Andy in The Netherlands: Day 16 + 17 - Amsterdam and PIC DUMP!

Too tired to blog yesterday, so naturally I'll give it a go when I'm super exhausted today. I'll dump a bunch of pictures here and on Flickr at the end.

Day 16 - Hortus and Sun!

Tuesday was great. The wind finally died down and the sun was out in full force. I set out in the morning on a lovely bike cruise into town and got my enrollment contract signed by my advisors, which was good. I also looked for books, which was frustrating and one of the more inexplicable things about Leiden. Books for classes are scattered throughout various stores around the city, and are only available in very limited quantities. You'd think there'd be some kind of central book store, or at least enough copies of every book. I set up shop at the cafe in the Social Sciences building (cafes in like every building ever is awesome) with a delicious chocolate muffin and did my weekly reading for Urban Inequalities, which was mildly interesting. It was about the effects of creating mixed-income communities, and how in the Netherlands it's largely failed to create any kind of social good. I'd read some of the studies they referenced for Prof. Greg Markus' Urban Politics class last semester, which was cool. Another inexplicable thing about this school - no WiFi in the Social Sciences cafe? Ridiculous.

One of the highlights of the day was going to Hortus Botanicus, the oldest garden in Leiden and one of the oldest in the Netherlands. It's a giant botanical garden that I image is gorgeous in the Spring, but even now without a lot of flowers in bloom it was really peaceful and relaxing. I sat down and journaled for a bit, and that was nice. I also got a Museumkaart, which, for 45 euro, gets me in for free to over 300 museums across The Netherlands, which I think is an unbeatable deal.

On my way home I decided to soak up more of the beautiful day and rode around taking pictures of the very architecturally interesting medical/tech campus. The buildings are super modern and photogenic, and the ride through that campus home is more scenic than the rather bland ride home along the Wassenaarseweg.

I was lazy the rest of the day, tried to do some more reading but failed, and ended up talking to my lovely friends and watching The Damned United, which I've been meaning to watch for some time. It was OK, better if you've got an interest in English football.

Day 17 - Amsterdams and Don'ts

I woke up early today and met James at Leiden Centraal to head to Amsterdam for the first time. The train only take about 25 minutes, and it really quite convenient. We got off at the beautiful Amsterdam Centraal train station and joined the throng of people heading down Amsterdam's main drag. Our first stop was the world-famous Rijksmuseum, which is unfortunately undergoing massive renovations and has most of it's collection off display. The building was still extremely impressive, and we got in free with our Museumkaarts. They have a ton of Rembrandt, including The Night Watch, and some very beautiful Vermeers. After the Rijksmuseum we made a pit stop at the "I Am sterdam" sign for very TOURIST pictures and then headed to the Van Gogh museum, also on the Museumkaart list. The museum follows Van Gogh's career from start to finish, which I was shocked to find out was so short (less than ten years!) and much more varied than I expected (lots of strange Japanese influences). The museum itself lacked any of the most famous Van Goghs but still had an impressive collection (25% of his total work) and had a room with Manet, Monet, Seraut, Cezanne, and a few more megastars that are slipping my mind.

After the museums we headed out to a fixie (fixed gear) bike shop and cafe James the bike enthusiast had found on the internet, which was pretty neat. The place itself was a bit overwhelmingly cool, as fixie bikes despite their simplicity are super expensive (think minimum 500 euros, some for 1000). They had great hot chocolate though. Next on the hipster tour was a really cool vintage clothing store. They had a pretty awesome selection of stuff but nothing I found fit me, which was weird. They had a bizarre amount of ironic American items like trucker hats and varsity jackets, which I guess is even MORE hipster here than back home. I got a really cool slate skinny tie for 2.50 euro, and I was elated. We stopped in next at a cool craft beer store called Cracked Kettle, where an American ex-pat from Boston guided us through the local Dutch craft beers, which were all intimidating. The store itself was 400 years old and super cool, and the American guy liked my joke about the Dutch beer "Natte" (supposedly very nice) being their equivalent of Natty Ice - which is when he betrayed his nationality and assured me it wasn't. All in all it felt like we were in a really cool section of the city that would be worth a day exploring.

Next we headed to the infamous section in the old quarter of Amsterdam with "coffeeshops" and the Red Light district. We first strolled through the Red Light district, and woof, that was terrible. I was shocked at how unsettled and uncomfortable with the whole set up I was, and I couldn't help but find it a horribly depressing place in the middle of this very progressive city and nation. I guess it's progressive to legalize prostitution, but in the process they've institutionalized epic sadness. The area with "coffeeshops" was pretty hilarious - the paraphernalia is as omnipresent as you'd imagine, and you could probably get a contact high just walking down the streets filled with the aroma of marijuana. All in all the area felt like Hash Bash in Ann Arbor - cooler in theory than in practice, and generally attracting a seedy crowd. I really wasn't impressed with either of these two sides of Amsterdam, and while I'm happy I went to say I have now, I wouldn't be interested in going back anytime soon. I feel like there are a lot better places in Amsterdam worth discovering, and that touristy garbage is a one and done type deal.

NOTE: A few months ago, Videogum.com posted a story about a drug addict named Monica who was entering a program that gave addicts Facebook pages and tried to get them to have friends in order to stop doing drugs. Or something. Monica lives in Amsterdam. The program isn't working, because I saw Monica numerous times today begging for money and being generally quite fiendy. It made me really sad, and it was incredible that I saw her.

I got home to listen to the first new song from The Strokes in 5 years, Under Cover of Darkness, which I've been listening to for the last two hours. It's great (Listen HERE). Tonight is also action packed with sports (MMB, Wings) and the series finale of Friday Night Lights, which is incredibly sad. The show is truly one of the best I've ever watched, and it's so sad to see great television die while awful television thrives. I'm sure the episode will be amazing though.

I'm going to try and get a bit of reading done and then probably end up watching the Wings or a movie. I'm looking forward to class tomorrow, should be interesting and fun.

Check out some pictures here and on Flickr.