The flight was really short, only an hour and a half on SkyEurope. We got to the airport at 630AM, the flight left at 650, so the stars had it in for us that we made it on board somehow.
Anyway, the city in general is the same everywhere. Literally every street and canal looked identical to the next in some way. It's not as a magnificent city at Berlin or Vienna, which were more stately and monumental in a way. The city is more quaint and laid back. Bicycles litter the roads and street, and are much more frightening to cross paths with than cars or people. There are literally hundreds on a street, and the bike lanes have more frequency on them then the roads for automobiles.
The first day we mostly just walked around to acquaint ourselves with the city. We found a cool hostel, which is how I imagine a hostel should look like. All of the buildings in the city are really strangely designed. When the city was being developed, property owners were taxed based on the width of their homes, so people built them up very narrow and steep. So steep in fact, that a lot of stairs, like the hostels we stayed in, were basically walking ladders. Imagine carrying a huge backpack up that for 5 flights of stairs. The top of buildings have this thing sticking out in the front to hoist things up for moving and literally move furniture in through the window. The city was very cozy and antique, is the best way to describe the feeling.
I checked out my first coffee shop there, and what an experience. It was definitely strange walking up to a bar counter, choosing a strain of weed, and ordering it along with rolling papers and coffee. They're not scary or shady places to go either, they're very relaxed and cozy environments where you can enjoy a joint, a coffee, and relax. People of all types come in too, from business men and college students to old people. Fortunately, I found myself a Ben and Jerry's shop, which combined with a recent joint and no ice cream for months, was heaven on earth. (chocolate chip cookie dough if you were wondering)
The next day we went to Dam Square, saw what the Red Light District was all about, and met some of my friends from New Paltz who are studying in Venice and Besançon. That night we went to see a show at a venue on the other side of the river, in a ritzy jazz club, but the show was over by the time we got there. Even there, I somehow met two guys a chiropractor and a student from Pittsburgh. After paying too much money for a beer, we left and on the way back towards the center, we stumbled into an undergroud party underneath the train tracks. As it turns out a British indie band was playing down there, and there was an impromptu bar selling really cheap beer (what more could you ask for?).
On our third day, we rented bikes, the single speed ones that are old and dangerous. I dont know how I managed to figure it out, but I did. We road out into the countryish area near the suburbs where there were cows, sheep, deer, and all kinds of farm animals just grazing all over the marshy area.
I also checked out the Van Gogh Museum, which was definitely really interesting (they had Starry Night on display), but I was kind of turned off how they capitalize on Van Gogh. I don't think he would approve of the romanticized narrative of his art work, but thats just my opinion. =]
