Amsterdam, Part 2
It was a Monday, in a foreign city.
The first order of business was bike rentals. Amsterdam is attuned to the city dweller, thus it is a very bike friendly place. Additionally our roommates recommend that we rent bikes to explore the city.
Fortune would have it that our bike rentals would be done through our hostel. We paid about $38 for two black bikes with built in locks and insurance. They would be our steeds until 10 am the next morning. The sun was bright but occasionally a cloud would interrupt it’s rays.
It was late morning when we finally started our expedition through the city. We were directionless had no aim, just knew where the red light district was and that was about it. So everything we saw that day was unbeknownst to us.
We visited Voyagers cafe, and re upped our supply of Amsterdam cuisine. Voyagers cafe was tiny in comparison to the cafe we visited the night before. The little cafe was built into the bottom corner of a building and did not offer many seating areas. It had large glass windows on both sides over looking the canals. Black would be its primary paint color. No televisions to watch BBC earth, just conversation to pass the time. We didn’t dwell there long, because we were both very hungry.
Tyler being the true american wanted to go to the McDonald’s he went to last night. I thought it wise to check out a local Dutch bakery. We continued to ride towards the McDonald’s when I voiced my opinions. We stopped and talked it through. Luck would have it that where we stopped was right in front of a waffle house.
We ordered our waffles from a nice lady behind the counter who spoke English near perfectly. Sugar plus more sugar, equals a dopamine rush, so we drank orange juice while we waited for our waffles.
When they arrived, it was one of the first times in my life where I took a picture of my food before I ate it. One because it looked delicious, and two because the nice lady behind the counter adorned the waffle with a sparkler. Waste not want not. The Dutch are very practical and we ate our breakfast with a multi functional knife fork spoon. Never seen a dining utensil like that before.
Now that we had something in our bellies, we eagerly pushed our pedals as fast as local custom would allow us.
We followed Spiegalsgracht for a while. It would lead us to an attraction swarming with tourists the I Amsterdam sign. We also contributed to the flow of people taking photos there.
The sign had a reflection pool which stretched 200 meters, to the right of it was the MOCO museum which had an exhibit featuring the likes of those British aerosol artist we saw in Leeds Tunnel in London. This exhibit though was the big kahuna, it was Banksy.
Tyler spotted my admission ticket and we entered. (Thanks Tyler)
The building was multi story red brick and the exhibit started on the very top. They allowed photographs, but no flash which was beneficial to explain the impact of street art in the modern world.
The exhibit ended with a feature of ICY and Sot, two Iranian artists who can’t go back to their home country and now reside in New York.
After the MOCO museum, we rode around a little longer, until near sunset.
Near our hostel was the A’dam look out, a 100 meter tall building.
There was a gift shop on the bottom and a visually stunning elevator ride to the top.
The elevator ascended to the highest floor and we made our exit. We could see for kilometers and kilometers in every direction from there.
The lookout had a swing and a bar both of which offered fantastic views. Tyler again (I got you dude the check is in the mail, don’t worry) spotted my ticket to ride the swing. It was fun to watch our feet dangle underneath us while we swung back and forth over the ledge ten times. When our swing ride was over we had experienced everything the lookout had to offer except the food and drink. We decided against it because it was a tourist trap and therefore had the tourist trap prices. Was it worth it? The swing and the views yes.
We left the lookout, headed back to our hostel to grab dinner, just as their kitchen was closing.
In our basement accommodations we saw that Paul and Dean were getting fresh for a night on the town.
“Hey you guys doing the Pub Crawl?” Paul asked.
It was then our evening plans were decided.
The pub crawl was sponsored by the Hostel, and was one of the most unforgettable experiences of Amsterdam.
Stay tuned.
