Amsterdam Wrapup

Amsterdam strikes me as "two cities" - the busy crazy young hippie parts in the big squares and main city center with all the "coffeeshops" and sex shops and litter and all this stuff, and the areas farther out by the canals that are peaceful, beautiful, friendly people and families, clean, comfortable, etc. If a town could embody Jekyll and Hyde, I think Amsterdam would do it.

I enjoyed Amsterdam but not quite as much as I had expected. After I made my plans I kind of thought, maybe I should have only done 3 nights in Brussels and 5 in Amsterdam instead of 4 each but in hindsight I am kind of glad I did it this way. On messageboards when people would ask about "should I go to Brussels or Amsterdam" everyone always said Amsterdam. Well I must say I think I preferred Brussels. If I had stayed in Amsterdam another day, I would have left and gone to Edam or Den Haag as another day trip.

Don't get me wrong, the people were all lovely, it was fantastic that everyone spoke english and that they were really nice about it, etc. but I think it's just not my kind of city. I will say though, that the food was good. The steak dinner I had at the TER Steakhouse is probably the single best meal I've had so far (and for an absurdly reasonable price considering the quality of the meat and service in this little place), and the cafeteria at the V&D department store in Haarlem was absolutely stunning. I thought Amsterdam was going to be a little more expensive, but we managed to eat pretty darn cheaply.

Something that baffled me is that the churches mostly cost to go into. I think that's kind of sad. No where else did we encounter churches that cost just to go inside and see them. Museums and cloisters, yes, but not the churches themselves. Kind of too bad. The Anne Frank House is of course a must-see despite the fact that considering you are in and out in an hour or less and might wait in line longer than you are inside, it is quite expensive, but I'm glad I went. I also particularly enjoyed the boat tour because it was so relaxing and also the De Hortus botanical garden because it was so quiet and peaceful and really an oasis just as Rick Steves described it in his book. The Jordaan area is quaint and picturesque and you get the feeling you are walking amongst the real people who live there. We walked by one place where a family was eating a meal and because you can see down into the lower level canal houses right at street level, you could see right inside and see them enjoying their meal as we walked by. It was very nice.

Haarlem was a bit of a disappointment. Maybe because we got lost or maybe because there was some festival of sorts going on in the main square so it was too busy to enjoy and appreciate, but I thought it was kind of a smaller Amsterdam with nothing particularly different or unique to offer. But don't get me wrong, it's still lovely and quaint. Maybe Saturday is just not the best day to go.

All in all, I enjoyed my time in Amsterdam but I think I liked Barcelona and Brussels a little more. Still happy I went though, as it was certainly unique and fun.