Amsterdam is a lovely looking city with all its canals and cute little houses. It is also the home of the best Indonesian food outside of Indonesia. I spent the first day just walking around the city and looking at the canals. And of course eating Indonesian food!! I really miss Asian food. Unlike at home Asian food is seen as being really exotic in most places in Europe and costs a fortune.
By day I really liked the feeling of the city with everyone ride bikes. At night however I found it no where near as fun. Because most people come to Amsterdam to try the 'Coffeeshops' there are heaps of people just sitting around stoned or falling asleep. Unlike drinking, smoking tends to make people less sociable and I found it difficult to meet people that wanted to just hang out.
I made a few friends at my hostel who were really nice but due to smoking too much they were in bed by 9pm that night. After walking around the streets and decided I should leave the next day to see the other cities of Holland I came across a nightclub. The club was really classy and had a door list but they let me in because I was by myself. Everyone inside was local. The locals unlike the tourist are not so excited by the liable drug laws so were much more fun to hang out with. So I danced the night away.
The next morning I got a message from Max who was arriving that afternoon with his mum. I was so excited to see him and to have someone to hang out with in Amsterdam. I meet them at train station. After Max and his mum Janet got settled into their hotel we went to Anne Franks house.
I had read the book in high school and was so interested to see the actually house. We had to line up for around an hour but it was worth it! The rooms that Anne and her family lived in where so small and I could not believe that survived for so long in there. Afterwards Max and I went out for a few drinks at a jazz bar near Leidseplein. The music was good but nowhere near as good as Prague jazz.
The next day we went to the Museum quarter of Amsterdam to see the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. Janet (Max's mum) is an artist and an art teacher so it was wonderful to visit these museums with her. It was like having your own guided tour of the museums.
The Rijksmuseum was under renovations so the whole collection was not on display but there was enough Rembrandt and his pupils on display to keep me happy. My favourite piece in the museum was Vermeers, The Milkmaid.
Afterwards we went to the Van Gogh Museum. I was really excited to see this museum as I had loved all the Van Gogh work I had seen at the Hermitage in St Petersburg. The museum did not disappoint. It was amazing. It was set out in chronological order so you could see how his art work changed through his life. I had always assumed that his darker looking art work was towards the end of life before he killed himself but in fact his most colourful and best art work was just before his death. It was such a lovely collection and Janet's insight made it even better.
That afternoon I left Max and Janet and took a train to Vienna (Wein) and then Budapest.
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