I love it love it love it and it always brings back special memories.
I also totally should be sleeping right now - or at least in bed, resting, trying to get horizontally unconscious.
Oh well. I do things when I feel like I have the energy for them and that's how anything at all manages to get done. Besides, it's pretty much been a week since I last posted after such a spate of posting frenzy, so I want to, and I also feel as if I should!
When we last left our plucky young heroine, she ...
Hm. What the heck was she up to again??
Oh yes!! Getting lost in the great big monstrotrepopolis of Lone-done! Boy, that was a seriously LONG day. And a LONG night. When I stunk up the rail car in the dead of night with sharp stink of old, sour, doused-and-drowned-in-vinegar fried cod and mmmm, chips! Chippies!! I still (ask Lex) reFUSE to eat any stinkin gray slimy fish skin. That simply must not be done. Disgustimo!!
So I think I got up in the morning, the rest of the family went out for lunch or something with a family friend, and I stayed at home to clean and get organized and sorted out for the backpacking trip! Such fun! So full of promise!
I totally remember sitting in the living room with pack and ALLL the stuff I was gonter bringeth wiff me spread out over the floor. See, I don't think they do things like that at my Uncle's house. It was verily a spectacle. Oh yeah, I also spent the whole morning doing all my washing and hanging it out to dry (thankfully there was a nice hot sunny heatwave at the time - I heard it lasted for months ;)) so I'd have clean clothes on the trip.
I finally managed to get everything to fit, and I'm pretty sure I ended up walking my dang self met pack over to the train station, hopping the train two stops over, and checking in at the airport. I took the little shuttle they had between North and South Terminals at Gatwick. It was very futuristic. Hee. Reminded me of like Gattaca and stuff.
I was semi-earlyish, and hungry, so I bought super over-priced fried artery attack at McDonalds.
Then I stood with the crowd at W.H.Smith's (a book and magazine shop which is commonly found in train and bus stations and airports) to watch the England vs. Argentina game! Argentina?? Spain?? Portugal?? Now I think it was Portugal! Guess what!! Does it really even matter? You can TELL that this World Cup was of the super uber dull and totally inconsequential because I can't even stinkin' remember who was playing!!
All I know was it was a tense game and I wanted England to win and then they DIDN'T. After it went to penalty kicks!! And a dude from the English team made a goal BUT THEN THE REF DISALLOWED IT FOR SOME INDISCERNIBLE REASON. Pooooooooh.
I did the self check in, and didn't see any luggage tags print up, but remember being directed to having to take the big backpack to oversize luggage anyway, so I took it there, the guy checked my boarding pass, and threw my backpack on the belt.
I then accidentally tore the zipper off my super old purple hand-me-down-from-my-sister's-high-school-days backpack, and then stuff started spilling out the side, and I started feeling terrifically embarrassed, so I walked into a sale at some bag store and bought!! A backpack to match my big backpack!! It was yellow and black like a bumblebee and made by Jeep. It matched the nice yellow stitching on the backpack to contrast with the lovely deep blue.
Well, in case it has not sunk in yet, did I mention that I DID NOT have a luggage tag on my backpack? I didn't. I had a nametag on it before, which I took off, because it kept falling off, and I thought I'd just write one at the check-in desk, except then I did self check-in!
So after I got on the plane, and while one of the most horrible and scarring experiences I've ever been through was unfolding, I saw this:
This was on the way from London Gatwick, England, to Amsterdam Schiphol, Netherlands. It looks like a castle far off the distance in the clouds. So pretty!!
Sunset over the water off the coast of Holland. The black dot in the upper right quadrant (whoo, pre-algebra jargon strikes again!) is actually a buoy in the water. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuooooooooooy!
Coming into the Netherlands, on the coast. Maybe Zaandfoort? Like heck if I know for sure, I ain't never been to no Dutch beaches b'foh.
Yay!! Land!! I didn't realize Holland was so green. And guess what. I use Holland and the Netherlands interchangeably. The funny thing here was you could actually see aaaaaaaall the rivers and inlets and dikes and things criss-crossing over the land.
And then. It was the horribleness.
We arrive at the airport. It's late, like 10:30pm. Freaking Saturday night. I make it through immigration, I go to the luggage claim, I wait and wait and wait, and never, ever, ever see my backpack. Everyone gets their stuff, they leave, and honestly, it's all deserted. Then it's down to me and this one other young guy.
UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My bag never made it!!! I filled out a report, and thought maybe it just got lost or something ... :(.
In short: they totally and completely lost my baggage because there were NO tags whatsoever on it. And yes, I never ever ever see it again and get no compensation. Yet. I am working on it.
Ugh, honestly, it was one of the worst things I have ever been through, it was so bad. And I kind of don't like talking about it. But somehow I made it. Though Schiphol Airport will never be the same for me again.
And - slight non-sequitur- AirBerlin is the freaking suckiest, raunchiest, most horrible, grating, BOTCHED UP airline to have to deal with "if you DECIDE TO BUY A VERY CHEAP TICKET." Quoting them, btw. Yeah, I totally deserve to be punished FOR BUYING A VERY CHEAP TICKET. More on that later, beeches!
Of all the places to go into without any stuff, on a crowded Saturday night, good thing it was Amsterdam! I just had my newly purchased yellow backpack with all my goods stuffed inside, and I knew where I was going, didn't have to ask for directions, I knew there would be people around and it wouldn't be all scary and deserted, and I got to stay at the Shelter!!! I love this place. I worked here straight out of college for 4 months and it totally changed my life. I come here every chance I get.
So I got to stay in a smaller room, maybe 6 people. All girls. It. Was. So. Stinkin. Gnarly. Hot. Un-be-freakin'-lievable. I was all looking forward to a shower and resting and whatnot. Um, it didn't much happen. Amsterdam was HOT! And MUGGY!! Yes, I was a bit miserable. No shower cuz I had no clothes to change into anyway. But it was so nice to be back there and I like that place a lot.
I was debating which church to head to on Sunday, then I heard about a service in THE EVENING (yay!) so decided to go to that so I could sleep in a bit and hang out and stuff. I honestly do not really remember whatall I did during that day. Probably got out and walked around a bit. Probably went to Albert Heijn (my faaaaaaaaaaavorite supermarket there because they have amazing frickin' kipcurriesalat which blows my cotton-pickin' mind - chicken curry salad, that is. And Fanta! Don't you? Wanta? Fanta?!?)
And I am pretty sure I probably walked over to a gorgeous, calm, and serene little park that I found when I stayed there in '99. I used to walk there with my guitar to play and sing and relax and sit on the green, grassy banks next to the canal, and wave back at the people going by on boats. I loved that place.
This time, when I went back, I found out the name of the park - Wertheim Park. I'd always known it was in the old Jewish quarter, not too far from the big Portuguese Synagogue, but this time I noticed a big glassy monument. Apparently, the ashes of Jewish victions of the Auschwitz concentration camp are interred there. Wow! I never knew! No wonder that place was always so calm and quiet, with an underlying tinge of sadness. I am so totally all about it, and it is now probably one of my all-time favorite corners of the earth. Even more so because of the history attached to it. One of the panels of the monument was boarded up, and I don't know if it was vandalism or repair, or what. If it was vandalism, I hope that person gets some strict justice, because that's just sick and wrong. But I love that park. With the cute little gorgeous fencing and gate. And tinkly drippy fountain.
When I went there I did see, and smile at, and nod at this lady walking her dog. There is a circular path in this little park, and I remember going one way while she went the other - then we met up in the middle, near the water. She stopped, and started looking around behind her, and I thought she lost or dropped something. I walked up to her, and she asked me if I'd seen a little dog. Um, there was a dog totally standing behind her the whole time. I pointed this out to her, and asked her if she had two dogs. Nope, just the one! She laughed and started teasingly scolding the dog. I know I heard the name of that ditzy little dog but for the life of me I cannot remember what the dog was called. It was two syllables, though. I'm too lazy to check my journal now :P.
So a group of us got together at the hostel in the evening to walk to the church. Zolder 50. I think. We were told it was a 10 minute walk away. I'm like, that's fine. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It was all the way across the entire dang city!! What kind of Dutch 10 minutes were they talking about, I have no freaking clue or idea. Apparently Zolder means "attic" in Dutch and that is where the church is. Steep, steep, practically ladderlike steps up to the top floor where it was unBEARably sweat-inducing dripping hot and then people would shut the windows for - I don't even know why.
I met a nice Dutch guy who was working as a cleaner at the sister hostel to the Shelter City, who had just become a Christian the week before. I wished him a happy birthday!
