According to my original plan, I would fly directly from Detroit to Bruxelles, then take a train to Amsterdam. However, the Northwest Airline abruptly rerouted me to Amsterdam with a stupidly short connection from Amsterdam to Bruxelles. I immediately realized it was a completely waste of time for me to take this last leg so I tried very hard to talk to Northwest, asking them to simply let me go in Amsterdam. The answer was, surprisingly, always "impossible without affecting the whole itinerary". Disappointed as I was, I thought things might be different in Amsterdam.
And they were. KLM, the Skyteam partner of Northwest, was much more considerate. Once I made myself clear that I would like to give up my last leg due to change of plan, they were willing to unload my luggage. I was happy because I saved almost six hours of my precious travel time.
My first encounter with European train system was a little bit chaotic. The ticketing machine required the pin number even for my credit card, a situation I had never had in the States. I finally did it with my debit card.
It took me a while to find my hostel, the Flying Pig Downtown, because I did not print out the map. But people were generally friendly and willing to speak English. After check-in and some facial cleaning, I didn't waste a minute, rushing into the street with my camera. The Centraal Station was under a major renovation, which ruined the picture. But the beautiful canal scenes were just a short walk away from the Station into the city.
As a side note, I would like to comment on the size of European cities. Coming from China, where people do use their legs, I have no problem walking around town. In fact, most cities just weren't up to my walking ability: It happened many times in this trip that when the map said I needed to walk, for example, 500 meters to reach the next junction so I started walking. But next time I checked the map, I had over-walked by almost 500 meters. (Sorry for the poor sense of distance, though.)
Without much of a plan for today, I wondered around, taking pictures of anything interesting. This was one of the interesting buildings I saw. Later I learned it was "De Waag" (the Weighting house) in the Nieuwmarkt (New Market), now hosting a posh restaurant.
One of the weirdest things in Amsterdam was the public urination station, conveniently demonstrated by this gentleman. The ladies passing by were apparently not amused. By the way, because of this, the smell of Amsterdam was a combination of urine and pot, one of two things which the city is famous for.
The other is the Red Light District. Because prostitution is legal in Netherlands, Amsterdam therefore becomes the sex capital of Europe. Sitting in the oldest neighborhood in Amsterdam, the Red Light District was a vibrant tourist attraction with many restaurants and adult entertainment stores in the daytime. Regrettably I did not see it at night during my stay. It would be later in Antwerpen that I finally figured out what was going on at night.
By sunset, I wondered into the famous Dam Square, the first European-style square (English) or -plein (Dutch) or place (French) or piazza (Italian) I saw on this trip. Due to the light condition, the picture wasn't so good, but you got the idea.
Next morning I got up early and rented a bike to visit the museums. On my way uptown, I couldn't help stopping by the beautiful flower market, where I also found the best bargain for postcards and magnets, two things I deliberately collected on the trip. For the record, I restricted myself to buy only postcards and magnets because they were easy to carry, thus keeping me traveling light, which is the single most important rule of traveling.
Biking along the canal was a pleasant experience. You could stop anywhere and rest for a while, watching people crossing a bridge, a duck swimming or a canal cruise passing by. Note the three crosses on the pillar was the symbol of the City of Amsterdam, not to be found anywhere else in the world.
I took my time to get the Museumplein, where two museums were on my to-do list: Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum. Unfortunately Rijksmuseum was under a major renovation but they were kind enough to keep a small space open for "Masterpieces from Rijksmuseum", including the "Night Watch" by Rembrandt. (They still charged us bloody €10!)
The Van Gogh Museum was a delight. They proudly presented their huge collection of Van Gogh paintings in a chronicle order with English descriptions. I learned a lot about Van Gogh's life and his artistic struggle. This Nike soccer shoes ad found on the street made creative use of one of the self-portraits of Van Gogh with the catch phrase, "wherever you want to put it".
The third museum I visited was the "Heineken Experience". Built on top of the original Heineken Brouwery, this museum was a self-congratulation of one of the most commercially successful beers in the world.
With the admission, you got to have three beers and a souvenir opener so at €11, it was reasonably priced. There were some absurd souvenirs on sale, like Heineken socks or even Heineken bikinis! I wondered what it took for someone to wear that. Three dozens of beer?
The next morning I checked out of my hostel but left my luggage in there. Since my train was around 19.00, I still had pretty much one day. So I wondered around even more, saw the Westerkerk (West Church) from a distance but didn't go in.
It was a gorgeous day so I could take some of the best pictures I took in Amsterdam.
With still a few hours to kill, I decided to go to the Sexmuseum, conveniently located near the Centraal Station. I wrongfully expected to see some scholarly exploration of human sexuality, only to be disappointed by an equivalence of a freak show. (Later on the trip, an excellent exhibition in the Colosseum titled "Eros" came close to my expectation.)
These were some clothes the prostitutes used to wear. You wouldn't know what a bad taste this museum had because I showed you gold in the sands. The rest was just vintage porn.
