I finally found my old journals from my first trip to Europe! They're pretty rough, and apparently I was pretty unhappy for a lot of the trip, but I thought I'd maybe re-edit them, with perspective from today, and include some of the photos I scanned. I didn't take nearly as many photos as I should've. I can only assume that my picture-taking annoyed my travel companion. :) Plus, this was before my passion for digital cameras began, so maybe I was thinking of all the money I'd have to spend developing film. Anyway, I'm dying for a vacation, so I thought I'd relive this one for a bit.
Some context: my nephew was born in the spring of 2000 and I knew that I would want to spend every vacation with him moving forward. So I figured - if I ever wanted to go to Europe, I should go right after he was born. I could buy him some baby stuff and see Europe, since I probably wouldn't get another chance anytime soon. How bad could it be? Well...
For some unknown reason, I went with a former co-worker. Looking back, I just don't know what I was thinking. I guess because he had been to Europe and was looking to go back, he'd be a good person to travel with. If I had it to do all over again, I'd do more research on my own and be braver about speaking up and doing things by myself. But I relied on his travel experience and his research, not realizing he would be totally rigid about following only one travel guidebook's advice and recommendations. I will not make that mistake again. It's hard to know if you'll be good travel companions until you actually travel together, so I guess it's not entirely his fault that we didn't mesh. Though I did learn a few things about planning a trip that I put to good use when I went to Italy. Anyway, I'm dying to go back to Amsterdam, Bruges and Paris again, either by myself, or with friends with whom I've already successfully traveled. Someday...
Anyway, with a few edits and not-as-many-photos-as-I'd-like, I present Part One of my trip to Amsterdam in April 2000. Part Two, Bruges and Paris will have to come later (it took FOREVER to scan these photos!)...
April 27, 2000: I was beginning to feel as if I was NEVER going to get out of the office! But finally, we took off from Newark Airport! I sat between [co-worker's name excised for privacy - from now on, he'll be referred to as GFFMO] and a hygenically challenged person. Great. Oh well. We're going to Amsterdam... No sleep, but a pretty good dinner - vegetable lasagna. It was relatively tasty, for airplane food. I watched the in-flight Music of the Heart with Meryl Streep. She was fab, as always, but the movie was rather lightweight. Oh well. It did keep my brain occupied for two hours. I still couldn't believe I was headed to Europe for the VERY FIRST TIME!!!
Early, April 28: We got into Amsterdam early and took the very convenient train into Centraal Station and then walked over to the even-more convenient Hotel Ibis. Oh, well, it wasn't so convenient after all, since we couldn't check in until 2pm and it was only 8:30 am. So, we put our bags in the hold room and headed out to explore. What a beautiful day! And Amsterdam is a really beautiful city!
Luckily for us, we ran into a very nice local woman who told us everything would be closed the next day for Queen's Day. OK, well, there was the first instance of not-so-great planning on GFFMO's part. I mean, hello. Queen's Day is a big deal! Anyway, we immediately decided to switch up all our plans and go to the museums on our list that had been on tomorrow's itinerary (even though we'd been awake for over 24 hours already). First up, the Anne Frank Museum.
The line wasn't too long, and since it was a sunshiny day, the wait wasn't too bad. There is a museum and exhibit downstairs before you walk upstairs into the house. I was definitely on the verge of tears throughout the tour. I did a production of The Diary of Anne Frank in college [that is worth a blog post in and of itself, actually], and, naturally I'd been reading the diary ever since I was very little. But, even knowing all that, I still wasn't ready for the magnitude of feeling inside that house. You could touch the walls and be right up close to all of those things. It brings horror and triumph into a close-up and I remember feeling so grateful that I hadn't experienced anything like this in my lifetime [this was before 9/11, remember]. Grown men were crying and it was truly a beautifully moving experience. The original diary is displayed there, as well, which brought more tears. They also run a documentary throughout, so you're immersed the whole time you're there. It was a very draining, but beautiful opening experience to Amsterdam.