During worship I saw a big black man in the corner (no, not a demon, an actual person!!) with his hands in the air, shaking them around and jumping all around and I have NO idea why but the very memory makes me want to weep even now. Just watching him worship that night sent me in rivers of tears and tears and drippy drippy tears. I still don't get why I react this way, but I totally do. There was just something really special, and happy, about it.
I saw him later at the hostel, and found out he was staying there while waiting for a flat and job and other stuff to open up - I think it was already in the works. I forget his name. But his accent threw me so I didn't know what the heck he was saying when I first asked him where he was from. He was from Sierra Leone!! Wowee. The place where during the civil war they would chop off people's arms and legs and mutilate them. Ugh. He was so peaceful and calm and smiley, though.
And he told me that he used to be Muslim, but became a Christian when someone invited him to hear a preacher. And he actually had no interest in hearing any of it, but he went to be polite, and became a Christian then and there after hearing the preacher speak. Hm.
You just meet cool people in Amsterdam, you really do.
So then.
So walking back from the church, we saw these huge ole flowers! Someone said they were hollyhocks. I choose to believe them because I have no green thumb or any such thing approximating it.
The entire street was lined with them.
This was at a street corner, and then I took a closer look at the window.
I love all the architectural and structural details of this fascade, and you wanna know the cool thing about the flower-surrounded building?? It's a ballet studio.
balletstudio
Marieke van der Heiden
:) How very very frenchy, and appropriate.
Since we were in less of rush leaving the church, and since it gets dark there much later, we stopped along the way and took pictures. I simply MUST show you the befores (above) ...
and the afters. Several of the pics you've seen so far have already been edited from being big black blobnesses. Yikes, eh??? I am so glad I found photo-editing stuff. How the heck did people used to do this before computers and automatic adjustments with the touch of a button and a click of an icon? Huh? Huh?
I love gorgeous quaint Amsterdam - this is the view over one of the many bridges, to the tree-lined streets/canals.
The famous!! Amsterdam! Bikes! Which get stolen all the time so you have to lock everything up. And everyone goes everywhere on bike. Even tourists.
I somehow really like the neat row of boats parked to the side. Tour boats? Rentals? I don't know.
Now they look like shoes.
This was on the way back trying to trek back across the city. I have a feeling this is near Kalverstraat, a big shopping street. With like three H&M's on it!! (Best store for clothes, I think, overall in Europe. ) I LOVE this building! And the McDonald's right next to it. :) If you noticed the big "fish hook" at the top of the McDonald's building, those are on pretty much every building. They built the houses and doors so narrow, and the steps and stairs inside were so steep and narrow, that you couldn't bring furniture in through them. They actually used a pulley in the big hook and tied furniture with ropes to swing it up and through the windows. Thusly, all the houses are built leaning outward slightly, toward the street, so the furniture wouldn't scrape up against the front of the house when they were hoisting it up.
I also met a couple of other very nice American girls traveling alone as well, and they were part of the group that went to Zolder 50. (Now I think 50 is just the number of the church building.)
I told them about one of my favorite places to eat in Amsterdam - I went several times in my other stays there, and the food was good, and cheap, and there was a beaaaaautiful terrace out back along a junction of 3 canals. So you got good traffic there and a wonderful view!! It is called ...
So we stopped there and had a bite - and I had the tom kai gai, which was one of my first experiences with Thai food. Yes, in Amsterdam.
Me, Hannah from Indiana, and Dawn (from San Diego and only 17!! Travelling by herselfs!! Whoa.)
Night shot! I love the moon out that night.
We were all big picture takers, and I was still getting used to the camera, so we stopped (OK, so mostly it was me stopping) for snapshot moments. The building here is De Waag, the old weighing house. It now has a coffee shop (actual coffee, at this one) on the lower floor. It is in the Nieuwmarkt square, one of the city's landmarks. The hostel where I stayed is on a little side street just to the left of the weigh house, along the bridge which is in front of De Waag. It so totally looks like Disneyland to me. It looks like Cinderella's castle.
And as I was trying to find the actual PROPER spelling of "Nieuwmarkt," I found the site for De Waag.
