Amsterdam

Pictures: Craig's

Amsterdam was a short 6 hour train ride from Berlin. It was a brand spankin' new train that gave great views of the German and Dutch countryside. However, the weather turned for the worse as we approached Amsterdam and for the next week it did nothing but rain. I lied, there were short bouts of time where the water stayed in the clouds (see below).I think we would have enjoyed Amsterdam much more had there been better weather. As it was, it seemed dark and dreary (also expensive). Of course, Amsterdam is known for its 'liberalness' and certainly we saw no shortage of this. There were 'cafes' everywhere.

We visited the typical tourist sites; Anne Frank house and the Van Gogh museum. The Anne Frank house was kind of disappointing. After we waited in line, outside, in the rain the empty house did not have much to see or even read. The most interesting bit of the house was at the end; it was a modern video posing various "Freedom of..." questions and the audience could vote by pushing a button on the bench. It was not directly related to Anne Frank, but it was interesting.

The Van Gogh museum was much better. Of course I have no pictures because they don't allow it....grrrrrr. At least in Russia I could pay to be permitted to take photos. The museum houses the largest Van Gogh collection in the world (~200 Van Gogh paintings), and displays many famous works including Sunflowers and The Potato Eaters. Although he only painted for 10 years, he certainly made his mark. We were thoroughly impressed by the displays and accompanying audio guides.

We took a night off from tourism and indulged in some movie watching. We headed to a nearby cinema and nearly peed ourselves watching 40 Year Old Virgin. Amsterdam was definitely a relief language-wise, since those Dutch speak perfect English! We were surrounded by bookshops too, and jumped for joy at the English magazines available.

On one of the rare rain breaks, we jumped into a paddle boat and worked our legs in the spider web of canals that weave through all of Amsterdam. This was very enjoyable and a great way to see the old architecture and other sights.

Next stop....Dublin, Ireland