Houseguests Hit the Amdam.doc

While it may seem like a bit of a hectic scenario to host friends two days after you've just arrived, the visit from Emily and Steve was a most fitting way to get oriented to my new surroundings. They touched down in Amsterdam on Wednesday and we walked back to my apartment from the train station in twenty-five minutes. After hearing of their wonderful adventures in Spain, and my time spent jumping around the UK, we all recharged our batteries that afternoon for the three days ahead. One of the perks of my location is the grocery store located directly in the building. That evening we bought a bunch of supplies and christened my kitchen with a delicious stir-fry. You may not know it, but Steve is quite a good chef - Emily and I played the role of sous-chefs. That evening we stayed up chatting with two bottles of wine before being overcoming with sleep.

The next morning we had some Tim Hortons 'cowboy coffee' (just boiled on the stove) with spinach omelets. That day we decided to walk around the beautiful city - it was still quite cold here but the sun was brightly shining. Our first stop was the Anne Frank Museum which Emily had visited on a previous trip to Amsterdam with her family. It is a very powerful exhibit, the strength of which comes from the subtlety of the presentation and the tasteful way in which the house has been preserved. None of the furniture from the original house is kept on display, at the request of Otto Frank, and this allows for visitors to picture the conditions in the annex rather than view the setup from beyond a velvet rope. As well, the information about Anne and the family is presented without too much outside intervention which I appreciated. Walking up the narrow staircases and through the trap bookcase really brought home the severity of the conditions in Europe during WWII. It was one of the most memorable exhibits I've seen in Europe.

From there we continued to plot our way through the city. We visited the Waterlooplein outdoor market which is one of the city's oldest flea markets. There were rows of stalls offering vintage clothing, shoes, food, and, of course, lots of bicycle paraphenelia. Emily's quest of the day was buying a pair of gloves for the chilly weather. We stopped at every shop and tourist outlet but all she could find were pairs for 5 Euros (much too expensive). With no luck at the outdoor market, H&M proved to be the cheapest option where Steve and Em found a two pack pair of gloves for 5 Euros. Success all around. The final stop before returning home for dinner was a massive record store called Concerto where Emily and I listened to tracks on headphones and Steve took a browse of the record offerings. He was able to find two records worth shelling out for.

That night we repeated the dinner option from the night before and made yet another stir fry (this time with teryaki sauce). The plan for that evening was to begin with a bottle of wine and then head out. Upon departure we decided that a map wasn't necessary since we had a pretty decent handle on where we were going - hubris on our part. After walking for twenty minutes we realized we were quite off-track from the place we wanted to be, and without a map, were left guessing which might be the right way. We turned a corner near the 'Dam' area of town and found ourselves right smack in the middle of the Red Light District. A happy accident. We had planned to make a proper visit to the area the next evening but figured since we had wandered upon it, we should explore a bit. It is quite a sight and definitely worth taking a look just to say you've seen the area. I found it hard to know how to behave walking down the street - do you look inside all the windows so you get the full experience or do you avoid making eye contact for fear of an interaction? I think our small "interested but not involved" walk of the area was the best way to experience - we felt removed enough from what was going on to observe.

We exited the RL district and found ourselves closer to the area we thought the bar might be on. We were wrong. We finally gave up and resolved to walk back in the direction of home when the street we were looking for seemed to appear out of nowhere. Who says you need a map to get around in a foreign city? The bar we went to was really funky and alternative - it felt like we were in a place you'd see in a movie. There was a really eclectic crowd, they played a lot of David Bowie, people were sitting on the pool tables because the space was packed, and the general feel was really laid-back. We left the bar around 3am and hiked it all the way back to the Sarphati apartment.

The next morning was yet more cowboy coffee and spinach omelets. It proved to be great energy food for our walks around the city. I took the crew through a route I had planned out from the city guide. In our early journeys we were stopped at a canal while the bridge went up for a boat - this was done extremely efficiently and without much fuss (very impressive). We walked by the massive Zoo which is the oldest in Europe; it's actually only five minutes from my place. From there we visited the Hollansche Schouwburg which use to be a large theatre in the city. During WWII it was used as an intake facility for the Nazis and now it is a memorial commemorating victims of the Holocaust. It too was a powerful exhibit. The list of family names of Jews killed during the Holocaust was particularly striking. After the museum, we did a roundabout and walked past the Heineken Brewery (who wanted a steep 15 Euros for admission), the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, the House of Bols (a famous bartending museum), and found ourselves in Vondelpark. The walk was a good two hours but we were able to see a lot of the city's landmarks. The museums are definitely something I'll be visiting in the next few months.

That evening we decided to avoid heading to a bar and instead spent our money on dinner. We went to a really stellar Chinese restaurant in Chinatown where we split four dishes. We actually weren't sure which restaurant to go to (since there were so many) but we had two separate people on the street tell us about Dim Kay. It was the Final Supper of the Holiday adventure crew. After dinner we returned back to the apartment and chatted about our travels over a glass of wine. Throughout the night, the Stroopwafels (the Dutch cookies) were continually begging to be eaten. The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast before Emily and Steve made their way back to the train station.

It was a great visit. Exploring the city with friends proved to be the best way to start feeling comfortable in the foreign city: I have a much firmer grasp on the geography of the neighbourhoods, am aware of just how to avoid the bike paths, and have been introduced to some aspects of the nightlife here. That being said, it was incredibly hard to see them go. Not only have Emily and I spent the last month traveling together (sans nine days a part around New Years), but having both her and Steve in my apartment reminded me of the jams back home in Kingston and Toronto. The music, the conversation, the jokes, and the chilling all reminded me of countless nights spent at Westview, the 1.9.1., 2.9.5., 8 Vine, and Isabella. Without a doubt, Christmas was the time I missed my family the most. Seeing Emily and Steve leave Amsterdam was the time I've missed my friends the most since leaving in September. I hope I'm able to guide some of you wonderful people around Amsterdam if you come to visit (two friends have already told us of flight details ;). In the meantime, I have the city of canals and bikes to explore over the next few weeks - I'm lucky to be living in such a wonderful place.

Doc's Prescription of the Day: I don't know if you can pickup Stroopwafels from the local Dominion (in fact, I'm sure you can't) but they are devilishly delicious treat that the three of us had to resist after every meal.