Right behind the Station was the sea port scene. Not much special but the weather was good enough to make a nice picture anyway.
Finally I left Amsterdam on a Thalys train with glimpses of Dutch countryside (with my water bottle).
And they were. KLM, the Skyteam partner of Northwest, was much more considerate. Once I made myself clear that I would like to give up my last leg due to change of plan, they were willing to unload my luggage. I was happy because I saved almost six hours of my precious travel time.
My first encounter with European train system was a little bit chaotic. The ticketing machine required the pin number even for my credit card, a situation I had never had in the States. I finally did it with my debit card.
It took me a while to find my hostel, the Flying Pig Downtown, because I did not print out the map. But people were generally friendly and willing to speak English. After check-in and some facial cleaning, I didn't waste a minute, rushing into the street with my camera. The Centraal Station was under a major renovation, which ruined the picture. But the beautiful canal scenes were just a short walk away from the Station into the city.
As a side note, I would like to comment on the size of European cities. Coming from China, where people do use their legs, I have no problem walking around town. In fact, most cities just weren't up to my walking ability: It happened many times in this trip that when the map said I needed to walk, for example, 500 meters to reach the next junction so I started walking. But next time I checked the map, I had over-walked by almost 500 meters. (Sorry for the poor sense of distance, though.)
Without much of a plan for today, I wondered around, taking pictures of anything interesting. This was one of the interesting buildings I saw. Later I learned it was "De Waag" (the Weighting house) in the Nieuwmarkt (New Market), now hosting a posh restaurant.
One of the weirdest things in Amsterdam was the public urination station, conveniently demonstrated by this gentleman. The ladies passing by were apparently not amused. By the way, because of this, the smell of Amsterdam was a combination of urine and pot, one of two things which the city is famous for.
The other is the Red Light District. Because prostitution is legal in Netherlands, Amsterdam therefore becomes the sex capital of Europe. Sitting in the oldest neighborhood in Amsterdam, the Red Light District was a vibrant tourist attraction with many restaurants and adult entertainment stores in the daytime. Regrettably I did not see it at night during my stay. It would be later in Antwerpen that I finally figured out what was going on at night.
By sunset, I wondered into the famous Dam Square, the first European-style square (English) or -plein (Dutch) or place (French) or piazza (Italian) I saw on this trip. Due to the light condition, the picture wasn't so good, but you got the idea.
Next morning I got up early and rented a bike to visit the museums. On my way uptown, I couldn't help stopping by the beautiful flower market, where I also found the best bargain for postcards and magnets, two things I deliberately collected on the trip. For the record, I restricted myself to buy only postcards and magnets because they were easy to carry, thus keeping me traveling light, which is the single most important rule of traveling.
Biking along the canal was a pleasant experience. You could stop anywhere and rest for a while, watching people crossing a bridge, a duck swimming or a canal cruise passing by. Note the three crosses on the pillar was the symbol of the City of Amsterdam, not to be found anywhere else in the world.
I took my time to get the Museumplein, where two museums were on my to-do list: Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum. Unfortunately Rijksmuseum was under a major renovation but they were kind enough to keep a small space open for "Masterpieces from Rijksmuseum", including the "Night Watch" by Rembrandt. (They still charged us bloody €10!)
The Van Gogh Museum was a delight. They proudly presented their huge collection of Van Gogh paintings in a chronicle order with English descriptions. I learned a lot about Van Gogh's life and his artistic struggle. This Nike soccer shoes ad found on the street made creative use of one of the self-portraits of Van Gogh with the catch phrase, "wherever you want to put it".
The third museum I visited was the "Heineken Experience". Built on top of the original Heineken Brouwery, this museum was a self-congratulation of one of the most commercially successful beers in the world.
With the admission, you got to have three beers and a souvenir opener so at €11, it was reasonably priced. There were some absurd souvenirs on sale, like Heineken socks or even Heineken bikinis! I wondered what it took for someone to wear that. Three dozens of beer?
The next morning I checked out of my hostel but left my luggage in there. Since my train was around 19.00, I still had pretty much one day. So I wondered around even more, saw the Westerkerk (West Church) from a distance but didn't go in.
It was a gorgeous day so I could take some of the best pictures I took in Amsterdam.
With still a few hours to kill, I decided to go to the Sexmuseum, conveniently located near the Centraal Station. I wrongfully expected to see some scholarly exploration of human sexuality, only to be disappointed by an equivalence of a freak show. (Later on the trip, an excellent exhibition in the Colosseum titled "Eros" came close to my expectation.)
These were some clothes the prostitutes used to wear. You wouldn't know what a bad taste this museum had because I showed you gold in the sands. The rest was just vintage porn.
Right behind the Station was the sea port scene. Not much special but the weather was good enough to make a nice picture anyway.
Finally I left Amsterdam on a Thalys train with glimpses of Dutch countryside (with my water bottle).
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