I decided to roll with the boys we were travelling with to Amsterdam. We got a couple beers and a bottle of red wine and had some fun on the train. I would say about 80 percent of the people on the train were also coming from Tomorrowland. I’ll admit that Amsterdam was one destination that I didn’t have much expectation for. I was happy to go, but it’s never been a city on the top of my list. However, I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed my time there.
The first thing I noticed upon arriving was all of the bikes. Amsterdam is very flat and designed so that you can easily ride your bike everywhere and everyone body does. It’s not like Toronto where you have crazy ongoing traffic that nearly runs over the bikers. When you look outside of the buildings, instead of parked cars, there are are rows and rows of bikes, hundreds of them. The next thing I noticed was to be expected in Amsterdam, the never ending smell of marijuana. It’s legal to roll and smoke weed in the streets and cafes in Amsterdam and as a result, a lot of the people are really relaxed and chilled out. No one seems to hide anything or get all concerned about being caught, it’s very free.
I found the service to be really good in restaurants as well. One place that stands out for me was the restaurant that a few of us went to known to have the best ribs in town, and they definitely were. Our server was obviously stoned, but it’s not a big deal in Amsterdam. As long as people go to work and get their job done right, it’s fine. He was so chatty, kind, and cracking jokes. He wasn’t working for the dollar. It seemed like he actually enjoyed his job and he was real with us. He had none of that phony business you often find back home from servers. Also, we weren’t rushed to leave. Everything goes at a slower pace in this city and you come and go as you please. I really liked that.
Our hostel was also really cool because we had our rooms upstairs, but downstairs was an Irish pub that was pretty popular. On our first night, we all did a pub crawl that started out at our hostel pub. That was one wild and fun night for everyone, but it was also the night that I broke a bone in my foot, without even realizing it was a break until I got an x-ray in Berlin. I tripped on some cobble stone walking to one of the bars, fell down on my right knee and twisted my left ankle. It hurt yes, but I was in party mode so it didn’t stop me. Although, I had to take it pretty easy for the remainder of our time there, with the exception of the bike tour we took along the country side and the Van Gogh art Museum.
The bike tour we took was the main reason that I fell for Amsterdam. We had a gorgeous sunny day and took the ferry across the water to the country side. It was all so colourful and the air was so fresh. We biked along beautiful cannels, over bridges and around amazing gardens. We also saw cool historic sites like churches and windmills that were used back in World war two. I also noticed that the animals in the fields looked so happy, as weird as it sounds. There was so much open space for the cows, sheep, horses, and chickens to roam. I didn’t see much fencing or anything like that. At one point, we almost biked over a few chickens running around freely and got a good laugh out of it. It seems that freedom is a common theme in Amsterdam, for both people and animals alike.
We wrapped up everything in Amsterdam and got on our flight to Berlin. I walked on my broken foot to the train station and through the airport with my 2 big bags. Not the most pleasant experience, but I did alright. We were welcomed in Berlin by my good friend Mike who was kind enough to offer his super cool apartment to me and 2 of the girls for a few days. Thank you Mike! Berlin adventures will unfold in my next entry. Bye for now!