Walking through the city, I enjoyed all the bells and whistles of public transportation. Though, at times, walking through town is like walking through an obstacle course! Buses, trams, shuttles - you really have to pay attention or you'll get squashed. Our first stop was at the Begijnhof - a 14th century religious retreat. It was originally built as a sanctuary for an order of nuns, but now is merely a residence for single women. It's a lovely, quiet and contemplative place and a nice respite from the noise and bustle of the city.
Next, we went to the Rijksmuseum and stood in line forever. It's a beautiful building, but there was a special exhibit of Rembrandt's work, so it was packed. It was still a thrill to look through, though it was annoying to only follow one particular guidebook's idea of the 'highlights' of the museum. I was happy to see amazing dollhouses there, though. They are replicas of actual mansions and are built to scale. You can climb up a ladder to look at the incredible furnishings on the top floors. Truly amazing [and I still dream about seeing them sometimes, but in my dreams, they're at the Met]. And what can you say about Rembrandt? Glorious. It was just so crowded, and I was getting so sleepy, that I couldn't quite get as close a look as I would've wanted. 
Back out into the humid sunshine and onwards to the Van Gogh Museum. The layout is very similar to the Guggenheim. Jet lag, though, really started to overtake me and I couldn't experience this museum at all. I have next to no memory of seeing anything here, except that I have a vague memory that it was much less crowded, and more airy than the Rijksmuseum. Yet another reason to go back to Amsterdam. Since we were both approaching exhaustion, we decided to stop for lunch and get a sandwich before trying again to check into the hotel. I had my first of many ham sandwiches. Why is European ham so much better? And why didn't I know before this trip that ham sandwiches with butter instead of mustard were so yum yummy? The world may never know...
Once we got back to the Hotel Ibis, we could check in, though we had to stand in line for awhile since everybody was checking in. When we finally got up to our room, we had our first thrown gasket by GFFMO - there was only one bed! He threw a fit and stormed downstairs to get us another room. I thought, seriously, if there are no rooms with two beds, I'm staying here and sleeping in the chair. Get over it! Fortunately, there was another room immediately available (you can see the view from our room at right), and we settled in for a nap - in our separate beds. Hello. Well, first I had to call my mother to check in. THEN, it was time for a nap. 
After a two-hour nap, then a shower, GFFMO and I head out for dinner. He had decided we should eat at a traditional pancake house, which was fine with me. I love pancakes! We go to the aptly named Pancake Bakery. There were so many choices! It was hard to decide, but I finally opted for a pancake with jam - they brought several choices of jarred jams to the table. I have to admit I pocketed one jar. It was a delicious souvenir when I got back home. :) The pancake was different than American pancakes - it was huge, the size of a dinner plate, and much thinner than you'd expect. Not as thin as a crepe, but thin. It was seriously yummy. [I stole the pancake photo off their website and will happily remove it if so asked.] 
After pancakes, it was off to our canal cruise. It was a lovely evening and our driver was very informative and charming. Of course, I took no notes and remember nothing about what he said. Sorry. But I remember enjoying myself and wishing I were a little more awake. After the cruise, we headed off to a brown bar - we walked through the Red Light District on our way to one recommended by the guidebook. I thought the District would depress me, but it didn't. It was clear these women could take care of themselves, and they were much older than I expected. It was mainly filled with tourists, though, which WAS kind of sad to me. 
The brown bars were all packed, but we stopped at one and GFFMO had a beer [I never did develop a taste for beer, which GFFMO found annoying, especially in Brussels] and we chatted with some college kids. It was nice, but we didn't stay long. We were beat and finally decided to head back to the hotel, since tomorrow would be a big day - the Disney World of Tulips! SOOOOO exciting! There will be TONS of photos of tulips, so be prepared. Oh, and this was also the beginning of the end of our enjoying each other's company - apparently, motion sickness is not allowed in GFFMO's travel itinerary...
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