Day 19- Amsterdam!

Today we got up way too early at 4:30am, and then missed a train, which led to our being at the gate 3 minutes before it closed (we still weren’t even the last people to get on the plane!), which was an adrenaline-inducing start to the day. We all slept on the very short 1-hour plane ride to Amsterdam, and were ready to face the day once we arrived. It was absolutely beautiful, and everything that I had expected. Tall and skinny colorful houses next to the canals, with cobblestoned roads, bridges, and bikes everywhere.

My roommate from Berlin and I couldn’t check into our Airbnb until 6pm, and it was only 9am, so we went to the Rijksmuseum, where we could leave our heavy backpacks for a few hours. It was full of paintings, sculptures, and explanations of life in Amsterdam from the 1600s onward. 

Above: detail of the most beautiful mirror I’ve ever seen, with two golden women each holding a side.

Below: a statue of Mary (I think), placed at just the right height that she looks directly at you.

There was a really cool free app that served as an audio guide, and we spent a good 3 hours there.

After that, we basically wandered around, turning every corner and going “oooo, look at that building” or “whoa, look at all those bikes” for another hour or so. We walked through a beautiful courtyard called Begijnhof, visited a very interesting sex shop, and made a list of things we absolutely wanted to see this weekend. 

We then met up with the rest of the group of Americans from our program for noodles at a place called Ramen-Ya. Considering how crowded the streets were, this place was a lovely oasis of quiet and emptiness. Excellent ramen as well, I’ll miss this this coming year when I’m eating Cup Noodles. 

We were going to head to our hostel, dump our bags, and then go explore the nightlife, but we decided to take a quick nap first, which turned into 12 hours of sleep, which in hindsight was actually an excellent idea.