Amsterdam Pt. 1

We got into Amsterdam on Thursday evening via the Eurolines bus system. Since we hadn't booked until the last minute, we opted for an 8-hour bus ride for 64€ as opposed to a 4-hour train for 170€. We got into Amsterdam Amstelstation at around 10:30pm and took a metro into the Central Station in the heart of the city and walked to our hostel from there. We stayed at a youth place called the Heart of Amsterdam, sandwiched in the middle of the central island in the red light district. That night, since we got there late, we just cleaned up and met some of our friends from ESCP at their hostel and went out to some bars from there. From that point on, it was pretty much a constant bleeding of money.


Friday day we got a late start and were pretty indecisive as to what to do. I ended up going with the other 3 girls that were on the trip with Cameron, Lauren, and I to the Van Gogh museum. It was pretty interesting to see his progression as an artist. I guess all I've seen of him until now was his much-later really impressionist stuff of which I'm not that big of a fan.

After the Van Gogh museum, we made the best decision of our entire lives and went to tour the Heineken brewery. When I say brewery, however, that's a misrepresentation. It was about 1/4 brewery, 1/4 museum, and 2/4 nightclub. We went through a history of the brewery and company, then into the actual factory part. We then went on a very Jurassic Park-esque video ride where the room moved around and showed us how the beer is actually made. After that, though, we just went into the tasting rooms and then it was pretty much a nightclub for the rest of the time. Everything was green neon with techno music blaring. We played a foosball tournament, filmed a music video, and then ended up in a Heineken-only bar where our 15€ entrance fee got us two more free beers. All in all, we spent about 3 1/2 hours there and was the best investment I made in Amsterdam all weekend. From that point on, I pledged I'd drink no other beer but Heineken for the duration of the trip. After the brewery, I went back to our hostel and bought a herring sandwich from a street vendor. It was a little bit sketchy, but it was a roach coach with a bunch of different fish, crab, and lobster sandwich option. Plus something called Han's Haring just can't be refused.

I ended the day with a huge power nap, cleaned up for the night, and then went over the Bulldog hostel - where our friends were staying - for their happy hour. Tried Absinthe, which was interested but nasty tasting, and then we went exploring the city for good nightlife. As we were leaving the club / bar area, it started snowing considerably heavy and by the time we got back to our hostel there was a good inch or two blanketing the ground.