Friday morning was pretty hectic. Alice and i barely caught the train from Santa Maria Novella to Rome. We did however meet a very friendly as well as proud Italian businessman. Once in Rome we took another train to make our way to the airport.. which got us there 20 minutes before our gate was to close. So we sprinted.. no really we hauled ass through the entire airport only for alice to find out that her luggage needed to be put below deck before she could make her way through the secuity gate.. naturally i made my way through hoping that she would be able to join me but getting ready to enjoy the rest of the trip on my own. She FINALLY made it through and we continued our run to our gate only to find a line awaiting us and a plane ready to be boarded.
Arriving in Amsterdam, we were greeted by rain. We were also greeted by our friends from school Davide, Christina, Jamie and Mike. This day was spent mostly getting lost (which isn't always so bad) and gawking at the windows in the Red Light District (which can yield some odd surprises). Night was spent taking in the sites and finding a warm place to have a nice beer.
Saturday was spent exploring the city in the sunlight for the first time.. sort of. We began our day by making our way through the Heineken Brewery learning all we could about Amsterdams infamous beer. We then made our way over to the I AMsterdam sign located in the southern end of the city. The picture above shows my participation in the act of climbing all over these enormous letters which were mobbed by tourists. As everyone else posed with the letters of their name (i.e alice on the A and dave on the D) i made my way to the S and T for my brother Scott and dad Tom, because theres no B in amsterdam.
Sunday blew my mind. This little guy right here was in some small park we found on the way to the Aquarium with Dan and Phil. We did not however enter the aquarium because we decided we could spend less money and more time seeing windmills and Java Eiland. The windmill was satisfying in the fact that i would expect to see atleast one vintage windmill here but was not especially remarkable. From there we made our way towards Java Eiland, THE place where modern architecture is happening.
Today was spent in the way Amsterdam is meant to be experienced.. by bike. On bikes, Alice and i made our way to Silodam, by MVRDV, which was awesome. From here we trekked to the Amsterdam Bibliotheek.. which is by far the coolest library i have ever set foot in. From there we sped through the neighborhoods on Java Eiland once more and found other buildings which Alice referred to as the "whale" and "the cobra?". This day was by far the easiest day travelling around the city which caters to bikers by providing their own lanes, traffic lights, and street signage. It is truly remarkable how well a city can work if you provide the people with a functional environment.
I'm bummed that tonight is my last night here but i ve made a decision.. im coming back. Maybe not anytime soon, but i will be back. For now that is all. I have to return my bike and enjoy my last hours in this wonderful city.
No comments:
Post a Comment