we knew that, we were able to buy a three-day public transportation pass that allowed us use of the buses, the trams, and the metro system. To get to our hotel, we had to take a bus to another bus that dropped us off about three minutes away. The town of Zwanenburg was actually very cute - I was surprised to see how quickly the setting turned residential after leaving the city! We also passed a windmill on the way there which made me very happy.
We decided to get up very early the next morning so that we could spend the entire day in Amsterdam, and the first thing we wanted to see was the Anne Frank museum. The museum is located in the actual building that housed the secret annex, which was a factory at the time. It was amazing to see the pictures of the eight people who went into hiding - I never knew that there were so many people in such a small space. Before going into the actual annex, we walked through the museum where they had pictures and excerpts from Anne's diary.
Going up into the annex was a very emotional experience - they still had the bookcase that hid the entrance, with all the books still in it. All the windows were covered in black shades, just like they were when the people were actually in hiding. It was very gloomy, and on one of the walls they had pencil marks that indicated the heights of the children during their time in the annex. I can't believe that they stayed there for two years and eight months, only to have someone betray them. One of the things I enjoyed learning was that Anne actually wanted to be a journalist or some type of writer when she was older, and because she kept her diary she was able to reach so many people in so many different countries with her writing. This should be on the must-see list of anyone traveling to Amsterdam.
When we were done with the museum, we wanted to walk around the city for a while because it was such a nice day out. We wound up eating lunch at a very cute little restaurant called Cafe Proust, where I had the best tuna melt of my life. We also stumbled upon a flea market where they were selling all sorts of things I would have loved to buy, but really didn't have the room or the money for.
Walking around was so much fun because the architecture and the atmosphere is so different from that of Paris. The houses in Amsterdam are so charming because they are all squeezed together and some of them are actually crooked! I also loved being able to walk along the canals and see all of the house boats. The people were all extremely friendly and even though it's a big city, it was never very crowded or busy. I've never seen so many people riding bicycles, and there are bike lanes everywhere. I could definitely see myself living there someday, or at the very least going back for a vacation.
After walking around for a while, we were craving some beer and so we headed to the Heineken brewery and museum. I had SO much fun at this museum and it was exciting to (1) be able to see the evolution of the Heineken product and beer and (2) be able to drink beer while in a museum (the price of the ticket included two and a half beers)! They even had a bar at the end where you could buy more beer if you really wanted.
However, once were were done at the Heineken museum, we really wanted to check out the red light district. We had a splendid time!
Sunday morning we got up early again because (and I didn't know this) there is a world famous flower market in Amsterdam that we really wanted to see. I really wish my mom could have been with us because she loves flowers and plants, and there were about 20 different shops along a canal with various flowers, seeds, and bulbs. It smelled wonderful and I wish I could have started my very own garden right then and there!
Overall I'd say our trip was a success, and I was glad to be able to go with some girls who like to have as much fun as I do!
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