This is along the street/canal walking back to the hostel, and you can see De Waag at the far end to the right. I think it is a famous building, but I forget what it's for. I think we are along Oudezijds Voorburgwal. It's either that, or Oudezijds Achterburgwal, but honestly - with names like that, who can remember? One is by De Waag and the other is in the Red Light District. That's all I know. :P
Dawn and I arranged to do our own thing in the morning the next day, but meet up to go through the Anne Frank House in the afternoon. The line was long and the house and sun were both mightily hot. It was mostly tourists. But the line moved fast. And no student (or teacher!) discounts! I now wish I had gone to the Anne Frank Huis in either 1998/1999, or 2004, when I was last in Europe with my sister. I know they have done major renovations. In 1998, it was just the one building, and the exhibits were different. In 2004, I think it was under construction and not totally open. It just would have been neat to see and make comparisons on how they have changed it. I spoke with other people who said they liked the original exhibits better, they were more organic and authentic. The original building where the Frank family hid was 3 down from the corner - the museum has now expanded through the two adjacent buildings down to the street corner, and it's all silvery and spacey-looking. It's worth a look if you go and are interested, though. I find myself drawn to all the museums of Jewish history now, for some reason.
So I snuck a picture of Anne's room, though that is not allowed. And lemme tell way, I waited a GOOD LONG WHILE for people to stop streaming in and crowding the rooms, so I could get an empty room shot! Dawn ended up leaving first because I got stuck so far behind. Hee. But I think it was worth it.
They have left her pictures that she put on the wall, just protected by the plastic, but per her father Otto Frank's request, have left it unfurnished, as it was when he returned. I think shortly after it was turned into a museum, they did try to reconstruct what it looked like while the family and others were living there, with period pieces and such, but Mr. Frank preferred it like this.
This is the view directly in front of the house, from a bench along the street.
Do you SEE why it is NOT a good idea to swim in the canals???? I swear, if you fall in, they take you IMMEDIATELY to the hospital and give you shots for like 77 different diseases. EW! Wanna know why???
Because houseboats like this little beauty dump waste directly into the canals, that IS the sewage system!!! This is just a little ways up the street from the Anne Frank Huis. It's actually not a lived-in houseboat, but a floating advertisement for the Tulip Museum up the street. Hence all the flowers.
At the end of the road, near the Westerkirk, is this Memorial to Anne. Someone had laid flowers there on the day I was there.
The corner, showing the street sign for the Westermarkt, Centrum (meaning city center).
Anne's spirit, flying away?? :)
It's a pretty cool shot, but that's what I get for despising pigeons and kicking at them - cool shots. ;)
Not far from Dam Square, the main open square in the city, I'd always walked past this sign for a TAIWANESE RESTAURANT in Amsterdam! I usually would cross on the other side, and I never made it to actually go in and check it out. So I did, finally, this time, and realized it was just the same old weird gross greasy shiny junky Chinese stuff that everybody has. And once again, with the ubiquitous bikes.
The corner of ... the Rathaus? Or is that German? That's German! Never mind! I think this is a back turret of the OLD City Hall/Post Office ... which is now totally a giant mall inside. 3 levels. I nearly got my hair cut as a model there, in 1999. At least, that's what I tell myself, when I volunteered because they were looking for people to demonstrate haircuts on. But I ... accidentally gave them the wrong number of the hostel, since I didn't have it memorized.
There are just SUCH cool details on the building, and beautiful skies. Though I remember it being hot. Like in the Anne Frank Huis. So I had to go and sit in the shade in free benches near the Westerkirk. And people watch. Yeah, spying. I love it.
See? I totally spied on this guy. NO clue in Hades who he is, but I made a guess that he was Italian. I just got that vibe. There was something about the way he was sauntering down the street in his jaunty little way that caught my eye. And I always like a suit! Especially when it's 95 degrees out and I'm sweltering in t-shirt and shorts (yes, the same t-shirt and shorts that I'd arrived in the city with 3 days prior, because that was the situation I was in!!!!). Him, in that heat, with that amount of clothes on, was definitely impressive.
Ooooh, stalker. :)
You can see how truly narrow the streets are, though, and how crowded during the summer. I still love. I would so love to actually quit and take a year off and work there or something. But it'd be weird, because most of the people that end up working at the hostel are like, barely getting out of their teens!! Ack, culture gap.
More on Amsterdam next time. And then ... WORLD CUP GERMANY, 2006!!!! :) My prime reason for this summer's trip. :)
End Amsterdam part 1.
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